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McGuffey Readers??


buttercup
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We are on a mostly 4 day a week schedule, with Fridays being for fun stuff like games, art, and geography. I use the McGuffey and Elson Readers 4x a week (Mon-Thurs).

 

I just have my son just read to me 1 lesson a day out of each. We go over the words for the lesson, talking about their spelling and meaning. He enjoys reading them and we've used them from the primer on up to going into McGuffey 3 and Elson Reader 3 now. I plan to use them until we finish them all.

 

I don't and have not used them for reading instruction, though I think some people might do that? I used OPGR and Dancing Bears for that.

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I used them with my son because he taught himself, literally, all of the phonetic sounds. Before I have him read, I go over the new words with him. Then I'll call out a word and he points to it, and then I'll point to a word and he calls it out. Then we'll read through it, and then I'll call out a word and he has to point out where that word is in the story. Then, he gets to call words out for me to point to. He especially likes this:) If he had to have help reading the story, then we will read it again the next day. A few times every couple of weeks, we will practice reading fluency with them. Will use a lesson that he's already mastered; I read it and then he reads it mimicking how I read it. It's working really well for us. He just turned six.

 

My up and coming Kindergartener, I'm using 100EZ lessons.

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We're halfway through the second reader. I only use it once a week and mainly concentrate on fluency. We read the vocabulary words at the end and make sure she understand each one before we start reading. If she has a difficult time reading a passage fluently, we repeat it, but most of the time she does not need help.

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We use ETC primers to learn letter sounds, then I use homemade letter flashcards to cover blending. After they blend well, we move onto McGuffey readers. I discuss any new phonics sounds, then have them read a lesson. We usually cover a lesson each day. We continue with the ETC books as well. Once they are reading well, we move onto other readers (Frog and Toad, Amelia Bedelia, CLP Nature Readers, etc.).

 

This is basically how I taught my older two to read and they are doing very well.

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Thanks ladies! I was looking into using them for copywork, possibly spelling, and vocab. for my 4th grade ds.

 

Yes, that is possible. I have started using the Treadwell and the Elson primers with my 6yo. She reads aloud one story a week, then answers some comprehension questions (WTM-type narration), then copies one sentence in her best handwriting and we diagram it on the whiteboard. I have put photos of her copywork and diagram in my WTM album if you'd like to see.

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We rely heavily upon the McGuffey and Elson readers for our LA program. My son started reading them after he already learned how to read. This is how we use them:

 

He reads from McGuffey 3x/wk and Elson 2x/wk. In McGuffey, he begins with picture narration (though sometimes the images are a bit dark and hard to see). Then we go over the new words that are introduced. He reads the story for fluency and comprehension. I ask him comprehension questions a la WWE style; he then writes his own narration. Since the passages are much easier than WWE, he can easily write 2-3 sentences on his own. There is no need for me to write his narration. He does a really great job with this. :) This has been instrumental in building up his writing skills.

 

With McGuffey, he does copywork. Using his copywork, he does grammar study. He color codes all the types of punctuation. In addition, he color codes all parts of speech that we've covered in FLL. This is has been a great extension of FLL.

 

He does the same WWE narration and dictation for his Elson readers but no grammar study or copywork.

 

HTH,

Eva

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I've been having my son narrate to me from other things, such as our history reading. I hadn't even considered to try to use the Elson Readers or McGuffey for that purpose.

 

Narration is one thing that really challenges him and I bet this would really help in that department. Thanks SO much for that info :)

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We have used the McGuffey readers everyday this year. My ds completed American Language Series for Kindergarten and I felt like the McG readers were a good extension to that curriculum.

 

We skipped the Primer and started in Book 1. We read one lesson each day. We go over the new words (phonics) at the beginning of the story. If he does not know what a word means, I have him define it in his dictionary notebook (vocabulary and copywork). Then he reads the story for fluency and I will ask some comprehension questions. As we progressed into the second reader, we started doing some simple sentence diagramming.

 

This works for us. I've been pleased with his progress in fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. We just finished the second reader and I'd like to find more ways to integrate these into our second grade plans next year.

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