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Help with reading
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My 7 year old is just not ready to read. She is a young 7 emotionally. I KNOW this, but I feel pressure, because she is in 2nd grade, to push to teach her. Phonics didn’t work and we are trying CM method now, but she doesn’t retain anything out of the context of the poem or book. I know that grade levels are artificial deadlines (I am talking to myself now). Today we read a book together and she just read the words she knew, which were very few but it was a repetetive book so she was starting to catch on. She felt so excited, she couldn’t wait until tomorrow to do it again. So maybe it’s a confidence problem as well as it’s just too early for her. Any input or experience in this area??
I may not be of much help here, but when you said “confidence problem” it made me think of the very short BOB books (or something of the sort). I don’t know what type of phonics you did with her, but I feel like those very short books seem to build confidence and aren’t as overwhelming to new or reluctant readers.
It sounds to me like she’s on her way. She’s reading the words she knows from books she knows and she’s excited. I think it’s just a matter of more time with books, day by day, and she’ll take off. Be patient, keep reading and working with her….things are happening!
Basic questions here, but they help know where your DD is at:
1. Does she know the sounds letters make (short vowels, not necessarily long vowels, or ch, th, sh, etc)?
2. Can she blend those sounds out loud? c – a – t (saying each individual sound) then smooshing them together cccaaaattt … caaat … cat?
If she can at least do both of those things she’s well on her way and I’ve got more suggestions. If she doesn’t know the sounds then make it a game to learn what the “letter of the day” says. Practice practice practice just that letter’s sound. The next day add another sound and keep reviewing the first. You get the idea. If she knows the sounds but simply can’t seem to blend them even with you showing her how she’s not hit that developmental milestone and there’s nothing you can do until she does – just relax and keep reading to her! If she CAN tell you individual letter sounds and CAN blend sounds to make a short word she’s ready to fly(and it still may take months or longer..). At this stage get some phonics readers and use them daily, she reads a page, you read a page, until she can do the whole book. I saw BOB books suggested, my suggestion are the Now I’m Reading sets by Nora Gaydos – they’re very funny! Level 1 covers short vowels and there are a few sets, Level 2 starts some long vowels, etc. When my oldest was first starting to read she sounded a page out then i did. Finally when I thought she was comfortable but relying on the pictures we put a sticky note over te pictures and she read first, then peeked at pictures to confirm she was reading the story right.
You can find Nora Gaydos books here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Nora+Gaydos
Hope that helps a bit.
She does know her letters and sounds. When she tries to sound out a word, though, she forgets the first sound she made, then gets frustrated. She seems to do better with the CM method of recognizing the whole word, but she does not retain these easily.
Thank you for your suggestions. They are all helpful and most of all encouraging. I really have no doubt she’ll get it in time, I just feel pressure because of her age (even though I KNOW better than that). I just need some encouragement from other mothers who have been there!! Thanks!
Have you seen READING RESCUE 1-2-3 ? This book helped my son Ethan so much. I can lend it to you if you like.
Find it on Amazon and read about what it offers.
We went through the same thing in our home. Our dd will be 9 in Sept. and we’re still in the 2nd grade Pathway readers; she’s registered as a fourth grader this year. We started out with a phonics program too and she and I both became SO FRUSTRATED! She definitely needed the confidence several of you have ‘spoken’ to. I’ve realized that we must progress on God’s timeline, not by the standards of other people or systems. The more I tried to push, the harder she pushed back-and during that time we made very little if any progress. I say all that to say I know the pressure you feel—remember that pressure does not come from God!! In Matthew 11:30, Jesus says “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Be encouraged!
Blessings,
mj
Hi, I just wanted to add that something like the Moore’s book “Better Late than Early” (can be checked out from your local library) may give you the confidence that it is okay that your daughter isn’t reading yet and may not be for some time. My sister’s first didn’t read until very “late” but when he did his comprehension was phenomenal. My second son definitely sees things differently – seems to see “wholes” rather than parts so phonics certainly would be agonizing for him.
All my best,
Richele
I have a daughter that has struggled the same way. What worked for her after a basic understanding of phonics, was reading 1 book for a week or several days. We wrote the words she didn’t know on note cards and drilled them. She really got the flow of reading using this approach. We often used Margaret Hillert books from our library. They are words from the dolch word list. That really helped her get reading and not be discouraged to sound out every single word. When she got her confidence she was able to read other books too. She still struggles at 9, but she knows she can do it now!
Thanks everyone, that really helped. Encouraged me about what I do know and got some great suggestions!!
I second the Nora Gaydos books! Fun and colorful stories about things kids love to read about ~ animals. There are also questions at the end of the book about which words rhyme and what happened. We use each book for a week. Of course, I am completely done with it from day 1; but her confidence builds every time she reads it, even if it’s because she is familiar with them. We tried SL’s Fun Tales, but she didn’t find them as interesting (the pictures were in black and white).
~ Cindie
Are the Nora Gaydos books similar to Hooked on Phonics? They look like it and she has been doing really well with those this week. She colors them first and then we have been reading them. Today she read the entire book. That’s a first!!
Hi. Just thought I’d throw out a couple more suggestions. Have you ever seen the Ruth Beechick series? They are a very simple, confidence-building (for the parent!) and encouraging set of booklets, one each for teaching reading, language arts, and math concepts. The Learning Language Arts Through Literature program is pretty much based off of these methods. (I personally prefer the older editions of LLATL.) These methods utilize phonics work, practice blending words, learning sight words, incorporating writing into the process, games, and all in a very low-key way. My other thought is that one of ours really enjoyed creating her own books to read. We used easy, repetitive patterns, or followed a pattern from another book, or just super-simple sentences with our own stick figure drawings…the options are limitless. I think this was helpful and fun during the time when most other books were beyond her abilities. And, as others have emphasized – have fun with books and your child and relax!
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