Teaching El to read. Maybe.
Who: My son, Elliott (“El”)
Background:
I have been putting this off for a year or so. I should have begun last summer break. I did not. My kid, “El,” is pretty bright, incredibly stubborn, sometimes very sweet, sometimes very aggressive. The gamut of human emotions, really. But ALWAYS at 101% of that emotion.
He has been in daycare and/ or prekindergarten since he was 2 (with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic), and he has certainly picked up some reading skills from his teachers and caregivers. We also make a point to read to him (pretty much) anytime he asks and at least once a day (pretty much).
He has started writing his name as early as 3 years old, and more recently has started copying what we write for birthday cards (and the like).
The Plan:
When: Approximately one hour per day, 5-6 days per week (usually while the younger child is napping).
What: My plan is to teach my son the fundamentals of reading three letter consonant-vowel-consonant words. This is a foundational skill that has to be approached with careful understanding of the nuance associated with various vowel consonant combinations (for example, R-controlled vowels sound slightly different than a vowel not in front of an “r”).
How: To start, I will evaluate his understanding of each letter sound based on his own explanation. He will tell me the sound(s) that each letter makes when I show him a book that associates words with their beginning letter and has pictures of those words. Though this may seem like “cheating,” this is also a foundational reading skill for blooming readers (using the whole text to make sense of a word).
Next we will practice sounding out words based on his understanding of each letter. I will take notes on any confusion, misunderstanding, successes, and opportunities for improvement. I will continually collect data and evaluate his understanding based on his mistakes and growth over the course of 2 weeks.
As his familiarity with letter sounds grows, I will incorporate digital flash cards and games to help him practice his reading and bring “fun” into the mix. I will also provide physical and digital texts that incorporate the words and sounds he is working on.
Why: Aside from every kid needing to learn to read, El is approaching kindergarten, and I would like him to enter school with some general understanding of letters, sounds, blending, and general reading skills. I do not anticipate nor expect him to be a fluent reader going into kindergarten, but I do not want him going into school with no idea either. I am approaching this instruction in a way like small reading groups. I do not particularly enjoy teaching reading, but I love to read and want to encourage that love in all kids. Providing an individualized, and sometimes “fun” approach to reading is a great way to encourage that enjoyment. Technology also provides the opportunity for games, nuanced approaches to standard reading, and visual cues that may be unobvious to a student reading on paper. Tools such as ABC Mouse, Okapi digital literacy, and various digital texts will help guide Elliott through reading fundamentals with support from a teacher (me). Aside about reinforcement: I will be utilizing a physical chart so Elliott can earn screen time, treats, and a choice of activities (here goes $75 to the trampoline park) as rewards for mastering a list of approximately 120 words that will help solidify his CVC word recognition. I will be using “nonsense” words and actual words to test his skills using various vowels to confirm his understanding of each vowel and consonant sound combination as appropriate for a kindergartener.
The start: El demonstrated significant understanding of the consonant sounds. The only sounds he struggled to recognize were vowels. He referred to almost every vowel sound as “uh.” He did correctly tell me that “a” makes the “aaah” (short a) sound. He also said the letter “o” makes the “oh” (long o) sound. Other strengths I noticed were his recall was almost completely in order. For example, when he sounded out “cat” he said, “k…aah…ttt. Caaatuh. Cat.” There were some instances where a previous word’s final sound would be the first sound of the next word (erroneously). One similar instance he sounded out “lat,” and on the next word (gas) he said “gat.” He also made the (very common) mistake of mixing up the “b” and “d” sounds when sounding out some words. I used that as an opportunity to introduce the “bed” trick where you use your left and right thumbs to represent the letters at the beginning and end of the word. We practiced a few more words before he became restless.
Ongoing: Every (week-) day Elliott and I sit and practice sounding out words for a few minutes between jumping on the trampoline or playing with toys. It has become a chore to him, but he is also recognizing some words and sounds in the books that we read together at night. He’s even demonstrated an interest in sounding out some words that seem “approachable” to him. He gets a little bummed out when he is wrong, but I try to explain that it’s okay to make mistakes and that he’ll learn from them and do a little better next time. We have focused on one letter sound at a time. The first few days we spent with the short “a” sounds. After day one, when we returned to the practice on day two, he had a few slip-ups, but it seemed to be sticking. He would get excited to add stars to his chart and most days he spent his stars on a treat (usually something unhealthy like ice cream, but the occasional activity arose). After a few days with the “a’s” we moved onto the short “e” sounds and repeated the process for a couple of days. I made sure to bring back some short “a” words so he did not lose that practice. With the start of the e sounds, I also introduced some assigned activities on ABC Mouse. ABC Mouse is an educational game that Elliott has used periodically for a couple of years. I usually let him do whatever activities he chose, but in this case I introduced some reading activities. There is one game that is a set of word families. I had Elliott use the short “a” families for no more than 15 minutes a day. For the remaining 15 minutes he was to listen to a book being read to him using the “read to me” feature in the library. Though he was given the option to split up his time, he always chose to use the tablet for 30 minutes straight and never opted to “do it later.”
We spent a few days on the o sounds. For whatever reason El struggled to show as much confidence and mastery as he had with “a” and “e.” Perhaps he was just getting burnt out. Regardless, he pulled through and showed some confidence with “o’s.” Elliott continued to practice all sounds we had already covered on ABC Mouse and we focused on the short o almost exclusively in our one on one work. He also decided to start saving his points because (I think) he figured out that he could probably get ice cream some days anyway.
As of two weeks in, we are currently moving into the short I sounds. He’s showing progress. Hopefully this helps him have a foot forward when he enters kindergarten in a few weeks.
