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beginning reading help
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Today we had our very first “formal” reading lesson. My daughter just turned 6 and was so excited about school we are starting first grade right now. We never did a formal kindergarten program of any sort, though in the past year we have informally looked at word group families, writing words and recognizing a few sight words- nothing systematic though.
The lesson went horribly. lol I think some of it has to do with me needing to understand more myself. I have the book ABCs and Their Tricks that I think I need to read more thoroughly. But I also have no idea what to expect of my daughter.
I thought I would review things we have gone over in the past. We looked at the “it” word family and when I put letter tiles out- she gets the words- sit, fit, bit, etc. But when I write a word on the white board- it’s like the connection is lost. She reverts back to the long I sound sometimes. It’s like the “it” word sound didn’t register. I also made the mistake of going over a second word family we’ve covered in the past “at.” It seems like she was just guessing rather than actually looking at the letters in the words. Things finally culminated to the point where I put “it” on the board and she said the word was “that.”
I finally decided we needed to stop and I need to regroup. Before we completely stopped, I did want to have a vague idea where we stood, so I wrote on the board words I thought she definitely knew and once she rattled them off I then put them in a sentence “I sit in the house.” And she nailed it. This allowed for me to end on a positive note and not get her discouraged as well.
But now I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure how to approach lessons. Do I just repeat the “it” family until it sticks and move on? And how long should it take for her to get the connection? I have read in many places that the child learns 10 words a day, but at the rate we are going, I’m not sure how that’s going to happen.
I also hated how easily I got frustrated today. When we casually did informal lessons before, I didn’t feel pressured, but now that it’s first grade and we are supposed to be on a path I think I’m feeling a lot more pressure to get results. I’m not sure how to handle that either.
Thank you in advance for any thoughts you are willing to share.
Lauren
Do you have letter tiles for her to manipulate and build words? That really helped some of mine see that each letter needs a turn to make it’s sound (and some tiles have letters that are teaming up, like ‘sh’). You can get or make these, but to be honest, the easiest thing I’ve used is All About Reading. I taught the first 3 kids to read on my own, at varying ages. The 4th child taught himself to read chapter books at age 3, before the 2nd and 3rd child were reading. I’m working with #5 right now and we’re early in level 2 of All About Reading. I went with it for a couple reasons, the first being I was having baby #9 and just needed something that I could pull out and go – no thinking or planning on my part. We just lingered with each lesson until it stuck. It has letter tiles, cards, activity pages (aka GAMES), and reader books.
And as for feeling pressured, yep, it happens. Just remind yourself that she’s got years ahead to learn and it won’t be overnight, so set a goal that she can read chapter books by the time she’s 10 or 12. Generally, that’s achievable for most kids unless there is something going on with dyslexia or vision issues, etc. (And even then, often still achievable once accomadations are made to learn in new ways.)
Re: frustration…because that’s where my experience is…a note of encouragement, I STILL…just three years in, am shocked at how frustrated I can get! I have to ask for forgiveness a lot. What we are doing is hard! And reading is not easy to learn for MOST kids.
If I see my frustration go up, I back down to the previous step. I thought my 5 year old was ready to read recently. Blending led to much fruatration… So we stepped back down to letter sounds for a little longer.
I just want to say, “Way to go, for making sure you ended on a positive note!” That’s where it’s at, no matter what you use, or how long it takes. Stop while things are good. And the more casual/ informal you can make it still, the better, in my opinion. Best to you!
I have the ABCs and All Their Tricks and still haven’t figured out how to use it! I prefer Noah Webster’s Reading Handbook along with McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer for beginning reading.
My DD was still struggling with reading at age 6, and I felt rushed to get her reading. I was surrounded by anti-homeschool church members at the time, which wasn’t a help. 🙁 I really wish we’d held back just a bit. Looking back, I can see how ridiculous it was to let them upset me. Seriously, a 6yo can’t possibly be behind!
As far as getting frustrated, short, frequent, lessons are the key! If you can only handle 5-10 minutes a day, that’s plenty to start with. I used to pull out my knitting while she read, because it kept me relaxed. It also kept me from rushing her along. Often we’d only make it through a sentence or two each day. Eventually, we worked up to longer readings.
I’d also try some sort of letter tiles. Index cards cut in half (with one letter per card) work fine. After teaching letter sounds, we work on blending with these homemade letter cards, then move on to the McGuffey & Webster’s books. Some of my DC picked up blending right away, a couple of them took weeks to get the hang of it.
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