Hello again
Johanna Hazelton
back and glad to see some familiar names out there. If you've forgotten or
are new, I'm Joey, soon to be step mother of two boys 4 and 5.
I need some assistance from parents out there. Our oldest is in
kindergarten and is learning to read. He knows his letters and can sound
them out but is becoming frustrated because he cant read. I'm a teacher but
I teach high school and I'm getting frustrated trying to help him. Any
suggestions would be highly appreciative. Thanks and It's great to be back
among friends!!!
merrie
listening or doing? Which types of things does he pick up on quickly?
Songs? Names? Which things take more time? Sequences? What does he enjoy
doing? Does he like playing outside, at the computer, with others, by
himself?
Merrie
Johanna Hazelton wrote in message <83k34e$6mi$1...@nntp2.atl.mindspring.net>...
Kevin
possible I would just tell him to not worry, as all that he knows already
will start to move him along at his own pace.
I know a couple of kids who were not pushed to read at all. The girl was
interested to learn at around five or so, and could read quite well quite
soon. The boy showed no interest - As they were doing a home-schooling
thing, it wasn't pushed. Time went on and at the age of ten he suddenly
wanted to know how to read. As his own interest was sparked from within
himself (he was also wanting to read things that *he* wanted to know
about) there was no strain involved in the process and within six weeks
he was reading at a level about two years above his age. This is
apparently quite common in kids who have been left but supported when
they were ready to take it on. The trouble is that in this society it
requires a lot of suspension of disbelief for it to work. If the kid
picks up any anxiety from the parent ("he's not reading well" etc.) it
creates a push that gets in the way from spontaneous learning.
As your boy is showing interest, I would just reassure him again and
again that it will come. There's no need to rush. Help him to stop
straining whenever he works on his reading - otherwise he will learn that
whenever he reads he must strain. Enjoy where he is right now.
Kevin
In article <83k34e$6mi$1...@nntp2.atl.mindspring.net>, Johanna Hazelton
says...
> Due to technical difficulties I've been gone for awhile but I'm glad to be
> back and glad to see some familiar names out there. If you've forgotten or
> are new, I'm Joey, soon to be step mother of two boys 4 and 5.
>
> I need some assistance from parents out there. Our oldest is in
> kindergarten and is learning to read. He knows his letters and can sound
> them out but is becoming frustrated because he cant read. I'm a teacher but
> I teach high school and I'm getting frustrated trying to help him. Any
> suggestions would be highly appreciative. Thanks and It's great to be back
> among friends!!!
>
>
>
--
"It was so cold that if the thermometer had been an inch longer we would
have frozen to death" - Mark Twain
Tracey
>Thanks and It's great to be back
>among friends!!!
You know, Johanna, I think I'm going to sound like an infomercial
here, but have you thought about/checked out 'Hooked on Phonics'?
Did all of you people who are around my age know that HOP is
actually the SRA reading system with the different colors that you
'work' through? I'm pretty sure that our elementary used SRAs
from kindergarten through the 6th grade. (Although I finished up
the 'gold' series in 3 grade, I think..........)
Now, I didn't have any problems learning to read (was reading
before kindergarten) and our son didn't either (he, also, was reading
before kindergarten). Does he have any special interests that you
can capitalize on? Do you limit his reading material? Our son's
kindergarten teacher was quite confused about him in the begin-
ning. She couldn't understand why he was able to read and write
and spell words like 'dragon' and 'ogre' and 'unicorn' and all sorts
of other 'hard' words, but initially had problems with words like
'boy' and 'hat' and other simple words. It was because he learned
to read from Nintendo games and instruction books. He started
off at three wanting to know what that monster was and I said
'Well, what does it say?' and would point at the word and then
tell him when he didn't know. Pretty quickly, he learned that if
he saw a red dragon's picture then the word 'red' referred to it's
color and the word 'dragon' meant that thing that blew fire, which
everyone *knows* is a dragon.
For our son, his reading material went from video game booklets
to magazines to comic books and then on to 'real' books.
HTH
Tracey
Didi Jakubowski
youngest, and so she is extra frustrated because she knows that her siblings
know how to read. Here the big focus in K is learning the letters and their
sounds but not necessarily to read. They don't push that until 1st grade.
When my daughter tries to read, I just encourage her, let her pick out the
words that she knows, and supportively remind her that she is waaaaay ahead of
where she needs to be right now. That way, she feels accomplished and not
defeated.
Just a suggestion.
Didi
Mother to Caitlin, 10, Patrick, 8, Meagan, 6, and Step-mother to Kayla, 7.
"A dead thing can go with a stream, only a living thing can go against it."
G.K. Chesterton
Someone
elementary and inclusion classrooms. So, I can't help TOO much but...
What exactly is frustrating him? If he knows his letters and can sound out
words, that's an awesome start. I have a list of "sight words" - words
that kids should repeat repeat repeat and basically memorize so that they
just know the word when they see it, instead of having to sound it out each
time.
I can send you the list I have via email if you want, with simple
instructions. Just let me know!
Johanna Hazelton <joha...@ix.netcom.compost> wrote in article
<83k34e$6mi$1...@nntp2.atl.mindspring.net>...
: Due to technical difficulties I've been gone for awhile but I'm glad to
be
: back and glad to see some familiar names out there. If you've forgotten
or
: are new, I'm Joey, soon to be step mother of two boys 4 and 5.
:
: I need some assistance from parents out there. Our oldest is in
: kindergarten and is learning to read. He knows his letters and can sound
: them out but is becoming frustrated because he cant read. I'm a teacher
but
: I teach high school and I'm getting frustrated trying to help him. Any
: suggestions would be highly appreciative. Thanks and It's great to be
back
: among friends!!!
:
:
:
jane lawrence
>
> Due to technical difficulties I've been gone for awhile but I'm glad to be
> back and glad to see some familiar names out there. If you've forgotten or
> are new, I'm Joey, soon to be step mother of two boys 4 and 5.
>
> I need some assistance from parents out there. Our oldest is in
> kindergarten and is learning to read. He knows his letters and can sound
> them out but is becoming frustrated because he cant read. I'm a teacher but
> I teach high school and I'm getting frustrated trying to help him. Any
> suggestions would be highly appreciative. Thanks and It's great to be back
> among friends!!!
I'm probably no help. My daughter couldn't read, then suddenly
she could. I had nothing to do with it.
If he can sound out the letters, he should be able to read the
books that use only phonetically pronounced words. Green eggs
and ham.
What's making this an issue now? I don't think reading is
expected of kindergartners at this point in the year. It
doesn't sound as though your son is behind the level of the
other kids.
jane