{This is the third of my “teaching children to read” posts. First are Making Sure Your Child Can Read and Write and Are You Making Reading Too Complicated? After this post comes Reading Readiness Part I continued, What You Need to Teach a Child to Read Part II, and Reading, Part III.}
Keep in mind that this is a blog post. A blog post written by a bleary-eyed entertainer of sequential visiting offspring. This fuddy-duddy can't keep up with it! But I will distract you from my incoherence with photos of our trip to Old Sturbridge Village, which I always love. Love, love, love!
Obviously children learn to read in different ways.
Anyone who has had more than one child (as the comments in my last post demonstrate) knows how all your preconceived ideas can be surprised into oblivion by that subsequent child. One child will seem hardly to have been introduced to the basics and he's off with Tom Sawyer. Another can't get the idea until he's almost an adolescent.
Bridget and Natasha, Nick's wife. |
The way I do things here is to apply the 80/20 rule, or my take on it, which is the 10/80/10 rule. I have no idea if those numbers really represent how things break down, but I bet they are close. It goes like this: 80 percent of children will more or less do what they need to do to get on in life, including reading.
You would think you could only derive consolation from that fact, but here's what happens: Those little 80 percenters create a serious problem for the 10 percent whose quick, effortless mastery leaves them slogging with others' low expectations. And they create a serious problem for the 10 percent who are physically or developmentally out of sync and will take longer to reach a given level than the others.
Probably each 10 percent should be further broken down into the 1 percent on either end who make the pigeon-holers really crazy. *
Regardless.
Being a parent means figuring things out. Think! Use your noggin! — Use this rough-and-ready true-life guideline to relax just a little! Knowing that institutions can't help but operate on the basis of averages, we, in the intimacy of our homes and the secure knowledge of the grace of our vocation, can make a judgement right out here in the field about this little one who may be having a little trouble, or who zooms ahead leaving us in his dust.
Okay. So having said all that, there are three basic things you have to know about how your child will learn to read. And you — only you — especially for that 10 percent on either end of the spectrum — need to find the balance for the learning process.
Choose your materials based on these three things (as well as the other important thing I'll tell you next time).
Can we just admire these colors? |
1. Knowing the letters and their sounds.
These are two different things, mind. Many a child has to sort out that fact, on his own, because we adults forget. Yes, he needs to learn the alphabet. That's easy. Sing the alphabet song, get alphabet books, use Montessori-style sandpaper letters for the child struggling with fine motor skills, etc.
In a classroom (because, again, you have to aim at that 80 percent), the best way to teach all this (“phonics”) would be a system with a wall chart of sounds and cards that colorfully connect the letter with its sound. I would invest in this if I had several children close in age and wanted to get things going quickly.
My eldest, Nick, was taught in school using this method (I was so relieved to find that they used just the program I liked best, although now I'd have to look it up in my files to know the exact name of it — I told you I'm tired!). Rosie, who was home with me and the babies at the time, was desperate to learn to read and pretty much forced me to rec-reate for her, on a long strip of adding-machine paper, the wall chart with the letters with their sounds. She immediately learned to read using this ad hoc “kitchen phonics” program.
Later I settled on MC Plaid workbooks.
I think workbooks have their place right here, in the learning-to-read process (and maybe in early math).
There is not a lot of information online about this series (and I'm talking about this older series, not the newer editions). I can tell you that they are the ones I myself used in school (or something similar and way older) and have used with my children. They are orderly and clear. They follow a thought-out sequence. They are inexpensive. The child who works through them at the rate of three or four pages a week will learn to read and in later years learn all the basics of usage, spelling rules, and irregularities. (Unless you are teaching a class, you don't need a teacher's manual, I think. Just encourage your child to figure out what to do, explaining things calmly if he needs guidance. After he learns to read he should be able to do it all on his own.)
They are nicely produced and don't overwhelm the child with visual stimulation — a much more important consideration than most educators realize, because a child who is trying to assimilate visual information, i.e., the written word, should not be distracted with extraneous visual information.
Somehow people have gotten the idea that things that require concentration, like schoolwork, should be organized and presented as if they are video games — and then those same people fret that children have attention difficulties! I just can't go on — the whole subject upsets me so.
2. Blending
Sometimes just spending a week with words on cards and “cat on mat”–style readers does the trick. For our kids who stumbled badly here, we did get the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
It works for some children for this one building block of the reading process. I take issue with the special orthography, and there are lapses in consistency. I have never used it all the way through. I have found that some children get out of it the ability to blend, and once they have done that, the book has exhausted its usefulness. As it goes on, the “stories” become inane, and that's simply not necessary and actually counterproductive. And it's hard enough to learn the actual letters without someone throwing in things that look different.
I am a phonics/meaning theorist about reading.
I strongly believe that to become an expert reader later, a child now needs to learn the decoding process of language. Reading is something you're inspired to learn because books contain meaning, and if, in the name of phonics, you're required to read an inordinate amount of pointless nonsense, then you won't want to do it. But if you eventually want to be able to tell the difference between such words as essential and eventual, or intercessory and accessory, or polynomial and portentous, you absolutely must have embeded in your wee mind the ability to decode quickly.
4. Yea, three things must you know, four I will tell you.
You need to stock up on stories that are easy to read but not stupid. Easy readers have to be printed a certain way, with large type and big spacing between lines. They have to be fun. They have to be well written.
If you have a good public library (by good I mean one that hasn't been purged of its old books), there might be a section in the children's room with early readers. Look for the most well thumbed! This stage doesn't last long and you only need a few. We always loved Go Dog Go and there's one that has three stories including a king who locks his sons in a tower, and they trick him into letting them go by feigning the measles. Do you remember that one? I can't remember the name! I need a nap!!
Little Bear — for when they get a bit better at it.
The idea is to avoid cartoonish books with busy graphics. Keep things calm and amusing and if there is a dash of pulling one over on the adults in your life (like that book I can't remember the name of, can you?), that's probably all to the good, as the goal here is to induct them into the mysterious pleasure of being in the know.
Don't ever, during this process, stop reading your normal read-aloud selections — nursery rhymes, fairy tales, stories. (Remember to check the Ambleside booklists for great ideas.)
Next time we'll talk about my second criterion. After I get some sleep!
Don't forget about {pretty, happy, funny, real} tomorrow! MWAH!
{Next in this series: Part I continued… }
*********************************************************************
Melissa AtLee says
Thank you so much for this post! I'm just in the process of teaching my 4-yr-old son to read, and this post is very very helpful!
adailyportion says
Gracious, every post from you is like a gift!
Deirdre says
The Best Nest! Yay! Huge favorite of mine!
And yes – the colors in that photo are fabulous.
This is making me think about the few, somewhat futile days I had with the struggling kids in the remedial school in Jamaica. How I wish I could just adopt them all and give them excellent, patient, long-term reading training! Reading is so important and they are so disadvantaged not getting a good education! sigh.
Breanna says
What a lovely, timely post–since my eldest daughter just *today* figured out” Caaaaaaaatttt—CAT! It says cat! Mama, that says cat!” Also just wanted to give the nod to the vision thing. My prescription is -10. That's right. -10, and the scale only goes to -13. I'm getting Lasik when I'm done breastfeeding. But anyway, if my parents hadn't caught my bad vision at age 8 I really wouldn't have been able to read much, because holding a book two inches from your eyes is a pain. (I read voraciously, still. Probably hasn't helped the vision thing but I don't care.)
Karen says
I used 100 EZ Lessons with children #3,4 and 5. It wasn't working with #6 at all. I changed tack. I found the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD and it was the ticket to getting those basic phonics down. Then I moved him into Phonics Pathways with MCP Phonics to supplement and using Little Angel Readers which I've been using for a gajillion years.
And we have a winner!!! A slightly different approach and more important plain old readiness made the different for this boy.
I'm going to go the same route with the next emergent reader as she learned right along with her older brother and if it works I'm not going to change it up….again. 😀
priest's wife says
yes to old books— my sister recommended the “Cowboy Sam” series for emerging boy readers- also I recommend the Twins series to all- the Dutch Twins is one of the easier titles— I say, to teach 80% to read, limit tv and computer, hang out at the library at least once a week, have dad read a chapter of something every day, and have the kids catching you read— for the 10% that are advanced, be very careful that they are not reading inappropriate books. Just because they CAN read the Scarlet Letter doesn't mean they should. For the 10% that are slow at reading, get them help professional pronto and have them do something that they are good at (like knitting, roller skating, cooking, soccer) and love them up. Not reading well when everyone else seems to be is very disheartening for kids.
Shar says
I am giving an opinion on “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. It was the worst thing we could have done for some of our children. I would not chance it again, if I had it to do over. I s tarted homeschooling my oldest 4 children with a solid phonics program and they caught on quickly and are all avid readers. Then for children #'s 5-8 I switched to “100 Easy Lessons”. The results have been poor spellers, struggled with choppy reading aloud, and one child developed a stuttering problem from trying to blend sounds. It took years to correct poor reading habits. The last 2 children have been using “Little Angel Readers” program and are excelling. Maybe coincidental, but I don't think so. “100 Easy Lessons” may work well for some children, but I would not recommend it based on my experience with it. There are too many good programs out there.
_Leila says
Shar, I agree with a lot of what you say. I actively un-recommend using the book all the way through, and if it doesn't help with the blending thing pretty much right away, it's not worth it.
If you know of another program that teaches blending a better way, let me know and I will look at it. Thanks!
Anne says
what a pretty picture of you!
Betsy M says
Hi Leila, the book you were trying to think of is maybe “The King's Stilts”, a favorite of my kids (along with the others that you mentioned.
_Leila says
Betsy! Thanks! I always just went and found it at the library, so I just couldn't remember the name (in case you hadn't noticed 😉
_Leila says
Wait, is this the one where the sons paint measles spots with red ink? (Not to give away the plot or anything.)
Breanna says
Yes! I know that book. King's Stilts. King is selfish about using the stilts. (And who wouldn't be.) I believe that's why he puts the kids in the tower?
Or it could be there are two books with the same characters and illustrator and the selfish King has stilts in one book and sticks the kids in the tower in the other book. Hm.
Sarah says
I really enjoyed using Phonics Pathways. If I had known about it with my first, I would have used it with him. With him I used the book An Acorn in My Hand and 100 Easy Lessons. Phonics Pathways combines the two into an easy-to-do format. I'm sorting through all my home school stuff right now in process for a move, and just came across my early reader books. I can't believe my little guys are past that stage. I'm mourning not having anyone else to teach to read.
At least next year we'll be home educating again. Yay!
Lillian says
So glad to see you mentioned 100EZ lessons. Children #2,3,4 learned to read with that book. We did finish the entire book. I really liked how it transitioned them into normal print. And how it also taught sight words. Not always the funnest book to do but it worked. And they are great spellers (I follow that with Sound Beginnings). I'm about to start child #5. Its only drawback is that this momma is tired of that book. BUT, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Can't wt for your next installment!
Sarah @ ALT says
I just want to say that Natasha's dress is fabulous.
Grace says
Great post. Thanks! I'm also glad someone snapped a pic of you. You're very beautiful, Auntie Leila.:)
Rachel P. says
Reading is simple. It takes practice, but it is simple. I agree with your breakdown of teaching reading. In teaching letters, sounds and sight words, I've found it is much like throwing a ball. You have to try, and then try again and again until the ball sails through the air and hits the exact spot you were aiming at. I'm looking forward to what else you have to share from your experiences.
Jill says
Thank you for these reading posts! I just had a quick question about the Plaid Phonics workbooks. I was planning on using the 2003 edition with my daughter in the fall, but you recommend the '95 version. Why are the older workbooks better?
_Leila says
Jill, see Ann's comment below. Also, compare just the covers of the two versions — a hint to what's inside. Straightforward vs. video-style brain-scrambling graphics. I'm not necessarily a fan of the plaid per se, but the graphics are helpful to what's being taught, not counterproductive.
Rich says
How delightful! You must write a book, a collection of essays. Think about it, right after you get some rest.
Ann says
THe new MCP Phonics books are randomly organized! I was just trying to do Level B with my nearly third grader after having abandonned it when she was hopelessly frustrated by it a year and a half ago. I thought that now that she is reading on her own, but can't spell to save her life, that it would be a good time to go back and do the Phonics. An example: on one page she is looking at pictures and deciding what vowel is in the word and whether it is short or long– 3 to 4 letter words, on the next page she is to unscramble the word “people” with no word bank to help her. What were they thinking? The older books were so orderly and satisfying for all but my seriously dyslexic reader. There is a lot of built in success in the older books it seems to me. Is it still possible to get them? Anybody have a source?
_Leila says
Ann, click on the links in the post! Pearson still makes the plaid version available, and you can order them on Amazon. If you use my link I get a small percentage 😉 Which I will spend on our mutual grandson!!
Get the old one and you won't be disappointed.
Jill says
Thank you! That is very helpful.
Ann says
I know people are generally against readers, but I just have to put in a plug for the Faith and Freedom series. My children have loved the stories, and the pictures at least in the early ones are very sweet. I have noticed– I am on my eighth child with these (and that is a nice thing, too that they all know the books and can talk about all the characters and stories together)– that there is a very orderly progression of the introduction of new words. There is a list of sight words for each book, and they are introduced gradually and repeated often. The level of the phonetic friendly words makes sense in each book. These two things add up to a lot of built in success which it seems to me is so important when they are beginning, particularly when their older siblings are already flying. Thanks, Leila, I am really enjoying this post, and can't wait to hear what you have to say about writing!
_Leila says
Ann, I am not against readers — stay tuned! They just have to be OLD.
ann says
Yup! These are so old that I remember learning to read from them!
Breanna says
What do we think of Dick and Jane? I found all of the Dick and Jane books together in one big volume, which my daughter likes because of the old-style pictures, but she prefers the Bob Books and her REALLY old-style, brown McGuffey's reader for her “sounds practice”. She is juuuust blending so I don't want to tip her into something frustrating… I learned to read (I think) with the generic version of Dick and Jane where the dog is named Flip. But I can't really remember learning to read. Mom swears I was 3??
_Leila says
I think Dick and Jane are fine if you do them with the MC Plaid or other phonics drills. They were never intended to be used alone! The idea was that there was a teacher there instructing the children on sounding things out, and then the book was there to give you something to read. It is an attractive. I remember doing that in first grade. She had a giant version that stood up on a board, as I recall, by her desk and we read along and at our own desks. We read in unison and did our own drill work from workbooks and the chalkboard. Not a bad system but relies on a teacher who knows what she's doing, which I guess you can't do any more.
McGuffey is okay but not complete, the way the Plaid books are.
The Ipps says
Thank you for a great post. I like that you mentioned to not stop reading nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and other stories. My husband and I have currently been talking about images and words. The books that are children read not only teaches them about the physical world, but also to become sensitive to the spiritual world. -The spirtual is more realistic than the physical. We also get to know our civilization and faith by learning to read/being exposed to fairytales, nursery rhymes, and fables. Thank you again for mentioning to keep reading those normal read out loud selections. My eldest (5yrs) is just starting to learn words etc. and his passion for wanting to read is trickling down to the 3 and 1 year old already! So awesome and amazing. God Bless.
MaryBeth says
I loved the past two posts =) My boys especially love Richard Scary and Each Peach Pear Plum (it was a gift from you!)
Amy F says
Oo! Oo! I have the title! I had to hunt around with Google, but I got it. It's called “The King's Wish” by Benjamin Elkin. We read it (and a bunch of others like it) every summer at the cabin. My husband's mom's cousin has his name scribbled in all of them from the late 1950's. Once a book enters the cabin, it never leaves. We regularly page through magazines from Princess Diana's death. I found this site that listed the titles of a number of the books — http://1stedition.net/beginnerbooks.html . We read “Ann Can Fly”, “The Big Jump”, “Sam and the Firefly”, “The Whales Go By”, “Put Me in the Zoo”, “Little Black, A Pony”, “Look Out for Pirates”, and some of the more familiar Seuss books. We have so many there — I wonder if someone 50 years ago signed up for a Book of the Month Club or something.
Emily says
I wish you had written this last year! 🙂 We've actually done ok with teaching reading, I think. My oldest fits pretty squarely in the 80% category. The thing that bothered him the most was that he wasn't “really reading, like Daddy does”. Puddle Lane books (by Sheila McCullagh) have helped with that – he likes the stories a lot and can read more fluently because his page is quite similar to the adult page preceding it. I'm enjoying the books, too, which is always nice!
Nancy says
Excellent post…also add that most of us learn by patterns that repeat…ex dog, log, frog, hog, etc. so having children recognize patterns in nature, in daily activities, prepares them to recognize patterns when learning to read. This will enable them to experience success that will motivate them to learn sight words, decode words that do not follow the pattern -or rules of phonics, and to enjoy reading. Nancy
TessaDiane says
This is such great advice. My six year old started reading this year in kindergarten but my four year old seems chomping at the bit. I want to give them both what they (each) need but I don't want him to feel like his sister is “smarter” than he is. I'm worried he'll feel that way if she picks up reading faster than he did.
Also, at what point did you decide to homeschool and how did you reach that decision? We've had a couple small things that have caused me to question our public schools and I'm just wondering how you make that final call?
Lori Richmond says
Leila,
Please let your readers know that vision is not just seeing 20/20, near/far, it is also involves tracking, visual processing and visual memory. My kids all have varying degrees of issues with these and have had vision therepy to help them. If a child avoids near work, fights reading, rubs thier eyes or says words that aren't there they could have a vision issue. My oldest will pick things up from the next line down and insert them in what she is reading. If it's a recipe you are in trouble if she hasn't memorized it! One time she made a cake and it didn't tun out right. I finally figured out she had flipped the coco with the flour resulting in a bitter mess! Here is a link to the clinic we use which gives a little info on the matter. http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/colleges/michopt/pati…
Blessings,
Lori
RCG says
“I just can't go on — the whole subject upsets me so.”
;o))
I feel your pain…..you are too funny!!
RCG
Jessica F says
Hi there! I am just seeing this post (a friend shared it with me) and I am so blessed by it….as is the case with many of your other posts I'm discovering! I had a question about the wall chart you mentioned (“In a classroom (because, again, you have to aim at that 80 percent), the best way to teach all this (“phonics”) would be a system with a wall chart of sounds and cards that colorfully connect the letter with its sound. I would invest in this if I had several children close in age and wanted to get things going quickly.”) Where would you recommend getting one of these charts? I have three small children with one on the way, ages 4, 2 1/2, and 1 so I think this chart would be tremendously helpful to me in my homeschooling efforts! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and encouraging others!
_Leila says
Jessica, I simply can't remember the name of the program that uses the charts I am thinking of. It may not exist now, but it was a fairly large publishing company that made cards with the letters and a picture that reminded you of the sound the letter makes, NOT a picture of a word starting with the letter.
So (in the example I can remember), instead of a xylophone for X, it had a picture of the top being popped off of a soda bottle, making the sound \”KSSS\”!
For P it had a boat with an outboard motor (Puh puh), I think. Or maybe that was B — buh buh buh?
For the vowels, it had the spellings of the short and long sounds — like a, ay, aye, a_e, ai for the long sound of a. Because A sounds very different in apple and airplane, right? So why make them learn A is for apple?
So to an adult this chart looked crazy.
But the children learned them one by one and then knew all the sounds. Quickly.
I looked into it at the time, having read Marva Collins who recommended this particular program and at the time having a son in a class that used this method, coincidentally. But it was very expensive — designed for purchase by a school, not an individual.
I made up something similar (having the advantage of being able to check with the school) for my younger children. But that was more than 25 years ago!
And now I can't remember the name. Sorry!
However, the homeschooler has the advantage of not needing to teach large groups of children. Just choose a simple phonetic program and use that. The one I recommend in the post works the best of any I have seen — just make sure you get the older version.
Jennifer says
Hello!
I'm sure this is not the system you are referring to but it looks/sounds very similar. It was created by a First Grade Teacher and is free to use (you would need to print out a good bit, so not truly “free'). http://soundcityreading.com/scrwebsite7-11-09_002…
Hope that is helpful to someone.
_Leila says
Ah, Jennifer, that is SO helpful! I have been looking at it, and the Scott Foresman system she references is the original system that I couldn't remember, I'm pretty sure. So well done.
I will try to post about this sometime soon.
faith quotes says
about the big commitments and values of your life. As an example, let's take a look at President Franklin Roosevelt's quote,
Mary says
Great pictures! Quite incoherent with the post but I loved it!
Anyway, thanks for sharing the tips on teaching kids how to read. In my cas, I sometimes do and action wile sounding off a letter. Like when I teach my daughter letter S.. I move my hand like a snake then say sss hen when she started learning the sound of each letter, I asked her to do the blending. It is always helpful to point at the words while I read them. Again, thanks for this post!
Krystle says
I didn’t like “Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons” because of the extra vowel sound markings. I found a similar book “The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Reading” to be helpful since it is in a simpler format with a progression through the sounds that was just on the mark for a sequential-thinker like me. Each lesson was short and focused with no pictures. I don’t always use the suggested dialog (my daughters would read that part over my shoulder) but I did appreciate the advice at the back of the book.
My two oldest daughters (7,5) are about halfway through but we have slowed down a bit since they read on their own now. I do plan to continue working our way through all 200+ lessons because I’m learning interesting phonics rules that I always took for granted.
I love your approach Leila. It gives me courage to teach my 3rd daughter – who is only 3 but has auditory and speech issues – in the ways that will best help her, and not get frustrated or compare her to others.
Jamie says
Thank you for the recommendations! We’ve been using the 100 lessons book with my son for some time now as that had been recommended to me by my mother-in-law. It’s worked ok, but we need some more resources for my 2nd grader as he’s just not progressing that much. I just ordered one of the Plaid workbooks to give him some more solid review and practice – went with your 95 version!
Isabel says
Just wanted to encourage anyone with a struggling learner to get their eyes checked out. My 5th child was not reading at age 9. I finally took him in and he had Convergence Insufficiency. He could see, but it was so much effort he got tired after 10′. With vision therapy, he went from not wanting to read at all to reading the whole Lord of the Rings series in a few months. Try to find a “developmental ophthalmologist”.
Rochelle says
Rad this post years ago and tucked it away in my mind. Now I’m working with my second grader and kindergartener and I’m trying to purchase the MCP Plaid phonics for this school year, but I want to make sure I get a good one. The new ones are ick. Does the 1995 one with the plaid cover look good?? Direction would be great. Good old style workbooks are hard to find. 🙂 thanks!!
Leila says
Yes, the ’95 version is the one to get. You might find reading the comments here helpful — many good tips from readers about readers 🙂
Christina A says
We homeschooled for two years and used Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri. A friend gave us worksheets based on the book, which were so helpful as there aren’t any workbooks to go with the program. The teacher’s manual for it is pure gold; loved reading it! After we had already started SWR, I heard about Blend Phonics, which is a free program by Hazel Logan Loring. Her introductory essay to the program is excellent, and I have no doubt the program is wonderful although we just continued on with SWR. My kids are now back in a school that uses Saxon Phonics in 1st grade; seems to be working well for my daughter. When one of our sons was nearing 11, he still struggled with all aspects of language arts, so we put him in the PACE (processing and cognitive enhancement) program. The results were astounding! He may still need some vision therapy, but PACE addresses multiple brain pathways, not just visual ones. His auditory processing was several years behind his age level, and that held him back from memorizing and reciting and also from reading, particularly aloud. So thankful we found the right help for him, and hope all these other mamas can find what their struggling children need!