Dancing Bears users ...

[Amy Jo]

When/how did you start having your child read real books? DS10 is around page 80 of Fast Track, and we tried buddy reading (each taking a paragraph) a book on Patrick Henry yesterday and he did very well. We did use the cursor. I'm wanting to assign him a few minutes a day of independent reading, either from a nature book or a fiction book (I was thinking Farmer Boy). I just don't want him to go back to guessing / assuming. I'm also wondering if I should have him narrate or just let him enjoy the story and assume he is understanding unless he says otherwise. Right now most of his reading is audio books or me reading aloud.

[Nart]

I wouldn't jump to Farmer Boy. Farmer Boy seems like it would be way above the level of someone in Fast Track.My son finished Fast Track and is now on Level C. To build his stamina and confidence I choose books that are a little below his reading level. He has been enjoying the Level 3 and 4 I Can Read nonfiction books. I would start with some level 3 books (Wagon Wheels, Buffalo Bill, Dolphins, etc.) Here is the link

 

http://www.amazon.com/I-CAN-READ-BOOKS-Level/lm/R2B3NYD5BV7MN

 

Then move on to level 4

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/Kids/SeriesDetail.aspx?PSId=135

[coffeegal]

Dd read regular books the entire time we were remediating with Dancing Bears and did just fine. Her comprehension and speed increased as we worked through the series. We started using TOG as she was finishing the last book of Dancing Bears, and the reading in TOG completed the process. There's nothing like reading to improve reading once the basic skills are set. :001_smile: As for narrating, my kids love a casual narration of what they're reading. They'll share jokes they've read, adventures the characters are having, and their favorite parts of the book. I'd keep it casual. Perhaps tell your son a funny from what you're reading and ask him to share something interesting from his reading.

[sixpence1978]

My DD also read regular books all through Fast Track. She is nearly done with C now and still couldn't make it through Farmer Boy. Not that she can't finally decode most of the words, but the font is too small and the book is still just too much. We read a lot of the Sonlight Readers for Grade 2 and Grade 3 during Fast Track if you want to know about what level she was able to handle.

 

We also have never done narration for a book like that. I want her to enjoy the reading process. We wait on narration either for books I am reading to her or for during history or science.

[alisoncooks]

Not to derail the thread, but for those that had their children reading regular books, did you use the curser for them?

(I know the OP said she did...)

[Aurelia]

Why not have him read aloud to you? If he wants to read Farmer Boy, have him read it aloud. That's what I did with DD.

 

You can also let him read easy books to himself to start, like the leveled readers or familiar picture books (he will be more likely to know the words and not guess). As he gets more skilled, have him read longer books alone.

[FO4UR]

When we were on page 80 of Fast Track, ds could not have done Farmer Boy.

 

We are at about page 50 of Book C and he's able to read Farmer Boy (or similar level books).

 

 

Different kids are ...different....though, so if you think he can do it, go for it. Just have him read aloud to you from whatever book a little bit each day. You want to keep a check on things.

[coffeegal]

Not to derail the thread, but for those that had their children reading regular books, did you use the curser for them?

(I know the OP said she did...)

 

No. We tried it, but the curser annoyed both of us. When we started Dancing Bears, Dd was 11 and attempting to read regular books; I just let her continue to read what she wanted while we remediated. The summer between Fasttrack and Book C, she struggled through 15 books. Last summer, after completing C, she read 44 books. This summer she's going to try to win the library's teen reading program.

[WSPm]

My son did Dancing Bears A and then Dancing Bears B before reading anything else. This was after struggles with OPGTR, I See Sam (we started in the free book 1 but still no go). Then found Dancing Bears. At that point I just did 10 minutes with a timer only, every day. We started Dancing Bears A the summer after attending public school first grade---when he couldn't read BOB set 3 books. He is pretty mellow but not very motivated to read, meaning if I ask him to read he will, and by the way he struggles you'd assume he'd complain a lot, but he never does. He only reads what I require though (2 'easy-ish' chapter books a month now).

 

Anyway, after Dancing Bears B (~December of second Grade), I re-introduced I See Sam books (since I had bought sets 1-4, I was insistent to use them!). He flew through sets 1-3 in under a month then did 1/2 a ISS set 4 book a day (there are 2 little stories in each of 14, set 4 books), for total of 28 days. I did not do Dancing Bears C at the same time. I had also googled easy reader books and found a Waldorf website for Davidow's reader series (there are 6 'easy readers' that progress similar to all of ISS set 1-4: the first one has only decodable 3 letter words with few sight words like 'was' or 'the'; then by book 3 (if remember correctly it is already vowel teams), but book 6 is maybe an 'easy reader 1' type...way easier then say Frog and Toad.

 

Next I started Dancing Bears C but ALSO had him read Davidow's chapter book 'Secret Pet' (1 chapter at a time) followed by her second chapter book Secret Door ...it is harder than Frog and Toad...there are excerpts here: http://wholespiritpress.com/secretpet.htm ; http://wholespiritpress.com/the-secret-door.htm ; after this I had him read 80 Tales from Around the world, 1 story at a time. He did read Farmer Boy toward the end of Dancing Bear C (this past May 2013)...but at that point it was pretty easy reading for him. Since May he's read The Whipping Boy (a real stuggle for him -- he did not pass the 5 finger rule but insisted on reading it), a Dragon Slayer Academy series book (not the first one just random one from library) and just started a randomly selected Magic Tree House (about an Ice castle--number 41, I think)...he reads them all aloud to me.

 

Hope this helps!

[Amy Jo]

Thanks - we've been tag reading a few pages at a time from "Patrick Henry Voice of the Revolution" and that's going well. I notice he needs to have the cursor - it seems to steady him. I'll see if the library has any of these other books.

 

Has anyone bumped to 2 sessions a day for Fast Track - I'm thinking about one in the morning and another before bed.

 

@WSPm - what's the 5 finger rule?

[WSPm]

The 5 finger rule is when you open any page of a book, have them read the page and if they make 5 mistakes the book is supposedly too difficult. I've seen it all over the web for searches on how to pick reading material. Since my guy still reads to me I just tell him the words and move on.

 

My definition for 'missing' a word is if he sounds it out incorrectly or is 'guessing' an incorrect word: so if he reads 'He glanced right' as 'he gazed right' or sometimes he makes really wild error such as 'he ja-lay-s-eh-d..jellied right'. The Whipping Boy actually looked like it was easier reading material than Farmer Boy but my son struggled with it. He never reads for 'fun' (only because I make him read for 30 minutes a day AND he never reads more than 45 minutes) but he is starting to choose books so that is something I guess.