OPGTR vetrans, a question.

[RachelFlores]

Do/did your begining readers get through the multi paragraph "stories" in one sitting?

 

Dd is on lesson 41, if she sees more than 4-5 sentences on one page she doesn't even want to try. She can do it, but it is work and takes her a while. The past two weeks I've let her take a break from OPGTR. She's been "reading" starfall readers each day that she has essentially memorized. I'm hoping this will help with her fluency and speed so she won't get as discouraged when reading new content. We also do ECT every day. Is there anything else I can do to help her be able to read more and more fluently in one sitting?

[katnorman]

:bigear:

[Critterfixer]

Both of my boys are the same way! I have found that it doesn't matter if the material is easy or not--if it looks long I get hisses and whines.

Sometimes I think it is frustration, but other days it is simply that they don't want to work at it. If I get crying I often have them take a break for a drink or a run outside and then we come back to it after fifteen minutes. Usually I need the break as much as they do. I also will sometimes go back to a very easy lesson the next day if they seemed to be discouraged.

For oral reading several times a week, I take them through a McGuffey Pictorial Primer lesson, or something from one of the old Abeka readers. They like doing this, and I expect the reason has something to do with the print. I don't have a lot of complaints about OPTGR, but the print is small and way, way too close together. Either that or my fingers are fat--but I can't cover one letter and uncover it with OPTGR. I can with McGuffey.

 

It is also helpful to know that fluency comes only after decoding. I'd just as soon my boys spent their phonics lesson reading individual words for now. Fluency comes from not having to think about decoding all the time. So they need to practice the decoding as much as possible and go for short stints in the fluency.

[Emily in FL]

My ds sometimes felt overwhelmed when he would see the number of sentences in a lesson. I started copying the lesson page and cutting it apart. If a story had more than one paragraph, I would cut it apart also. We could then complete a whole lesson, but in small chunks. Once his fluency improved, I no longer had to do this. HTH

[PentecostalMom]

... I started copying the lesson page and cutting it apart. If a story had more than one paragraph, I would cut it apart also. We could then complete a whole lesson, but in small chunks. Once his fluency improved, I no longer had to do this. HTH

 

What a great idea! Thanks! :001_smile:

[ABQmom]

Yes. Until my dc were more fluently reading, those paragraphs overwhelmed every one of them. I would have them work on the first part of the lesson one day, and work on just the paragraph the next day. If there was more to read than even 4 or 5 sentences, we would break it down even further reading only a few sentences per day until we finished. I also figured out that if they were really struggling and started to hate it, they weren't doing well with the program and it was time to work on just sounds and words for awhile. Sentences can be too much until the child achieves a certain level of fluency. That's my experience anyway.

[RachelFlores]

These are some great ideas. Thank you so much!

 

I definently think we will be breaking the lessons up into multi day lessons and I really like the idea of copying the page. i could even increase the size of the print if I did that. :D

[lindsrae]

Wow. Glad to know that my DD isn't the only one who melts down when we have a long lesson (or any block of text over three lines). I always try to cover up the length of the reading so she doesn't get overwhelmed, but after a lot of text, she seems to get fatigued.

 

I guess if the reading was in books and the kids could turn the page, they might not get so overwhelmed. But that would cost a lot more money to produce, and it would kind of defeat the whole point of the program, wouldn't it?

[mlbuchina]

Thank you for this thread! I am going to try these ideas for my poor dd5. She has the same problem and is so frustrated with herself.

[LolaT]

We would read them together--each of us reading every other line. Then the next day (or later in the day) we would do the lines we didn't do the day before.

 

Ditto

[Ellyndria]

Sometimes I would fold a piece of plain paper over, and just cover up the rest of the page, showing only a little bit at a time. Writing some of the sentences out on the white board might help too.

[ladydusk]

Here are some ideas I've used:

 

Writing on the white board ... or easel ... or letter magnets ... or whiteboard crayons on the windows ... change it up especially at the beginning.

 

I typed out the first 70some lessons and put them in a notebook, that way they aren't distracted by the script portion. So far, once they've gotten that far, they can read and transition easily to using the book.

 

3x5 index cards have worked to cover extraneous text here.

 

Sometimes I make a little "book" where I've pre-printed the sentences, then they illustrate the sentence once they've read it.

 

I made sticker charts where they get to cover the lesson number with a sticker when they complete the lesson (and only when they complete the lesson) went a long way to getting my son to completing lessons even when he thought they were too long. Here's the link for Sections 3-6. I have charts for Section 3 on through 21 ... there are 5 altogether (we've always started at lesson 27, they've all known their letters before we start)

[Critterfixer]

I guess if the reading was in books and the kids could turn the page, they might not get so overwhelmed. But that would cost a lot more money to produce, and it would kind of defeat the whole point of the program, wouldn't it?

 

I don't know if it would or not. Pictures would defeat the point, I think.

I didn't like the style of the stories much, but I do see the point of them. When the wording is a little different, it keeps the kids from guessing their way through.

 

For fun, I would sometimes make up a story using words and phonics blends we already knew, usually featuring myself in some sort of dire predicament. The boys call them "Red Bug" stories. Sometimes I will substitute a Red Bug story in place of the scripted lesson.

[RoundAbout]

I'm not a veteran by any means as we're only a few lessons ahead and moving slowly, BUT I do everything on a white board and write one sentence at a time. I don't like the font in the book anyway.

 

Also I just started using some of the sentences in longer passages as a means of doing review. My son is not keen to go over an entire lesson again word-for-word in our "2 review + 1 new" so I just save a sentence for this.

[Ritsumei]

I will sometimes count sentences, get half as many pieces of paper & fold them in half, then sew the fold to make a book. I put one sentence per page, and usually illustrate it in a simple style - think Bob Books. Then we read it. It takes as long to get through the book as it takes. We do drill every day with Happy Phonics games & extra games I make up using OPGTR word lists. But Monkey never works out of the actual OPGTR book. I love how it's systematic & covers everything, but it's not very kid-friendly, and I think that anyone that actually uses it to teach 'em young like WTM suggests must have the patience of Job! *I* can hardly stand to read that book, it's so dry, and just can't imagine getting a bouncy 4 year old to sit and do it! But as a "spine" for use with HP, it's wonderful.

[Critterfixer]

When I do the review I don't have them do the sentences at all. I have them take the last two lessons and read the words. I don't think I've the stomach for sentences and THEN a new lesson. That would just be way too painful for all of us.

[junepep]

I'm not much of a veteran either, but with Kit I just stopped showing her what she had to read. I cover the entire page except for the one line that we're reading. Then we work through it.

 

By the time that she thinks about complaining I start stringing her along with just ____ more lines in this paragraph and then only one more paragraph to go.

 

I also use my judgement. If it's a "struggling" day (ie she's either woken up on the wrong side of the bed, is not feeling her best, or if it's simply a hard concept) I just break up the lesson itself into separate lessons for each paragraph.

 

With the long reviews at the end of each section she has to read the entirety in one sitting, if she can't then we've missed something and I go back to the areas that she had trouble for a while. But before we sit down, for a few days leading up to it I prep her with the knowledge that she's going to get to read a REALLY BIG story and that I know that she'll do wonderfully and that I'm so excited to find out what happens.

 

I've also found that reading sentences or a paragraph after her helps with her comprehension and I also make sure that she can tell me what every word of the first part of the lesson is (especially if they have more than one meaning) because I've found that if she's not enjoying the story (and / or if I can't build some suspense into it) she'll balk or wiggle-hop, or stare at herself in reflective surfaces rather than read.

 

I also created little books for her to read on her own and my sister and sister-in-law did pictures for them that she gets to keep in her bedroom as reading material before bedtime and during "nap-time" along with the bob books and the pig books (piggy and daddy) :) that's helped with the off days since we only do reading 3 times a week. (I noticed that other people do more-- maybe that's part of it too, just burnout?)

[Ritsumei]

We also realized today that Monkey has to get really close to the clock to read it - his vision is apparently not good. I'll bet that's a factor in some if the reading static we sometimes get. :001_huh: Poor kid!

[Mert]

We would read them together--each of us reading every other line. Then the next day (or later in the day) we would do the lines we didn't do the day before.

 

I was going to suggest taking turns as well. If ds is reluctant to read anything, he'll usually pick up if I start reading and then just pause and wait for him to go.

[mrs.m]

this thread is very helpful! We are struggling with a similar issue.

[rwjx2khsmj]

We sometimes share the reading. DD reads a line. I read a line. If there are lots of easy words (a, the, and, at, on, etc.) in my line I'll have her "help" me with those.

 

I also make sure to praise her for how hard she worked and how much she read on the long days. The extra praise makes her more willing to take it on the next time.