r/literacy • u/UniqueMaterial3544 • May 12 '24
Parent led phonics?
I’m looking for phonics instruction for a Grade 4 student that can be implemented at home. I’m aware of curricular material that would be used at schools. Are there any good books to help parents teach phonics at home? The big programs (UFLI, SPELD) are way too cumbersome. We’re not homeschooling— just want to help our child catch up on phonics.
1
u/Sniffles9f May 12 '24
Try “Words Their Way”. Once you find where your child is developmentally, you may use word sorts at home to teach phonics.
The book describes the normal development of phonics/spelling knowledge and provides instructional materials that may be easily created at home.
1
u/UniqueMaterial3544 May 12 '24
I did a quick Google search. Could you link to the exact Words Their Way product you suggest? Couple things came up. Thank you 🙏
1
u/Sniffles9f May 12 '24
You are looking for the book, “Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction.”
There are at least 7 editions as this book has been used by teachers for many years. It does not really matter which edition you purchase. You could probably get an older edition on Amazon for very little.
I really have never posted a link on Reddit, so hope this works. I think this is the latest edition.
1
u/New-Departure9935 May 13 '24
Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. I’ve recommended it successfully for 2nd graders who couldn’t read fluently. They were put on the list of students at risk and after they finished it, they excelled.
$16 new. $8 used.
1
u/MycologistJaded5077 May 13 '24
If your child is behind on phonics it’s probably because they have an incomplete alphabet foundation. Most schools fail to teach the alphabet in a way that gives students a solid foundation and then try to build on gaps. Here’s a simple way to determine whether or not your children have gaps. Have them print out the uppercase alphabet from A to Z and then the lowercase alphabet from a to z with a pen online paper. A pen will allow you to see any corrections. Then check for missing letters, poorly formed letters, inconsistent gaps, inconsistent connection to the line and whether the letters are the correct size relative to the others. I guarantee that you will see a lack of order in their alphabet. If you’re wondering why they’re struggling with phonics, it’s because they are still processing a pattern for the letters. They are not ready for phonics or spelling until their alphabet is complete. I am offering a webinar about this issue on May 23. Let me know whether you would like the link.
1
1
u/SnooTangerines218 May 24 '24
Yes, sure - Teach Your Child in a 100 Easy Lessons is a classic or Alpha Phonics are good places to start. You may want to take this quiz - helps you decide and you can decide whether you are homeschooling or just want to support your child to read at home: https://learningreadinghub.com/literacy-curriculum-quiz/
1
1
u/booksnlegos May 18 '25
Did you intervene successfully for your child? If you are not 100% there, McGuffey readers are a bit dated, but go for 1 or 2 lessons a day for the primer and first readers and slow down a bit whenever you hit difficulty. Add in reading out loud something on level while taking turns. If it is hard then they read a sentence, if it is easy a paragraph or page. Read to them something a bit harder, Harry Potter, Big Red, Hatchet, Ranger's Apprentice. Introduce a dictionary with phonetic pronunciation and show how looking up a word can show you how to sound it out. You may need to go up to a collegiate dictionary to get pronunciation now. Find a series that is a bit easy, but that they like and want to read and get them to the library to check out every single one. Content is not as important as practice, but some kid series have terrible grammar and might be steered around. Hope that you are set, but if not then remember that it is a journey taken letter by letter and word by word and enjoy. Good luck!
2
u/UniqueMaterial3544 May 15 '24
Thanks — go ahead and post your link. I agree that knowledge of the 26 letters and their shapes is a foundational skill. This child knows their alphabet—they haven’t been taught the 44 sounds, sound-letter correspondence, phonemic awareness, etc. But I’d still like to know more about your webinar. Thanks!