Teaching Reading with Bob Books

Set 4, Book 7

2012-05-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new sight word: yellow

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 7 ("Jumper and the Clown") pp. 1-3

I actually wrote "yellow" with blue ink, and then colored over it in a sort of rectangle shape with a yellow pencil. I don't usually use visual cues, but so many of our color words do not follow the more common rules, so I tried it. Because I don't use a lot of gimmicks, she thought it was fun.

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want, yellow

Introduce new sight words: orange, purple, blue, green, borwn, black, red, hair

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 7 ("Jumper and the Clown") pp. 4-9

Obviously, red is not a sight word, but I put it on the list anyhow. I wrote each color using a colored pencil (purple was written in the color purple, is what I mean). Daughter A. not only caught on quickly this way, but it's been a few months now, and she still recognizes the words when she sees them, even though we don't use this crutch any longer.

That is the think with crutches: you gotta get rid of them eventually. No one wants to walk funny forever, even if it helps when you're injured.

Lesson Three

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, borwn, black, red, hair

Introduce new digraph: ay

Introduce new sight words: their, old, another

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 7 ("Jumper and the Clown") pp. 10-ff

Click here for tips on teaching the ay digraph.

Lesson Four

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, borwn, black, red, hair, their, old, another

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Introduce new sight word: almost

Read: Set 4, Book 7 ("Jumper and the Clown") pp. all

Digraph #7: ay

2012-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's sound is ay. "A Y says aaaaayyyyy," I say.

And here is the card for your binders:

ay

_______

day

way

say

play

This is a digraph that you can have some fun with, playing rhyming games and such. Don't be afraid to enjoy new words with your students.

First Grade Set, Book 6

2012-05-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set FG, Book 6 ("Come In") pp. all

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set FG, Book 6 ("Come In") pp. all

On Sight Word Review

2012-05-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

If you recall, when I first began this blog I wasn't using the same binder system that I am using now. What you see reflected in the current lessons is only slightly different, but it is designed for the new, improved binder system, which has been working really well for us for about a year-and-a-half now.

I'm never going back!

What I have struggled with over the past year is what to do with the sight words. Obviously, the way the lessons are written up, it looks like I have a separate sight words section in the binders. Which I did, with Daughter A. at least.

With Daughter Q., I decided to experiment once I set up her "real" binder system (which I don't do right at the beginning when they are only learning basic sounds) and began writing the sight words on cards, just like I did with the various sound combinations. Depending on how big I wrote, I'd usually end up with eight to twelve sight words per card. I began rotating those small lists through the binder system, just like I do the phonics sounds, and I'm really happy with the way it is working. Every once in a while, when we learn a sound rule that matches a sight word, we hunt down the card and cross it off, which has been a nice little ritual for us.

Anyhow, I'm not going to go back and rewrite all of the lessons, but I wanted you all to know what I'm actually doing. Daughter A. is still working off of the lists because I am too lazy to go through and redo her binder. Daughter Q. is using sight words written on cards. Both work fine, but I really like using the cards better.

What have you all been doing for your sight words?

First Grade Set, Book 5

2012-05-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set FG, Book 5 ("What is That?") pp. all

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set FG, Book 5 ("What is That?") pp. all

If you are following the same order I've been using, chances are your student will find a number of the First Grade books to be a breeze. However, a lot of students find the Set 4 books to be difficult to get through. I find that alternating them--one harder, Set 4 book, one easier, First Grade book (or even two First Grade books)--is the most encouraging order for the student.

You might, too.

Set 2, Book 11

2012-04-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh, put, go, then

Introduce new sight word: no

Read: Set 2, Book 11 ("The Sad Cat") pp. all

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh, put, go, then, no

Read: Set 2, Book 11 ("The Sad Cat") pp. all

Set 2, Book 10

2012-04-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh, put, go

Introduce new sight word: then

Read: Set 2, Book 10 ("The Red Hen") pp. all

Even though I do not introduce the th sound rule at this point, I underline it. I find that this pattern of underlining most (I am human and I miss some when I'm teaching off the cuff like this) of the rules as we go prepares them for learning the rule in the future.

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh, put, go, then

Read: Set 2, Book 10 ("The Red Hen") pp. all

Set 2, Book 9

2012-04-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh, put

Introduce new sight word: go

Read: Set 2, Book 9 ("Go, Bus") 1-7

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh, put, go

Introduce new sight word: bye

Read: Set 2, Book 9 ("Go, Bus") pp. 8-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh, put, go, bye

Read: Set 2, Book 9 ("Go, Bus") pp. all

Set 2, Book 8

2012-04-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh

Introduce new sight word: put

Read: Set 2, Book 8 ("Rub-A-Dub") all

Here's a tip on introducing the sight word put.

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh, put

Read: Set 2, Book 8 ("Rub-A-Dub") pp. all

Remember that is reading the entire book in one sitting is too much for your student, you should break it up into two shorter readings each time, for a total for four lessons covering the book.

Or even more if that is what your student needs. Each student is different, and the goal is to keep them challenged without overwhelming them.

Set 2, Book 7

2012-04-24T12:27:00.001-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 7 ("OK, Kids") all

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 7 ("OK, Kids") pp. all

Daughter Q. had an easy time with Book 7, which is another book which practices known rules and concepts, rather than introducing anything new. She stumbled enough in sounding out new-to-her words, though, that I went ahead and had her read it two times. The second time was very fluid, and I'm so glad I had her repeat it. Really, the only time I don't have a student read a book twice is when the first reading is near-perfect and very fluid, with good cadence.

Set 4, Book 6

2012-04-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new digraph: soft-th

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 1-3

Click here for tips on teaching the soft-th digraph.

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 4-7

Lesson Three

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want

Introduce new digraph: ch

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 8-9

Click here for tips on teaching the ch digraph.

Lesson Four

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Introduce new sight word: almost

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 10-ff

Lesson Five

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, eyes, want, almost

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 1-7

Lesson Six

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want, almost

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Introduce new sight word: almost

Read: Set 4, Book 6 ("Willy's Wish") 8-ff

Digraph #6: ch

2012-04-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

I do not teach all of the ch digraphs at one time. There are three, you know:

...ch as in chew...

...ch as in Charlotte...

...and ch as in Christ...

I do, however, make sure that my students know that there ch makes more than one sound.

Today's sound is ch as in chew.

And here is the card for your binders:

ch

_______

chew

finch

beach

chip

As much as possible, try to choose words that your student will connect with. We have a finches all over our property, so that was a perfect word for my daughter. But if you live in a locale where finches are few and far between, by all means choose a different word! These are ideas, not hard and fast rules.

Digraph #5: th

2012-04-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's new digraph is the soft-th sound. If you recall, our very first digraph was the hard-th sound. For the most part, the major difference between soft and hard sounds is that hard sounds are voiced while soft sounds are not. With th sounds, there tends to be a very slight difference in the placment of the tonge. With the soft-th, your tongue tends to be out and in between your top and bottom front teeth. With the hard-th sound, it tends to be just behind your top front teeth. But most important is the with the hard-th, you make a sound, while with the soft-th you simply blow air.

Does this make sense to you? Try it. Put your hand on your voicebox and feel the difference between hard-th words like the or then and soft-th sounds like with or three.

Flip to the digraphs tab in your binder, and we'll make another little chart:

th

________

with

three

threw

think

First Grade Set, Book 4

2012-04-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new sight word: you

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: First Grade Set, Book 4 ("The Sled") all

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: First Grade Set, Book 4 ("The Sled") all

First Grade Set, Book 3

2012-04-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: First Grade Set, Book 3 ("Pretty") pp. 3-8

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: First Grade Set, Book 3 ("Pretty") pp. 9-ff

Lesson Three

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: First Grade Set, Book 3 ("Pretty") pp. all

At this point, I started alternating Set 4 books with First Grade Sight Words books because the Set 4 books took so long to get through that my daughter found them a bit discouraging. Most of the sight words books do not contain new material by the time I get around to them, so they are simple books for review, practicing known concepts, building confidence, and getting that feeling of triumph that comes from finishing a book.

Set 2, Book 6

2012-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 6 ("Sox the Fox") pp. 1-7

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 6 ("Sox the Fox") pp. 8-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 6 ("Sox the Fox") pp. all

This is another great book for practice. Some children will find it so easy that they do not need to read it twice. Even though it doesn't seem like they are learning anything "new" we need to remember that each word they have never read before is new to them even if it is applying old rules and concepts. They are really learning, at this point, about how versatile their knowledge has become.

Must-Read Book: Uncovering the Logic of Englishby Denise Eide

2012-03-23T16:01:00.001-07:00

One of the things I try to say around here is that you really can teach. You don't need me, not once you understand how teaching reading can work, how it is simply a combination of teaching sounds and patterns (you know: blends, digraphs, diphthongs, etc.), and then methodically reviewing them. I've also shown you how sight words usually are not.

What I mean is, there are very few words which do not follow some rule somewhere in our language. This is why we might teach a few words as sight words, but later take them off of our sight words list and place them on a rule card where they belong.

The reason I love to teach reading is that English makes perfect sense.

I don't remember being taught phonics as I began reading at a very young age. Perhaps I was, perhaps I wasn't. But I have always thought in patterns. This is how my mind works, by noticing patterns and then noticing things that don't conform to the pattern. In English, though, it is not that a word does not conform, but that it fits in a different pattern. Some people call them word families.

I love teaching reading because I love showing children who do not naturally see patterns that all of this seeming chaos actually makes sense.

I just finished listening to two fabulous, wonderful, amazing talks from Denise Eide on the logic of the English language, which are available for download free online. Since you all teach reading, you ought to carve out time to listen to these talks.

According to Eide, somewhere between 95% and 98% of English words fit a pattern.

They have a rule.

I felt like Eide was a kindred spirit. She is my new best friend; I just haven't told her yet.

The difference between myself and Eide, however, is that she is way more informed than I am (or would ever care to be), plus she explains it all much better than I ever could.

Jesus said this:

A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

In her talk, Eide gave some frightening statistics on adult literacy in this country. How can we pass on a gift we have not received?

After listening to Eide speak, I can tell you that she gets it. She sees the patterns, and she knows how to teach them. But a pupil will be like his teacher, which means that first we who teach must know and understand these patterns. We must know that English makes sense, that it is not a crazy language full of exceptions.

Probably the most fascinating thing I heard Eide say was to explain functional MRIs that have been performed on children while they are reading. Good readers use different parts of the brain than struggling readers and non-readers. But here is the cool thing: after only 80 hours of teaching a la Eide, the struggling readers' brains looked like the brains of good readers! In fact, they were no long struggling readers. Some, she says, are now defining dyslexia as a student whose brain activity does not improve after the 80 hours of instruction.

So I am highly, highly recommending her book, even though I haven't yet read it (I want a copy so badly!) because I am convinced, after hearing her speak, that she is helping to bring literacy back to our country. So go. Listen to her talks. And buy her book. Become the teacher your students need you to be.

Set 2, Book 5

2012-03-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 5 ("The Big Hat") pp. 1-7

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 5 ("The Big Hat") pp. 8-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 5 ("The Big Hat") pp. all

This book is great for practice and doesn't really introduce anything new, though it is full of new applications of old concepts and rules already learned. It's nice to have some books that feel "easy" to the student; I find this builds confidence.

Set 2, Book 4

2012-03-22T13:46:00.002-07:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, fly, has

Introduce new sight words: shhh

Introduce new diphthong: ow

Read: Set 2, Book 4 ("Bow-Wow") pp. 1-6

Click here for a tip on introducing the diphthong ow. The book is set up in such a way that the ow words in it can be introduced as sight words, but I just skip straight to the rule and teach it from the beginning.

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 4 ("Bow-Wow") pp. 7-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has, shhh

Read: Set 2, Book 4 ("Bow-Wow") pp. all

Note that I took the word "now" off of the sight words list because it fits the new rule.

Set 4, Book 5

2012-03-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new blend: ight

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 5 ("Samantha") pp. 1-5

Click here for a tip on introducing the blend ight.

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, rain, me, he, by be, too, little, want

Introduce new blend: oof

Introduce new sight word: want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 5 ("Samantha") pp. 6-9

Click here for a tip on introducing the blend oof.

Lesson Three

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new digraphs: ee and oa

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 5 ("Samantha") pp. 10-13

Click here for tips on introducing the vowel digraphs ee and oa.

Lesson Four

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Introduce new digraph: wh

Introduce new sight word: eyes

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 5 ("Samantha") pp. 14-ff

Click here for a tip on introducing the consonant digraph wh.

Lesson Five

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want, eyes

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 5 ("Samantha") pp. all

Something interesting began happening with Daughter A. at this point. I see this with students on occasion, so I thought I'd mention it. If you notice, it took four full lessons to get through the book a single time. Daughter A. cannot take in more than one or two new sounds at a time, and this particular book was full of new things. But once we were through the book the first time, she was able to read it all in a single sitting. This shows us that sometimes we might begin to think it is going to take ten or twelve lessons to get through a book...and we might be totally and completely mistaken!

I emphasize trying to keep everything at the student's personal pace. They will go slooooow, and then they will go fast, and it is our job to gauge what they are and are not capable of.

Three New Digraphs

2012-03-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are new around here, or who have forgotten, a digraph is defined as two letters that make a single sound. Today I'll present cards for two vowel digraphs and one consonant digraph.

As a reminder, we need to tell the students that these letter combinations make their own sound. When we see words containing these combinations, we sound them out as if these two letters were only one letter--because, I repeat, they always and consistently make one single sound.

Ahem.

Here are the cards:

ee

________

tweet

sweet

feet

peek

oa

________

boat

toast

roast

soak

wh

________

whiff

when

what

I just hate that the word who is an exception to that last one. It positively made my head spin as a child. The word where is more difficult to sound out because it is nonconforming, also, but it can be added to the chart later when it is introduced as a sight word. It is nice to explain that some sight words do follow at least some of the rules.

Two New Blends: ight and oof

2012-03-13T14:23:00.001-07:00

I usually introduce each blend separately, but as I have a fair amount of new information to present, I decided to be efficient about it and combine two in one post.

Our approach is always about the same. We make up a card that contains the blend and sample words which use said blend. We tell the child the sound the blend makes. The child then practices sounding out the sample words.

The first blend, ight, can be tough for some students. Don't be afraid to "help" a little with the sounding out in the beginning. One thing we don't want them doing is practicing it wrong, so a little assistance, keeping them from trying to make a hard-g sound, will go a long way.

ight
____________
night
tight
sight
light

Some folks will introduce the oof blend as the oo sound. I don't, and I know that this is unconventional. I teach oof as in roof as well as ook as in book as if they were blends. I find this helps my students in the long run. In my geographic location, the blend oof makes a shorter sound (similar to in the word book), except for when it doesn't. (Yes it is really that arbitrary.) Some of you live in places where this combination consistently says oo as in zoo (and if that is the case, you don't need to introduce this blend at all). Teach this sound according to what is appropriate for your area.

I know that I have written before about using phonics to correct mispronunciations. This is good practice, but some "mispronunciations" are actually differences in local dialect, so as teachers, we need to make sure we know the difference.

The second blend, obviously, is oof.

oof
________
woof
Roofus
roof

Set K, Book 3

2012-03-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Build words: tat, mat, sat, hat

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out

Introduce new sight words: fly, has

Read: Set K, Book 3 ("The Jet") pp. 3-7

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, fly, has

Introduce new sight word: now

Read: Set K, Book 3 (" The Jet ") pp. 8-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, now, fly, has

Read: Set K, Book 3 (" The Jet ") pp. all

NEW LESSON Set 2, Book 3

2012-03-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

You read that right: this is a new, never-before-published lesson! I would like to thank all of you for your patience during this time when I've been reorganizing and reposting old information using the new and improved organizational labels. I have finally completed that process, and from now on all of the lessons will be new ones (unless I find that I missed something).

Lesson One

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y

Build words: tat, mat, sat, hat

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out

Introduce new sight words: car

Read: Set 2, Book 3 ("Pip and Pog") pp. 1-6

Lesson Two

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car

Introduce new sight word: now

Read: Set 2, Book 3 ("Pip and Pog") pp. 7-ff

Lesson Three

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, now

Read: Set 2, Book 3 ("Pip and Pog") pp. 1-6

Lesson Four

Sounds to review: short-a, b, c, d, short-e, f, hard-g, short-i, j, k, l, m, n, short-o, p, r, soft-s, hard-s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Review sight words: O.K., the, The, a, A, to, for, pink, zoo, into, saw, was, uh-oh, of, Do, do, out, car, now

Read: Set 2, Book 3 ("Pip and Pog") pp. 7-ff

Set 4, Book 4

2012-03-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Lesson One

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book4 ("The Swimmers") pp. 1-6

Some children might need to be reminded of the word her if you haven't been doing all of your regular review.

Lesson Two

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, rain, me, he, by be, too, little, want

Introduce new blend: ee

Introduce new sight word: want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 4 ("The Swimmers") pp. 7-ff

Click here for a tip on introducing the blend ee.

Lesson Three

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, tree, rain, me, he, by, be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book4 ("The Swimmers") pp. 1-6

Lesson Four

Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., into, was, do, saw, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some, hello, awk, goes, we, push, toes, Ahh, Ohh, my, are, what, want, have, were, don't, head, your, good, night, rain, me, he, by be, too, little, want

Review appropriate sections in the binder.

Read: Set 4, Book 4 ("The Swimmers") pp. 7-ff

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Read More:
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-Mortimer Adler on Reading Readiness