Ben&Gabe'smom Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I am planning my son's second grade year, and am unsure if he needs more phonics instruction. He reads books such as the Mr Putter and Tabby series with relative ease. We used McRuffy Phonics and Reading 1 this year and I would really like to get away from the all inclusive langage arts. Would a child at this level benefit from more direct phonics instruction, or would a spelling program such as Rod and Staff be enough? If he does need more phonics, I would appreciate it if you could recommend a simple one. This is my first child that I am teaching, and I did not learn to read this way, so I really do not know how extensive this all is. Thank you so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Five More Minutes Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I switched from direct phonics instruction to using a phonics-based spelling program once my dd was able to read simple readers well. (I used the All About Reading readers, and am not sure how they compare with the level your son is at, but it sounds similar.) So far, so good -- she's reading well! :-) (Mostly I'm bumping this for you ... hopefully someone with more experience will jump in.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 We have just hung up OPGTR and have now begun using AAS for her continued phonics. She (dd7 that is) can read very well, now, but she has trouble with words with more than three syllables and unusual combinations such as gh, ph, or kn. She knows them, but they just hang her up in multi-syllable words, so I am working more with her on spelling to just have her working with the letters, words and combinations slowly and thoughtfully. It is going very well. I highly recommend AAS--I think it lays a very solid foundation, and the multi-sensory approach is very effective. Both my dd7 and my ds11 have done very well with it. Ds 11 isn't doing it now, but we used it when he was about 9 to "repair" his "spelling" (if you could call it that!) By the end of book 2 he was a different kid in terms of his spelling and writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 We drop reading instruction at that point and move to phonics-based spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I think it depends on the child. If your child has picked up reading easily you could drop reading instruction. My oldest has benefitted from continuing Phonics after finishing 100 easy Lessons and Funnix. He was reading fluently at that point but still guessing at longer words and making silly mistakes. I stopped the phonics lessons and he seemed to stagnate. Six months ago I started having him read a page a day of Phonics Pathways (we started around page 50) then he reads for 10 to 15 minutes to me. It was an easy review for him so he didn't mind reading a page and I got to see what gaps he had. He also is in AAS 2 which has also helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie131 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I think it depends on the child. If your child has picked up reading easily you could drop reading instruction. My oldest has benefitted from continuing Phonics after finishing 100 easy Lessons and Funnix. He was reading fluently at that point but still guessing at longer words and making silly mistakes. I stopped the phonics lessons and he seemed to stagnate. Six months ago I started having him read a page a day of Phonics Pathways (we started around page 50) then he reads for 10 to 15 minutes to me. It was an easy review for him so he didn't mind reading a page and I got to see what gaps he had. He also is in AAS 2 which has also helped. It occured to me the other day that I inadvertently dropped phonics intruction w/ my 2nd grader (we were using AAS for spelling and phonics and it didn't work for us so we dropped it). I have been wondering if we should be doing more phonics or not. I have PP so I will have him do this and see how he does. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 My ds is in first grade but AAS has done wonders in boosting his confidence in reading, spelling, and writing for that matter. I ended up getting the AAR books. They are pricey but I like to coorelate it with his AAS steps.....I've noticed in his down time, he'll go back and read stories he has already read. That is a BIG step for him! He is just a 2-3 weeks from finishing AAS2 and I haven't decided yet if we take a small break to review or move to AAS3. Though we have almost completed OPGTR, I have to say that I have seen a big difference in learning phonics through AAS. Also, he is getting pretty bored with ETC......I feel that AAS is enough when we pair it with Spelling City and Reading a-z......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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