Do I need to go back to phonics?

[Erielle]

I have kind of a boneheaded question that I'm kind of embarrassed to ask.

 

Would you recommended continuing to teach phonics to a second grader who can read fluently? Or should spelling become the focus once they can read well?

 

As previously stated, I have a young second grader who reads at a fifth grade level. He learned to read the way most of us do: through a good mix of phonics & sight words. Because of how well he reads, I assumed our days of phonics lessons were behind us. Then, I started to read the interwebz and it made me question everything.

 

Now I keep going back and forth between thinking that, by dropping phonics lessons early, maybe we missed something he needs to know. He reads excellently now, but, what if in the future when words become more wordy and texts and language become more complex, he has issues because of something we missed by discontinuing phonics lessons when he was younger? Not sure what to do here... I'd obviously rather correct this now when he is younger than him have an issue when he gets older.

 

Once I felt comfortable with where he was with phonics, we dropped the lessons and switched to spelling using Sound Foundations (Apples & Pears), which we will continue to use for the next few years. A&P does have some phonics in it, and I know that some programs do teach spelling to read and write. Will this be enough or should I add phonics lessons back in combined with spelling (Apples & Pears + Dancing Bears)?

 

[Kiara.I]

I was an early reader. I can't tell you whether I learned pure phonics or a combination with sight words, because I learned it young and not really formally.

 

But I had mastered phonics. I did not need a phonics program, and would have reacted badly to anyone trying to shove me through one.

 

I wouldn't teach phonics. You can do a phonics-based spelling program. And have him read aloud to you. You'll notice if there's a problem. And of there is, later on you can run him through more advanced phonics, but I doubt there'll be a problem.

 

(And many good readers absorb phonics on the way by, they don't need it explicitly taught. He won't have "missed" anything because when you correct it in his reading aloud, he'll just add it to the base knowledge and carry on.)

 

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[rebbyribs]

Both of my now 8-year-olds caught on to reading towards the end of first grade and started reading for pleasure a fair bit.  I would have them read a few pages of whatever they were interested in aloud to me every so often, and it became clear after a few months that my daughter was guessing on the longer words and often getting them wrong.  I did All About Reading Level 4 with her (she hadn't used any of the previous levels), and it was very helpful for breaking down longer words into syllables and helping her spot common prefixes and suffixes.  Her twin brother didn't really need to do the extra phonics, although the sections on foreign words were helpful.  

 

I think you'll know - if his reading level keeps improving, great!  If it kind of stalls out at the 5th grade level for a year or so, go ahead and use the last level of a phonics program.  (The last bit of OPGTR also focuses on unusual letter combinations and breaking down long words.)

[Tsuga]

Some children intuit phonics by reading and adding on to the existing phonics systems they have been taught. While continued phonics would be necessary if your kids weren't reading, it sounds like your kids are intuitively integrating new rules into their phonics systems. Particularly if you're taking the classical approach and dealing with Latin and Greek roots, I don't think you need to continue English phonics.

[ReadingMama1214]

We stopped doing formal Phonics at 5 when we finished our Phonics program. We do go through a reader (wise Owl polysyllables), but don’t do formal lessons. We will start doing a Phonics based spelling program soon though. This I feel is enough to reinforce Phonics for fluent readers.

[TrilliumSimile]

Thank you for asking this! I've wondered this, too. My child taught himself to read in a sort of explosion of comprehension, and after that I wasn't sure if I should try to add on phonics, or... what. It appears to me that he has internalized some rules on his own, because he can read complex words he hasn't seen before. 

 

But he's a pretty bad speller. So recently I've been wondering if I made a mistake not bringing phonics into it, and what I should do to correct it. I appreciate you asking this! 

 

[knitgrl]

Similar situation here. Dd learned to read with 100 Easy Lessons, I had no clue what to do after. She is not a natrual speller AT ALL. We ended up with AAS, which seems to have helped a great deal, and I just started Wise Owl Polysyllables, just to make me feel better. FWIW, dd really likes it and requests to read from it.

Edited February 26, 2018 by knitgrl

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Many spelling programs (especially Orton-Gillingham programs) build word lists by phonetic rule, so there’s no need to “go back†- you can move ahead to spelling while also reinforcing phonetic awareness :-)

[EKS]

When my younger son was in 1st or 2nd grade and reading well, but I still felt he needed a bit more input, I went through REWARDS Intermediate with him.  He loved it, and it made me feel more confident about letting go of formal reading instruction after that.

[Hobbes]

Similar situation here. Dd learned to read with 100 Easy Lessons, I had no clue what to do after. She is not a natrual speller AT ALL. We ended up with AAS, which seems to have helped a great deal, and I just started Wise Owl Polysyllables, just to make me feel better. FWIW, dd really likes it and requests to read from it.

This is exactly what happened here, from 100 EZ to AAS and Wise Owl. I won't take that route again (I'll do more phonics instruction to begin with), but those two are serving us well.

[ElizabethB]

I would work through my syllables program, it teaches both spelling and phonics, teaching phonics to a 12th grade level, it takes about 10 hours to complete but has easy to use videos, or you can teach it on you own with the script.  Reading is too much of a foundational skill to leave to chance, and literacy level is more highly correlated with earnings than IQ.  I kept reviewing phonics and working on higher level phonics until my children could read at the 12th grade level and sound out anything.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by ElizabethB