She's blending!!!! Now what?

[IceFairy]

Two weeks ago I was convinced DD(4.5) was going to be a late reader. I shelved OPGTR and decided to focus on other things. Well, Monday she pulled out an old wkst of DS and asked gow to do it. I told her and sure enough she matched all 5 pictures to their words. Today, I printed a similiar worksheet and she matched all 5 words again, including two with consonant blends (clap and flap). Its like it "clicked" out of the blue!!!

 

So, we didn't like OPGTR at all. DS used ETC 1 at that age but DD is not ready for major writing.... I guess I could skip the heavy writing pages.... But what are some other options? Oh, she is a great memorizer and auditory learner.

[ElizabethB]

:)

 

You could use Blend Phonics, free online at Don Potter's website, doing it on the whiteboard and with some oral spelling.

 

http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/blend_phonics.html

 

My phonics concentration game is a fun addition.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

[melbotoast]

DS loved Elizabeth's concentration game! We also liked progressivephonics.com.

[boscopup]

I like Phonics Pathways better than OPGTR. The font is bigger! My 3.5 year old likes it. He does very little at a time, but he does ask for "reading lessons".

[ByGrace3]

All About Reading is so much fun!

[PachiSusan]

That's awesome!!!

 

Honest question here: is 4.5-5 considered a late reader? Developmentally speaking, some kids don't read until 7 or 8 (because their brain hasn't made the connections yet) and that's still in the curve of normal from everything I've seen.

[Dahliarw]

That's awesome! I'd work on phonics (teaching all the sounds a letter can make) and letting her read simple blends (the bob books are great for this). You can also begin introducing site words (which are pure memorization). When she's ready, move on to simple reading rules, like silent e, etc. You don't need a curriculum to do this. You could even just look at WHAT is taught in OPGTR and then google and come up with more fun activities that teach those same concepts.

[boscopup]

That's awesome!!!

 

Honest question here: is 4.5-5 considered a late reader? Developmentally speaking, some kids don't read until 7 or 8 (because their brain hasn't made the connections yet) and that's still in the curve of normal from everything I've seen.

 

Agreed. 4.5 is usually considered on the early-ish side. Usually people don't worry about "late readers" until they're 6 or 7. :)

 

Also, blending to reading can happen at drastically different paces. My oldest couldn't blend until 4.5, but his first book was grade level 1.5 - he could just instantly read (very cool to watch!), and his reading level went up very quickly. My middle son could blend at age 4, but now at 6, he's STILL in the sounding out most words phase. He isn't even ready to read those Dr. Seuss books on his own yet.

[Chris in VA]

You could try some Montessori-inspired reading games. I'd give her lots of opportunities to use what she knows. We particularly liked the moveable alphabet with tiny objects, the object boxes, and the Command Game. It's fun to collect the objects, or you can order from the cheaper Monti sites (sometimes ebay has stuff, too). These work well alongside a more formal program (and I like Phonics Pathways better than OPGtR, too, but I supplemented with Bob books, homemade books, and Primary Phonics books).

 

This is a fun Monti site with lots of links. The boxes here are not the object boxes I mean--these are just initial sound boxes, but the concept is similar--small objects that have CVC names (fox, box, dog, cat, rat, can, man...) go in a cute box, with slips of paper with their names on them. Match. It's like a hands-0n worksheet, only you can play other games with them. You can set them one at a time on a mat, too, and have dd spell their names beside them in moveable letters (plastic magnet letters work, or some wooden ones--I like Melissa and Doug's set, but you need more than that so you can do lots of words).