How to help kindergartener struggling with reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! I homeschooled kindergarten last year because of the pandemic (my kid is back in in person school for 1st this year). I used Logic of English and loved it. I plan to use it to teach my younger child before kindergarten because our school district (not in dc area) uses balanced literacy and not full phonics. I like lLofic of English va All About Reading because it includes spelling, but I think both options are pretty similar.

It is rather involved, so you will need to dedicate some regular time to it if you want to do it in addition to school. You can still do lots of fun, hands-on phonics games with your kid though - they will be so much more engaging than worksheets! Logic of English has a picture book with letter sounds and songs that you can use without the full curriculum. You can write phonograms (or sight words if you’re using them) on flash cards and ply bingo, or do go fish or matching games. Here are some other ideas:

https://readingeggs.com/articles/2016/01/25/phonics-games/

https://readingeggs.com/articles/2021/08/15/phonics-activities/

Where to buy logic of English?

[Anonymous]

Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. Start from the beginning to give a feeling of success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. Start from the beginning to give a feeling of success.

+1

[Anonymous]

One of the PPs who used Logic of English. Start with Foundations A - you don't need the expensive whole set, just scroll to the bottom of this page and buy the teacher's manual, workbook and doodling dragons picture book. You can get the songs for free on YouTube or use Amazon Music/another streaming platform. If you have a chalkboard/white board at home already and a cheap pack of index cards you'll have all you need.

https://store.logicofenglish.com/collections/product-type-foundations

[Anonymous]

I tried to push my kid forward when he wasnt ready. It just stressed us both out. Instead i found easy books he enjoyed and read to him while making him read a word here and there...and then slowly increased it to a page here and there... i try to remember he will eventually learn to read so my goal shifted to making sure he likes books

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the PPs who used Logic of English. Start with Foundations A - you don't need the expensive whole set, just scroll to the bottom of this page and buy the teacher's manual, workbook and doodling dragons picture book. You can get the songs for free on YouTube or use Amazon Music/another streaming platform. If you have a chalkboard/white board at home already and a cheap pack of index cards you'll have all you need.

https://store.logicofenglish.com/collections/product-type-foundations

OP here- thanks for this!

Reading some of these responses, I think his phonetic awareness is not quite there. Most single letter sounds he knows, which is what his teacher had told us too, but I wouldn’t call it automatic for all 26, and the blending has been challenging. He’ll get one fine, like “Sam”, but then say the next word is “cat”, if he doesn’t know it he checks out and rather than try to sound it out will say something completely different, like “and.”

[Anonymous]

^^OP, my 5yo DD did that too before things finally clicked for her. She didn't even want to try to sound out words she didn't know and would guess a random would that wouldn't necessarily even start with the same letter. Once it started to become a bit easier for her, her confidence soared and her ability to work though words she doesn't know increased as well.

It can't hurt to focus on phonics a bit more as PPs have suggested, but part of it is just continuing to work on it. With both of my kids, I put a lot of emphasis on phonics to start and then starting mixing in sight words.

We do about 20 minutes of reading each night before bed. The first 10 min, DD reads a book to me (a book I pick out for her) and the last 10 minutes, I read aloud to her (she gets to pick the book I read). That way we do reading practice AND my DD gets her normal bedtime story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading to your child an hour or every half-hour every night is the best method.

Please, pay attention to this, or you will create a life-long hater of reading. Read fun books to your child (let them ake the lead/pick which books). Do not make it a chore

[Anonymous]

We used hooked on phonics materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the PPs who used Logic of English. Start with Foundations A - you don't need the expensive whole set, just scroll to the bottom of this page and buy the teacher's manual, workbook and doodling dragons picture book. You can get the songs for free on YouTube or use Amazon Music/another streaming platform. If you have a chalkboard/white board at home already and a cheap pack of index cards you'll have all you need.

https://store.logicofenglish.com/collections/product-type-foundations

OP here- thanks for this!

Reading some of these responses, I think his phonetic awareness is not quite there. Most single letter sounds he knows, which is what his teacher had told us too, but I wouldn’t call it automatic for all 26, and the blending has been challenging. He’ll get one fine, like “Sam”, but then say the next word is “cat”, if he doesn’t know it he checks out and rather than try to sound it out will say something completely different, like “and.”

Then work on oral blending with VC "words" first. He will only be frustrated. Work up to oral blending of CVC words. Also, work on letter sound fluency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the PPs who used Logic of English. Start with Foundations A - you don't need the expensive whole set, just scroll to the bottom of this page and buy the teacher's manual, workbook and doodling dragons picture book. You can get the songs for free on YouTube or use Amazon Music/another streaming platform. If you have a chalkboard/white board at home already and a cheap pack of index cards you'll have all you need.

https://store.logicofenglish.com/collections/product-type-foundations

OP here- thanks for this!

Reading some of these responses, I think his phonetic awareness is not quite there. Most single letter sounds he knows, which is what his teacher had told us too, but I wouldn’t call it automatic for all 26, and the blending has been challenging. He’ll get one fine, like “Sam”, but then say the next word is “cat”, if he doesn’t know it he checks out and rather than try to sound it out will say something completely different, like “and.”

Then work on oral blending with VC "words" first. He will only be frustrated. Work up to oral blending of CVC words. Also, work on letter sound fluency.

NP- am I the only one who does not understand this post? What are VC words? What is sound fluency?

[Anonymous]

Read hop on pop slowly and together. Fun way to learn to read! Lots of good rhyming early reader Dr Seuss books.

[Anonymous]

My kid was probably where yours is in K. Towards the end of first grade, she was sorta kinda able to read Bob type books but that was about it. Technically she was just slightly above the MCPS benchmarks, which meant she wasn't at all advanced. Then COVID hit, those first few weeks where we were on our own. I tried some simple sight word and sounding out exercises and she wasn't having it. I dropped everything and just read to her. A lot. Especially over that summer when we didn't send her to camps or anything. I like to read and I'd prefer that as an activity over most things, so it was fine.

We read (I read) 100 books in 2020, no lie. Some like Junie B., everything Beverly Cleary ever wrote, Bunnicula on up to O. Henry and Poe (but mostly things at the Junie B level). Towards the end of the summer she was picking up graphic novels on her own, too. By the middle of 2nd grade she had shot to the 4th or 5th grade level and more recently in 3rd, far beyond-- like HS level. I just saw her fall 3rd MAP score for reading and it's 99th percentile.

I can't prove anything one way or the other, and every kid is different. But I do think that most kids just "pick up" reading naturally between 4-8 with minimal scaffolding (maybe having been taught letter sounds). If there is a kid who will not be able to do so, I'm not certain that pushing reading lessons, even ABC Mouse or whatever, will get them there. I do get the anxiety and definitely the fact that schools force this a little early... but I'm not sure a parent can make this happen MUCH earlier than it would otherwise. I do know that reading a lot to a kid helps with vocabulary and reading comprehension at the very least-- while also being fun and fostering a love of books.

[Anonymous]

Truly, truly, truly--at kindergarten age, just give your kid warm, happy associations with reading. Sitting with you and enjoying books together every single day.

If you want to supplement, point at the words as you read them. Put the words into context by looking at the pictures. Ask him some questions about the book after you finish reading it. This is such a much better use of your time on so many levels. If he is still struggling half way through 1st grade, work with the teacher/school to get extra support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the PPs who used Logic of English. Start with Foundations A - you don't need the expensive whole set, just scroll to the bottom of this page and buy the teacher's manual, workbook and doodling dragons picture book. You can get the songs for free on YouTube or use Amazon Music/another streaming platform. If you have a chalkboard/white board at home already and a cheap pack of index cards you'll have all you need.

https://store.logicofenglish.com/collections/product-type-foundations

OP here- thanks for this!

Reading some of these responses, I think his phonetic awareness is not quite there. Most single letter sounds he knows, which is what his teacher had told us too, but I wouldn’t call it automatic for all 26, and the blending has been challenging. He’ll get one fine, like “Sam”, but then say the next word is “cat”, if he doesn’t know it he checks out and rather than try to sound it out will say something completely different, like “and.”

Then work on oral blending with VC "words" first. He will only be frustrated. Work up to oral blending of CVC words. Also, work on letter sound fluency.

NP- am I the only one who does not understand this post? What are VC words? What is sound fluency?

VC- vowel consonant. If your child can't blend orally (without looking at letters), they will need to practice that first. Letter sound fluency is the ability to look at a letter and produce the sound. It's frustrating for a student to try to blend sounds when they are not automatic in sounds first. They will spend too much time thinking of the sound and by the time they get to blend them, they've forgotten the sound. Look into Reading Simplified's Blend As You Read to see an example of how to teach your child to blend.

Also, continue reading with your child. Don't force them to read everything. It will cause them to not want to read if you push. Just read books they are interested in and talk about them.