Supplement to teach sounding out long multi-syllabic words

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My dd 8 who reads on about a 5th-6th grade level seems to havevtrouble sounding out new words, especially when they are more than four syllables. Also, sounding out place names and proper names gives her trouble.

 

I've tried showing her to sound out, from left to right, but it's not working. I need some kind of workbook or other supplement.

 

She completed Phonics Pathways at 6 and did an additional two years of phonics using MCP Plaid, if that helps.

 

Ideas?

[AngieW in Texas]

You need Rewards Intermediate. That's exactly what the program was designed for. What you need is the student book and the teacher book and nothing else.

 

http://www.soprislearning.com/cs/Satellite?c=CLG_Content_P&childpagename=Sopris%2FSopris_Layout&cid=1277940903905&pagename=Sopris_Wrapper&rendermode=previewnoinsite

 

Here is a recent discussion of the program:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=405289&highlight=rewards

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Hmm...that looks ok but...Anything else?

 

My dd is reading 3 grades above grade level so I'm Not at the point where I want to invest $100.00 yet. I'm just looking to prevent a big problem later by teaching properly now...which is a little different than remediating.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Calming Tea

[kalanamak]

http://www.amazon.com/McGuffeys-Eclectic-Spelling-William-McGuffey/dp/0471289434

 

YOu can get this at gutenburg, too.

 

It is lists of words with pronunciation marks and broken into syllables. I never used it for spelling, only pronunciation and vocab

[Vida Winter]

I would suggest Toe-by-Toe:

 

 

http://www.toe-by-toe.co.uk/

 

 

I used this with my daughter a few years ago because she had developed the habit of guessing at long words. It is reasonably priced compared to Rewards. We had also used Rewards but I thought Toe-by-Toe was more comprehensive. Toe-by-Toe is used for a few minutes per day.

[ElizabethB]

My syllable division rules and exercises and then the 1908 Webster's Speller. Syllables that end in a consonant are short: ab eb ib ob ub like an Ed it on up and syllables that end in a vowel are long: ba be bi bo bu by: like be hi go mu my. In words, a says ah like in ma, but in syllables it is long like in ba-ker.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/Resources/syllable%20division%20charta.pdf

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/Resources/syllable%20division%20exercisea.pdf

 

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/websterspellingbookmethod.pdf

 

Megawords is also good for combining with spelling, and Marcia Henry's Words for combining syllable division with spelling and root word study.

[PeterPan]

You could actually be seeing a working memory or vision problem, not a *phonics* problem. Try giving her digit spans (visual or auditory) of increasing lengths. With my dd I found that the way she stumbled on digit spans mirrored what happened when she attempted to sound out words.

 

For the vision, you go to COVD to find a developmental optometrist. They can screen during a regular appointment or do a full developmental eval. That screening with regular appointment is around $60 in our area, just like an appointment with any other eye doc, but you get that extra info.

 

As far as working memory, well you can test it informally yourself, but then you need a psychologist (neuropsych, ed psych, whatever) to do something more official. They can look at working memory but also run a CTOPP (test of phonological processing) to sort through what the cause actually is. For us it was a combo of things, so we've done all that. (similar situation, with an otherwise strong reader who inexplicably couldn't/wouldn't sound out)

[MomatHWTK]

I'm using this to teach syllables:

http://penningtonpublishing.com/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/1/

 

ETA: I somehow managed to get the entire publication free, I see that it costs now.

 

You can view the book here though:

http://books.google.com/books?id=pfVZTJ3XuUsC&pg=PP4&lpg=PP4&dq=phonemic+awareness+phonics+toolkit&source=bl&ots=ToFEH42alQ&sig=II0K6kJ54tWoROu3GEwBup8Q_h4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hDwBUO_RIaPo6wGq8pz7Bg&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=phonemic%20awareness%20phonics%20toolkit&f=false

Edited July 14, 2012 by MomatHWTK

[FO4UR]

Spelling ala Spalding, SWR, PR....

 

 

And, take a 3x5 index card and cut a notch in the corner to use as a cursor (and bookmark). Encourage her to use the cursor to uncover one sound of a word at a time when she gets to a word that she doesn't know. Do some shared reading so that you can model this and supervise her doing it at least a little bit each day.

 

(I got the cursor idea from Dancing Bears. You can read the books online on their website. I do appreciate the "word builder" pages b/c they take a root word and add on affixes one at a time, making multisylabic words.)

[Alice]

We used the Explode the Code workbook that deals with this, I think it’s book 4. We had used ETC early on and then stopped but then went back to it just for the one book and the extra help.

[boscopup]

Teaching syllabication does wonders. I'd try that first.

 

We used AAS, but any of the Spalding-based ones, Elizabeth's syllabication worksheets, and other sources would work great. It's amazing what a difference it makes when the child knows how the different syllable types work, like open and closed syllables, etc.

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Thanks Elizabeth. I have always thought your website is a great resource and now I will be using it myself. I appreciate the work you have put into it.

 

I'm going to try doing the syllabification exercises, followed by the Webster's Speller words starting on page 69.

 

I printed everything out, ready to go. This will take us through the next several months, and there's still plenty on that page after that too.

 

If you have time, could you direct me to the page on your site that tells me how to use the Speller?

[kirstenhill]

My dd 8 who reads on about a 5th-6th grade level seems to havevtrouble sounding out new words, especially when they are more than four syllables. Also, sounding out place names and proper names gives

 

My dd is so similar! I gave her a quick reading level test and she scored similarly...but the words she got wrong, she got SO wrong. She often just guessed some completely wrong word. We're working through Logic of English, so I'm hoping that will help eventually with this issue too (she's a really poor speller). I might check out some of the resources in this post too.

 

The comment someone made (sorry, I don't know how to quote multiple posts) about working memory rings a bit true though. I find that when I am spelling out loud a word for DD to write down, she will totally lose track of what she is writing down if I tell her more than about two letters at once. Though I am not quite sure I understand how poor working memory would lead to not being able to out? I can see not being able to blend, but would it lead to her just guessing at big words? Or is that maybe just a bad habit and the potential issue with working memory is maybe separate.

[PeterPan]

The comment someone made (sorry, I don't know how to quote multiple posts) about working memory rings a bit true though. I find that when I am spelling out loud a word for DD to write down, she will totally lose track of what she is writing down if I tell her more than about two letters at once. Though I am not quite sure I understand how poor working memory would lead to not being able to out? I can see not being able to blend, but would it lead to her just guessing at big words? Or is that maybe just a bad habit and the potential issue with working memory is maybe separate.

Handy dandy search turned this up. http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/otherissues/ Scroll down to where it discusses working memory. Not sure the article mentions vision, and developmental vision skills are STRONGLY linked to what we're talking about. They're used along with the working memory (visual working memory, visualization as you read to improve comprehension) and of course for tracking. My dd started sounding out spontaneously, after years of rejecting my every effort, after a couple months of vision therapy. COVD is where you find a developmental optometrist to check that. They can do a full developmental eval, or they can do a regular vision exam and just *screen* for the developmental stuff. That's what I recommend, that regular exam with a screening. You'd get your kid's eyes checked anyway, so just do it with a doc who screens for the extra stuff that affects school work. :)

 

This is just me, but any time a parent is saying how lazy their kid is, blah blah, my first question is what problem has been missed. Almost invariably it turns out there's something going on. Kids this age are so generally willing to please, wanting to please, that when they DON'T comply, there's a reason. And we doubt ourselves so much that we think the problem is US, that we didn't teach it well enough, blah blah.

 

I posted on these boards for years and years saying things that were clearly red flags (my kid won't color, my kid is an awesome reader but doesn't decode, my kid seems to need short lessons, my kid this and that) and no one took me to the mat and told me straight that those were red flags for stuff. So I'm telling you what I wish someone had told me. Maybe I wouldn't have listened. :lol:

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My dd goes to a renowned surgical pediatric opthamologist every year and they do a reading visual screening. However I will ask him if what he's doing would cover what you are suggesting.

 

However, my dd does stop and sound out if I ask her to. Bigger letters seem to help. She is not refusing to do anything, sue just has never learned anything about syllables except what's covered in phonics pathways. So It makes sense to me to try this first before spending time and money running to doctors.

[PeterPan]

The optham. often poo-poo the developmental optometrists, so if you actually have reason to question the developmental stuff, I would go ahead and get the developmental optometrist. They're looking at different things and not interchangeable.

[ElizabethB]

If you have time, could you direct me to the page on your site that tells me how to use the Speller?

 

Here it is:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/webstersway.html

 

And, my phonics lesson 32, go to 7:30 (about 1/2 way through) has a bit about using Webster's Speller.)