It's interesting that literacy is not happening in Sasha in the way I kind of assumed it would. Try as we might, she doesn't seem interested in the concept of letters-make-sounds. She's skipped right over that and straight into spelling.
Example: We're at the airport, and we come upon a door with a big stop sign on it. Sasha looks up at it cheerily: "S-T-O-P means stop!" she says. She also knows that the letters s, h, and a are instrumental in her name, but gets confused about the order and when to stop: sahssahasasa, she types.
She's also learned how to draw a mean S, though mostly other letters escape her. I'm not really sure how to guide her from here into full-fledged reading, that blessed milestone I so look forward to. Any suggestions? Do we need to press the point on the sounding-out bit, or can we just teach her to spell a bunch of things with the idea that she'll probably start to get it on her own?
Posted by andrea at September 6, 2005 10:38 PMYou were reading at 4, and I expect Sasha to be reading early as well. I'd give it 3 more months at most. If she is still developing into a complete sight-reader then-recognizing words but not trying to sound them out- I'd be buying "Hooked on Phonics." Children tend to be very resistant to phonics once they can sight-read. And, of course, phonics is crucial. Jeremy taught you to read, but you already had the phonics basis. Sasha is learning to read, but trying to skip the phonics step. I have heard that "Hooked on Phonics" is actually fun enough that kids enjoy it, but it's only hearsay.
Posted by: rhiamom on September 7, 2005 10:13 AMLearning is best done in the manner and in the time of the learner's choosing so long as correct things are being learned. To force other methods and schedules is to make it work that might end up being resented. Better to support Sasha toward right learning than to direct her with popular methods. Help steer her on her own course, especially while she shows interest and motivation -- this will be the fastest, most fun, and most meaningful to all concerned.
One caveat. People are severely limited by what they have thoroughly mastered. Making getting things consistently perfect fun and rewarding without being stressful will have tremendous impact and in the long run greatly accelerate learning. Complete mastery of something can feel very good.
Posted by: Jim Gramze on September 9, 2005 10:47 AM"Sight Reading vs. Phonics" can be reduced to "Thoery vs Example" in my view. At my university, there was a huge debate among math professors and students which was best: Teach students to derive the formula so they understand how they're solving the problem (Thoery) or just give them the formula and hope they're smart enough to plug the right numbers into the variables (Example).
Some students did well with the first approach, some did better with the second. Not being a good memorizer, I liked being able to derive the formula in case I had forgotten it.
To me, sounding out is the theory approach. Sure, you can teach kids how to sight read words that appear frequently but what happens when they encounter a word they've never seen before? Will they always have a dictionary in hand to tell them what it sounds like?
I've been teaching Chrisanne the sounds that letters make just like I taught her the sounds that the animals and other things make. Hopefully, making it a game will give her that knowledge whether or not it helps her read.
Posted by: ann marie on September 9, 2005 03:22 PM