Dancing Bears B-big jump from A?

[mmasc]

I've used Dancing Bears A with my DS for the past 7 months.  He completed it, and did fairly well with it. So, I ordered DB B to move right along.  However, I'm immediately noticing some pretty big leaps.  I'm wondering if any of you noticed the same thing?  Or are we just not doing as well as I had thought?  Here are my examples:

 

1) We are only on page 18 and I noticed the "ir", which we haven't come to yet in the blue cards.  It IS in the blue cards, at least, but *we* aren't to it yet. (I can see how this might just be us behind on introducing the sound cards. We're about 6 away if we stay in order.)  

2) They throw in the word "find" on this page.  Is it supposed to be a new sight word?

3)  the goat name has changed from "Groin, the gray-green goat" to "Groyne, the grey-green goat"-- WHY??? I don't think the "ey" sound has been introduced yet?

3) Page 21 introduces at the top of the page -es, -est, -ful, -less, -en, -y  Are these all being introduced for the *first* time on this one page?  

 

I understand that this program is a bit different, so I get that it might throw in a sight word or a sound ('ey') without explicit instruction, but this just seems to be A LOT at once. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?  My DS is still trying to get that -ed sometimes says /ed/ or /d/ from the first page of this book.  It's really throwing him for a loop, so I'm not sure all those endings on page 21 are going to go over very well. :(

 

Thanks for your help!

[mmasc]

Anybody?

[Minerva]

Bumping.

 

We are still on A so my ideas might not be at all what you are looking for or helpful in any way, but...

 

Can you slow down and repeat some lessons so you can catch up with flash cards? Just go back to the beginning of the book and do the lessons over again to solidify what you have already learned and make some headway with the flash cards? 

 

Meanwhile, I hope someone else who has actual experience with B can help you. 

[Lots of boys]

We are also still on A (in fact, we are using the A1 and A2 to slow it down even more) so I'm disappointed to here B moves fast. My son really struggles with reading so the slower the better for us.

 

I have found that using our LA program (CLE) in conjunction with Dancing Bears has helped cement some sounds for him as they get reinforced in both books.

[Minerva]

We are doing A1 and A2 as well. I am sorry they don't have a B1 and B2 option for those of us that have struggling students. I think I will write to Sound Foundations and ask for a bit of advice/encouragement. 

[mmasc]

I appreciate your replies. I have emailed Sound Foundations, so when I get a response with some advice (hopefully!), I will post back if you all are interested.

I do think the best course of action right now is what you've recommended-review. My DS doesn't like to re-read the stories, but I'm going to try to find some ways to review and build fluency on what he has already learned. I think the key here is just to take more time in these first 20 pages of Book B. Hopefully, it won't be that way throughout the whole book.

Have any of you bought the readers from Sound Foundations?

[Minerva]

Not yet, but I am going to when I purchase level B.

 

I would love to hear what Sound Foundations says. Thanks for the offer.

 

One other thing I am doing with my son during flashcard review is having him read about twenty hand made flashcards with words from the readings. When the words become automatic I add some new ones.

 

I have an older daughter who is dyslexic and when she was doing extensive tutoring, they really encouraged  flashcard use to help get words automatic. There was a list of the thousand most common words, and we worked on them every day a few times a day for about fifteen minutes. I believe this did more for her reading than any other thing we did over the years. 

[mmasc]

I heard back from Sound Foundations.  They mostly confirmed what I was already noticing.  She agreed that B a bit of a step up from A.  Her other recommendations were to 1) repeat lessons (probably more than we had to in A) 2) just teach the new sounds on page 21 and practice them 3) NOT to introduce the "ir" card out of order, but to just introduce the new words 'girl' and 'shirt' and continue with the lesson 4) don't plough ahead if what's being taught isn't mastered

 

Minerva, thanks for the tips!  I think I will do the flashcards of words already learned to build some fluency and exposure.  I think we will just need to slow down for a bit to get all this new stuff down.

[Minerva]

Good info.

 

Let's keep in touch over the next few months. I would like to hear how things progress for you. 

[mmasc]

Good info.

 

Let's keep in touch over the next few months. I would like to hear how things progress for you.

Sure thing! Anytime you'd like an update, feel free to pm me. I hope I'll have encouraging news to report. :)

[PandaMom]

DD just finished up the series in December. It was rough going at times but totally worth it. Take a deep breath, calm down and slow down your pace. I had her repeat several sections and it never bothered her. We repeated those flash cards daily all the way through level three. If I was having a problem teaching a particular sound to her, I would take the book to speech therapy with us and ask her therapist. I kept the books so feel free to ask questions if you need anything :D

 

Susie

[mmasc]

DD just finished up the series in December. It was rough going at times but totally worth it. Take a deep breath, calm down and slow down your pace. I had her repeat several sections and it never bothered her. We repeated those flash cards daily all the way through level three. If I was having a problem teaching a particular sound to her, I would take the book to speech therapy with us and ask her therapist. I kept the books so feel free to ask questions if you need anything :D

 

Susie

Thank you for the idea, Susie! I have no idea why it never occurred to me to ask his speech therapist for help with a particular troublesome sound! I'm going to ask her next week to help us with this whole -ed problem. :)

My DS despises going back over sections, so I'm going to have to get creative on this I think.

[PandaMom]

I can help you with the -ed at the end of a word. If the consonant before the -ed is a d or t as in the words landed or fitted, then the -ed is the "id" sound. Any other consonant before the -ed ending and the word gets the "d" or "t" sounds as in asked, helped, and called. I found the Explode the Code worked well with Dancing Bears. They had lessons on this very thing. Just can't remember which level ETC it was.