Has anyone used or heard of Beyond Phonics? It says it covers 100+ phonic/spelling letter sounds/combinations. Each targetted sound has a word list and a story that uses all of the words on the list so that you can do concentrated work on the sound. There is also a workbook with puzzles and fill in the blanks as well as suggested activites in the text. I'm looking for away to start teaching my son phonics skill beyond the letter sounds and short vowels. We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to teach him to read and he has been exposed to some blends and long vowels, but there wasn't any rules or practice on spotting them in reading outside of the 100 lessons book. I've noticed that he doesn't see the "th" in words when he tries to sound them out even though "th" was learned early on. The some goes for other blends, vowel pairs, V-C-silent e, etc. He needs help spotting letter combos and knowing shat to do with them. It sounds like Beyond Phonics will do what I want, but I wanted to hear from others that may have used it.
Hey Mariann... I have known a couple of people who used it and liked it! I have never used it. That is the only down side to that book, it just doesn't have enough phonics. I used part of it and like it but phonics is something that has to be taught by some through 3rd grade and even into 4th grade. I teach phonics through to the 4th grade. You know what else you could do--is to just get a straight phonics books from Steck Vaughn or Modern Curriulum Press... I think they might even be cheaper and more straightforward instead of all the frills.. Sometimes Beyond Phonics ASSUMES some certain levels from what I understood.. I use Steck Vaughn workbooks for my oldest because the phonics rule is printed in a box at the top of the sheet and then you have like 2 or 3 worksheets to enforce it.. I do some of mine orally with him if I have time, if not, I give him a sheet or so. They are easy, but consistent. One year(second grade) I even had him write the rule over in separate table and write an example below it. This was great reinforcement...... Anyway that is just a thought.......there is so much phonics stuff out there you shouldn't have a problem. BTW i couldn't remember his age, but if he is young, then if he has a good couple of years working on the phonics rules, beyond the basics, then he should have it :wink: HTH
Tina, Thanks for your reply. I've thought about using Plaid Phonics, but ds isn't real big on workbooks. The last couple of days I've had him use the unifix cubes rimes/onsets to make words and write them down. He's enjoyed that. I think that might help. Do you have any suggestions for an order to go through consent blends, vowel pairs, etc? I'm not sure what kind of order I should follow. BTW ds is 6 and has suddenly grasped reading and writing and wants to do it all prefectly right now. :roll: Thanks for your help. You always have great ideas.
Mariann.. This is where a good phonics work book would be handy. My ds didn't necessarily do the written work, because you know I 'm big on having fun. :wink: But by having a phonics workbook it does lay out sequentially the order in which most phonics should be introduced. In otherwords saves you time trying to be sure you introdeuce all of the rules or reviewed them enough :wink: Yes the basic order in phonics is letter recognition, sound, then consonants, short vowels, long vowels, blends. Digraphs, dipthongs, r controlled vowels, contractions, possessives, and endings would all be included. You also have to introduce triple clusters and host of others that get more complicated beyond the vowel pairs,etc. You would want a phonics program that covered all of these areas in one year. Don't misunderstand me, its NOT mastery, its introduction. in one year. I tell you what you get one that is pretty thorough, and by second grade they can pretty well have a good start in mastery. That is when I had ds tested at the beginning of second grade, and his test showed *mastery* for his age by using the Steck Vaughn as a guide. Remember phonics overlaps spelling. So you will need to hit prefixes, suffixes, and how endings change because of the spelling rule. So that is why the need for a good book with rules, then you can apply them to your son in a fun way. I used Steck Vaughn, still do because its straightforward phonics and not much frills. But that is what I wanted. i wanted the rules so I could learn them and help my sons apply them. Some things I did instead of doing the workbook because of their fine motor skills is used letter tiles to spell out the word. I also use word wheels and made flip books to enforce the learning. Also having them write on a miniature dry eraser board was fun. They much rather write with a marker than pencil/paper.. My BIGGIE I used was something by Evan Moore.. Let me see if I can explain it. It is made of card stock, all printed and colored. It is like a book with a strip of rectangle paper that you pull through. They are sometimes called sliders. Evan moore makes long vowels, short vowels,etc.. It took a while for me to cut them out, but I have them for each child. Then you make a slit in the tiny book and pull the strip of paper through making different words... So I would introduce each book when we were working on that rule. So we used that a lot and the word wheel which you turn. I got those from Lakeshore..then when I didn't want to spend money, we made tiny flip books when I thought they weren't getting it, kwim? The flip book is nothing more than notebook paper stapled together. The last page is longer than the previous pages and it may have written *AT* on it. Then each page has a different letter on it like *C* *B* *S*,etc. Then they flip each page and one consonant goes in front of AT to make different words.. Simply staple and write the letters. Its realy easy and works... Thats why its important for you to follow some sort of sequential manner, because each skill builds on the previous one,kwim? So he doesn't necessarily have to do the workbook, I just made it my *reference book*. The workbook also helped when I couldn't think of examples aftter I explained the rule. Like the *s* making a *zzz* sound... LIke *Bees*... Plus as he got older and could write more....I let him do some worksheets on his own while I taught another one.. So let the book *serve you*, what you need from it.... Does that help any? Tina
It sure does help. Thanks for all the great ideas. I hadn't really thought about using the workbook as reference (one of those duhhhh moments :wink: ) I think he would really like making the flip books, wheels and slider (I've made those before myself). Thanks again
Yeah I know Mariann, I continue to have DUHHH moments :lol: Once we get to using curriculum to work for us and not do it like we think we are SUPPOSE to do it, it really becomes a nice help mate! For some reason, just because we buy a workbook we think we actually have to *fill it in* :lol: NAHHHHH........Some workbooks lend themselves very well to being reference books... Basal readers same way......I might use a story here or there from one, because they have good comprehension tips, but still they are not my reading program. It view it as a reference book. Matter of fact, anything I buy, I look at it from that standpoint since I all ready know that No. 2 and No.3 child don't like workbooks, No. 1 does... He could work in them for a good long while. So I make sure whatever workbooks, phonics, grammar, reading comprehension or critical thinking have well written explanations instead of looking at *we are going to do this* kwim? Oh well, glad it helped some... Use those *work dogs*........ Blessings Tina
Good question and great ideas Tina! Mariann, Have you looked over at abcTeach? They have lots of word slides, word wheels and plenty of spelling and LA printables. Both my kids have used the MCPlaid workbooks. They are easy and quick. Zaner Bloser also has a Spelling Connections workbook. hth Tammy
