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time4tea
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| Posted: Jan 04 2006 at 11:33am | IP Logged
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Hi Everyone!
I am in kind of a crabby mood at the moment, because I just finished a very discouraging school session with my dd, age 5-1/2, in K. I am at my wits end as to what to do with her regarding a reading program. It seems as if every one we have tried, and we have tried most of them (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Little Angel Readers, Little Stories for Little Folks, etc.), end up with my dd hitting a brick wall that we do not seem to get past. She is interested in reading and can read the Bob Books First! series up to the Green Level so far, but when she sees some of the very same words in another context, say, in a different book, she doesn't usually recognize the words again, and just stares at them as if she has never seen them before. I was hoping to use CHC First grade plans with her next year, but according to their catalog, a beginning 1st grader should have completed Level one of Little Stories for Little Folks, and of all the reading material I have tried with her, she seems to have the least success with that particular program (don't know why).
I'm not really sure what to do. I'm sure I'm probably just over-reacting - after all, neither of my two older dc read anything while in K - my oldest didn't really begin reading until more like end of 1st, beg. 2nd Grade. Any advice or encouragement would be most appreciated!
Thanks and God bless!
~ Tea
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kingvozzo
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We had good success with Reading Reflex. It is a phono-graphic method of reading instruction, and it made a great deal of sense to me with my K son. After the light went on and he started to read, we did not continue with some of the Read America program, but I was very happy with the book at the time. I'm planning on using it with my dd next year for her K year.
Don't be discouraged 
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Noreen
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Mary G
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One thing that seemed to work for my Thomas was stopping all formal reading programs and just reading to him books that he really wanted to read. It was a great, stress-free cuddle time and we both calmed down. When we started up a formal reading program (CHC's Little Angel readers) at the beginning of 1st grade, he was doing well and has slowed a bit again, but I think I'm more relaxed and he's doing it in his time, rather than my time.
Hope this helps....
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Taffy
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Apparantly, my kids all have the "reading gene" as they all figured out letters rather early. Our 2 year old surprised me a week ago by naming the letters on his letter blocks! No formal instruction, just lots of reading books with us and seeing what his big brothers do.
Just wanted to second Mary G.'s comment that spending a lot of time reading books to her will probably help a lot. I will sometimes follow along the words with my finger, some argue against it but I find it useful.
Good luck!
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Marybeth
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I agree with the reading and cuddling time!!! Take some time to enjoy all the fabulous read alouds for this age. Have you tried Cay's book fiesta authors and illustrators?
It sounds like sight words are stumping your little one...maybe?? You could also review vowel sounds and rhyming words. When I tutored K and 1st graders we would play games with flashcards(I made them so it would be cheaper) and used the computer games every couple of tutoring sessions for a special reward.
It always seemed like in January my classroom students would look at me like "what is she talking about???" and it would be a concept we had discussed daily since September!!! I call it the "back in school blues" for the little ones. I am convinced children need recovery time for Santa and all the Christmas excitement. 
Remember you want to start CHC probably when..next August..there will be a whole lotta learning between now and then...you will be surprised how much your dd will know and be ready to tackle come 1st grade.
We are slowly working our way through The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. I am very happy with the layout and ease of the book.
I have many ideas and resources for one on one tutoring at this level. Feel free to PM me if you need or want any ideas or websites.
God bless!!
Marybeth
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Rachel May
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My dear friend was having a similar problem with her 6 yo this fall except that Hannah could not read AT ALL and did NOT want to. Jodie decided to start with spelling tests just for something different. After a month or more working on spelling of simple words, she started back in on the Little Angel Readers with the comment, "She just may learn to read after all."
My boys could read everything in 100 Easy Lessons, but very of few of the same words in other books. Now that they have learned all of the most common phonograms (used Sound Beginnings), their reading is taking off. I wonder if they didn't just memorize the word in that one font, but couldn't really sound it out when it looked a little different.
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Meredith
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Mary G. wrote:
| One thing that seemed to work for my Thomas was stopping all formal reading programs and just reading to him books that he really wanted to read. It was a great, stress-free cuddle time and we both calmed down. |
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Ditto what Mary said. It's not at all unusual for K'ers not to read right away, they have PLENTY of time and she will invariably catch up, maybe even faster than you think. Hang in there and just have FUN! You want to build a love of reading and listening to good books is the BEST medicine!
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Meredith
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: Jan 11 2006 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
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happyheartsmom wrote:
Mary G. wrote:
| One thing that seemed to work for my Thomas was stopping all formal reading programs and just reading to him books that he really wanted to read. It was a great, stress-free cuddle time and we both calmed down. |
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Ditto what Mary said. It's not at all unusual for K'ers not to read right away, they have PLENTY of time and she will invariably catch up, maybe even faster than you think. Hang in there and just have FUN! You want to build a love of reading and listening to good books is the BEST medicine! |
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Ditto again from me. I'm not a big fan of "phonics books" because they often have very contrived plots and often don't make a lot of sense because the author is trying to artificially put together words that are phonetically similiar.
When reading English, students must rely on multiple cueing systems, phonics being only one. They must recognize sight words that follow no phonetic rule, and they also must rely on context...meaning, what makes sense in the story.
I find that taking a "picture walk" prior to reading a new book is helpful. Together, we look through the book, picture by picture and discuss and predict what we think the story is about. I try to say the vocabulary that ds will encounter, so that he will be expecting it. For example, if the book has a tortoise, I will say, "Oh, I see a tortoise here. That's a longer word. What letter do you think it starts with? We'll have to be watching for that one as you read."
As I'm sure you know, reading aloud is SUCH A VALUABLE activity for teaching you little one to read. (I mean of course you reading aloud)If your little one will tolerate it, you can also play reading games to reinforce decoding skill as you read to her...for example, choose a "word of the day", perhaps a high frequency sight word, and see how many times she can find it on the page as you read. Play "sound detective" by asking her to find all of the words that start or end with a specific sound. Play "I Spy" a word that starts with the "sh" sound.
There are a lot of great games out there for learning sight words too. Lakeshore Cataloguehas some beauties, and you can always make your own. However, I find that recognizing sight words for games does not always result in easy recognition when reading text. I figure that it can't hurt though.
HTH, and you are right...kindergarteners are very young! The best thing a little k-er can learn, in my opinion, is that reading is fun and enjoyable. Anything that is NOT teaching this should be avoided!
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1st grade mom
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happyheartsmom wrote:
Mary G. wrote:
| One thing that seemed to work for my Thomas was stopping all formal reading programs and just reading to him books that he really wanted to read. It was a great, stress-free cuddle time and we both calmed down. |
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Ditto what Mary said. It's not at all unusual for K'ers not to read right away, they have PLENTY of time and she will invariably catch up, maybe even faster than you think. Hang in there and just have FUN! You want to build a love of reading and listening to good books is the BEST medicine! |
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I agree with this advice. I thought my articulate and talkative daughter would be an early reader, but after encountering some resistance, postponed some of the reading/phonics instruction in favor of continuing reading to her in kindergarten. When she began first grade she was more interested in reading on her own. Now I think she is making good progress in reading.
In kindergarten she was always asking for stories. And her comprehension was way above any possible early reading level. Now we are doing both types of reading.
1st grade mom
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ALmom
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Eye development varies from child to child. Some 5 and 6 yo may simply not be ready for a lot of close work. If this is the case, reading aloud to her and resuming the whole thing next year may work. We also do CHC and do not worry if dc doesn't have the reading skills - we just spend some time with the phonics/reading, and jump into the CHC as soon as the dc is ready. They move quickly once they are ready. (We see this a lot in our house as many of our dc do have vision problems and some are simply far-sighted). If she is interested in something - perhaps doing it big on a chalkboard would help.
Janet
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Martha
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I agree with slowing down a bit and just going at her pace. I've had dc that could read at 2nd grade level by age 5. I've had dc that didn't really "get it" and read well until closer to 6 1/2 or 7.
I do not like sight-word programs much, although ALL reading is a bit of sight-wording. (How many times do you have to sound out the word "at" before you know it?)
It's a shame it's protestant, but Abeka k and 1st grade reading/english are very good programs and very low stress unless you get religious aboutfollowing the teacher guides. (Which I did fine without.) I used this for my 1st 2 boys and partially for my 3rd. It has LOTS of re-enforcement of the basic concepts, which some kids just need. With my 4th, there's no way that was going to fly so we used LSFLF from CHC. He has a profound and dedicated dislike to any english/reading workbooks. I've also used Seton just fine, although it goes at a pretty good clip and I have had to take it slowly with 1 dc.
Sometimes, I've found that we just have to keep "plugging along" and eventually they get over (or through) the learning/development hump. Don't stress, just keep saying "sound it out" and moving on. Never spend more than 20 mintues on a particuliar reading activity - end it on a happy note before a meltdown can happen.
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Willa
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ALmom wrote:
| Eye development varies from child to child. Some 5 and 6 yo may simply not be ready for a lot of close work. |
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This was the case with my daughter, I think. She was reading early and well-- when she was still five. And she'd try to tackle books she WANTED to read, like The Hobbit, and Romeo and Juliet. She took several years to get everything in gear enough to do what she wanted to do with reading. She'd get tired, and start skipping through books.
My boys read much later on average, most were 7 or older, but jumped right into the big-league books without too much of a problem.
When one program stops working, I usually look for another one, or go to simply reading aloud and no formal phonics for a while, or play games. I think sometimes kids just need to see it a different way, sometimes, in order for it to click well. And also, I was reading recently in a productivity book -- the author said his karate instructor would recommend taking a break when he was plateauing. It actually helps people to pull it together and consolidate their gains, when they do that. I've had it happen with things I've been trying to learn, too, so it isn't just children by any means.
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time4tea
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Thank you ALL for your many thoughtful comments! I have backed off a lot with my dd - we just read and do our poetry, and do some Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (which she really enjoys, actually - she finds the exercises almost like a game). I am just going to coast for the rest of Kindergarten. The proctor at Kolbe told me that actually, she is ahead of many children of Kindergarten age, which also made me feel less pressured.
Maybe we will try Little Stories for Little Folks again next year, it just did not work out for us this year. It still has me baffled that CHC expects children to have comleted Level 1 of LSLF before beginning the CHC 1st grade program. From many of your comments and from my own experience, that seems like a tall order for many children. CHC is usually so laid back - I wonder why not with the reading/phonics?
Just a thought.
Thank you all again and God bless,
~Tea
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Please help with Kindergarten Reading
