Jess4879 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I have looked over the samples and I am debating about trying Dancing Bears with my oldest. I think the cursor could be very helpful for her. What I would like to know is if I should just use a cursor with something we already have (like Victory Drill) or if Dancing Bears is more than the cursor? It just looks...well...simple. I'm having trouble seeing exactly what it is about the program (aside from the cursor) that makes it different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 All the products from Sound Foundations (Dancing Bears and Apples & Pears) really do look simple in their presentation. Their strength comes from the repetition they provide for a skill. If you don't need as much repetition, then you could definitely use a cursor on any program. If you need a slower build with a lot of repetition, then their products work really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Dancing Bears is way more than a cursor. It is the repetition of the words and phonemes and the building upon such that is a man strength of the program. The fact that is is simple is its greatest strength. My son got a ton of practice with a no-muss, no-fuss format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Dancing Bears is way more than a cursor. It is the repetition of the words and phonemes and the building upon such that is a man strength of the program. The fact that is is simple is its greatest strength. My son got a ton of practice with a no-muss, no-fuss format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I agree that DB is more than the cursor. The scope & sequence, the flashback technique (with small "bites" to check off), and the spiraling review all make it very doable for a child who is a discouraged reader. It sticks like nothing else...and I've tried many reading programs. My oldest learned zero new phonics from DB (b/c he already knew phonics from all the other programs we had tried!), but he actually began reading with DB (b/c it is practice in applying that phonics knowledge, systematic and consistent, and in short daily bursts that were tolerable for him). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Thank you all! This has been so helpful! I agree that DB is more than the cursor. The scope & sequence, the flashback technique (with small "bites" to check off), and the spiraling review all make it very doable for a child who is a discouraged reader. It sticks like nothing else...and I've tried many reading programs. My oldest learned zero new phonics from DB (b/c he already knew phonics from all the other programs we had tried!), but he actually began reading with DB (b/c it is practice in applying that phonics knowledge, systematic and consistent, and in short daily bursts that were tolerable for him). This is my DD exactly! She *knows* her phonics inside out and backwards, but she has no speed when she's decoding. She also likes to word guess. I'm off to place my order. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Oops! One more question, did you all start with Fast Track? Or did you find it better to do each book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 We started with Fast Track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 We started with FT too. If your dd is already familiar with most phonics patterns, I'd recommend FT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Yup. Fast Track here as well. My dd was the same way. She knew most of her phonics but wasn't reading very fluently and accurately. DB helped her a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Woods Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 I ordered DB FT last week. The FT comes from a printer in the US. The flashcards come from the UK and would not arrive for 10 days. I had replied to the confirmation email from Sound Foundations asking if I could start the program with out the cards and they emailed the PDF version for me to start with. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 I ordered DB FT last week. The FT comes from a printer in the US. The flashcards come from the UK and would not arrive for 10 days. I had replied to the confirmation email from Sound Foundations asking if I could start the program with out the cards and they emailed the PDF version for me to start with. :) Good to know! I got my confirmation email and it says it's shipping from the UK, so I was confused. I hope it arrives quickly. I am excited to get started! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beishan Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 We are FT user as well. We are almost toward the end of FT (page 120). The decode skills and automation have been improved. Now he can read more fluently for slightly below grade level materials and we start to move our focus to comprehension part of reading. The flash card comes about a week later if I recalled it right. You can find the pdf printout from their site and make your own. Just print, cut and paste to same size construction paper and you are ready to go. For cursor, we use it heavily at the beginning of program and show sound by sound as instructed. Now his eyes are trained so I show a whole word at once. If he misread the word or cannot segment the sounds of the word, I will use cursor to show him sound by sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 We are FT user as well. We are almost toward the end of FT (page 120). The decode skills and automation have been improved. Now he can read more fluently for slightly below grade level materials and we start to move our focus to comprehension part of reading. The flash card comes about a week later if I recalled it right. You can find the pdf printout from their site and make your own. Just print, cut and paste to same size construction paper and you are ready to go. For cursor, we use it heavily at the beginning of program and show sound by sound as instructed. Now his eyes are trained so I show a whole word at once. If he misread the word or cannot segment the sounds of the word, I will use cursor to show him sound by sound. I imagine DD is going to balk at the cursor to start, but I think it is going to work well for us. I really want to break her word guessing habit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Good to know! I got my confirmation email and it says it's shipping from the UK, so I was confused. I hope it arrives quickly. I am excited to get started! FWIW, our flashcards arrived air mail before our printed materials did. Go figure. :p I started DB with my oldest b/c she was guessing so much. It has really helped. I'll admit, we only use the curser about 60% of the time and don't necessarily follow the flash-back technique.... but we still have seen so much improvement. We are doing Book A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Woods Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 I imagine DD is going to balk at the cursor to start, but I think it is going to work well for us. I really want to break her word guessing habit! We started using FT this week. DD HATES the cursor b/c she can not guess the words. I LOVE it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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