CanadaMom Question

[Storm Bay]

Could you tell me about the program you mentioned in the spelling poll thread--is it the Writing Road to Reading? What typd of learner is your dc that uses it? I'm asking about it for ds as I'm still trying to figure out what's best for him. He doesn't really care to do school at this point and often says he'd rather grow up to do nothing than do school (but he's really a wonderful, pleasant, caring, considerate boy outside of academics!!!). Even though he can read, he keeps saying he can't, which I'm guessing has something to do with the fact that his older sisters read like Philadelphia lawyers and he's still working through Phonics Pathways, etc.

[Colleen in NS]

Could you tell me about the program you mentioned in the spelling poll thread--is it the Writing Road to Reading? What typd of learner is your dc that uses it?

 

WRTR is what we use here, and I've tutored other kids with it. It's a multisensory method, meaning it uses seeing, saying, hearing, and writing to teach kids the phonograms, how to spell, and how to read. There is much more to it, but it is a good program for various types of learners.

[Canada_Mom]

We use The Writing Road to Reading, sometimes known as the Spalding Method. I purchased the text "The Writing Road to Reading" as well as the Teacher Guide for Gr. 1.- I personally find this indispensable but I know a lot of people who use Spalding w/o the guide.

 

I did not start using it to teach reading as dd was already reading but it has done wonders for her reading skills as well. I started using it this year with dd6 who is in gr. 1.

 

I definitely agree with Colleen- it's a multisensory program, which Spalding claims is the reason behind their high success rate, even when used with children with severe language problems. I can't really comment on this as this is far beyond my scope of knowledge/experience but I can say that it is has been amazing for my dd.

 

It basically starts with children learning the 70 phonograms- they learn to write them and say/read them at the same time. The idea behind this is that it reinforces the relationship between the sound and the written symbol it represents. Anyways, you would begin with "A" which says At, nAvy, fAther. (I don't know how to write the funky symbols so I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say). You would show the child the flashcard with the "a" on it and they would say a/a/ah. Then when you have introduced the phonograms for that lesson you would go back and do a written review and ask the child to write "what symbol/letter says a/a/ah? The child would write that down on their paper, after repeating the sound to themselves.

 

Once they have learned the phonograms and you get into reading/spelling words with the phonograms, Spalding teaches the children how to break words down into their individual syllables- lots of clapping etc. This has really helped dd with her spelling as she tends to rush w/o thinking first.

 

Spalding does not teach word families, but rather introduces words according to their frequency of use in daily language. Thus, kids are able to read "real" books relatively quickly as they are not limited to "the fat cat sat on the mat." I found this helped maintain interest.

 

During spelling lessons dd must repeat the word, break it down into its syllables and then into the individual phonograms (this is all oral) before writing it in her notebook. Then comes the oral portion where they are encouraged to use the new spelling word in a sentence. The TM and text guide you through how/when to introduce simple sentences, complex sentences, compound sentences etc. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly dd picked all of this up!

 

Once the kids have learned a number or words the TM guides you to teach reading skills to the child. The child is introduced to Attributes of Quality Literature, Narrative writing, Informative Writing and Informative-Narrative writing. Using real books, such as Beatrix Potter, you would discuss with the child why a particular piece is a Narrative vs. Informative etc. I have found that this has greatly helped dd's comprehension as she can now a tell relatively early in her reading what to expect from the book. She knows that Goldilocks is a Narrative and so does not expect to come away with additional knowledge about bears. She personally LOVES this new skill & dissects each new book she comes in contact with for me.. Mommy, this is a narrative, and this is the plot, setting, characters etc. or this is an informative b/c this is the topic and the main idea is... I really like that Spalding guides the kids on HOW to read not just making out the words.

 

Spalding also uses a number of rules for the English language. DD likes this as she likes to know why things are. She likes to know why we spell "have" that way and not "hav" Rules are not rotely taught, but only in context to the spelling word the are learning. For the above example, kids would not learn that English words don't end in "v" as a random fact, but only when words such as "have, love, dove" are introduced. Once she knows the rule & understands it, I found that I won't have to teach her dove has an e at the end- she knows that English words don't end in "v."

 

One last thing... learning the phonograms has done wonders for her ability to decipher unknown words. A few weeks ago, dd6 read "exceptionally" outloud properly the first time w/o my help. She knew that "e" makes the "c" say its soft sound and that "ti" is tall letter "sh" It's all coming together very nicely for her. I'm not sure if exceptionally is a gr.1 word or not but I was impressed....

 

Sorry this has been so long. Spalding is a very difficult program to implement initially but it is worth it. It will teach, reading, writing, spelling together in a way that I found makes sense to dd- and myself!

[Alana in Canada]

I looked at Spalding and strangely enough could not figure out what I was supposed to do--but I was highly committed to the idea.

I found what I needed in Wanda Sanseri's materials--Spell to Write and Read, and The Wise Guide. I also purchased the spelling rule cards and phonogram cards and laminated them. There is also a yahoo group I participated in when I was getting started.

 

Sanseri was a student, I think, or a teacher of the Spalding method.

 

Just thought I'd let you know that all is not lost if you find Spalding as impenetrable as I did!

[Storm Bay]

All 3 posts help, and this one gives me more of what I was looking for--thanks for taking the time to write so much! So, if I were to start this with my 7 yo, who already does some reading, I could do so? He does some decoding, but with things such as ow, he doesn't always remember which sound it's supposed to make because it makes 2. I do have to say that I don't know if he's really having a lot of trouble as my girls took to reading very easily and took off on their own early. But I do know that honestly I tell him sometimes that English is just silly/funny/odd because of all the different ways to spell one sound or the different ways one spelling can be prounounce.

 

I'd like to know why have doesn't rhyme with shave, myself. I have a general idea of things, such as words coming from different languages, etc, but could I take my son now and use this? Will we have to read "strange" symbols under the words--I find 100 Easy Lessons rather confusing with this, to be honest. I love the part about teaching narrative vs informative, etc, but I mostly want something that will help my ds learn all these various pronunciations. He does learn them by sound first, but when it comes to a new sound for the same spelling, it throws everything for a loop.

[Colleen in NS]

For decoding, such as ow, have him try all the sounds of ow (or whatever phonogram) in the word, until one of them makes sense as a word or in the sentence.

 

For a 7yo, it might not matter right now *why* have doesn't rhyme with shave - as long as, in the spelling lesson, he is hearing the word pronounced correctly, and you are teaching him to spell it correctly and explaining the rule very simply (in shave - e lets the a say its name before a single consonant, or, in have - e is there because English words don't end with v). In other words, don't bring up something he isn't asking about - just let the rules and sounds sink in for each word of the spelling lesson. It will start making sense to him as you continue spelling lessons, and he'll start identifying the patterns more easily. And as you do spelling lessons consistently, reading will become easier because you actually practice reading during the spelling lesson!

 

Kids usually discover the patterns for themselves as they go along - like the long sound of o can be spelled many different ways. But if you practice the spelling lessons as instructed in WRTR, they usually come to know which spelling is used - because they are analyzing each word, which helps them to retain it better.

 

No reading of strange symbols under words. In the spelling lesson, the child marks the words for the spelling patterns, but that is only for the purpose of analyzing the word. Just explain simply that we only do this in our spelling notebook - in regular books, you just read the word (and show him how to do this by sounds in the syllables).

 

FWIW, I only use the spelling part of WRTR - I teach how to spell and how to read with this book. I think the depth of writing and reading comprehension lessons are too advanced for young children - I like narration and copywork/dictation methods much better.

[Storm Bay]

Thanks, Colleen. I'm going to check this out after all these replies. I don't do narration or dictation with him yet because they just didn't fit for my dd's. :DOne of my biggest problems is I want my kids to learn it the first time. Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but I want my ds to get reading while he's still under 10.

[Colleen in NS]

Thanks, Colleen. I'm going to check this out after all these replies. I don't do narration or dictation with him yet because they just didn't fit for my dd's. :DOne of my biggest problems is I want my kids to learn it the first time. Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but I want my ds to get reading while he's still under 10.

 

Well, using WRTR spelling instructions will help get him reading, LOL! I just didn't want you to get overwhelmed by all the writing stuff in the book.

[Canada_Mom]

I agree with Colleen. The writing portion can get to be a bit much at times. I often find I have to scale it down a bit or we'd be doing LA for 3 hours a day some days... Overall though, it's a well laid out program.