Teaching Reading?

[RealLifeMama]

My DD wants to learn how to read.
I know, the best thing to do is to read to her often, etc.
But then what comes next???
She knows all of her single consonant sounds already and can identify them.
What comes next?

I want to be very relaxed about it but not so relaxed that we never do it.

Someone at MOPS today recommended a book by Somebody Wise, something about a Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. Anyone know what that is?
Any other suggestions?

[This Busy Mom]

I haven't used that book, but it's by Susan Wise Bauer's (the lady who wrote the Well-Trained Mind) mom.

http://www.peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=9 They have some extras that go along with the book (along with the book) here. Finding a used copy of the book shouldn't be too hard, either.

[slingmamaof4]

My dd is reading now too at 4. Here are a few things that are fun:

This I didn't learn about until after she already knew all on the phonic sounds, including vowels. But my ds, almost 26 mos, loves it:

You can work on the short vowel sounds. One way to teach them is to sing Old McDonald had a Farm, but with the vowels instead of animals and the short vowel sounds instead of animal sounds. Old McDonald had a farm, AEIOU. And on that farm he had an A, AEIOU. With an ah, ah here and an ah, ah there.....


There is also a really good video series that my ds likes. I didn't know about these until after my dd was reading, but my ds has learned some of the letters and some of the phonics sounds from these videos. The videos are in order:

Leap Frog Letter Factory (teaches the letters and the phonics sounds in a really fun way. Even my dd who already knows all this loves it).
Leap Frog Talking Words Factory (teaches how to build words)
Leap Frog Code Word Caper (Talking Words Factory 2 - teaches advances phonics...silent E, long vowel sounds, consonant blends...)
Leap Frog Learn to Read at the Story Book Factory (this is after they have learned to read some; teaches punctuation, chunking...)


Also Belle (my 4 yo dd) and I make Go Fish cards. We cut out sqaures from construction paper and pick some words that we want to work on. Often we have done like a rhyming words..AT words, AP words, UG words... We make four cards for each word. And you play it like normal Go Fish. A complete set is when you get all four cards for one word. Then you can lay those down.

Hope some of this helps.

[Mothering by Heart]

I don't really teach reading. We just talk about the sounds letter make(all the possible sounds) and they put it together themselves.

When I see that they "get" that I have them start sounding out short words. They just go from there.

[RealLifeMama]

These are great tips, thanks!
We are going to the library and I was going to check out the first set of BOB books. Anyone have those?


I don't really teach reading. We just talk about the sounds letter make(all the possible sounds) and they put it together themselves.

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?
I know I wouldn't be covering that at 4.5, LOL, but when you say you don't teach reading do you mean you don't do any of that?

[Cheyenne]

I like the Bob books! They are short and fun. Sometimes she would only read halfway through and she was done, but she still likes them. We are on the second set now.

[This Busy Mom]

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?

You'll know if you'll need to teach it later on. Some kids just pick up reading a lot easier than others. I have one that was reading fluently at 5 and one that's still struggling at almost 8 ;) . It really just depends on each child about how much help they need. I had to actually find something more intensive for my dd... some programs actually teach eye tracking along with handwriting to help out kids that don't pick that up automatically.

[Close2MyHeart]

I just bought a book from Rainbow Resources. It's a little spendy, bt I figured it's going to go throgh all 4 of the kids. It's called Reading Made Easy & we love it. :tu

[Mama Calidad]

We are going to the library and I was going to check out the first set of BOB books. Anyone have those?

DD learned to read using a phonics workbook and the Bob books. :tu

[Mothering by Heart]

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?


I guess what I mean is, I don't have sit down lessons where we learn to read. It is really all done in a casual manner.

My first dd started reading at 2.5. By three, she was reading full story books. I took a lesson from her and with DS I just casually told him what a certain letter was and that it could say: ( I would tell the possible sounds) He just started putting it all together himself like dd did. He read when he was 5.
Now, dd, 5 will turn 6 in April and is just starting to sound out 3 letter words. When we are reading a story, I will ask her to sound out a word or two and if it has a blend, like CH, I just say, when C is with an H is can say Ch(soft) of CH(hard) I let her figure it out in the context of the sentence.

Foe example, if the word is chew. Can a cow (hard CH) CHew its cud? No, that doesn't make sense. But it can (soft CH) Chew its cud. That does make sense.

Does that even make sense to you? LOL I don't know if I explained it very well.

So, far, my non-method has been working so I don't mess with it. I think they just figure it out on their own.

[slingmamaof4]

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?
I know I wouldn't be covering that at 4.5, LOL, but when you say you don't teach reading do you mean you don't do any of that?


I think my dd is probably advanced for 4.5, but she does know that "ch", "sh", "wh", kn", th" are digraphs. And she has a general concept about diphthongs (au, ew, ow, oy, oi). They just learn with time that oi and oy make the same sound...like tOY and pOInt. She knows what consonant blends are and those are easier because they can be sounded out, "sl", "sp", "cl". My dd learned about a lot of this from a computer game she has. Educator's Choice Phonics & Reading Excelerator Grades 1-4. I bought this and it came with 2 world book encyc discs and 4 phonics/reading discs. I bought it to use when she was older, but she was with me when I bought them and she wanted to try to play them. And she can do most of it really well. I bought it in September or October from only 4.99 on clearance!

When it comes to digraphs, diphthongs, and consonant blends I think digraphs are the trickest for them to learn. Consonant blends can be sound out fairly easily. And diphthongs can be sounded out too, but they have to learn how to slip the two sounds together (but the 2 seperate sounds still remain just slide together to sound like they make a new sound). But digraphs of course really do make a new sound. So once your dd knows all the normal consonant, short vowel, and long vowel sounds then you could just expose her to digraphs and help her learn those the same way you taught her the other phonics sounds. And if she learned the other phonics sounds on her own she may learn these on her own too.

And I still don't know how to teach her when "c" is soft or hard. Is there a rule for this? If so I don't know it? Same with g. But she has figured out it out. If she sounds out a word and it doesn't sound right then she tries again. But sometimes she does end up thinking she read it right and it actually wasn't. Like cold and sold. If she tried the soft "c" sound she would just think the word is sold. But when they are reading the content of the story/sentence often helps them figure out if the word fits there.

While I have been typing this Mothering by Heart replied too. I haven't as of yet done any formal teaching reading yet either. And my dd learned to read on her own very young as well. For now if I were you I would just help her figure out her phonics sounds, because she won't be able to sound out words until she knows those. And then when she is starting to read words and you run across a word that has a digraph, tell her that "SH" is a digraph and it makes the "shhhh" sound. And when my dd first ran into that I held up my figure to my mouth when I made the sound "sh" like you would as in quiet down.

Just make it fun, no pressure for her. She has lots of time to figure it all out.

[RealLifeMama]

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?
I know I wouldn't be covering that at 4.5, LOL, but when you say you don't teach reading do you mean you don't do any of that?




When it comes to digraphs, diphthongs, and consonant blends I think digraphs are the trickest for them to learn. Consonant blends can be sound out fairly easily. And diphthongs can be sounded out too, but they have to learn how to slip the two sounds together (but the 2 seperate sounds still remain just slide together to sound like they make a new sound). But digraphs of course really do make a new sound. So once your dd knows all the normal consonant, short vowel, and long vowel sounds then you could just expose her to digraphs and help her learn those the same way you taught her the other phonics sounds. And if she learned the other phonics sounds on her own she may learn these on her own too.





Wow, I will def need a phonics refresher myself. I didn't know any of those terms (digraphs, etc)
I was a math major in college, so I will use that as my excuse.

[slingmamaof4]

what about blending? Do you not teach that, like how "C" has a hard sound when it is before some letters and a soft sound when it is by others, etc? Or blended vowel sounds like OW etc?
I know I wouldn't be covering that at 4.5, LOL, but when you say you don't teach reading do you mean you don't do any of that?




When it comes to digraphs, diphthongs, and consonant blends I think digraphs are the trickest for them to learn. Consonant blends can be sound out fairly easily. And diphthongs can be sounded out too, but they have to learn how to slip the two sounds together (but the 2 seperate sounds still remain just slide together to sound like they make a new sound). But digraphs of course really do make a new sound. So once your dd knows all the normal consonant, short vowel, and long vowel sounds then you could just expose her to digraphs and help her learn those the same way you taught her the other phonics sounds. And if she learned the other phonics sounds on her own she may learn these on her own too.





Wow, I will def need a phonics refresher myself. I didn't know any of those terms (digraphs, etc)
I was a math major in college, so I will use that as my excuse.


:giggle I was an English major if you couldn't tell. ;) And my sis was and my BIL is a lit professor. I haven't even mentioned complex diphthongs to Belle....that can all come with time. Those you really can't sound out and just need to be memorized.

[RealLifeMama]

:giggle I was an English major if you couldn't tell. ;) And my sis was and my BIL is a lit professor. I haven't even mentioned complex diphthongs to Belle....that can all come with time. Those you really can't sound out and just need to be memorized.


Is "-eigh" an example of that?

[slingmamaof4]

Diphthongs are oo, ou, oi, oy, oo, ow, au, ew, aw... Most people don't use the term complex dihthongs either....I meant triphthongs. That is just a a compound vowel sound that happens when there is a succession of 3 simple ones and function as a unit....so basically 3 vowels together is a triphthong.

"eigh" is a quadrigraph. A quadrigraph just means that there are 4 letters in the ams syllable that represent only one sound.

[slingmamaof4]

Here is a website that has lots of word families and activities for early phonics reading.

http://teachers.santee.k12.ca.us/carl/word_way.htm