DB Fast Track and guessing

[LaughingCat]

We've done 2 days worth (4 pages) of Fast Track and I know it's too early to tell but I just can't contain myself - for the first time ever it appears I've found something that might break DD(8) of her guessing habit!

 

Everything I've tried previously has resulted in no improvement in how she attacked later words (on the same page even) and caused many meltdowns as well. We're not even doing the notched card as recommended (as we already have bad history with the notched card :glare:) so it's really just a simple tick mark if she gets the 4 words on a line correct - and it only took 1 missed line each night and, blammo, she was being very careful about looking at the actual letters in the rest of the words on the page AND taking correction with no attitude at all. The tick mark puts it ALL on the method (rather than me) for exactly when/what to repeat and gives her a little built in kudos too when she gets it right.

 

As I said above, it's too early to tell- but oh! my heart just soared when she starting being so very careful ON HER OWN with zero prompting from me. Yes! :hurray:

 

Here's the background on how we got here for anyone interested (long):

 

DD's tracking has improved from VT (gone from not able to track one line to about 2 pages of a (easy) chapter book (like MTH) -you can still hear clearly at the end of those 2 pages where her eyes tire and she goes back to having tracking issues). But as her tracking has improved it's become clear to me that although she knows her phonics and can use them with no problem she is instead continuing to use bad strategies she'd picked up when she hits unrecognized words. Guessing being the number one offender! She also has a mental block about longer words being "too hard".

 

I know some say that just means hit them harder with phonics but logically that didn't seem right to me - she can use the phonics, she just isn't doing it. So it seemed that working on letting go of the bad strategies, recognizing common words on sight (to add speed) and adding longer word strategies would be the places to focus - trying to work on exactly where DD is struggling rather than just hoping she "picks up" those things while banging away :smash: on phonics. I'm sure I'm misrepresenting but that is how the common advice reads to me -- no doubt the popular OG programs offer much more than just phonics, but the descriptions seem so heavily focused on phonics and I'm not convinced that is where her primary issues lie.

 

We were doing Abecedarian - did B1 with no issues at all, and had started B2 but 1/3 way though it has started making too big of leaps for her in the longer word strategy dept. at the same time that the other sections are still relatively easy for her.

 

So I started trying to pull together what I thought she needed on my own - and then I happened to see some old post that said they loved Dancing Bears and they just skipped the stories. Since the stories being why I had rejected DB before and she's really liking Apples and Pears (still early in that too) I thought maybe I should look at that again - and amazingly it had all the ideas I was putting together on my own for what DD needed plus some.

 

Here's the different types of things in the book and how they matched what I was trying to put together:

 

the tick mark method - missed lines have to be repeated (the next day) until they are read correctly. I never guessed that would work so well -- but I was planning on doing something similar - more along the lines of a spelling word suggestion I've seen with words repeated on regular but longer intervals (every day, 1/week, 1/month) as it's gotten right (only of course I was going to have her read the word correctly rather than spell it correctly).

 

Automaticity w/ Phonics (and no guessing): Lots of unusual short words to practice using her phonics and not guessing. Using real words or parts of real words rather than nonsense words just appeals to ME - I've always strongly disliked nonsense word practice. Abeced. has similar pages but only a few common words repeated many times over the page - I think this helps with fluency for those words but didn't really help DD with phonics practice. Abeced. short B does use nonsense words (which is why I didn't pick it :tongue_smilie:).

 

Fluency (moving common words to on-sight words): 4 word timed fluency readings -- I had actually started doing just that with DD by making lists of 5 words and having a time to beat but love DB's choice of having both a longer "passing" time and extra stars for hitting shorter times.

 

Chunking: Sentences to read using the words being practiced -- I had noticed DD did fine reading a page worth of common short words in rows but still sometimes struggled reading those same words aloud in a sentence so I was working on creating sentences for her to read using common words. From my reading, there is a phrase level chunking skill that most kids pick up transparently and (I believe) DD missed due to the vision issues. We also had been going back and rereading Dr. Seuss in this vein (but DD thinks that is too babyish - another struggle area).

 

Cloze sentences -- I'm eh about these as DD has not struggled with these so far (in Abeced.). I had them on my list to investigate more about why it's suggested to do them - but haven't gotten to it yet.

 

The morpheme approach - showing how words add on to each other to make larger words (turn return returned). Abecd. B2 starts something similar too but in a different way - presenting a common word ending and then a few words using it (tion: station motion action) - which is frustrating DD ("I just don't GET it MOM!) even though she could read the words - we'll see if the DB way is better - but that's still quite a few pages off.

 

And of course the oddball stories - right now I'm planning on leaving it up to DD if she wants to read these or not. I would love to be using the later "I See Sam" readers instead - but DD strongly dislikes them. I may end up giving her a choice here instead - read this or read 1 "I see Sam" story (hoping that she picks the "I See Sam" LOL).

[LaughingCat]

4 days later - the close attention paying didn't last of course :glare: BUT I pulled out the notched card when going back over previously missed lines - and said "This is how they say to do it, but I was giving you a break.... since you missed this line a couple times already, we're going to do it the way we're supposed too." And not a peep out of her. The notched card worked just as it was supposed to of course, and she had no trouble with the words then. Then when we got to new lines, she even asked to continue using the card. The "many teeny rewards" (i.e. tick marks) is continuing to work (and oh, how I hope that keeps up!).

 

I can see this is going to be a bit of a slog though. Opposite of Apples & Pears where DD asks to do it and sometimes even wants to do more than 1 lesson. BUT as long as it gets done with minimal fussing and meltdowns, I will still be dancing. It still seems so exactly what she needs but only time will tell if it truly makes a difference.

 

Lastly, a question for you all that have used Dancing Bears or Fast Track. Occasionally as DD sounded out a word (as the card moved along), she would miss the right sound and then correct herself, then when she actually said the word (pulled the sounds together) she would say the right word. Would you consider that a mistake or not? I'm thinking not - because when she actually said the word, she said it correctly. But the instructions seem to say ANY mistake...?

 

Plus I can really tell that I need to work on my card technique - making it move along smoothly and quickly (so she's not waiting on me!). Do you just go in quick movements across the word to visually break it up into its components or wait for them to say the each sound? I guess I'll just have to try out different things.

 

LL

[Ottakee]

I would give her the mark if she self corrects in the middle of the word.

 

Once she is doing a bit more reading, try putting a card ABOVE the line she is reading and then move it down as she goes. I know that typically you put it under the line they are reading but it blocks the flow from line to line and putting it above the line they are reading seems to work better here.

 

I would also look at the I See Sam books http://www.3rsplus.com for good reading stories. More fun than DB or FT (which are good for drills) and they get lots of practice.

[LaughingCat]

I sneak the card above the line in whenever I can - DD strongly prefers it below the line - but that's different than the notched card moving sound by sound. I wonder if I could try the notched card upside down though, hmmm.....

 

And unfortunately DD thinks the "I See Sam" books (4th set) are too babyish. She doesn't enjoy them at all. I bought sets 4,5, & 6 and have some fear I'll be selling sets 5 & 6 unopened :glare: However I might give FT a week or two more (to let the drills do their work) and then squeeze them back in by giving her the choice of more FT or "I See Sam".

 

LL

[coffeegal]

I would give her the mark if she self corrects in the middle of the word.

 

 

:iagree: If dd is able to self correct, I count it as correct. We review like crazy when I prompt her. :001_smile: