Making learning to read more like learning math

[Clarita]

Learning to read is kind of a drag at our house. We are at the point where we are learning the phonics rules, like g makes the /j/ sound when followed by e or i. 

Math is fun, not in the everything is a game fun, but there's exploration discovering new things etc. We talk about what we learn outside of school time. There is this beautiful back and forth and dare I say "natural" learning going on. I just use the Singapore math, nothing too special. I teach/demo a topic from the textbook and then we/he works 3-4 problems.

Learning to read has none of that. He loves books and can read if I say he has to. There is a desire to learn to read. When we learn a new phonics rule the joy just drains out, he sticks with me because he feels it's the only way. I'm afraid whatever we are doing now will squash his overall reading desires. I'm trying to use TOPGR (the WTM reading book), Dash into Reading for getting fluency, and AAR pre-reading because it seems like it's a little more fun. 

[Xahm]

Phonics without context isn't much fun. One reason I like AAR is that it doesn't throw every sound of a letter at them at once. They first learn the short vowel sounds and spend a bunch of time reading stories with only short vowels, then they introduce more vowel sounds once the kids have gained a bit of confidence and enjoyment. 

I'm not sure how that relates to it being "like math" except that memorizing every possible sound for a letter and the rules before starting reading would be about as fun (and useful) as memorizing all math facts up through prime numbers before learning basic kindergarten level story problems about kids having some candy and then getting more candy. The stories make it fun, worthwhile, and imaginable, thus easier to learn.

I've enjoyed doing Progressive Phonics with my kids. The reading is collaborative, with adults reading the more complicated words in black while the kids read the words they've learned the rules for in red. It's free, which is also a bonus.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Xahm
Typos. Probably there are more, too

[KSera]

This is a young K-er right? I would drop having multiple things (especially if you mean you are doing more than one phonics program in a day) and just do shorter sessions with one. There's no hurry; it sounds like he's doing well, and he will get it without needing to work so hard to make it happen faster. At that age, I often pointed out new phonics rules in the course of reading together. I like Progressive Phonics for this age because it's fun and they can read real stories.

Edited October 19, 2021 by KSera
typo

[Lori D.]

Agreeing with @Xahm -- memorizing rules is *clearly* not what works for this student, and it's killing the joy for you both. Drop it!

Agreeing with @KSera -- just 10 minutes a day with just one phonics program. Bam. Done.

Then supplement with solo/independent supports -- games and fun activities he can do solo to supplement/reinforce. So: it's back to being fun. And: it's not all on you to make things happen. 😉

supplement ideas:
- Starfall -- educational online activities
- Teach Your Monster to Read -- educational online activities
- Leap Frog DVDs -- esp. Letter Factory & Talking Word Factory
- Read Between the Lions -- old PBS TV shows
- Martha Speaks -- PBS TV show & online games
- Word Girl -- PBS TV show & online games
- Bailey's Book House -- educational computer game
- Reader Rabbit -- educational computer game

Edited October 19, 2021 by Lori D.

[UHP]

It's interesting to contrast math with other subjects, especially with reading. The rules of math are completely consistent and logical (though some of the procedures and conventions are not, watch out for those). A kid who knows a little bit of it can use reasoning to smooth his path to learning the next little bit. He can reinforce the new stuff by seeing how it fits in with what he already knows.

Reading seems like the opposite. Seemingly thousands of rules, none of them universal, all of them overlapping and contradicting each other. To  me it's a miracle that we're capable of it.

[wendyroo]

My youngest was resistant to reading curricula, so I dropped them all.

Instead, every day we would buddy read something she was enthusiastic about...my only requirement was that the font was legible, a reasonable size, and used upper and lower case letters (I'm looking at you Garfield comics in all caps). So we would often be reading Unicorn Academy books, Paw Patrol "novelizations", Beast Academy guide books, picture books far above her reading level, etc.

Initially she read one CVC word per page - I would just read until I got to an appropriate word, point to it and pause, help her sound it out if necessary, and then keep reading the rest of the page.

Then we gradually moved to her reading more and more words with more and more complex grammar. Whenever I wanted to introduce a new rule, I would just stop at a word that used that pattern, briefly state the rule, help her sound out the word using the rule, and move on. I would try to have her read ~10 words that used that new pattern (re-stating the rule promptly if she didn't immediately remember it in order to not frustrated her or overly interrupt the flow of the story), interspersed with a variety of words reviewing previous skills.

Eventually we made the "backwards" jump to leveled readers. They were far easier than what we had been reading, but it meant that she could be the primary reader with me just helping with rules she had forgotten and filling in any words that were still beyond her skill level. This really helped me pinpoint gaps in her phonics - if she could tackle most of a book, but I still had to read all the "-ight" words, then maybe that was a good rule to teach her next.

[PeterPan]

5 hours ago, Clarita said:

AAR pre-reading because it seems like it's a little more fun. 

This makes zero sense. If he's using OPGTR and those dash easy readers, he doesn't need AAR pre. And if you like AAR pre, why not just move forward with AAR? 

You really don't need those readers right now and you don't need to force/slog through reading at all. Yes, you could teach the reading just like you do the math. Introduce skill, practice it briefly, boom done. You're in some kind of overkill mode which is why you're killing it. 

[Clarita]

4 hours ago, Xahm said:

Phonics without context isn't much fun.

Yes I think that's what it is. 

4 hours ago, KSera said:

This is a young K-er right? I would drop having multiple things (especially if you mean you are doing more than one phonics program in a day) and just do shorter sessions with one. There's no hurry; it sounds like he's doing well, and he will get it without needing to work so hard to make it happen faster. At that age, I often pointed out new phonics rules in the course of reading together. I like Progressive Phonics for this age because it's fun and they can read real stories.

Yes young K-er. We are just doing one in a day. He only has the stamina for the reading lesson for about 2 minutes. 

 

2 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

This makes zero sense. If he's using OPGTR and those dash easy readers, he doesn't need AAR pre. And if you like AAR pre, why not just move forward with AAR? 

OPGTR covers the phonics rules which he doesn't know. Dash readers I thought would be more fun. I was originally trying to up his fluency and confidence. I tried more advance AAR, it required too much reading for him. AAR pre did cover a lot of skills he didn't know syllables, how many words are in a sentence, and rhyming. 

Maybe we continue AAR pre and see where that goes. 

 

 

[KSera]

11 minutes ago, Clarita said:

Maybe we continue AAR pre and see where that goes.

That seems good. In my experience teaching five kids to read so far, barring a reading disability, the process goes much quicker and easier when they’re really ready for it. You can spend a lot of time working on it before they’re ready, and then once they’re developmentally ready, it will suddenly click. Or, you can wait until they’re developmentally ready and it will suddenly click. Backing off for a bit and keeping reading fun seems like a good way to go. 

Edited October 19, 2021 by KSera

[AnneGG]

Lalilo is free (sign up as a teacher) and it covers syllables and much of what AAR-pre covers. LaLiLo does an automatic placement test so you can see where the gaps are, if any. It’s not set up like a game/app, more like an old CD-ROM game. Might be a dealbreaker for some kids. 
 

I bought Secret Stories a few weeks ago and my son went nuts over it. It’s a supplementary program that presents the phonics rules like secrets and has cute visuals.  It was like a switch flipped and now he’s reading everything. He finds the secrets everywhere: Starbucks menu, the back of the shampoo bottle, interstate exits, etc.  Last month, he wouldn’t have even acknowledged these things can be read. 

[Clarita]

6 hours ago, AnneGG said:

Lalilo is free (sign up as a teacher) and it covers syllables and much of what AAR-pre covers. LaLiLo does an automatic placement test so you can see where the gaps are, if any. It’s not set up like a game/app, more like an old CD-ROM game. Might be a dealbreaker for some kids. 
 

I bought Secret Stories a few weeks ago and my son went nuts over it. It’s a supplementary program that presents the phonics rules like secrets and has cute visuals.  It was like a switch flipped and now he’s reading everything. He finds the secrets everywhere: Starbucks menu, the back of the shampoo bottle, interstate exits, etc.  Last month, he wouldn’t have even acknowledged these things can be read. 

Doing the Lalilo placement test was eye-opening. It seems he needs more practice with the stuff he currently knows. Anything timed he scores really low. 

I think he knows there are words to read in real life but often he doesn't realize he has the skills to read them. I think he's at this stage where he knows how to decipher a lot but it takes him a long time to decipher the words.

 

[EKS]

I think the idea that everything needs to be fun is not helpful. Learning phonics is one of those things that just isn't going to be overly exciting. But you can make lessons short and sweet. So we would have a few minutes here and a few minutes there of phonics practice when they were learning. And then the rest of "reading time" was me reading aloud from really interesting stuff.  Gradually as they got better at reading, we switched over to fluency readings where they would read aloud for up to a half an hour from high interest materials that were easy for them to read.  And I continue to read aloud to them as well.

[Gil]

21 hours ago, Clarita said:

Learning to read is kind of a drag at our house. We are at the point where we are learning the phonics rules, like g makes the /j/ sound when followed by e or i.
...
Learning to read has none of that. He loves books and can read if I say he has to. There is a desire to learn to read. When we learn a new phonics rule the joy just drains out, he sticks with me because he feels it's the only way...

Bear in mind that it's much easier for an inexperienced teacher to create a poor quality, reading program than it is for an inexperienced teacher to create an high quality, well-designed reading program.

It's ok to use a well designed program properly and get your jollies elsewhere.

However, once you have a well designed program, you can expand on it, but be wary of getting too far off "the path" that a well designed program has you walking with your budding reader.

I used a scope and sequence, but did my own thing. I made lessons a little more engaging than stare at this page and read, but we also had plenty of "stare at this page and read" days as well. Ultimately, a book isn't going to be jumping around the room for them.

 

[Clarita]

5 hours ago, Gil said:

I used a scope and sequence, but did my own thing. I made lessons a little more engaging than stare at this page and read, but we also had plenty of "stare at this page and read" days as well.

This is an interesting idea. I would probably just be putting the reading curriculum words on to the notecards.

I guess at this moment math just has a little more hands-on application than reading. I don't actually do a lot of jumping around in math either (it gets too distracting). There is just a bit more exploration in the lessons than "Introduce skill. Practice briefly. Bam done." @PeterPan With math there is introduce concept/skill, practice briefly. free exploration and discussion. Later in the day my kids will try and apply the skills we've learned. That type of thing so far just doesn't happen with reading.

I do not have the confidence to "wing it" in language.  

[wendyroo]

18 hours ago, Clarita said:

Doing the Lalilo placement test was eye-opening. It seems he needs more practice with the stuff he currently knows. Anything timed he scores really low. 

I think he knows there are words to read in real life but often he doesn't realize he has the skills to read them. I think he's at this stage where he knows how to decipher a lot but it takes him a long time to decipher the words.

 

For what it is worth, I just had my youngest do the Lalilo placement test, and I think it is pretty much worthless as a phonics assessment.

SOOOOOOO much of it was actually testing encoding of words (spelling) rather than decoding (reading). For example, when asked to complete the word movie, my daughter spelled it "movee", which is perfectly phonetic and a not uncommon way to spell the "ee" sound at the end of words. She certainly would not have a problem reading the word movie (spelled either movie or movee 😏), and she could probably even pick the right spelling if she saw them side by side, but she doesn't yet have the visual memory build up to spell it independently...and that skill is entirely unrelated to her knowing and using the phonics rules that "ie" says long e at the end of words. These types of questions comprised almost the entire assessment...it was a spelling assessment, not a reading assessment!!

Lalilo also seems very focused on sight words...even sight words that are entirely phonetic. It spent one whole exercise drilling her on the word "them" as if the only way to read it was by memorization...DD clearly knew how to read the word "them", and could even accurately spell it before the exercise even began.

Lastly, the test was not very adaptive as promised. At first I put my daughter into a class I designated as first grade. Her assessment tested her on first grade concepts and said that she was 75% proficient at first grade skills (they were requiring her to spell first grade sight words like "could" - in my world that is not a first grade spelling skill!). It did not test her on any second grade skills. Then I put her in a second grade class and had her take the assessment - this time it placed her about half way through second grade. Then I put her in a third grade class and had her take the assessment, and she was placed about half way through third grade. Those are not the results of an adaptive test!

Overall, I thought the assessments were ridiculous, and were completely misrepresenting my daughter's phonics skills. For example, they wanted her to pick the correct spelling of "first". They offered: first, furst, forst, farst. She immediately dismissed forst and farst - she knew those did not say first. And then she vacillated - she clearly knew that both first and furst did "say" first (she even picked out "fur" in furst and remembered reading that word in a book about Native Americans). She did not know the correct spelling of first, but she knew that phonetically they were both correct. Over and over I saw her narrow the answers to ones that would decode correctly...and when working on reading/phonics that is the skill I care about, not encoding.

[UHP]

1 hour ago, wendyroo said:

Those are not the results of an adaptive test!

Wendy it sounds like you've thought about this before. Have you encountered any "adaptive" ed software, in phonics or in any other subject, that impressed you?

Also, do you think your criticisms for the Lalilo assessment test also extend to the Lalilo instructional sequence? I had my daughter take the assessment last night too. She tested poorly but had a good time (she's not too experienced with computer games) and went on to do more of the lessons. Is it (at worst) harmless to let her keep playing with it? I wonder if you have an opinion.

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, wendyroo said:

Lastly, the test was not very adaptive as promised. At first I put my daughter into a class I designated as first grade. Her assessment tested her on first grade concepts and said that she was 75% proficient at first grade skills (they were requiring her to spell first grade sight words like "could" - in my world that is not a first grade spelling skill!). It did not test her on any second grade skills. Then I put her in a second grade class and had her take the assessment - this time it placed her about half way through second grade. Then I put her in a third grade class and had her take the assessment, and she was placed about half way through third grade. Those are not the results of an adaptive test!

Well that's a bummer. I noticed one of the lesson questions asked him to spell said, which my son could read but spelling-wise spelled "sed". I'm still trying to figure out the assesments. I honestly thought the sight words were part of teaching him phonics, because he knows how to sound out every single sight word (with the exception for said - which he knows is not phonetically spelled, but has come up enough during read aloud time so he knows). I agree could is not what I would expect a first grader to be able to spell accurately.

[wendyroo]

2 hours ago, UHP said:

Wendy it sounds like you've thought about this before. Have you encountered any "adaptive" ed software, in phonics or in any other subject, that impressed you?

Also, do you think your criticisms for the Lalilo assessment test also extend to the Lalilo instructional sequence? I had my daughter take the assessment last night too. She tested poorly but had a good time (she's not too experienced with computer games) and went on to do more of the lessons. Is it (at worst) harmless to let her keep playing with it? I wonder if you have an opinion.

My daughter enjoyed it too, but I am not going to allow her to use it anymore.

First, I have always avoided curricula (typically spelling) that present misspelled words. There is no good reason to "pollute" my daughter's visual memory with "words" like movee, folow, gud...all of which were answer choices in the assessments. In the actual reading she is doing (books, magazines, signs, etc), she is 99% only going to see proper spellings, and those are the images I want cemented into her head so that when we start working on spelling those words in the future she will be able to recognize the correct spellings because she will have seen them (and only them) many times.

Second, I zealously protect against my kids associating phonics with any form of guessing. I am absolutely fine with exercises that test phonics/letter discernment/close reading. So, asking which word says fire and showing fire, fir, fair, first. Only one of those sounds out to fire, and they are all spelled correctly; strong phonics will get you to the correct answer with no guessing. But I hate exercises that ask which word says fire and offer the choices fire, fier, fyer, fyre. That just encourages, nay requires, guessing. I obviously can't say that consistently getting those "trick" questions wrong would torpedo every beginner's reading confidence, but I don't want to risk it with my kids.

As for strong adaptive software, I have run into one that seemed to work well (but I don't know if it is available to homeschoolers). Three of my kids have taken iReady assessments through schools, and those are truly adaptive. I watched my daughter take the iReady math and it was offering a very logical sequence of questions to pinpoint her skill level in a variety of math topics. She was in kindergarten at the time, so it started asking 3+1 type questions. It progressed to all addition within 10 with pictures, then without pictures, then adding whole tens, etc...only a couple questions at each level, it moved fast assuming if she just guessed right it would be caught at the next level. She eventually stumbled at two digit addition with two regroupings; it gave her three different problems and she got them all wrong.  The program then backed off and asked a question about 2 digit + 1 digit with regrouping and a two digit + two digit without regrouping - she got them both correct, and that was enough for them to assess her addition skills.

When my 3rd grader took an iReady math assessment a couple months ago, he had completed 75% of Math Mammoth 5. He was tested as a "third grader", so that is all the info the program had to start. I was impressed - the assessment pegged him at 6th grade level, but also called out his particular strength in algebraic thinking (he had completed Hands on Equations already) and his weakness in geometry (geometry was the last chapter in MM5 that we had not done yet, and MM is known for its weak geometry in general). Plus, the whole assessment only took about an hour, and it was entertaining enough that he wanted to do the whole thing in one sitting despite the offer to stop and resume a different day.

[2_girls_mommy]

Funny, for us, reading was always more entertaining and engaging than  math.  I guess it depends on the natural abilities of the teacher.  I used a math program that told me what to do daily and that included the hands on teaching methods and we did it several days a week.  I had a supplementary book of games, and infused our year with math units or literature based math lessons occasionally, but those things don't come naturally to me.  I want somebody else who has thought of a way to make it fun and to seem natural for me because it doesn't.  

We use a phonics based learn to read program at some point, but I naturally do life with reading in the real world, looking at sounds on signs, playing words games, reading aloud, etc. etc. so that always came much more easily and enjoyable to my kiddos too.  So I don't know how to make it like math except to use a thorough program that breaks things down which you are doing.  But I do think it sounds like you are doing too much. 

For K for reading, I always started with Bob books, set 1.  That gave the kids 1-3 sounds a book and a book they could read with confidence.  Some of mine from just a couple of books could easily move into level one readers from the library of their choosing long before we ever started a thorough phonics program because they just got it from those.  We start a phonics program halfway through k, 1-3 days a week, over k and 1st and continue reading Bob books and moving into whatever other readers they are ready for along the way.  That is very simple.  A program made for 5 days a week over first grade, spread over a year and a half of k, leaving the first half of k very light with just reading a little Bob books for fun.  They all pick it up pretty quickly once we start the the phonics program if they hadn't already (my kids and other babysitting kids I had at that age that schooled with us, boys and girls.)

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

We start a phonics program halfway through k, 1-3 days a week, over k and 1st and continue reading Bob books and moving into whatever other readers they are ready for along the way.  That is very simple.  A program made for 5 days a week over first grade, spread over a year and a half of k, leaving the first half of k very light with just reading a little Bob books for fun. 

Oh that's interesting. I've been trying to do phonics lesson 5 days a week, since we do math 5 days a week. Good to know.

Yesterday and today has felt a lot better. We got to go to the library (our library just opened for in-person visits). We borrowed a few begining reader books and he was really excited to read them when we got home. It felt good and "fun". 

TOPGR (the WTM reading book) for now will just be for me to learn phonics. We'll just stick with the pre-reading AAR reduced to 1-2 times a week. When we go back to "stare at this page and read" I may take @Gil idea with the index cards, to mix things up.

Thanks so much to @wendyroo for a thorough trial of Lalilo. I didn't even think to put my kid into a different grade to try the assesment. I totally agree with you, I would not want to have my kid chose between fire, fier, fyre, fyer. Unless it was coupled with a lesson on why fire should be the one chosen. The level they put my child at (begining of first grade) had words that were phonetically incorrect. They only shared begining or ending letters or were about the same shape/size.

Thank you everyone!

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

Funny, for us, reading was always more entertaining and engaging than  math.  I guess it depends on the natural abilities of the teacher.  I used a math program that told me what to do daily and that included the hands on teaching methods and we did it several days a week.  I had a supplementary book of games, and infused our year with math units or literature based math lessons occasionally, but those things don't come naturally to me.  I want somebody else who has thought of a way to make it fun and to seem natural for me because it doesn't.  

Too bad my kids are so little. All my suggestions currently would be for little kids.

[AnneGG]

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with LaLiLo. However, I don’t analyze every detail of every dollar store workbook or every reader from the library either.  It’s a free resource. I prefer it to ABC mouse or Reading Eggs. 
 

@clarita You should check out the Reading Simplified Academy. I use a lot of their PD for my cert. Rooted in Language is excellent as well. I actually use Pinwheels as our phonics in homeschool. 

 

 

[AnneGG]

4 hours ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

Funny, for us, reading was always more entertaining and engaging than  math.  I guess it depends on the natural abilities of the teacher.  I used a math program that told me what to do daily and that included the hands on teaching methods and we did it several days a week.  I had a supplementary book of games, and infused our year with math units or literature based math lessons occasionally, but those things don't come naturally to me.  I want somebody else who has thought of a way to make it fun and to seem natural for me because it doesn't.  

We use a phonics based learn to read program at some point, but I naturally do life with reading in the real world, looking at sounds on signs, playing words games, reading aloud, etc. etc. so that always came much more easily and enjoyable to my kiddos too.  So I don't know how to make it like math except to use a thorough program that breaks things down which you are doing.  But I do think it sounds like you are doing too much. 

For K for reading, I always started with Bob books, set 1.  That gave the kids 1-3 sounds a book and a book they could read with confidence.  Some of mine from just a couple of books could easily move into level one readers from the library of their choosing long before we ever started a thorough phonics program because they just got it from those.  We start a phonics program halfway through k, 1-3 days a week, over k and 1st and continue reading Bob books and moving into whatever other readers they are ready for along the way.  That is very simple.  A program made for 5 days a week over first grade, spread over a year and a half of k, leaving the first half of k very light with just reading a little Bob books for fun.  They all pick it up pretty quickly once we start the the phonics program if they hadn't already (my kids and other babysitting kids I had at that age that schooled with us, boys and girls.)

OT: I’ve been meaning to tell you (for like a year!) how much we love using your idea of beans on the popsicle stick for place value. I always love your crafty and thrifty ideas! 
 

 

[Clarita]

4 hours ago, AnneGG said:

@clarita You should check out the Reading Simplified Academy. I use a lot of their PD for my cert. Rooted in Language is excellent as well. I actually use Pinwheels as our phonics in homeschool. 

What do the Pinwheels videos look like? (Not production quality but what do they cover?? Useful??) There's a video in the sample lesson but I can't actually see the video. 

At what age did you start using Pinwheels? It looks like a lot of writing. This is definately a thought for our K5 year (next year). 

[kiwik]

My kids learned using while language at school though they did do a little of OPGTR as well and they thought the progressive phonics books were funny when they were 4 or so.  I honestly think for the majority of kids the phonics/sight words debate is not important.  Most kids will learn however they are taught.

[UHP]

17 hours ago, AnneGG said:

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with LaLiLo. However, I don’t analyze every detail of every dollar store workbook or every reader from the library either.

I analyze and obsess over them like LB Jefferies watching his neighbors in Rear Window.

I'm going to go on letting her play with it. The program is charming and soothing in a way. It's no effort and I can dream of it teaching her something.

How long did your son use it for?

[2_girls_mommy]

17 hours ago, AnneGG said:

OT: I’ve been meaning to tell you (for like a year!) how much we love using your idea of beans on the popsicle stick for place value. I always love your crafty and thrifty ideas! 
 

 

I have not thought of that in a long time!! I need to do it with my current 2nd grader!

[countrymum]

I used AAR for 2 kids, nowI am using Foundational Phonics from Little seedlings. I love it for my 5 year old. I started with book 1 even though we did letter sounds last year. It gets fast into short vowel words. It includes some writing as well as hearing sounds and noticing words. The activities are developmental and with a set of sandpaper letters and extra readers if you need the practice your all set. It is not daunting, but is phonetically sound. It is based on the old book Word Mastery by Florence Akin. My son does not love all of it, but he does like some pages each unit.  https://www.rainbowresource.com/category/9162/Foundational-Phonics.html

I think the stories in AAR are too long for K and 1st graders learning to read. We struggled with them and the fluency sheets too. I like the American Language Series much better for readers.   https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/042643/Fun-in-the-Sun-ALS-Kindergarten-Readers.html?

[goldenecho]

Success is the best answer...once those rules are learned and they can use them and start to be able to read better, that makes a world of difference. 

But in the meantime ProgressivePhonics.com (which is free) has some cute personification of letters to learn phonics rules, which makes it more fun for some kids. 

And, when you get to punctuation...I highly suggest the book Semicolons, Cupcakes, and Cucumbers.   My son LOVED that book so much that he asked to read it over and over for a month. 

As for talking about it outside of lessons: the history of words is fascinating, and grammar is tied up in that. 

This one is a fun one about that (does include a cartoonized depiction of a Viking killing someone, but overall fun).  It's about our crazy plurals (like children, sheep, etc.) and how the Vikings are why we don't have MORE of those but mainly end things with s to make more than one.  https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-plural-word-s-john-mcwhorter

There's a good chance that many of our "rule-breakers" and spelling rules that seem to make no sense, often are hold outs from the way things used to be said.   Sometimes it's fun to say them like they should sound and think...did some person from the middle ages actually say it that way? 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by goldenecho

[*****]

On 10/18/2021 at 6:41 PM, Lori D. said:

- Reader Rabbit -- educational computer game

Lori or others, my girls used this many, many years ago and we thought it was great.  I am wondering if this program has been updated to be used on Windows 10?  It was such a good program. I am not up on the latest apps, but wonder if it is offered online (I sure hope so).  I am wondering for students that I tutor.   

[Lori D.]

28 minutes ago, ***** said:

Lori or others, my girls used this many, many years ago and we thought it was great.  I am wondering if this program has been updated to be used on Windows 10?  It was such a good program. I am not up on the latest apps, but wonder if it is offered online (I sure hope so).  I am wondering for students that I tutor.   

I know! Reader Rabbit was a fantastic bridge for DS#2 with mild LDs, and who was delayed in "clicking" with reading. It kept him engaged and wanting to keep working. Between Reader Rabbit, and Calving & Hobbes cartoon books (which he was *desperate* to read), that is what helped DS#2 stay willing to keep working at the reading program to finally clear the hurdle.
 

We're Mac not Windows, but I found this short thread on the Microsoft community help board: "Reader Rabbit Compatibility with Windows 10.

And also this answer from an online question: "I was able to figure it out. I just insert the disc as usually and click on "RRPW32" instead of start or setup. Thanks!"

And also: "You need to right click on the drive after inserting the disc and go to properties then compatibility and change [compatibility]"
 

I'm not seeing it as an online game, but it looks like you can download the various levels of Reader Rabbit at Old Games.com. It looks like it is a 1-day fee of $8 to download all you want, or a 1-month unlimited fee for $12.

Or, I still see that all of the various levels are available for purchase at Amazon.

Enjoy!

[Not_a_Number]

Hmmm, I feel like my kids enjoy learning to read because they like reading. 

I've always actually had them read as part of the curriculum, since we do 100 EZ Lessons and Bob books, and those just involve reading stories for the lessons. The kids have always gotten a kick out of finally being able to read even simple stories. 

We'd also sound out words that are relevant to whatever rules we're learning in books when we're learning. They'd enjoy that somewhat, too. 

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

This is a very helpful thread. I am just getting out of overkill mode (literally this morning.)

Glad I'm not the only one.

I think my main problem was that I am not that strong in phonics and how the English language is actually put together. (I was taught all the whole word 3 cueing stuff) I couldn't let him explore and teach on the fly like I do with math and science. So, now we just buddy read books from the library and games from AAR pre-reading (where he teaching his sister). While I get myself familiar with all this phonics stuff so I can let him explore more instead of forcing him to alwasy stick with the lecture in the book.  

[Nm.]

Reviving this.. I just discovered Lalilo and couldn’t be more pleased!  After using many different phonics programs, I am so glad to have found this.  Huge huge huge help.  It uses spelling to teach reading (similar to other tiered intervention programs).  It isn’t perfect, but contrary to the negative review it is actually on par with another program I’ve used (was difficult to get to all the parts but excellent).  Anyone still using it?  I am really enjoying the ability to assign lessons.  We still do our regular phonics stuff.

Edited February 4, 2023 by Lovinglife123

[Clarita]

18 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

It isn’t perfect, but contrary to the negative review it is actually on par with another program I’ve used (was difficult to get to all the parts but excellent).  Anyone still using it?

My son got tired of it pretty quick and then soon after he discovered he could just read stuff. So he just reads everything while we are out and about. 

[FlyingSack]

My 5.5 year old really gets a kick out of learning the history behind odd spellings like silent K. That might inject a little more fun into your phonics. This youtube channel is a great source for that history:

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by FlyingSack
Typo

[Nm.]

8 hours ago, Clarita said:

My son got tired of it pretty quick and then soon after he discovered he could just read stuff. So he just reads everything while we are out and about. 

Oh I definitely don’t think my kids will love it at all.. it’s only recommended for 10 mins 3x a week.  I don’t mind if they don’t like it, my DS9 with dyslexia has already had great gains from it!!