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Kathryn
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| Posted: Sept 10 2009 at 7:20pm | IP Logged
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When teaching a struggling reader/learner, how much emphasis should be put on the phonics rules to understand sounding out words? It's enough to make my eyes glaze over. I can't imagine how his 9 yr old frenetic brain could possibly absorb this detail.
Ex: This week we were working on the soft c/soft g and hard c/hard g sounds and the rule that if the letter precedes e i y then it's soft or if it precedes a o u then it's hard. I completely lose him on this and I don't blame him. But then when we go to review the words such as curtain and certain, he can't properly read it. ?!
This is our first year HS and I know he needs extra help in this area. We're enrolled w/ Seton and using MCP Phonics Level C. Any other suggestions such as on-line games, links, addt'l resources? I guess I'm not really looking to throw this out the window completely after only 2 weeks but I'm open to experienced opinions/suggestions.
Thanks,
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 11 2009 at 10:07am | IP Logged
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Kathryn,
There are many ways and a myriad of good programs for approaching phonics. I've never used the MCP phonics program, so I'm not familiar enough with it to comment on it. It might be a very good program and you just need to take a more gentle and relaxed approach, allowing for time for it to sink in. Perhaps just stepping back to level B would be less overwhelming for your son?
Starfall is an online program that is free and teaches phonics. You might step back from MCP a bit, and let him review his way through Starfall a bit. foniks is another online program that might assist you or supplement his work. Owl and Mouse always have a ton of great printables for free and there's a whole section on reading.
 to you on your first year, Kathryn! You can do this! Give yourself permission to move at your son's pace and I think he'll be fine!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Karen T
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| Posted: Oct 03 2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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I'm using a much more intensive phonics program, Barton Reading and Spelling, for my dyslexic 9.5 yo ds and I am absolutely amazed at how many rules there are! I was taught to read almost entirely by sight and with word families, and luckily it worked for me, but I thought there weren't that many rules b/c there are so many exceptions in the English language. I am surprised to find how many things really do have rules!
Anyway, for the e-i-y thing, Barton uses a little mnemonic where you say those letters like a football cheer while punching the air with alternate hands E I Y! Barton calls them "watch out" vowels, b/c when they follow a C you have to watch out.
Barton is overkill for average readers but it's extremely good at all the rules and how to remember them.
Karen
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rose gardens
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 6:44pm | IP Logged
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Kathryn wrote:
When teaching a struggling reader/learner, how much emphasis should be put on the phonics rules to understand sounding out words? It's enough to make my eyes glaze over. I can't imagine how his 9 yr old frenetic brain could possibly absorb this detail.
This is our first year HS and I know he needs extra help in this area. We're enrolled w/ Seton and using MCP Phonics Level C. Any other suggestions such as on-line games, links, addt'l resources? I guess I'm not really looking to throw this out the window completely after only 2 weeks but I'm open to experienced opinions/suggestions... |
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Karen T wrote:
| I'm using a much more intensive phonics program, Barton Reading and Spelling, for my dyslexic 9.5 yo ds and I am absolutely amazed at how many rules there are! ... |
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I bought Barton's first set, then I discovered their pre-screening test. My own struggling reader's auditory processing skills needed further developement before we can begin Barton.
Based on my own experience trying to teach a struggling reader, I recommend that Kathryn check out the pre-screening at Barton's website and test her son to make sure he can distinguish between the various sounds in words. If he can do that, also make sure he can manipulate sounds in words. ("If you take the 't' from 'stop', what do you get?") Diane MacGuiness has some other reading/auditory tests in her book "Why Our Chidren Can't Read."
People who struggle with reading often may not notice the individual sounds within words. Barton corrects some of that in its first level, but some children, (like my son), need further help. If someone doesn't notice the individual sounds in words, trying to "sound out" words--even if they know the rules--won't be very succesful.
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ALmom
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| Posted: Oct 09 2009 at 12:36am | IP Logged
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MCP is repetitive and somewhat overwhelming in quantity, but it does have a good, systematic listing of rules - just there are lots of rules thrown at the kids in quick succession. The problem with a lot of those kinds of workbooks, imo, is that if you are just trying to go through the book, the kids can easily disengage the mind and copy the example without learning a thing in the long run.
However, as a parent, I like the idea of having a set of rules to make sure I give the reasons for something. So, I have used the MCP book by introducing a rule, letting my child do a few examples using the rule - and then I take a pair of scissors and cut the rule out and glue it to an index card. We review this periodically. I don't add a bunch of new rules to this one until I see some degree of consistent use in their own work - ie they are now doubling the letters of short words with short vowel that ends in a single consonent before adding a vowel suffix - but not doubling when they spell a word that has the long vowel sound. I'm using it with spelling mostly, so I plan to have a child copy the rule if they mispell something after the rule has been introduced and then used to help think through how to spell something. I start with the rule that I think is of most benefit at the moment - so for my 4th grader we are currently focusing on the rules about suffixes (ie when do you drop the e, when do you double the letter?)
My primary spelling program is Writing Road to Reading - but it is much easier to find the rules in the MCP book and I'm using this to reinforce something or introduce something in conjunction with this program. We have no intention of doing every page in that MCP book.
I try to remember not to try to rush. We can take several years to go through all the rules and that will be far more effective than rushing through the x grade book this year, and then rushing through the next years book and .... Each MCP book is going to recover a lot of the same things over and over and over - so I pick one and go through it slowly - applying things as we go, and making sure something is well learned and practiced before throwing out the next thing. I'm not sure it really matters what you use as much as that you don't rush yourself or your child.
As far as phonics - I know there are lots of debates about sight vs phonics until they're reading. My children needed the phonics for reading and spelling. A lot of rules are based on syllabication. I stuck with very basic phonics until we were reading, then let them become comfortable with reading what they already knew, then a few at a time gradually added in the more complicated phonograms - 1 or 2 at a time. When these things were pretty solid, we branched off to more focus on spelling rules. I used phonics readers to allow lots and lots of practice.
I will be the last person to say that things have to be done x way. I've seen too many things work fine with different parents and children. Don't panic. I think a lot will depend on what you determine is the reason for the struggle in reading. I don't know the ages of your children or any of your observations - but you could be dealing with anything from simply being a boy who just isn't quite ready to take off reading yet and with time it is going to suddenly take off no matter what you do to things that might involve strategies to address the issues (dyslexia, vision problems, ....) and everything in between. Sometimes the difficulty is in finding the right approach to begin with this child. Nothing breeds enthusiasm for reading faster than being successful with it.
I would never say don't do phonics and if the child is struggling and hasn't been introduced to much phonics, it sure doesn't hurt to give it a gentle try. But if you are sensing that he needs a bit of time to just make the words he has learned more automatic before throwing in a ton of rules, I don't see how that is a problem. The most important thing with either way is to not overwhelm them with too much all at once. Whatever you do, go one step at a time. It doesn't matter if you spend a lot of time on just one rule or one sound combination or.... If you try to learn 10 rules at once, your head will be swimming as well as your child's - and none of it is going to be learned very deeply. That is just my 2 cents.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Teaching Phonics...Rules?
