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by kellybell » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:01 am
We are firm believers in chocolate chips (I guess you could use M&Ms but the chips are smaller so you can use more without sugaring up your children too much). I use them with very small goals: "For each word you sound out you get a chocolate chip."
Don't be afraid to model for your child how to sound out. Perhaps YOU can do the worksheet first orally and then let your child do it. Eventually, he'll end up doing it himself without your help.
Also, with the K stories (the six-panel sheets in the student sheets), I put a sticker on the sheet each time we muddle through the story. The first time I do most the reading with my dd reading the very easiest words. We finish the story and put a tiny (Walmart has some little smily faces, etc.) sticker at the top of the sheet. We'll read that same story over and over (never more than two times in a day -- so sometimes we get stuck for quite a while on a story) until my dd can read it herself. Each time we put a sticker on the story. Maybe you could do that...
Don't hesitate to break up the worksheet into tiny parts. Do a little part. Do something else. Then, another little part, etc. If you need to, physically CUT the sheet into tiny pieces or invent some sort of shield with a window in it (to cover all but the current part of the sheet) so that the entire sheet isn't visible if the size of the sheet is overwhelming.
Let us know what works for you.
Kelly, wife to Jim since 1988, mom to Jamie (a girl, 1994), Mary (1996), Brian (1998) and Stephanie (2001).