Elementary school teachers- I need your help

[Kimmie1913]

Sorors and friends,

I am in the process of trying to help a first grader learn to read. This is a challenging and sometimes frustrating task for both him and me. He gets easily frustrated when he does not recognize a word. I find that he is good a picking out the words in context or by referring to the picture and figuring out what it is rather than reading it. What suggestions do any of you have for things I could do or resources I could try? Does anyone recommend hooked on phonics as a way of strengthening his ability to sound out words effectively? And input you can gie me would be greatly appreciated.

[CrimsonTide4]

Soror Kimmie,

I am working on my project for grad class and happened to come across this website that might offer assistance for helping you teach your friend how to read.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/rparent.html

I am coming across a variety of sites to make a resource pamphlet for parents and teachers. If I find more sites, I will pass them along.

Hope this helps.

[Lizanabavi]

Hello Kimmie1913,

I hope all is well, I have read through your post and here are some suggestions that I have concerning teaching a child to read; these are all things that I have done with my students.

The first thing you need to do is find out where your student's reading ability is. This can be achieved by looking through their Pre-K and Kindergarten assessments as well as their work. School districts have certain guidelines concerning confidentiality that you must follow in order to ensure the child's privacy. Ex: If the child has a learning disability such as Dyslexia, then it would be documented in those files. This information is mostly maintained by the Guidance Counselors and/or Resource Teachers and you may need special permission.

Hooked on Phonics is good to use with reading, also an activity called "Blending" is useful and effective. An example of this would be:

Long E spelled ee- The students would make words such as
W ee k, Str ee t, F ee t, and so on.
The child would spell the word and sound it out, this is best done with a partner.

You can get workbooks from any Teacher supply store on that subject, where the students can take their work home and get continual practice.

As you get to know your student(s) you will be able to determine if they can go on to more advanced words and word building, such as Compound Words. Lastly... it is imperative to have positive reinforcement such as "Good Job"!, "I'm proud of you"! "You're on the Ball"! And... having some candy at hand
(within reason) never hurts. I hope this helps.

Take Care,
Lizanabavi