Postby jasntas » Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:45 pm
Just wanted to check in and say that my dd is doing much better with her phonics.
I did as David suggested in the link Julie provided. We do a lesson one day. Then have a review the following day. We are also playing the reading games and, to my amazement, my dd is enjoying them much more than I anticipated.
We also used the lauri letters as Crystal suggested. Now, while reading the words in the workbook, my dd will cover up and uncover the silent e and say the word accordingly. Such as cub/cube. She will do this as quickly as she can over and over and she thinks it's funny.
Also, both my dc have rediscovered the 'Between the Lions' PBS program. I have attempted in the past to get them to watch this but I think, due to my ds' reading struggles and dd's age, neither was quite ready for this show before but they have not missed an episode in the past two weeks. It took a bit of coaxing to get them to watch it the first time but it has now become their new favorite. They both already love 'Martha Speaks' and 'Word Girl' but these shows are more about vocabulary rather than early reading and phonics. (I'm not a big fan of 'Word Girl' because she lies to her parents and everyone else because no one knows she is a super hero.)
Oh, and she has started playing Starfall again. She really likes that as well.
For one of the games mentioned in the TM, I put together a generic game board and glued it to the center of a manila folder. I use a counting bear as a marker instead of a car (since we already had them and she likes bears better than cars anyway). She didn't like moving one space at a time so I have her roll a die. She then draws the number of cards rolled on the die and says them. Then she moves that number of spaces on the board. I think I may also add a clip art picture of a honey pot to the end because when my dd was playing yesterday she said the bear was going to win when he made it to the (imaginary) 'honey pot'.
I printed the game board from this site after reading another thread where Crystal listed the link for the triangular math flash cards.:
http://donnayoung.org/homeschooling/gam ... boards.htm
In addition, I started having her read an easy reader daily. She really likes that. Maybe it's just applying what she is learning that she likes.
On our review days, I am also having her re-write the words she wrote for dictation from the day before and we use those as her game cards. I was cutting index cards into fourths and having her write on those but she wanted me to draw the guide lines. I then discovered that there was a sheet of cards with the guide lines already printed in the workbook pages to be used on Day 27, I think. I have been copying that page onto card stock and letting her cut those out and use them as her game cards. (I hope it’s ok to copy that page since it’s for the use of the phonics games). She likes that we are using her cards for the games and she is discovering why it’s important for her to write as neatly as she can. Sometimes it was hard for her to distinguish between her n and h, for instance.
We are only doing the phonics, math and Bible from 1st. All the science, art, etc. are all from ECC for both of them. I am doing the Proverbs from 1st for both my dc. My dd especially liked the honeycomb example and will now remind others (particularly her brother) when they are speaking ‘garbage’ or unkind/ugly words.
gratitude wrote:It sounds like she is very used to reading words that have the short vowel sounds in the middle, such as many of the words in K. It also sounds like she is just struggling with getting out of the habit of always using short vowel sounds when reading a word. She just needs to develop a new habit of saying both short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds when reading a word.
I think Carin hit the nail on the head. I think it's mainly just a matter of getting into a new habit. Now she tends to say the long vowel sound first then the short sound. She's still learning the why behind it but we're getting there.
gratitude wrote:It is funny my ds7 had a fit over that lesson and tears too. Not for the same reason, but tears. Is it due to the increased work load at that point? His fit was over the fact I wanted him to cross out all the e's on the page and put straight faces over the vowels (He was 6 at the time). The first letter of his name starts with an e for Elliot, and he was in absolute tears for an hour over the idea of crossing out the first letter of his name. He honestly is very even emotionally normally, but not that day. Now at day 70 he is reading everything in sight. Hang in there. She will get it, and if she really needs a break from reading sometimes a week or two off from it can do wonders for the brain to process the information and the emotions to catch up and be ready to go again.
This is such a cute story. My dd would have been the same way if her name would have been Emily or something.
I do think part of the problem was also the increased work load. Slowing it down and giving her the opportunity to let it all sink in has really helped. At the beginning of the year she was just buzzing through the review stuff. Then I went and introduced something new. What was I thinking.
It seems to be starting to click with her now. We are on day 26 (I think) and she had no problem with the ay words. She is also having less and less trouble with the silent e words.
I seem to be getting into the groove a little better now and pretty much have figured out what my dc can handle and what is too much. Thank you so much to everyone who posted a reply to my call for help. I didn’t mean for this post to go so long. Sorry.
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