So this is the third day of the first week and oh my goodness...
It is almost 4pm and the girls are still working on their school. They got a two hour break for lunch and reading time and they take 10 minutes between each subject, but HOLY COW! It is not supposed to be like this.
I know that the days will get shorter because they always do. The kids get used to their new work load and new curriculum and pick up the pace eventually. But until then... we trudge along... teaching and learning new skills and such.
Speaking of skills, Charlotte and Savannah have different strengths and weaknesses, and it is becoming more obvious. I need to work on their individual weaknesses this year.
Charlotte needs abundant practice summarizing and narrating short passages. I think she often zones out when I read aloud or when she reads, unless it really captures her attention. She doesn't listen carefully and/or doesn't comprehend well. I plan on helping her by having her summarize every read aloud I read to her in the evening. Her strengths are that she rocks at math! And she has very beautiful handwriting. She is careful, deliberate, and slooooooww... but it is pretty!
Savannah is careless in her work in math, handwriting and reading. This makes math time go much longer because I require her to correct every single wrong answer. Today she had to re-do half of her math from yesterday because of careless adding, carrying, and borrowing. Easy problems. I'm not sure how to help her other than what I'm already doing. I make her re-do her math, re-write sloppy writing, and re-read sloppy reading. Her strengths are that she rocks at comprehension and summarizing and anything language arts. She is leaps beyond her grade level.
Madelynn does not put in much effort into what I ask her to do. I probably need to make school time a little more fun for her. She usually responds to my attitude, actually. If I'm being impatient, she becomes reluctant. If I'm positive and patient, she becomes more willing to try. It has been fun getting to know her personality more. She really enjoys her math book.
I am teaching her cursive first through New American Cursive, but it is really difficult for her and I don't really like the workbook at all. I am thinking of switching her to Handwriting Without Tears- manuscript, like I did with Savannah and Charlotte.
I regret waiting so long to teach her how to form her letters. This is holding us back. In order to take off in reading she needs to know her phonograms. In order to more easily learn her phonograms, she needs to be able to write them as she learns them. But she can't write :( boo.
I am starting to see the wisdom of teaching how to spell before teaching how to read. Maddy is doing great going through the Bob Books, but it requires so much mental work and attention. It is a physical and mental struggle, as it was for Savannah and Charlotte. It seems that it would be better to learn how to write and spell easy words that would translate into being able to pick up a book and read it with ease eventually. This, of course, would cause her to take longer to read than she would be capable of, but an easier path. It also would have helped if I had started her handwriting about a year ago. Lesson learned. I think I'll start Zach on pre-writing exercises now.
All in all, I have enjoyed being on a rigorous daily schedule and teaching the kids this week. I love interacting with them. I am really pleased with our curriculum choices so far as well. Homeschooling is hard. I have to practice having a lot of patience and I often fail there, but it is also wonderful too. The enjoyment far outweighs the difficult.
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
How to teach reading
There are many great ways to teach reading. This is my way and the curriculum I use.
First an overview:
1. Read out loud to them from birth, every day.
2. Teach them letter recognition and the first sound the letters make.
3. Wait for them to develop the skill to blend the sounds together to make a word.
4. Practice reading CVC words using a white board or tiles.
5. When CVC words come fairly easily, sit down with a beginning reader (BOB books, then McGuffey Readers)
6. Begin systematic phonics instruction. (Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading)
7. Teach all of the letter sounds (Phonics Road, level 1) You can do this anytime after step 2.
1. Read out loud to them from birth, every day.
Find a list of GOOD, high-quality, beautiful books, not dumbed-down books, and read to your children every day. I have some links on the left side of my blog for lists: 1000 Good Books and Ambleside Online booklists for years 0-3.
2. Letter recognition and the first sound the letters make.
I start at a young age and teach them the first sounds of the letters and letter recognition. I make flashcards, a card for each lower case and each upper case. After I've taught them five letter sounds or so, I will put down five letter cards and say, "which letter says /b/?" "which letter says /a/?" etc... over and over again. Clap, make a big deal... Then teach another another sound and play the same game over and over. They love it. This is for ages 3 & 4. With the cards we also match lower case to it's upper case and learn the names of the letters. Do this for about 5 min. a day and they will have letter sounds down. OR buy the leap frog movies. That works too
To help with letter recognition in words I would play a game where I would lay out 6 letters and say, "What sound comes at the beginning of book?" She would choose among the 6 letters and choose the B. You can ask, "What are some words that start with /b/?" Book, ball, bounce, big, bubble, bus, bill, buck, bubba" Just play games. Be creative.
What are the first sounds of the letters?
A=/a/ as in apple
B=/b/ as in ball
C=/ck/ as in cat
D=/d/ as in dog
E=/e/ as in egg
F=/f/ as in fat
G=/g/ as in goat
H=/h/ as in hot
I=/i/ as in icky
J=/j/ as in jump
K=/ck/ as in kick
L=/l/ as in lick
M=/m/ as in mom
N=/n/ as in nest
O=/o/ as in octopus
P=/p/ as in pig
Q=/qu/ as in queen (you can make a flashcard with just Q or Qu, since Q is always paired with U. It doesn't really matter though)
R=/r/ as in red
S=/s/ as in snake
T=/t/ as in tent
U=/u/ as in up
V=/v/ as in vest
W=/w/ as in water
X= /ks/ as in fox
Y=/y/ as in yellow
Z=/z/ as in zebra
3. Wait for them to develop the skill to blend the sounds together to make a word.
Then I start playing a new game to see if they have developed the skill of blending. While driving in the car I will say "try to guess the word I'm saying: /p/ /i/ /g/?" Keep it fun and light.
When she starts doing this with some success, as well as breaking down the word PIG into its individual sounds, you can move to the written word.
4. Practice reading CVC words using a white board or tiles.
With Madelynn, blending a three letter word on paper was too difficult at first. I would write PIG. She would sound out each letter and say "PIT", "GIB", "POG", etc. She couldn't keep all of the sounds in her head long enough to blend them together. So I changed my method. I chose the vowel "A" and only wrote a consonant and the vowel "A". So my paper looked like this:
ma
pa
ca
ba
ra
fa
She would say /m/, /a/, /ma/.
/p/, /a/, /pa/
/c/, /a/, /ca/
and so on.
Then I underlined the consonant/vowel pairs that she just read and added a "T" at the end of all of them. So now it read:
mat
pat
cat
bat
rat
fat
With my finger I would cover up the "T" and ask her to read "MA" again. She would say, /m/, /a/, /ma/.
Then I would uncover the T and she would say /t/. Sometimes she would then say /mat/ and sometimes she would have to sound it all out again.
To move on from here, I found a handy list of words online and printed them out. It is called Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade. This guide teaches reading the same way I do, so reading through the directions would be worth your time.
Today, I started with UNIT 1 words. I wrote them one at a time on a piece of paper, underlined the first two letters, and had Madelynn read them to me. We got through the first two columns today.
I then decided to explain the words "I" and "A". When these letters are alone in a sentence, they say their name. I then wrote on the whiteboard "I am a cat." and she read her first sentence.
I will continue through the list of words until CVC words come a little easier.
5. When CVC words come fairly easily, sit down with a beginning reader (BOB books, then McGuffey Readers)
When CVC words come fairly easy, I'll bring out the BOB books. We don't sit down with a book until CVC words come easily.
We'll sit on the couch together. I'll point with a pencil which word to sound out. I also cover the pictures. After she reads the whole sentence, I uncover the picture for her to see. This keeps them from guessing words.
When Bob Books have been conquered (the first three sets), we move on to McGuffey Readers (which both my readers LOVE).
6. Begin systematic phonics instruction. (Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading)
Sometime after we begin in the BOB books, we also start in a systematic phonics instruction book. I used Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading in the past. We start wherever they are at, not from the beginning. I end OPGTR when they are reading fluently. I have yet to finish that book. I don't know that it is absolutely necessary, but it helps me feel like we've covered all the bases.
So at this point, the reading lesson begins with one lesson from OPGTR, then at least one chapter from McGuffey every day.
I also hand them Little Bear, Frog & Toad, and other beginning readers to practice, and alternate with McGuffey. When they have read through the McGuffey Readers through Book 2, we start The Little House in the Big Woods. First we alternate reading a paragraph, then I have just the student read while I listen for mistakes.
With both of my oldest daughters, before we finish Little House, they take off on their own. When that happens, I don't sit with them to read anymore. I do ask them to tell me about what they are reading occasionally to check comprehension.
7. Teach all of the letter sounds. You can do this anytime after step 2.
Teaching ALL the phonograms and ALL the sounds. What is this? It is the easiest way to teach reading. Here is a sample of all the phonograms and the sounds they make. You can buy flashcards here with the sounds written on the back and just teach them to know the sounds when they see the phonogram. Or you can print out the flashcards from this site for free. This can replace your phonics instruction from OPGTR.
There are many programs that teach this method, which originally began with the Spalding program; the manual is called The Writing Road To Reading. The spin-off of Spalding that I used, and the easiest to use, in my opinion, is The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading, level 1. Buy it used because it is expensive. You don't need the rest of the levels, nor would I recommend them. The great thing about Phonics Road is that the instructions are on DVD and she puts the spelling/phonics rules to easy songs to help the child remember.
Basically, you teach the child all of the sounds that each phonogram makes. Maddy asked me to write "peacock" on the board. So I sounded it out as I wrote: p ea c o ck . Two-letter phonograms are underlined. Each phonogram makes a sound. The phonogram ea make three sounds: /ee/, /e/, /A/. In "peacock" it makes its first sound. If I wrote the word "lead", I would write it like this: l ea d, and put a little 2 above the phonogram ea since it makes its second sound. There are also marks for indicating a spelling rule. Analyzing words like this makes reading and spelling much easier.
A few rules I have: They sound out everything. I never teach sight words until they've been sounded out first. For instance "the". I let them sound out /t/ /h/ /e/, they try to blend it, and THEN I say "This is a tricky word. We actually say "the" when we see this word. Now whenever you see it, just remember to say "the".
I'm a stickler on making them re-read a sentence if they skip a word or guess a word. NOT ok in my book.
If they are struggling with a word, I just tell them what it is and move on, IF they have done their best to sound it out first. I try to keep reading enjoyable.
I go at their pace. When they're done, reading time is over. When I'm done, reading time is over. Negativity cannot be present during reading time.
Reading time has to be consistent when they are first learning. I try to wait until they are around age 5 and can blend before it becomes a consistent daily practice.
If the child can't sit still for more than 5 min., I have done reading time 3 times a day for 5 min. and that worked out nicely.
MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF THE DAY: Fill your bookshelves with the classics. There are so many beautiful children's classics that contain worthy ideas and words. Check out the 1000 Good Books or Ambleside Online link on the left side of this blog. Find the classics cheap online or in used bookstores. Have your own library of only good books at home.
First an overview:
1. Read out loud to them from birth, every day.
2. Teach them letter recognition and the first sound the letters make.
3. Wait for them to develop the skill to blend the sounds together to make a word.
4. Practice reading CVC words using a white board or tiles.
5. When CVC words come fairly easily, sit down with a beginning reader (BOB books, then McGuffey Readers)
6. Begin systematic phonics instruction. (Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading)
7. Teach all of the letter sounds (Phonics Road, level 1) You can do this anytime after step 2.
1. Read out loud to them from birth, every day.
Find a list of GOOD, high-quality, beautiful books, not dumbed-down books, and read to your children every day. I have some links on the left side of my blog for lists: 1000 Good Books and Ambleside Online booklists for years 0-3.
2. Letter recognition and the first sound the letters make.
I start at a young age and teach them the first sounds of the letters and letter recognition. I make flashcards, a card for each lower case and each upper case. After I've taught them five letter sounds or so, I will put down five letter cards and say, "which letter says /b/?" "which letter says /a/?" etc... over and over again. Clap, make a big deal... Then teach another another sound and play the same game over and over. They love it. This is for ages 3 & 4. With the cards we also match lower case to it's upper case and learn the names of the letters. Do this for about 5 min. a day and they will have letter sounds down. OR buy the leap frog movies. That works too
To help with letter recognition in words I would play a game where I would lay out 6 letters and say, "What sound comes at the beginning of book?" She would choose among the 6 letters and choose the B. You can ask, "What are some words that start with /b/?" Book, ball, bounce, big, bubble, bus, bill, buck, bubba" Just play games. Be creative.
What are the first sounds of the letters?
A=/a/ as in apple
B=/b/ as in ball
C=/ck/ as in cat
D=/d/ as in dog
E=/e/ as in egg
F=/f/ as in fat
G=/g/ as in goat
H=/h/ as in hot
I=/i/ as in icky
J=/j/ as in jump
K=/ck/ as in kick
L=/l/ as in lick
M=/m/ as in mom
N=/n/ as in nest
O=/o/ as in octopus
P=/p/ as in pig
Q=/qu/ as in queen (you can make a flashcard with just Q or Qu, since Q is always paired with U. It doesn't really matter though)
R=/r/ as in red
S=/s/ as in snake
T=/t/ as in tent
U=/u/ as in up
V=/v/ as in vest
W=/w/ as in water
X= /ks/ as in fox
Y=/y/ as in yellow
Z=/z/ as in zebra
3. Wait for them to develop the skill to blend the sounds together to make a word.
Then I start playing a new game to see if they have developed the skill of blending. While driving in the car I will say "try to guess the word I'm saying: /p/ /i/ /g/?" Keep it fun and light.
When she starts doing this with some success, as well as breaking down the word PIG into its individual sounds, you can move to the written word.
4. Practice reading CVC words using a white board or tiles.
With Madelynn, blending a three letter word on paper was too difficult at first. I would write PIG. She would sound out each letter and say "PIT", "GIB", "POG", etc. She couldn't keep all of the sounds in her head long enough to blend them together. So I changed my method. I chose the vowel "A" and only wrote a consonant and the vowel "A". So my paper looked like this:
ma
pa
ca
ba
ra
fa
She would say /m/, /a/, /ma/.
/p/, /a/, /pa/
/c/, /a/, /ca/
and so on.
Then I underlined the consonant/vowel pairs that she just read and added a "T" at the end of all of them. So now it read:
mat
pat
cat
bat
rat
fat
With my finger I would cover up the "T" and ask her to read "MA" again. She would say, /m/, /a/, /ma/.
Then I would uncover the T and she would say /t/. Sometimes she would then say /mat/ and sometimes she would have to sound it all out again.
To move on from here, I found a handy list of words online and printed them out. It is called Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade. This guide teaches reading the same way I do, so reading through the directions would be worth your time.
Today, I started with UNIT 1 words. I wrote them one at a time on a piece of paper, underlined the first two letters, and had Madelynn read them to me. We got through the first two columns today.
I then decided to explain the words "I" and "A". When these letters are alone in a sentence, they say their name. I then wrote on the whiteboard "I am a cat." and she read her first sentence.
I will continue through the list of words until CVC words come a little easier.
5. When CVC words come fairly easily, sit down with a beginning reader (BOB books, then McGuffey Readers)
When CVC words come fairly easy, I'll bring out the BOB books. We don't sit down with a book until CVC words come easily.
We'll sit on the couch together. I'll point with a pencil which word to sound out. I also cover the pictures. After she reads the whole sentence, I uncover the picture for her to see. This keeps them from guessing words.
When Bob Books have been conquered (the first three sets), we move on to McGuffey Readers (which both my readers LOVE).
6. Begin systematic phonics instruction. (Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading)
Sometime after we begin in the BOB books, we also start in a systematic phonics instruction book. I used Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading in the past. We start wherever they are at, not from the beginning. I end OPGTR when they are reading fluently. I have yet to finish that book. I don't know that it is absolutely necessary, but it helps me feel like we've covered all the bases.
So at this point, the reading lesson begins with one lesson from OPGTR, then at least one chapter from McGuffey every day.
I also hand them Little Bear, Frog & Toad, and other beginning readers to practice, and alternate with McGuffey. When they have read through the McGuffey Readers through Book 2, we start The Little House in the Big Woods. First we alternate reading a paragraph, then I have just the student read while I listen for mistakes.
With both of my oldest daughters, before we finish Little House, they take off on their own. When that happens, I don't sit with them to read anymore. I do ask them to tell me about what they are reading occasionally to check comprehension.
7. Teach all of the letter sounds. You can do this anytime after step 2.
Teaching ALL the phonograms and ALL the sounds. What is this? It is the easiest way to teach reading. Here is a sample of all the phonograms and the sounds they make. You can buy flashcards here with the sounds written on the back and just teach them to know the sounds when they see the phonogram. Or you can print out the flashcards from this site for free. This can replace your phonics instruction from OPGTR.
There are many programs that teach this method, which originally began with the Spalding program; the manual is called The Writing Road To Reading. The spin-off of Spalding that I used, and the easiest to use, in my opinion, is The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading, level 1. Buy it used because it is expensive. You don't need the rest of the levels, nor would I recommend them. The great thing about Phonics Road is that the instructions are on DVD and she puts the spelling/phonics rules to easy songs to help the child remember.
Basically, you teach the child all of the sounds that each phonogram makes. Maddy asked me to write "peacock" on the board. So I sounded it out as I wrote: p ea c o ck . Two-letter phonograms are underlined. Each phonogram makes a sound. The phonogram ea make three sounds: /ee/, /e/, /A/. In "peacock" it makes its first sound. If I wrote the word "lead", I would write it like this: l ea d, and put a little 2 above the phonogram ea since it makes its second sound. There are also marks for indicating a spelling rule. Analyzing words like this makes reading and spelling much easier.
A few rules I have: They sound out everything. I never teach sight words until they've been sounded out first. For instance "the". I let them sound out /t/ /h/ /e/, they try to blend it, and THEN I say "This is a tricky word. We actually say "the" when we see this word. Now whenever you see it, just remember to say "the".
I'm a stickler on making them re-read a sentence if they skip a word or guess a word. NOT ok in my book.
If they are struggling with a word, I just tell them what it is and move on, IF they have done their best to sound it out first. I try to keep reading enjoyable.
I go at their pace. When they're done, reading time is over. When I'm done, reading time is over. Negativity cannot be present during reading time.
Reading time has to be consistent when they are first learning. I try to wait until they are around age 5 and can blend before it becomes a consistent daily practice.
If the child can't sit still for more than 5 min., I have done reading time 3 times a day for 5 min. and that worked out nicely.
MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF THE DAY: Fill your bookshelves with the classics. There are so many beautiful children's classics that contain worthy ideas and words. Check out the 1000 Good Books or Ambleside Online link on the left side of this blog. Find the classics cheap online or in used bookstores. Have your own library of only good books at home.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Amazing Kids
I just sent my kids to bed after a long day of chores and school work and piano lessons. Since it is after 9pm (which is lights out) I told them they could not stay up and read tonight. Tears and protests started. "But I worked so hard today! I just want to read!!!" They did work hard. I gave in. My 6 year old is reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. My 8 year old is reading Robin Hood by Pyle (the old English version). I am so impressed with these kids!!!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Charlotte can read!
Ok, well, sort of. She is so excited about this. I handed her a book with a bunch of "Little Bear" stories in it and she will not put it down. She read all day today and yesterday. She is almost done with the whole book.
She also loves reading the Book of Mormon in the morning. She always wants to be the first to read and she frequently asks to read more than just one verse. (She still needs help with about half the words).
She also loves her McGuffey reader. Savannah loved those too.
Neither of them enjoy(ed) reading from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, however it gets the job done. I think I have it down now, as a teacher of reading and phonics, that I may be able to permanently drop that book forever from our curriculum list.
Maybe.
She also loves reading the Book of Mormon in the morning. She always wants to be the first to read and she frequently asks to read more than just one verse. (She still needs help with about half the words).
She also loves her McGuffey reader. Savannah loved those too.
Neither of them enjoy(ed) reading from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, however it gets the job done. I think I have it down now, as a teacher of reading and phonics, that I may be able to permanently drop that book forever from our curriculum list.
Maybe.
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