My 5 year old knows all the letter sounds with the exception of the vowels. She knows the first sounds of those and we are learning the other sounds by using All About Spelling. After searching high and low for books that she could read without getting overwhelmed I remembered that I had printed out books for my older daughter from progressive phonics. So we have started those. Anyhow, I don't know what to do now that she knows the letters and can sound out short words. I want to start teaching sight words and word families but I don't know how to go about it. I know there are resources all over the internet for free but how do I implement them into our school day?? This child is a VERY inquisitive child who catches on quickly. I don't want to bore her and I don't want to overwhelm her either. She wants to do things herself as well. Which can be quite frustrating at times when you are trying to tell her something and she wants to figure it out on her own. But that can also be a good thing right?? Anyhow, I was thinking of doing a word wall for the sight words. And I am actually going to go through the house and label certain things. like lamp and table,desk etc. She seems to learn more by seeing than by hearing or doing. Although if she sees it AND does hands on activities it sticks better. But for the word families what in the world can I do?? Is there a list of word families somewhere?? I guess I should google it..Someone please point me to a free website other than starfall. Which we will be using as well. Something with LOTS of printables and ideas.. I know that she will eventually learn to read but she wants to NOW and if that's what she wants then by all means I am going to do it. I'm afraid that she will not be so enthusiastic about reading if I put it off.. KWIM? Thanks Angela
We are having major reading issues here, so I might not be the right person to give advice, but that has never stopped me before Have you looked at the Bob books? They are at the library, along with the "easy readers". Now some easy readers are hard and some "easy", so review them before you check them out. They are also broken down into word or phonetic families. And don't forget Dick and Jane books!
I made word family books for Phillip. I would go to WORD and print off a lot of pictures from Clip Art that would go with a word family (hat, cat, rat, sat, SPLAT!, fat....) He would glue one on each page, and then he can write/copy/trace the word, depending on the ability. He loved "reading" them to people all by himself (!!!)
Hmmm... we used the little readers that come in sets, usually 8-12 books per set. They have stickers with them that you put in each book as they read them. Many recommend the BOB books, but we always used the less expensive ones. We use Literactive.com, too, and although it's a computer-based game, it does have printables, also. We did a game where I wrote sight words, digraphs, whatever we were working with, on paper plates, then scatter them around the floor. We would do a Simon-Says type of game with them, me being Simon. For example, I'd say, "Simon says flap your arms like a chicken to the plate that says 'sshhh'." You get the idea. Anyway, DS LOVES that game. Memory is a good game, too. You can buy pre-made cards or make your own out of index cards (which is what we did). I'm sorry I don't have many printable sites for you, but DS always prefers games. Hope this helps!!
I second the Bob Books....both my boys ready them when they first learned to read. Sometimes you can find these at Costco for cheap. Yes-they will memorize them but that's part of reading. Henry and Mudge books are great too.
We have the Bob books and she HAS memorized them.. I still make her sound them out though just so that I know she can do it. I guess that won't hurt?? She still has some trouble with blending. She can sound out the words but she can't always get what the word is that she is saying. If I sound it out she gets it though. So I don't know what I need to do to help her with that. I guess just practice. This kid memorizes EVERYTHING she sees. She is very visual so I know the more she sees the words the better she will grasp it. I guess I'm overly nervous about the reading aspect. I've never had to teach reading before. My other kids learned in public school..
My friend had this problem with her step daughters. So she started giving them books without pictures. They didn't have pictures to trigger their memory ofwhat words they needed so they actually had to learn and read it. She started off with books that they had memorize she just removed the pictures. So when they usually got the first few words out they realized that they new this story and they felt better about themselves.
My girls loved the mother west wind series. The older ones are read alouds but they have redone some of them into beginner books.
I did start covering the pictures with a piece of paper,but then I thought that maybe she needed to see the pictures to help her out... I think I'm going to start it up again. Angela
I will be introducing her to starfall tomorrow. I forgot about it until yesterday and went to check it out again since I hadn't been there for awhile.I think it's going to be a big hit with her. IF she will not click all over the site and stay where I need her to. Angela
You know, memorizing words, etc. is really OK. It's a stage kids go through. She'll grow out of it on her own, so let her just explore on her own. Don't make reading a "chore", because most of all you want her to ENJOY reading!
You are SO right, Jackie. Fostering a love of learning is one of my main goals. I definatly don't want to stamp out any desires she has. This is HER way of learning. I need to relax and enjoy the ride.. And WHAT a ride it has been!! Wow! The things she has learned with very little effort on my part amazes me. I wonder if my other 3 kiddos would've been this way if I would've homeschooled them from the start. There's no way I could've though but I do still wonder.. Angela
Step into reading books are great too! they are in a great variety of subjects some are educational as they get more into reading. Enjoy!
Not trying to burst your bubble or anything - but I think YOU are trying to hard. You just said that "IF she will not click all over the site and stay where you need her to stay. What about where SHE needs to be? Everything in starfall is about reading. They could be very different. Because she is learning so fast but still young there is no way for her to tell you where she is at or what she knows or doesn't know. Take a deep breath and let her read, memorize and play with words like she wants. Reading is a process - she is young. I believe that you should be more concerned with cultivating her love of reading and back off in trying to force her to read the way YOU think she should be doing it.
Yep, You are right! I need to back off.. I'm so glad I have you all here to help keep me grounded. She is going to LOVE starfall and I'm going to show it to her and let her go. Angela
Yeah, at 5, I would let her lead with what she seems ready for. Just playing on those websites are good. Another good place are the reading games on pbskids.com, like Between the Lions and the Clifford games. When she's ready for it, for sight words, we had a great time with Scholastic's "100 Words" workbook this year. We did 100 Words First Graders Need to Read (that might not be the exact title), and will definitely do the 2nd grade book next year. I think they have one for kindergarten, too, but I'm not sure. My youngest seemed to hit a wall with reading last year, so I backed off for a while, letting him read the easy books he'd mastered and just trying to have fun with words and sounds. It was HARD for me to do that, but it's paid off. He still loves to read and has made a lot of progress since January.
Reading the easy books is good for them, it encourages that confidence that will encourage themto read more difficult stuff as neeeded... emphasis on needed! Let reading be fun! or you will stiffle the reader
I will tell ya...when my oldest was using Starfall to learn to read, I just let my son "play" on it. He "played" on it for two years - nothing formal, none of the worksheets, no order to it, etc. I had been planning on starting to teach him to read the year he turned 5. I delayed a little bit and waited. Well...he came to ME already reading. I did NOTHING. We still went through the steps and did the worksheets that went with them BUT he learned to read using starfall just by playing around with it.
