Reading help/direction needed

[Kidlit]

I have been formally working with my four year old dd (she is 4 years and 4 months, to be exact) for about a month now. We have been learning the consonant sounds and the short vowel sounds. So far, we have learned /m/, /v/, /c/, /f/, /s/, /b/, /g/, /t/, and /a/. She gets all the sounds very well. In fact, I would not hesitate to say the she already knows the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet. Because she recognizes them so well, I started spelling cvc words and helping her sound them out. She does okay with this, although it usually takes my sounding them out for her to recognize what they are. We also do Starfall on the computer and she has a pre-K workbook from Target that she does. However, last week, because I was curious about whether or not she could do it, I had her read the first Bob book. While I would not say it clicked with her, she was determined to finish reading it. I sense that we are definitely at her frustration level here. We did the first Bob book again today, and she mainly tried to look at the pictures and figure out the sentences. She grew frustrated if I covered up the pictures. I'm sort of at a loss now as to what to do. I don't want my over-zealousness to hinder her learning at her own pace, but then again, I don't want to back off just because it's hard. I realize that she's only four and therefore is really ahead of where anyone expects her to be. Should I purchase some sort of formal reading curriculum so that I'm more systematic and have a guide? I need some gentle guidance here. :confused:

[Laurel]

I would continue to learn the letter sounds, but drop the sounding out words part for a month or two. It sounds like the concept of blending hasn't clicked yet, and that's okay and normal. But when it does click, she will be better prepared if she knows all the letter sounds.

 

(We had the same issue, at almost the exact same age, and I backed off for a month or two, and came back to it, and she's done great since.)

[Kidlit]

Thanks, Laurel. I think many times I get too excited for my own (and my dds' own) good. :blush: We read aloud a lot, and dd has always loved this. In fact, the first thing she wants to do every morning is "read a book." I think because of this I have always expected her to pick up and read with no problem at all. What I'm having to realize is that for almost everyone, it is a process. I think I will hold myself back just a little and give her a month or two to catch up. Thanks!

 

Anyone else care to weigh in?

[Kuovonne]

Sounds like she is ready to learn how to blend letter sounds together to make words. Being able to blend as well as knowing the letter sounds is a base skill required for reading. You don't need a formal curriculum to teach blending - just continue with what you are doing with cvc words (and teaching new letters) until it 'clicks". If *you* want a formal curriculum, you could always try and see how it goes.

[8filltheheart]

There is more that goes into reading than simply knowing letter sounds. It requires the physical maturation of the brain to a point where the processes that are required for decoding to have been reached. Your dd may be at that point and she is simply too young to deal with it or she may simply not have reached that point.

 

I posted this on a thread earlier today. These are simply reading readiness skills. If your child has not mastered these skills, then more than likely she is not ready to read. (and these are only some of them, not all). If she hasn't mastered these skills, you can spend time playing games on these until she matures enough to move forward from here. (copy and pasting below)

*******************************************

 

There are definitely reading readiness skills that you can test to make sure your child is ready to learn to read.

 

 

Some very basic things:

 

1-sequencing skills (being able recognize distinctive patterns and be able to identify what the next object in the sequence should be.

 

2-simple phonemic awareness--knowing the 26 basic sounds and correctly connecting the correct sound with the correct letter

 

Let me expand on this a little: this step can actually progress through 3 stages:

1-recognition: your saying a sound and the child correctly identifying the letter which corresponds to the sound

2-recall: your pointing to a letter and the child stating the correct sound

3-memory: the child not needing any visual or auditory clues to help identify sounds....say a sound and the child can write the letter

 

3-initial sounds --saying a word and them being able to identify the correct sound (now if the work is kitten and they say c or k, obviously they are connecting the correct phoneme even if it might not be the correct letter)

 

4-final sounds (recognizing that dog ends in /g/, etc)

 

5-rhyming words--can they recognize that cat and sat rhyme, but that sit does not, etc.

 

Those are some of the most basic readiness skills. If any of those are missing, than they probably are not ready to read b/c they haven't developed enough "phonemic awareness" which means the processes required for decoding words are not going to be successful.

[laughing lioness]

You might look at the Explode the Code series. It is a gentle intro to reading and begins with the short vowel sounds in a systematic way. There is a "Get Ready for the Code" series as well but if she is clear on all of the letter sounds that might be redundant.

[IATeachingMom]

I went through the same deal with my ds last year. Being that it was spring and it just wasn't "clicking" we dropping working on it formally for the summer. We just picked it back up this week (we're a little slow sometimes) and he's right where we left off. I figured we'd do a lot of re-learning. Not at all. Not only did he remember everything from last spring, but he totally ready for the "putting it together" phase. Or as we say at this house "smooshing". We worked a lot on saying the sounds a little faster each time we went through the word, and sometimes it would take us 5 or 6 tries through the word before he realized that m-a-t was MAT. It's only taking us once or twice. Wait it out, then try again.

[Reya]

I have been formally working with my four year old dd (she is 4 years and 4 months, to be exact) for about a month now. We have been learning the consonant sounds and the short vowel sounds. So far, we have learned /m/, /v/, /c/, /f/, /s/, /b/, /g/, /t/, and /a/. She gets all the sounds very well. In fact, I would not hesitate to say the she already knows the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet. Because she recognizes them so well, I started spelling cvc words and helping her sound them out. She does okay with this, although it usually takes my sounding them out for her to recognize what they are. We also do Starfall on the computer and she has a pre-K workbook from Target that she does. However, last week, because I was curious about whether or not she could do it, I had her read the first Bob book. While I would not say it clicked with her, she was determined to finish reading it. I sense that we are definitely at her frustration level here. We did the first Bob book again today, and she mainly tried to look at the pictures and figure out the sentences. She grew frustrated if I covered up the pictures. I'm sort of at a loss now as to what to do. I don't want my over-zealousness to hinder her learning at her own pace, but then again, I don't want to back off just because it's hard. I realize that she's only four and therefore is really ahead of where anyone expects her to be. Should I purchase some sort of formal reading curriculum so that I'm more systematic and have a guide? I need some gentle guidance here. :confused:

 

Try Word Mastery from donpotter.net--it's super, super slow/gentle to start, and she'll feel like she's accomplished a lot. Don't be afraid to repeat these lessons over and over again, if need be.

[Reya]

There is more that goes into reading than simply knowing letter sounds. It requires the physical maturation of the brain to a point where the processes that are required for decoding to have been reached. Your dd may be at that point and she is simply too young to deal with it or she may simply not have reached that point.

 

I posted this on a thread earlier today. These are simply reading readiness skills. If your child has not mastered these skills, then more than likely she is not ready to read. (and these are only some of them, not all). If she hasn't mastered these skills, you can spend time playing games on these until she matures enough to move forward from here. (copy and pasting below)

*******************************************

 

There are definitely reading readiness skills that you can test to make sure your child is ready to learn to read.

 

 

Some very basic things:

 

1-sequencing skills (being able recognize distinctive patterns and be able to identify what the next object in the sequence should be.

 

2-simple phonemic awareness--knowing the 26 basic sounds and correctly connecting the correct sound with the correct letter

 

Let me expand on this a little: this step can actually progress through 3 stages:

1-recognition: your saying a sound and the child correctly identifying the letter which corresponds to the sound

2-recall: your pointing to a letter and the child stating the correct sound

3-memory: the child not needing any visual or auditory clues to help identify sounds....say a sound and the child can write the letter

 

3-initial sounds --saying a word and them being able to identify the correct sound (now if the work is kitten and they say c or k, obviously they are connecting the correct phoneme even if it might not be the correct letter)

 

4-final sounds (recognizing that dog ends in /g/, etc)

 

5-rhyming words--can they recognize that cat and sat rhyme, but that sit does not, etc.

 

Those are some of the most basic readiness skills. If any of those are missing, than they probably are not ready to read b/c they haven't developed enough "phonemic awareness" which means the processes required for decoding words are not going to be successful.

 

One change: "say a sound and the child can write the letter"--or point to it, if the child is pre-writing! I agree that if they can't do all the above, trying to teach reading is pretty pointless, though! :-)

[Kidlit]

Thanks for all the help and encouragement. I think we're on the right track; I just don't always know when to forge ahead and when to back off.

 

Reya--I went to donpotter.net, but I couldn't find Word Mastery. What am I missing?