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ETC.....do I need the 1/2 books?


cam112198
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I had purchased the 2.5 and 3.5 books with the intention of doing them as a Bridge over Summer Break, between Kindy and First Grade. Yeah, that didn't happen. So we went ahead and ordered 4,5 and 6 for this year and started in. Dd had a big block moving on to Book 4, it was just too hard for her. So I backed off and gave her 2.5 to do instead. We're almost done and will then move on to 3.5. I'm glad I did. The skills jump to Book 4 was really erroding her confidence and setting us up for big arguments every day. So we'll try using them again for Second Grade when she's a little more advanced.

 

I guess my point is, they're good to have for extra practice or if your child isn't quite ready to go on to the next book.

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I am going to be the lone dissenter (sort of...maybe just adding more of a caveat). I have come to believe more and more in the concept of "overteach". Not too many things need to be "overtaught" (taught until it is so absolutely automatic that they can do it in their sleep) but imo math and phonics are two biggies that demand overteach.

 

If your child can spell all the words from ETC 1 without having to even stop and think (or at least not think much ;)) I would move on. If not, I would do the half books. I have taught 3 boys to read and spell with ETC and we did every.single.book.in.the.series - even when they could do the above. We just flew through the half books and made it fun. :001_smile: My youngest is on 1 1/2 now. His reading is really strong but his spelling is slower so we are taking our time and working through each and every assignment. I sit right beside my boys the entire time they are working on ETC to catch any errors and to provide instant support as well. I never use it as independent work. Obviously not everyone will use it the same way I have but I wanted to share my experiences.

 

Here is an old blog post of mine that details more about how I used (am using) ETC with my boys: Thoughts on Explode the Code

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