Anonymous wrote:This sounds like yet another humble brag...my 7 year old is reading Frog and Toad.

And will be a better human being for it. The concepts in Frog and Toad are not really that simple, if you look at them. Those books are the kind enjoyed at any age!

Little Bear and Francis are also pretty simple but yet not.

This sounds like yet another humble brag...my 7 year old is reading Frog and Toad.

I think you should do echo reading with picture books. Not decodables but pictures books with a decent amount of text on each page. First night you read it out loud to him. Next night You read a page and then he reads the same page. Finally, he Reads the same book the next night out loud to you. Each night ask him what happened first next last. Add in more questioning each night and ask for evidence from the book. This can be very fun for the child and helps build confidence each night. The repitition helps with fluency and learning comprehension strategies. Sounds like he is too advanced for decodables but not yet fully fluent. Totally normal for beginning of 2nd grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It amazes me how many parents know so little about the progression of reading and writing at this age. I think too many parents have expectations of their child reading and spelling at the 99th percentile.

Your child is reading and writing. Teachers can pick up learning issues like dyslexia pretty easy and would have requested an evaluation if there were concerns.

You’re doing everything right. His spelling and reading will get better with time just like every other student in his class.

I think that too many kids today are struggling in school because they are sitting back and taking this approach. If the OP has identified an issue, she should absolutely do what she can to help her child. Teaching should be done both at home and at school. Teachers have bad behaviors to deal with, too many kids in class, and the list goes on and on. I wish that they had the resources and time to do what they would like to, but it just isn't the state of our schools today. I think parents should be working on fundamentals at home and reinforcing what is learned in school.

I wouldn’t say just sit back and do nothing and the op is working with him. It appears that people think that spelling words incorrectly and not getting all the words in a book as a seven year old is a problem. I’ve never been in a classroom or had my kids in classrooms where they didn’t have the resources necessary to handle students needing extra help.

In kindergarten my daughter’s teacher identified something about her wrist that would be a problem once she need to write a lot more. I wouldn’t have known that because her writing was typical looking for a kindergartner. She had occupational therapy for three years. Also they did one on one reading with the teacher all year and chose books accordingly.

I think before worrying OP should talk to the teacher and ask if he’s improving as expected and if there are any unusual issues that OP could help with. I don’t believe teachers are too busy with crap to know their students.

Anonymous wrote:I think that too many kids today are struggling in school because they are sitting back and taking this approach. If the OP has identified an issue, she should absolutely do what she can to help her child. Teaching should be done both at home and at school. Teachers have bad behaviors to deal with, too many kids in class, and the list goes on and on. I wish that they had the resources and time to do what they would like to, but it just isn't the state of our schools today. I think parents should be working on fundamentals at home and reinforcing what is learned in school.

+1. My mother was a teacher and she always had us do additional practice at home - and she would plug holes at home if any were found.

Anonymous wrote:It amazes me how many parents know so little about the progression of reading and writing at this age. I think too many parents have expectations of their child reading and spelling at the 99th percentile.

Your child is reading and writing. Teachers can pick up learning issues like dyslexia pretty easy and would have requested an evaluation if there were concerns.

You’re doing everything right. His spelling and reading will get better with time just like every other student in his class.

I think that too many kids today are struggling in school because they are sitting back and taking this approach. If the OP has identified an issue, she should absolutely do what she can to help her child. Teaching should be done both at home and at school. Teachers have bad behaviors to deal with, too many kids in class, and the list goes on and on. I wish that they had the resources and time to do what they would like to, but it just isn't the state of our schools today. I think parents should be working on fundamentals at home and reinforcing what is learned in school.

Anonymous wrote:The idea that reading to your child will make your child a better reader is a myth. The only thing that will make your child a better reader is reading (and writing!)

It does not sound as though your child is reading books that are decodable. Did you start with decodable books? Decodable books are based in phonics and if you skip over the phonics, it will be much harder for your child to read fluently in the long term. You can memorize CAT but when you start to read words like Orinthologist, you need to have a good basis in phonics to sound it out.

You are swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction. While I 100% agree that kids need to be taught phonics in an organized and disciplined way (especially kids who don't take to reading easily), reading to your kids will absolutely make them better readers.

The key is to do both. You can't JUST read to your kid and hope he becomes a more fluent reader by osmosis. You need to make sure he's getting the foundations for reading either at school or at home and that he has plenty of opportunities to practice decoding and working his way up toward fluency in a graduated way.

But assuming you are doing that, here are some benefits of reading to your kid even after he has learned to read:

- You can read more difficult and exciting stories to him, which will help motivate him to enjoy and pursue reading because he will see how pleasurable it can be and get a glimpse at the many, many chapter books out there with wonderful stories for him to experience. You can also read books to him and then show him the movies based on the books -- this is how my kids learned that books are richer texts and often have details and events that get cut out from the movie. This is a great incentive for kids to actually read books instead of only watching the movies -- the books offer more.

- It will expose your child to a much larger vocabulary and also facilitate them learning how the phonics rules they are currently practicing apply to larger, more complex words. Encourage your kid to stop you and ask what a word means if they don't know (or you can proactively stop to ask if they understand words you are reading if you have a sense they might not). This can sometimes start conversations that unlock tools for decoding. Say you read a story that has the word "circulate" in it. If he doesn't know that word, you can ask "well does it sound like any words you do know?" And if he identifies circle then you can talk about how those words are related because circulate means to move around a close system (like a circle). You can then talk about the circulatory system. And then you can talk about how the latin root "circe" also shows up in a word like circus, because circuses traditionally take place in circular rings. Talking about etymology like this can demystify language for them and help them see how words are related and offer clues to their meanings.

- And by reading books to him and with him, and talking about the words and phrases in these books, you create a shared vocabulary that can become part of your relationship and communication. This will encourage him to use the words he's learning from the books you read in conversation with you, which translates to using them in writing as he develops in that area as well. This will increase fluency in spoken and written language as well as reading, all of which actually work together to build broad literacy.

No one should be substituting reading to kids in place of solid phonics instruction and offering level-appropriate decodable texts. But doing away with that approach does NOT mean that reading to kids has no utility when it comes to literacy. It is really important and kids who get phonics instruction and practice decoding on their own but are not read to regularly are getting a limited (and limiting) literary education. They also may have less interest in books and stories and less motivation to pursue reading outside what is required in school.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. You need to move down to easier books. He needs to practice reading out loud with easier books to develop fluency, which is what you are describing here. Repeated reading of familiar text builds automatic decoding and fluency.

You can ask to meet with your school reading specialist for tips and information on how he’s doing compared to his peers. That will also put him on your school’s radar.

For spelling, as the reading teacher what approach they are using. He should be able to spell cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words by now. Then short vowel words with initial blends like TR or BL. Frequently used words like THE, WAS, HOUSE, PEOPLE need to be practiced. Make it fun like writing on a small whiteboard and you leave a letter out and see if he can write it in. Put magnetic letters on the fridge and see if he can rearrange them into the target word.

Thanks - we do read easier books, but chapter books are what he reads and rereads when given a choice and I don't want to curb that. He will come home and just flop down on the couch and read, which I am thrilled about.

I know he CAN read the words he is missing. I'm making this example up:
If there's a sentence like " 'That is not appropriate behavior!,' Rose yelled loudly, startling the boys."

He would read "That is not appropriate behavior," said Rose, the boys were startled... I mean, startling the boys."

So he will read more difficult words like "appropriate," but mix words around or just sort of translate the meaning into different words rather than reading word for word. Does that make sense? If I go back and ask him to read it, he can. Is he just rushing through? Is it dyslexia? I'm not sure how to help him fix it, or if this will just come with time.

What is your schools reading curriculum? If it’s f&p, or writers workshop you need to remediate with phonics and start doing weekly spelling tests. Ckla online is free.

Teacher here. You need to move down to easier books. He needs to practice reading out loud with easier books to develop fluency, which is what you are describing here. Repeated reading of familiar text builds automatic decoding and fluency.

You can ask to meet with your school reading specialist for tips and information on how he’s doing compared to his peers. That will also put him on your school’s radar.

For spelling, as the reading teacher what approach they are using. He should be able to spell cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words by now. Then short vowel words with initial blends like TR or BL. Frequently used words like THE, WAS, HOUSE, PEOPLE need to be practiced. Make it fun like writing on a small whiteboard and you leave a letter out and see if he can write it in. Put magnetic letters on the fridge and see if he can rearrange them into the target word.

What does the teacher say? Did the report card say above, average or below reading level?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did the beginning-of-year reading tests show? Is he at grade level on those? How are his phonological skills? If those are low average or low, consider tutoring specifically for phonological skills and any phonics patterns he should have learned in school but doesn't know yet.

Not OP, but is this standard? I'm not aware of my school giving out these tests.

My public elementary does them but doesn’t share the results with parents.

The idea that reading to your child will make your child a better reader is a myth. The only thing that will make your child a better reader is reading (and writing!)

It does not sound as though your child is reading books that are decodable. Did you start with decodable books? Decodable books are based in phonics and if you skip over the phonics, it will be much harder for your child to read fluently in the long term. You can memorize CAT but when you start to read words like Orinthologist, you need to have a good basis in phonics to sound it out.