MistyMountain Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I have no idea if I was taught to read using phonics or sight words or some other way. All I remember is that we were not taught to read in kindergarten. I had a really mean kindergarten teacher I didn't like and I switched schools in 1st grade to the public school. I was wondering why I couldn't read after kindergarten and I asked my Grandma when I would be able to read that summer. She told me they teach that in 1st grade. I remember going in to school knowing I be taught to read and I remember one reading lesson and it was super easy to learn. I can't remember it being a long process and needing lots of practice with different type of readers and lots of lessons on blending and phonics rules and I don't remember sight word walls or speed drills. I have a really good memory for childhood stuff. I remember a lot of other stuff in detail from younger ages but not that. Maybe I can't remember because it was easy for me and I would day dream a lot in school. I don't know if we were taught with sight words or phonics. Am I the only one who isn't sure. Do you remember how you were taught if you learned in school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Abeka c. 1970s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I didn't go to kindergarten, wasn't really promoted back in 1972 where I lived. I remember sight words and phonics, combining sounds and such. I remember reading aloud in class. It came easily to me as well. I don't remember speed drills at all. We had no speed drills in math either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 With phonics. I remember seeing the letters up on the wall, marked with the lines above the vowels. The A had the mark for short A, long A, and the one that says "ah" had two balls above it. I haven't seen that in any phonics materials since then. I can't remember it being a long process and needing lots of practice with different type of readers and lots of lessons on blending and phonics rules and I don't remember sight word walls or speed drills. One thing I like about 100 EZ Lessons is that they don't learn phonics rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I don't remember, either. We didn't learn to read in kindergarten. I remember one girl could read a little bit and I was sooo impressed. :) I guess we learned to read in 1st grade. By 2nd grade, I was the strongest reader in my class. I was the first student to get special permission to move up to the section of older kids' books. I have no idea if we learned with phonics or not, but I bet we did. Oh, I know we used those little colored booklets. I can't remember what they were called, but DS's 1st grade teacher used them in her classroom when he was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendedforecast Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I learned in preschool. I remember learning the letter sounds at preschool, and then I have memories of my older brother teaching me how to blend the sounds to make words. When his teacher found out that he was teaching me to read, she started sending home phonics worksheets for me. I remember my mom being surprised and puzzled that I could read before kindergarten. In kinder, we did letter of the week workbooks. I was so bored. In 1st grade we had a phonics time where we were broken into groups according to our needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I have no clue. I don't even remember when I learned how to read. All I know is that when I started second grade I hated to read (and probably wasn't a very proficient reader yet?) but by the end of the year I'd turned into a total bookworm. I'm pretty sure I started out not reading much at all that year but by the end of the year had read every book in the Little House and Ramona series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Dick and Jane, back in the early 1960s. However, my mom had a copy of Why Johnny Can't Read (yes, the book is that old!) which had lists of phonics blends (like cat, cot, cut), and she probably made us sound the lists out at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) The only thing I remember about 1st and 2nd grade were the Dick and Jane books and spelling lists. I remember the spelling lists having rules. So, I am guessing they used a sight reading method. I already knew how to read at that point. This was in the late 60's in California. eta: oh wait, I do remember doing flash cards sent home from school, with my mom, in first grade, so it is pointing more and more to sight words. I don't think they taught me though, I already knew all the words and was reading, if I remember correctly, 8th grade level with another girl in my class by the time I was in 2nd grade. I only went to 3 months of kindergarten so it wasn't there. I am starting to wonder how I did learn how to read, lol. Edited March 17, 2012 by jcooperetc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I'm pretty sure it was by sight-words. "A Magical Afternoon" - anyone remember that reading text? This would have been in MN, 1st grade - 1975 or 1976. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 i don't really remember being taught to read. i don't even remember what early readers they used. i do remember the "letter people" in kindergarten. we were not taught to read in kindergarten though, that was more play based with centers, circle time, show & tell, etc. reading was taught in grade 1 & 2. i'm 40 now, so this was back in the 70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 DISTAR, or as it's commonly called in hs'ing circles - 100 EZ Lessons. :D It was exactly like that, except our teacher had a super large book to show the lessons to the class. I remember trying to read the red writing on the side and feeling like I knew some great big secret when I found out it was the script. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Sight reading. Happily, my grandmother relentlessly nagged me to sound things out, and I'm very visual, so I caught on easily. Mr. Ellie also learned by sight reading. He reads pretty well, but he really struggles with sounding out new words, especially if they are multisyllabic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I'm pretty sure it was phonics, but I'm also pretty sure I entered K reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Early 60s...sight reading from the Alice and Jerry books, like Dick & Jane. Somehow, I always saw the connection between the letters and the sounds, so...I also self-taught phonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 My mom taught me before I started school, using basic phonics rules. In school we learned phonics. "Sound it out," was commonly used. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I taught myself to read listening in to my mom's ESL lessons. I did not go to Kindergarten. We had some Dick and Jane readers at home that I read for fun. By the time I started first grade at age 5, I was bored silly with the reading lessons. I remember having to do phonics in first grade and thought it was the stupidest thing ever because to my immature mind it was "obvious". Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately to keep me from a swelled head) I was exactly the opposite in math and was a very late bloomer who couldn't get what was obvious to my classmate. (Yes - just one classmate - I was in a one room schoolhouse). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) Who really knows? I do remember being a relatively good reader in KG, and my teacher made me read a book to the class. I found the book on ebay and bought it. It is definitely more a sight-word book than a phonics book. However, I distinctly remember my KG teacher telling kids to "sound it out" when they came to a new word. I remember being afraid that when I encountered a new word, I would make the wrong choice when deciding whether to sound it out (i.e., whether or not it was a "sight word"). So I'm pretty sure my KG teacher used both phonics and sight words side-by-side. I suspect that I could read a bit before entering KG thanks to being read to by my mom, but I can't be sure of that. I started KG a year early at age 4. That was 1971. Edited March 17, 2012 by SKL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 With a magnifying glass and the dictionary OED. Root/Suffix/Etymologically I suppose... So sight I'd have to say... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I taught myself to read when I was 4 by following along with my mom when she read to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashfern Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was reading by 3. Don't know how I learned. I do remember doing phonics in 2nd-3rd grade. I hated it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 My mom taught us to read very early using the McGuffey series. We were all reading proficiently before kindergarten (in fact when my mom took me in for testing the teacher mispronounced something in the instructions she was reading and I corrected her...from across the table! I was following along and reading upside-down! She closed the test booklet and said, "OK, she passes the reading part." :D). I really believe the way we were taught to read (which is the same series I'm using with my own dc) contributed to all of us reading and spelling very, very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wabi Sabi Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I'm pretty sure it was by sight-words. "A Magical Afternoon" - anyone remember that reading text? This would have been in MN, 1st grade - 1975 or 1976. Was it part of the "Good morning Buffy! Good morning Mac!" series? Here: http://www.paperbackswap.com/Magic-Afternoon-Grade-Elizabeth-K-Cooper/book/015331253X/ If so, I actually have that entire series on my bookshelf right now! I don't remember whether I actually used them in school but I do have very clear memories of my younger sister reading them over and over. I found a used set and bought them in a fit of nostalgia. I used them with my first grader at the beginning of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I remember "Lions," "Tigers," and "Dinosaurs" from first grade. I am not sure I did all three pre-primers since I was not a beginner at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Cornelia Snook Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Must have been phonics. I wasn't reading before kindergarten, but I remember doing things with Letter People, and I remember a phonics workbook I was given for homework in first grade. I learned to read really fast and was always ahead in my reading and LA classes (a complete math dunce, though!). This was in AZ in 1982. My MIL mentioned that she still has a hard time reading some things, sounding them out. She was taught (early 50s) with Dick and Jane. I'm glad to have 100 Easy Lessons for my son who has been slow to pick up reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I don't remember, just that Dr. Seuss books were used and I knew how to read before K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Figured out on my own before school. :tongue_smilie: At school, no idea how do you call the method, we were not educated in English, but in a rather phonetic language, so it was easy. By the time we got to learn English, we were reading already, so nobody taught us to specifically decode words in English. I had no idea what phonics WAS until I crossed Atlantic, and had no idea about reading wars. Everybody I knew was reading, period, and English was awkward to read, but it had a certain logic to it which you grasped after a while and it became quite intuitive too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nertsmommy Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was in K in 1981 in NY. I remember very clearly that we learned phonics. I remember the workbooks we had and how bored I was because it came easy to me. The workbooks weren't all colorful like they are now. Ours were just simple pictures and they involved using our listening skills as well. I wish I could remember what they were called, I'd love to find those books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Abeka c. 1970s Me too, except it was in the 1980s. I don't think they have edited their books since the 70s though. I suspect there are quite a few of us Abeka taught folks on the boards since it was pretty much the only curriculum at the time for homeschoolers/Christian schoolers. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I don't know. I taught myself before I was 3. Oddly, neither of my parents are readers, so I have no idea where it came from for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) I was reading before I started school, but I remember our first grade text was called Surprises! I've been trying to track it down for a few years (curiosity), but the title makes it a difficult search. ETA: Ha! I found it on Google Books. :P It's not available to view, but it's from the "Young Canada Reading Series" and was published in 1960. Edited March 17, 2012 by nmoira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was reading before I started school, but I remember our first grade text was called Surprises! I've been trying to track it down for a few years (curiosity), but the title makes it a difficult search. Maybe this booklist will help? http://www.thebackpack.com/used_reading_literature_textbooks.htm I know Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin both had Surprises books. ETA: NM! Glad you found it! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 according to my mother I taught myself to read in the first month of Kindy. She told me a list of things I had to know to go to grade 1, apparently I had finished the whole list before the end of September and announced I was ready for grade 1, and was quite put out by the fact I had to wait for the year to end. On that list was tying my shoes, reading, adding, whistling, and she can't remember what else but a few other things. (Of course I was also the child that came home from the first day of K and announced that from that day on I would call her mom not mommy because I was too old now, and in the same breath excitely told her how they play the hockey song at school aka the national anthem. I do not remember learning to read. I do remember keeping a reading log each year and having WAY more done in June than anyone else in class. I remember doing SRA pages and finishing them off early in the year too. And I remember doing my spelling lists and being bored because I already knew all the words each week but had to do all the daily activities anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 1967- SRA Reading labs. Even though the levels were color coded, we kids figured out which kids were the good readers and which were the slow ones. The next year we moved to a different state and I was so far ahead of my classmates that I was just allowed to read library books instead of going to reading circles. And I was assigned to help other kids complete their worksheets. I recall hating that year!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StartingOver Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I went to preschool in Weslaco, TX and there was a huge ESL presence we all learned with phonics approach in both languages Spanish and English. I remember moving and going to school in the Corpus Christi area and they had Dick and Jane books for 1st and I could read most of it but was frustrated that I didn't know them all. Little did I know at the time that I actually knew tons more, and zoomed on past that tough spot as soon as I learned the most common sight words. I could read about anything with mostly phonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellers Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I remember reading Dick and Jane books in the mid 70's. I wasn't taught phonics. I recall being very confused. I think I must have been a late reader. I grew up in the valley - California. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I don't remember, but I think that is because it came very easy for me. I think I learned in K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmommy Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) I dont remember learning to read, but i was reading at least a year before starting kindergarten. My parents say i just picked it up, but i had three brothers 4,5 and 7 years older then i was and after their experience with my oldest brother in K they werent about to leave it to up to the public school. i think i just picked up the jist of it from my parents working with my brothers and just having parents and grandparents who valued literacy and spent a lot time reading to us. i dont know what method the first K i attended used (a whole language approach i think), but the district we moved to that year used Dick and Jane style readers. i really hated those readers and even the most advanced reading group was a waste of time for me at that point. Edited March 17, 2012 by akmommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 According to my mom, I taught myself somewhere between three and four. She had a collection of little golden books, and apparently I figured it out from hearing her read them to me. She doesn't know how old I was exactly because she thought all children learned to read that way, so she didn't really pay much attention. :tongue_smilie: When I went through first grade, they taught via phonics, so any gaps I might have had would have been filled in then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicianmom Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 My mom taught me when I was 2, using sight words Doman-style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I have no idea if I was taught to read using phonics or sight words or some other way. All I remember is that we were not taught to read in kindergarten. I had a really mean kindergarten teacher I didn't like and I switched schools in 1st grade to the public school. I was wondering why I couldn't read after kindergarten and I asked my Grandma when I would be able to read that summer. She told me they teach that in 1st grade. I remember going in to school knowing I be taught to read and I remember one reading lesson and it was super easy to learn. I can't remember it being a long process and needing lots of practice with different type of readers and lots of lessons on blending and phonics rules and I don't remember sight word walls or speed drills. I have a really good memory for childhood stuff. I remember a lot of other stuff in detail from younger ages but not that. Maybe I can't remember because it was easy for me and I would day dream a lot in school. I don't know if we were taught with sight words or phonics. Am I the only one who isn't sure. Do you remember how you were taught if you learned in school. Yeah - I have the same experience. We just.... read. A lot. Other than the basic alphabet sounds, I don't think we did any phonics..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 With phonics. I remember seeing the letters up on the wall, marked with the lines above the vowels. The A had the mark for short A, long A, and the one that says "ah" had two balls above it. I haven't seen that in any phonics materials since then. This was how I learned in Kindergarten in 1975/76. Then we had the plaid phonics books in 1-3 grades. This was public school in NJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grover Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I don't remember not reading. I *do* remember starting school being told I would "learn to read now" and finding out on the first day that I could already do it. I went to my teacher at the end of my first week and thanked her and told her I wouldn't be back. "Why not?" she asked. "I came to school to learn to read and I've done that so I don't need to come anymore." I believe she told me she still had a few more things to teach me and perhaps I'd like to try some of them next week, :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmith Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I learned to read from my mom reading aloud to us. I just naturally picked it up. I remember Dick and Jane books in school, and other similar types of books. I think our school used a combination of sight words and phonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissad2 Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I believe I learned using ABEKA phonics. I went to a small Christian school and I actually came across a few of my books a few years ago :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was one of those freak toddlers where the parent all of a sudden realizes that their child can read. My mom was teaching my sister (2yrs older) with 100EZ lessons/DISTAR, so I know we were taught with a phonetic base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
july19 Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) I don't remember since I was reading before age 2. :lol: I kid, I kid. My parents had been teaching me phonics at home instead of going to pre-school (which was so scandalous in my itty bitty town!), so I entered Kindergarten with a good idea on how to read, but they didn't start teaching us. So my parents kept teaching me at home and I really mastered how to read at about 5/6 years old. But when I entered 1st grade, they were teaching sight words. And had the nerve to tell my parents that they should stop teaching phonics, since it goes against what they were teaching. I remember my parents being pretty upset. In fact, if you ask my dad, he still gets his feathers ruffled about it. Edited March 17, 2012 by july19 grammar issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I learned to read when I was three from being read to a lot. I don't remember any specific instruction so I guess it was probably by sight. I know I learned phonics at some point in school because I remember trying to sound out new words - like lingerie - and it not working well. I teach mostly phonics with some high frequency words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Hooked on Phonics well before Kindergarten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Why I remember this, I do not know, but I learned to read by a method called, "ita." I went to this really small, private kindergarten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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