2nd grade and phonics

[Elizabeth86]

I see many in the 2nd grade planning thread not doing phonics?  So, when do you know you don't need phonics anymore?  This is my first kid so I just don't know.  I have no problem with another year of phonics, but not if he doesn't need it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ellie]

I see many in the 2nd grade planning thread not doing phonics?  So, when do you know you don't need phonics anymore?  This is my first kid so I just don't know.  I have no problem with another year of phonics, but not if he doesn't need it.

 

What did you do with phonics this year? How is your child reading? Do you think he's reading at his age level? You may or may not need a second year of phonics; it depends on what happened the first year.

 

I withdrew my older daughter during Easter break of first grade from a private Christian school that used all ABeka. We never did any more phonics after that. She graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in English literature. I think we did the right thing. :-)

 

Only you know if you need to do more phonics with your child.

[wendyroo]

Alternatively, many in that thread are doing phonics.  Skimming through, I found all of these programs listed:

Reading Lessons Through Literature

Abeka

Christian Light Readers

Progressive Phonics

LOE Foundations

Wise Owl Polysyllables

Traditional Spelling/Alpha Phonics/McGuffey Readers

Dancing Bears

 

Personally, I keep my eye on the phonics ball for a loooong time.  That is not something that I want to have slip through the cracks because I dropped it too soon.

 

My kids complete at least one entire phonics program (we normally use OPGTR and Explode the Code) along with working through a wide variety of level readers.

 

At some point during the phonics program we add All About Spelling.  We use this, obviously, as a spelling program, but also as a review of all the phonograms.  I like that just as the kiddo is becoming a confident readers and starting to get lazy about sounding out words, AAS starts teaching the phonics rules from the spelling angle and forces him to slow down and really think about the sounds in words.

 

Once the phonics program is done, then we start Wise Owl Polysyllables.  I have the child read one page aloud to me every day.  This only takes a few minutes, but it forces them to practice sounding out long, ambiguously-pronounced words.  It also teaches some great vocabulary.

 

Wise Owl takes a long time, my third grader still isn't quite done with it yet.  When he finishes, I am actually considering just having him start back at the beginning, even though he currently tests at a high 8th grade reading level.  It is really so painless, and yet helps his fluency and pronunciation so much.

 

So, next year, my 3 year old will be watching Leapfrog videos, learning her lower case letters and playing phonemic awareness games, my K'er will be working through OPGTR, Explode the Code and readers, my 2nd grader will be doing AAS and either be done with Explode the Code or just finishing up the last workbook and then transitioning to Wise Owl, and my 4th grader will be doing AAS and will probably be on his second trip through Wise Owl.  Phonics practice all around.

 

Wendy

[Elizabeth86]

What did you do with phonics this year? How is your child reading? Do you think he's reading at his age level? You may or may not need a second year of phonics; it depends on what happened the first year.

 

I withdrew my older daughter during Easter break of first grade from a private Christian school that used all ABeka. We never did any more phonics after that. She graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in English literature. I think we did the right thing. :-)

 

Only you know if you need to do more phonics with your child.

We did The Reading Lesson for K and I did not like the program and wouldn't call it thorough but he caught on wonderfully and was doing well even after that. We are halfway through Abeka first grade phonics. I feel he is on grade level or above. He doesn't struggle at all with the abeka readers. Any good method for checking his reading level? Edited January 30, 2018 by Elizabeth86

[Elizabeth86]

Alternatively, many in that thread are doing phonics. Skimming through, I found all of these programs listed:

Reading Lessons Through Literature

Abeka

Christian Light Readers

Progressive Phonics

LOE Foundations

Wise Owl Polysyllables

Traditional Spelling/Alpha Phonics/McGuffey Readers

Dancing Bears

Personally, I keep my eye on the phonics ball for a loooong time. That is not something that I want to have slip through the cracks because I dropped it too soon.

My kids complete at least one entire phonics program (we normally use OPGTR and Explode the Code) along with working through a wide variety of level readers.

At some point during the phonics program we add All About Spelling. We use this, obviously, as a spelling program, but also as a review of all the phonograms. I like that just as the kiddo is becoming a confident readers and starting to get lazy about sounding out words, AAS starts teaching the phonics rules from the spelling angle and forces him to slow down and really think about the sounds in words.

Once the phonics program is done, then we start Wise Owl Polysyllables. I have the child read one page aloud to me every day. This only takes a few minutes, but it forces them to practice sounding out long, ambiguously-pronounced words. It also teaches some great vocabulary.

Wise Owl takes a long time, my third grader still isn't quite done with it yet. When he finishes, I am actually considering just having him start back at the beginning, even though he currently tests at a high 8th grade reading level. It is really so painless, and yet helps his fluency and pronunciation so much.

So, next year, my 3 year old will be watching Leapfrog videos, learning her lower case letters and playing phonemic awareness games, my K'er will be working through OPGTR, Explode the Code and readers, my 2nd grader will be doing AAS and either be done with Explode the Code or just finishing up the last workbook and then transitioning to Wise Owl, and my 4th grader will be doing AAS and will probably be on his second trip through Wise Owl. Phonics practice all around.

Wendy

Thanks, it just looked to me at first glance people weren't mentioning phonics.

[nixpix5]

I think it depends on 1. How they are reading and 2. If you use it as additional spelling lessons.

 

You know we use A beka and grade 1 is pretty solid at getting kids reading quickly. My DD took off so we stopped after A beka 1. She reads 300 page books so I think we are good.

 

One twin finished A beka 1 recently and is reading Harry Potter with ease. I probably won't continue with him. His twin is reading Mr. Putter and Tabby books along with Billy and Blaze and so forth. He can read Magic Tree house but it feels like alot of text to him. He I plan to take through A beka LA 2 next year if by the end of A beka 1 he isn't reading bigger chapter books.

 

When I do the lessons I also do dictation for them to spell on the white board so doing phonics longer I think isn't a bad thing. It just reinforces all of those special sounds, suffixes and prefixes and so forth.

Edited January 30, 2018 by nixpix5

[carriede]

DD6 is an excellent, natural reader. We do spelling instead of phonics. She also reads out loud to me about 2 times a week so I can catch any strange pronunciations.

[Syllieann]

We finish the phonics program or address it through spelling. I think many homeschooled second graders are probably right at the edge where they can shift over to a spelling focus. I would bet that most people on that thread, even if they are not doing a phonics program, still have the kids read aloud to them. In this way, there is still some reinforcement, but it is not listed as a curriculum.

[Elizabeth86]

We finish the phonics program or address it through spelling. I think many homeschooled second graders are probably right at the edge where they can shift over to a spelling focus. I would bet that most people on that thread, even if they are not doing a phonics program, still have the kids read aloud to them. In this way, there is still some reinforcement, but it is not listed as a curriculum.

Gotcha.

 

I was thinking maybe just to use the workbook as review and read the readers, but not actually do the phonics instruction, just kind of teach from the worksheet??

 

I haven't finished first yet or seen 2nd so I don't know what will be in second we may not have covered?? Just trying to get it all sorted out.

[HomeAgain]

Gotcha.

 

I was thinking maybe just to use the workbook as review and read the readers, but not actually do the phonics instruction, just kind of teach from the worksheet??

 

I haven't finished first yet or seen 2nd so I don't know what will be in second we may not have covered?? Just trying to get it all sorted out.

 

This is a good plan. :)

One thing to keep in mind is that upper level phonics and spelling overlap.  Once you get to word patterns like 'igh', 'tion', 'ough'....they're also covered well in spelling. 

 

Our progression goes like this:

Phonics

Reading aloud from regular books

Copywork

spelling study

Vocabulary/word roots

 

 

Each step carries phonics lessons just a little bit further.  And they overlap, too.  Right now, my 2nd grader reads aloud from a progressive reader, does copywork/dictation, and is beginning spelling study on its own, learning rules as he goes along.

[fralala]

I like using a combination of nonsense word lists and highly technical graduate level textbooks we have lying around the house to test decoding skills. I release my children from phonics once they can pronounce a whole lot of words that make no sense to them.

 

I think it's comparable to how some people know they should be accelerating their kids in math. Well, sometimes we're not really sure, right, because practice and repetition do make perfect, but they also are a total waste of time (and the death of joy) for certain children.

 

(This is also just probably partially a matter of parental attitudes. Some of us would skip a year of phonics or spelling instruction for a kid who is an avid reader, and some would simply choose to level up and accelerate. That probably depends as much on the amount of structure your child craves-- or can take!-- as on parental preferences.)