Through the years teaching my two olders I have at different points rejoiced at them 'learning how to read'. There was that first exciting assisted sounding out of a simple three letter word, then it was unassisted, then it was assisted short stories, then more confidence, then bigger words and more assistance again. Over and over again I've rejoiced at the new mile stones and brainstormed how to conquer the next one- always wondering when the day would come when I could fully say they had 'learned how to read'. Today as the children picked up a new chapter book for us to read aloud together to each other and read with ease, as I told them I was done for the day but they could continue on their own and.....they DID, today as we went through their dolch word flashcards (that we hadn't picked up in some months) and they could fly through a stach of 22 cards in 17 and 18 seconds (their fastest times)- today I decided is that day. My children can read and I am so proud of them. I taught my children to read and I feel proud as their teacher and mother.

Many mothers have asked me through the years to suggest the best book, best program, best curriculum for teaching reading and so, it is with that in mind, and with a desire to not lose what is fresh in my mind now and will be needed when Bayus is the right age- I thought I'd compile my list of books and resources that have helped me through the years. I'm digging through all my old school planners to be sure I'm not leaving anything out :)

THE LIST:
-Start with a strong base in habitual family reading times of board books, picture books, chapter books, audio books, story time at the library, classics all the time. Really take advantage of your local library and visit it often.

-(book) Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons, we got to lesson 61 before moving on to other resources

-(early readers) Bob books

-(early readers) Animal Antics books

-(website) Starfall.com

-(DVD) LeapFrog Letter Factory

-(flash card set) Vowels and Vowel Teams

-(board game) Python Path; phonics word-endings

-(board game) Sunken Treasure Adventures; phonics beginning blends

-(workbook) Explode the Code series

-(curriculum) My Father's World

-(local programs) Summer Reading Programs at the Library

-(early readers) D!ck and Jane series

-(website/flashcards) Dolch word flashcards as printed from this website Dolch Grade Two (http://www.kidzone.ws/dolch/grade2.htm)

I think this list is complete but I will add to it if I think of more. Hopefully it is helpful to someone, I know it will be helpful to me when Bayus is ready for more of this and I'm trying to remember 'back'. There were a few other resources that I may have used but chose to omit because they're impact was either so brief or of minimal value that I didn't consider them worth noting.

Happy Reading journey!
Sarah

THat is a great list.

For us the book has been Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading.

Another resource we are just starting to use is File Folder Reading Games. I am putting these together and a friend of ours is using them with both our older boys to help them with reading.

Now a couple of questions, where did you get the board games? and the vowel flashcards.

I am putting together a bin of things for our friend and I think those would be awesome additions.

I am thinking of buying the game boggle and adding it in since I think G would enjoy it.

Great list!

The 100 Easy Lessons just seems painfully dry to me. Not sure I could suffer through it.

[QUOTE=Robin;2938939]

Now a couple of questions, where did you get the board games? and the vowel flashcards.
[QUOTE]

I bought them from a local toy and school supply store. The board games are all put out by Learning Resources and the flashcards are I think by the same- here's some links to the same products at vendors online (just whomever showed up first via google).

VOWELS AND VOWEL TEAM FLASH CARDS @ EducationalLearningGames.com - Vowels Flash Cards! (http://www.educationallearninggames.com/vowels-and-vowel-team-flash-cards.asp)

Amazon.com: Learning Resources - Python PathÂ* Word-Ending Game: Toys & Games (http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Python-Path%C3%82-Word-Ending/dp/B00004TDTD)

Amazon.com: Learning Resources - Sunken Treasure AdventureÂ* Phonics Beginning Blends Game: Toys & Games (http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Treasure-Adventure%C3%82-Beginning/dp/B00004TDTN/ref=pd_sim_t_njs_img_1)

Sarah

The 100 Easy Lessons just seems painfully dry to me. Not sure I could suffer through it.

Okay--it just dawned on me that this post did not say all I wanted it to say...

Thank you for the listing of resources. We did begin the 100 EZ Lessons and I think my girl (and I) need something with a bit more bite to grab interest and hold it. So far she just loves the Explode the Code series, and I think the Ordinary Parents Guide may click better with us.

I saw a new post on this thread and when I read my post, I thought it just came across rather *ithcy. Wanted to clarify.

I think I'm dropping Josh off with you. Darn child is driving me nuts. He's got the pieces, he knows the sounds, but it's just not clicking.. and I'm about to lose my mind. HE wants to learn to read.. and he's getting frustrated - but the big issue is that he tries to guess rather than actually trying to figure it out.

I know, he'll get it eventually.. but I wish the desire and the ability would sinc up better with him.

I think I'm dropping Josh off with you. Darn child is driving me nuts. He's got the pieces, he knows the sounds, but it's just not clicking.. and I'm about to lose my mind. HE wants to learn to read.. and he's getting frustrated - but the big issue is that he tries to guess rather than actually trying to figure it out.

I know, he'll get it eventually.. but I wish the desire and the ability would sinc up better with him.

Is it that he can't blend? My ds was like that for quite some time. My current 5 yr old is also unable to blend effectively yet. Maybe some sight word stories and cards would give him the confidence he needs. Insert a picture w/the phonetic word when the need arises.

Guessing can be a sign of not truly knowing the sounds either, and trying to rely on sight w/phonics to try to figure it out. Guessers sometimes aren't listening to the actual story. They are seeing word for word for word making the big picture difficult to see. My oldest did this and it wasn't until 4th grade that I discovered he was mainly reading by sight. Yes, he knew phonics rules, but he wasn't using them. He also wasn't really internalizing or enjoying the "story" which is the point of reading.

So, I'd spend a lot of time discussing the story: Ask questions: "What might happen? What do you think he sees? How do you think he/she feels?" Talk, talk, talk, about the stories, and his guesses will start to match the story, and the reading instruction will mesh with that.

Lastly, something that was really drilled into me, and it has worked is during their reading out loud, refrain from correcting a lot even though it is really really hard. If the gist of the story is there, but they use a different word (big instead of large), let it go. Now, if you are listening and don't understand the story, you can stop them and say, "I'm not sure I got that. Let's look at that word." Also, encourage them to look at the pictures to figure out a word. It works wonders for confidence.

Time has been the only thing that cured my boys of this problem. I try to eliminate any frustration with reading.

HTH! Please ask if i didn't explain something very well.

Jodi, I thought of something else too. If he stumbles on sounds or the pieces, he may not be seeing them quite as separate from the whole word yet either. His brain is trying to see the piece of the word and sound it out, but his brain is also seeing the whole word which is a bit muddled yet.

You can do visual discrimination exercises to help this too. There are all sorts of fun workbooks out there. My kids love finding hidden pictures or "spot the difference" exercises.

Lastly, he is young. He'll get it. There's no hurry. :)

Thanks for those links.

Jodi so far both of my boys haven't gotten blending until they were six or older. They knew the letters/sounds but couldn't put it together until later.

Okay--it just dawned on me that this post did not say all I wanted it to say...

Thank you for the listing of resources. We did begin the 100 EZ Lessons and I think my girl (and I) need something with a bit more bite to grab interest and hold it. So far she just loves the Explode the Code series, and I think the Ordinary Parents Guide may click better with us.

I saw a new post on this thread and when I read my post, I thought it just came across rather *ithcy. Wanted to clarify.

Thank you for clarifying, I didn't know how to respond to your previous post. As you can see from the length of the list there is a lot of diversity in what I've used. I don't look to every 'tool' to be entertaining and fun, some of them just present the information well enough to make the other fun things more meaningful. 100EZ is dry, and we didn't finish it but it did give us a great base in sound blending. It teaches 'sounding out' more specifically than any other program I've used. That arrow that you run your finger on really enforces the smooth transition from sound to sound, holding a sound until your mind is ready to let your tongue do the next one. So many kids, and parents, sound out words one individual letter at a time whereas 100EZ really insists on the movement from sound to sound, as well as treating things like 'sh' as one sound rather than two that then you have to stop and recognize as being a blend and such. We used it in combination with other fun things (one thing one day, another thing another) and sometimes I'd even photocopy that days work and just go over those pages without the whole book sitting in the kids lap (I think that feels overwhelming to the kids), plus then I could let them use fun highlighters or whatver to trace the line arrow instead of a finger.

I love fun tools, fun books, fun everything- but I also know there are less fun or even downright boring tools out there that have a great approach and I can make it my job to infuse the fun. I think considering the price 100EZ is a worthwhile tool (even if you don't finish it). I have to be extra careful with the 'fun' stuff because so often its just good marketing, twaddle, or limited in its scope. I try to save purchases of that kind for when I need help in a specific area (like the board games only cover certain blends and the flashcards I would only pull out the cards we were working on).

Jodi, and others, that were asking about blending.... I think a lot of programs are deficient in effectively getting kids to blend their sounds together. Even if you don't use 100EZ I'd suggest reading all the intro pages as it does a good job teaching you how to teach that smoooth transition with the mouth from one sound to another. The rest of the book is just practice of the direction found in the intro pages- you can apply what you can apply what you as the teacher learn there into whatever program you are already using. Also know that Elias is turning 8 this June and Hannah is 6.5 so they aren't prodigy early readers or anything. That list above was used gently over the course of 3yrs+ and some of the biggest jumps forward in their progress were when we were exploring new concepts for a season, came to end of their 'interest/absorbtion' and then took a long break (sometimes months)- when we came back they had always grown in leaps and bounds beyond my expectation. Giving them time to absorb and process and just get older does wonders. When reading became an unpleasant chore we always took a step back in order to move forward (read D!ck and Jane books when I knew they 'could' have moved on to some simple chapter books).

Building confidence and keeping reading fun is sooooo much more important than learning to read this month compared to 6 months from now.

Sarah

Thank you for your posts Sarah. They are great. :)

he's doing stuff like 'h. a. t. is hat. m. a. t. mmmmmmaaaaaattttt. mmmmmmmmmat. sat? cat? fat?" Leila will look at him and say, "Josh, it's MAT!"

he can pick out the differences no problem, he can tell you what each says. he knows what rhymes, he can list rhyming words all day, but when it comes to the above, he's just not getting it.

we had his hearing tested last week, and it came back normal this round (it's been questionnable at several points in the past) - I think he can't filter things out if there's other noise going on, and I'm not sure how that impacts this - or how to prove that's an issue with him since the hearing came back clear.. I'm just honestly not sure with him what's 'okay' and what's symptomatic of other issues, if that makes sense. He's doing k/1st grade stuff without issues, provided I read him the instructions/ help with writing and all that.

once the coffee kicks in, I'm going to come back and reread what y'all said :)

That sounds like something that will come with time Jody, not a sign of a problem. What he is doing has happened to both of my boys at different times. In fact, it was the primary reason why I stopped Bob books and suck. They were a source of frustration for both, and not so interesting when you aren't able to sound out or see the pattern quite yet. Spencer also does the incorrect blending.

I have three boys too. Two are readers, and one is a pre-reader. The two readers have taken different paths to proficiency. My 5 yr old (will be 6 in Oct.) is taking predictable, yet somewhat different steps than his brothers took.

We had more luck with reading within books of interest than Bob books and similar.

Josh is really young even for a motivated reader.

Thanks for that reminder. I learned how to read at 2, Lindsey started reading just before her 4th birthday, and so it feels late to me - even though it's realy not *sigh*

I'm so glad to know it's 'normal' though. With all the allergy issues, the hearing issues we've had off and on and him having been so tongue tied and all, I'm just hyper-sensitive with him, I think.

Sarah,

The photocopy/highlighter thing is a good idea. We do have 100 EZ lessons because so many people recommended it. When I tried to implement it here, it just went over with a flop. I think the hands on approach with it might make a world of difference.

Again, sincere apologies on the snooty reply earlier. I think I shouldn't post when tired, sick and cranky (and loopy on a decongestant to boot!!)

You can bet this list will be referenced as I venture through the learning to read years with my girls.

Carey

Again, sincere apologies on the snooty reply earlier. I think I shouldn't post when tired, sick and cranky (and loopy on a decongestant to boot!!)


No worries mama, forgiven- it was nothing more than a bit of confusion and a potential miscommunication. I'm glad you clarified so we could all benefit from your wisdom and experiences and eachothers. It is a dry book :lol:

Sarah