We have finally got in a good pattern with our reading lessons. 100 Easy lessons was working marginally well. Developing a CM reading plan using Treadwell's readers was working marginally well. The perfect fit has been developing a CM reading plan using the readers from LLATL blue. If I did not have these available I would have purchased Pathway readers for first grade.
Sam benefits from the controlled vocabulary of these readers. There are fewer words to learn in order for him to read each new book and we have been working a steady pace of a book per week.
Each week we...
-Introduce the book and read it together.
-play games with the word cards
- sound out new words and introduce any new sight words.
-Create sentences with our word cards
-create new words using word families
-write a word from dictation
Each day...
- we read the book together having him read more and more with each reading.
-we play games with the word cards
- and we do one of the other exercises
spending a total of about 15 minutes per day with a reading lesson
His reading lessons have been reinforced with AAS spelling book 1 which we do daily and using ETC online.
We now have a perfect fit.
Showing posts with label CM Reading lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CM Reading lessons. Show all posts
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Spelling- momentary insanity
Even after 13 + years of homeschooling I still have moments of insanity.
I wrote "I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability". Well, DUH! He is 6! My own reading ability exceeds my spelling ability as evidence by my almost constant use of spell check and I'm a bit more advance in age.
Re-reading my own musing in Language Arts and reviewing a few online 1st grade spelling list I feel much more confident in continuing our spelling lessons with our reading lessons.
I wrote "I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability". Well, DUH! He is 6! My own reading ability exceeds my spelling ability as evidence by my almost constant use of spell check and I'm a bit more advance in age.
Re-reading my own musing in Language Arts and reviewing a few online 1st grade spelling list I feel much more confident in continuing our spelling lessons with our reading lessons.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Reading , week 2 & 3
Week 2.
We finished the Little Red Hen. Introduced words, spelled the words and played the games as we did in week 1. By the end of the week he could read the selection with ease. He could spell some but not all of the words introduced.
I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability. I could spend a few more weeks working on this selection before he is able to spell every word in it but would absolutely kill his interest. I do anticipate having to spend some specialized time with spelling ability with Sam in part due to his speech delays. I don't believe that Sam is going to be a natural speller like his older brother who required very little if any spelling instruction other than copywork and dictation. I think that for Sam this spelling instruction should be separate from his reading instruction because his reading ability is going to quickly out pace his spelling ability.
Week 3.
I switched gears this week so I could make an observation and we worked through 2 lessons of 100 EZ lessons. He was enthusiastic with his ease of reading this book after spending some time with other types of reading lessons. He felt that is was "easy" and when we dropped this book he was feeling frustrated with it. Using 100 EZ lesson really is just EASY. Pick up the book and go. It was a nice change for me not to have to plan and decide what to cover in the reading lesson.
Decisions to be made.
Sam could learn to be an independent reader using either program. 100 EZ lesson is easier to use but a bit redundant in practice. Creating a reading program using Treadwell's primers requires a bit more thought from me and could also become redundant if I'm not careful. For the rest of the summer I think that we are going to alternate between the two. We will spend a few weeks concentrating on 100 EZ lessons and a few weeks concentrating on Treadwells's readers.
I need to make a decision regarding spelling. My preferred spelling program that really helped my older daughter is Sequential Speller but it is not appropriate for a 6 year old. I'm going to spend the next week or so researching spelling programs and see if I can find something that will suit us. If not I will continue to do spelling instruction with our Treadwell's reader selections.
We finished the Little Red Hen. Introduced words, spelled the words and played the games as we did in week 1. By the end of the week he could read the selection with ease. He could spell some but not all of the words introduced.
I noticed that his reading ability is far greater than his spelling ability. I could spend a few more weeks working on this selection before he is able to spell every word in it but would absolutely kill his interest. I do anticipate having to spend some specialized time with spelling ability with Sam in part due to his speech delays. I don't believe that Sam is going to be a natural speller like his older brother who required very little if any spelling instruction other than copywork and dictation. I think that for Sam this spelling instruction should be separate from his reading instruction because his reading ability is going to quickly out pace his spelling ability.
Week 3.
I switched gears this week so I could make an observation and we worked through 2 lessons of 100 EZ lessons. He was enthusiastic with his ease of reading this book after spending some time with other types of reading lessons. He felt that is was "easy" and when we dropped this book he was feeling frustrated with it. Using 100 EZ lesson really is just EASY. Pick up the book and go. It was a nice change for me not to have to plan and decide what to cover in the reading lesson.
Decisions to be made.
Sam could learn to be an independent reader using either program. 100 EZ lesson is easier to use but a bit redundant in practice. Creating a reading program using Treadwell's primers requires a bit more thought from me and could also become redundant if I'm not careful. For the rest of the summer I think that we are going to alternate between the two. We will spend a few weeks concentrating on 100 EZ lessons and a few weeks concentrating on Treadwells's readers.
I need to make a decision regarding spelling. My preferred spelling program that really helped my older daughter is Sequential Speller but it is not appropriate for a 6 year old. I'm going to spend the next week or so researching spelling programs and see if I can find something that will suit us. If not I will continue to do spelling instruction with our Treadwell's reader selections.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Reading, Week 1
Day 1.
Introduced words for 1st 2 sentences.
Read each word .
Encouraged him to really look hard at each word.
Made new sentences with each word.
Found words in the stack " Can you find the word hen?" , etc.
Shuffled cards and found them again.
Made silly sentences with the words and read them " The little seed found a red hen.", etc
( mistake I made. I turned over the words he could already read before practicing. He got stressed that I was only leaving the "hard" words.)
Time spent 15 min.
Day 2.
Reviewed words.
Made new words. found -sound-mound, etc. Did not do every possibility.
more sentences using all word combinations possible.
I say a word and he spells it with letter cards. ( he really enjoyed doing this.)
Time spent 15 min.
Day 3
Reviewed words.
Introduced new words for next 2 pages of story.
Made new sentences and read them.
( I had a hard time getting him to do this lesson today-he did not want to do reading first .I introduced too many new words.)
Time spent 20 min. Had to redirect him several times to work.
Day 4
Reviewed words.
Made lots of sentences and read them.
Played a few games with the words that he wasn't reading easily. Pick a card if you read the word you keep it, etc. Concentration, etc.
He read the first 2 pages of the story and I read the next 2 pages of the story.
( I did reading after all his other subjects which did work better. He liked the games. It was easier for him to read the words in the story than randomly)
Time spent 15 min.
Lessons I learned.
Don't get rid of cards that he can read easily too quickly.
Better to introduce fewer words.
Non competitive games. He really enjoys these and really looks hard at each to word to make sure he remembers it.
Next Week
Continue working on the words we have until he knows them without hesitation.
Spelling with letter cards words + words we can make, found- mound, etc.
Possibly introduce the rest of the words in the story.
Keep reading as the last subject of the day.
Introduced words for 1st 2 sentences.
Read each word .
Encouraged him to really look hard at each word.
Made new sentences with each word.
Found words in the stack " Can you find the word hen?" , etc.
Shuffled cards and found them again.
Made silly sentences with the words and read them " The little seed found a red hen.", etc
( mistake I made. I turned over the words he could already read before practicing. He got stressed that I was only leaving the "hard" words.)
Time spent 15 min.
Day 2.
Reviewed words.
Made new words. found -sound-mound, etc. Did not do every possibility.
more sentences using all word combinations possible.
I say a word and he spells it with letter cards. ( he really enjoyed doing this.)
Time spent 15 min.
Day 3
Reviewed words.
Introduced new words for next 2 pages of story.
Made new sentences and read them.
( I had a hard time getting him to do this lesson today-he did not want to do reading first .I introduced too many new words.)
Time spent 20 min. Had to redirect him several times to work.
Day 4
Reviewed words.
Made lots of sentences and read them.
Played a few games with the words that he wasn't reading easily. Pick a card if you read the word you keep it, etc. Concentration, etc.
He read the first 2 pages of the story and I read the next 2 pages of the story.
( I did reading after all his other subjects which did work better. He liked the games. It was easier for him to read the words in the story than randomly)
Time spent 15 min.
Lessons I learned.
Don't get rid of cards that he can read easily too quickly.
Better to introduce fewer words.
Non competitive games. He really enjoys these and really looks hard at each to word to make sure he remembers it.
Next Week
Continue working on the words we have until he knows them without hesitation.
Spelling with letter cards words + words we can make, found- mound, etc.
Possibly introduce the rest of the words in the story.
Keep reading as the last subject of the day.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A CM Reading program ?- Early planning
I'm at a real crossroads with reading instruction. I spent some time yesterday reviewing LLATL -blue which I intended to use and decided against it.....far too much busy work and the reading selection are less than stellar. 100 Ez lesson isn't a good fit for Sam and LLATL isn't a good fit for me and I absolutely refuse to purchase another reading/phonics program so I'm going to create my own with Charlotte Mason suggestions.
I found my old, ancient copy of A Home Start in Reading by Ruth Beechick ( which was my first homeschooling purchase back in 1994!) and highlighted everything that Sam knows and can blend with ease. This may have been the least useful thing I have done because nowhere in Charlotte's writing have I yet to find a specific list of phonics rules to teach.
I read through Home Education pgs. 199-222 highlighting as I read.
"Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word, and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do without effort." Home Education pg. 204
"The teacher must be content to proceed very slowly, securing the ground under her feet as she goes." pg. 205
"But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation. "pg. 208
I do not have a specific day-to-day plan but instead a day-to-day goal. I will train Sam to "see the word". I will proceed at Sam's pace. I will make sure he is trained in the habit of careful enunciation of the words in our reading lessons.
I found my old, ancient copy of A Home Start in Reading by Ruth Beechick ( which was my first homeschooling purchase back in 1994!) and highlighted everything that Sam knows and can blend with ease. This may have been the least useful thing I have done because nowhere in Charlotte's writing have I yet to find a specific list of phonics rules to teach.
I read through Home Education pgs. 199-222 highlighting as I read.
"Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word, and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do without effort." Home Education pg. 204
"The teacher must be content to proceed very slowly, securing the ground under her feet as she goes." pg. 205
"But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation. "pg. 208
I do not have a specific day-to-day plan but instead a day-to-day goal. I will train Sam to "see the word". I will proceed at Sam's pace. I will make sure he is trained in the habit of careful enunciation of the words in our reading lessons.
"Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these. Let him learn ten new words a day, and in twenty weeks he will be to some extent able to read, without any question as to the number of letters in a word. For the second, and less important, part of our task, the child must know the sounds of the letters, and acquire power to throw given sounds into new combinations. "pg 216-217
It will take some time to adjust my thinking from phonics rules to Charlotte's rules. I will probably use my little phonics chart to see progress in our reading program for Sam. Perhaps this will not be a necessary step the second time around with our next reader.
I've chosen Treadwell's The Primer as our text. The first selection is "The Little Red Hen" which will give us 30 words.... some of which Sam already knows by sight or has built with our letter cards. I will continue to use the letter cards that I have laminated from LLATL-blue and use index cards to make our word cards.
I will try to keep each day fresh and different. We will build our words with letter cards, build new words( sound, pound, etc) , make new sentences leaving blanks for words we don't know ( to pique interest per CM),recreate the actual text with our word cards, etc. As I reread CM's writing and the PR articles I will surely come up with new ideas and refine the ones I already have.
I will try to keep each day fresh and different. We will build our words with letter cards, build new words( sound, pound, etc) , make new sentences leaving blanks for words we don't know ( to pique interest per CM),recreate the actual text with our word cards, etc. As I reread CM's writing and the PR articles I will surely come up with new ideas and refine the ones I already have.
I welcome any comment or suggestion as I begin this new direction in our reading program!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
