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There are arguably 6 main components to good reading:
Brena struggles with Fluency. Interestingly enough, she still has a high comprehension level. The fluency problem severely affects her enjoyment of reading. Within that diagnosis she specifically needs help with the speed of her decoding. I also believe that increasing her familiar word vocabulary will help immensely. To that end, I am modifying the approach we use when studying vocabulary (currently using Wordly Wise) and spelling (in the K12 curriculum). She also needs more phonic/phoneme understanding. She doesn't need more phonics, she needs help bridging the knowledge she has of phonics/phonemic awareness with the actual application of it. That is a pretty good definition for decoding. I've noticed that my younger daughter, Hannah (7 yrs., 2nd grade) has none of these fluency issues. She spells like a champ and already has most of her multiplication tables mastered (because she does them with Brena, her 2nd grade curriculum hasn't even introduced the concept of multiplication). Why? I was prompted to ask, what's the difference in the way they process or receive information? I've been able to pinpoint a big difference which opened my understanding.. Hannah sees patterns intuitively. She actually hunts them down. Patterns satisfy her. If she is answering a true/false type assessment - she will look for a pattern in the answers, if she finds one she's oddly enthusiastic about it. Brena doesn't see the patterns. In math work, she knows her "doubles facts and the doubles +/- strategy" but she doesn't reach into a tool chest to pull out that strategy when she runs across a problem to which it would apply. She needs to learn the skill, the strategy AND learn to link the two together! Now, this may seem like a very simple concept and it is, but to see it means that I've been able to get a glimpse inside how Brena's mind works. This isn't how I think or how Hannah thinks (yes, she's like me). But I get it now and I'm totally excited about using this information to use it to target and build skills in areas toward helping Brena reach her potential. So how to use it? What do I do now? Brena and I sat down and set some goals for her. She is 10 and should be in "5th grade". She's doing 3rd grade Language Arts and 4th grade Math. Her goal is to complete all of 4th grade material this year. That's a lot of ground to cover. So how to do it? Well getting her reading on target would go a long way in achieving her goal as the work will get easier the better she reads. My goal of course is to help her reach her potential. As she and I discussed reaching her curriculum goals, she became concerned about the amount of spelling words she'd have to do per week (close to 60). Ummmmm and she has a hard time with memorizing (goes back to the pattern thing). And would memorizing the spelling of 60 words help her increase her fluency? No. And shouldn't everything we spend time doing at this point work toward that end? Yes. Another week goes by and I read 4 dozen more articles about reading instruction. I ran across an article with a video clip about a school which uses the concept of "Word Study". Did you know 90% of the words in the English language follow the rules? Well snap! She doesn't need to memorize a bunch of words..... she needs to be taught the pattern - the rules. Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling instruction combined in a word study. The concept works perfectly for increasing fluency! I don't need to win the lottery, I'm happy implementing this practical way to study words. Understanding that literacy is "like a braid of interwoven threads" I will begin to intensely work with Brena toward increasing her fluency by helping her orthography (spelling) part of her braid, the other areas of literacy: reading, oral language, stories, and writing will all be strengthened. Spelling and Vocabulary words will be given purpose in her instruction beyond mastery of them as a skill. They become part of her learning plan and tools I can use in instruction toward the main objective: increase fluency. No longer taking up valuable time and learning energy without feeling an impact on the objective. I am sooooo excited. We will study letter-sound correspondences, phonics, spelling patterns, high-frequency word recognition, decoding strategies, word use and meanings. Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words in texts, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus attention on meaning. Most phonics, spelling and vocabulary programs are characterized by (1) skill instruction (2) systematic scope and sequence (3) repeated practice. Unfortunately, much of the repeated practice consists of rote drill and students have little opportunity to manipulate word concepts or apply critical thinking skills. Brena needs skill instruction but "teaching is not telling". She needs hands-on opportunities to manipulate word features in a way that will allow her to generalize - beyond the individual examples to entire groups of words. She needs this to see the pattern! So this weekend (11/19/05) I will begin to assess what stage of spelling she is in in order to merge the spelling and vocabulary curriculum we need with word study activities. The three stages are emergent spellers, letter name spellers, and within-word pattern spellers. I believe that Brena will be in a transitional stage between the letter name and within-word stages.The program is developed to be able to use with current curriculum. I anticipate a large amount of preparation time on my part. First to read (and study) the book "Words their way: word study for phonics, vocabulary and spelling instruction" I anticipate about 15 hours. Then I will build a general outline of how to incorporate our current curriculum with word study activities. Specifically I anticipate adding several hours a week (generally on Sunday evenings) to my lesson planning time. It may become easier, but a lot of materials will need to be developed and that will add additional time during the week as I prep (3-5 hours initially). I hope to get several weeks ahead in planning so that I can work on materials preparation as time permits through the week. Brena is an auditory and kinesthetic learner. I am excited about how this change will meet her needs. |
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We had some running around to do this morning and then we went to Friendly's for breakfast. I don't know what it is about eating breakfast out, but we like it. |
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Hannah drew this in about 10 minutes with dry erase markers on our whiteboard. This blew me away. She has some talent that I have to figure out how to supplement. Any ideas? |
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Yesterday both girls were symptomatic with pretty bad colds, yet we had to attend several Title One tutoring sessions for Brena. I'll tell you what - she has an awesome sense of humor! I am so glad to see her fun loving spirit shine through. Title One reading session was in a group of 3 students so it lasted for 1:15. We (Brena and I) partner read a chapter from a "Horrible Harry" book. Brena was using a "tabbing" strategy in which she stops and writes sticky notes about things in order to "engage" with the story. She noted a couple words she didn't understand, but mostly noted what parts of the story were funny. To me, that means the world because she is enjoying the reading..... "yeah that's what I'm talkin about".... We also discussed some strategies with a Math teacher concerning long division. Brena really just needs to know her multiplication facts better so that long division is easier. We'll be working on that significantly during the next two weeks. Her next unit is math is Fractions, there are 5 lessons before we get to having to create LCD's (lowest common denominators). The goal will be to have a much better grasp on our mental multiplication facts by the end of next week.
So today is a regular school day, though I'm a little tired. Last night I stayed up until 2AM. I was running some product covers to make into inventory. I was also working on making a template for the upcoming Unit we will be studying in Science. It is about energy. I am introducing "electronic notebooking". It's a way for the girls to keep a science notebook to record what they learn, enter additional information which they will research and record their experiment data. I bought a little program called "printmaster" for them to do their notebooks in. It is pretty easy to use. At first I will supply an "almost complete" template for them to answer lab questions.... add photos that we will take during different activities and experiments. They will then learn to add those photos and answer the questions in the electronic notebook. They will also learn to scan the diagrams they draw to place them into the notebook too. I will turn a page into a *.jpg later so you can see what I'm talking about.
Anyway this is a new idea that I'm trying to implement with them. It will add some technology learning, some research skills, and some organizational concepts to the work that they do.
I plan to make one for them to complete every history unit too and for whatever novel they are reading (Brena will start novels later this year). Each subject is so different that I will have to modify the templates a lot.... it is taking me a long time to do right now (I worked 3 hours on the science one last night) but once I get to know the program and kinda work out the kinks of how to organize the template for them it will get quicker to do.
I want to begin the Energy unit in Science next Monday so I will have a goal to complete the template and load it onto their computers by Friday of this week.
I am having to readjust our schedule a little this week. We will do the Art Museum with my parents on Friday (assuming it is open) because Wednesday is a field trip with some other homeschool kids to an apple orchard / pumpkin patch.
Both girls have been downstairs already and went back to bed. I will let them sleep until 8:30AM so we can get started by 9:00. I may let them stay in PJ's for the morning lessons. I need to check the weather as they want to take the dogs to the park this afternoon. |
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September 12th
Great Grandma Smith "mimaw", Grandma and Grandpa Elek (gammie and papa) and Grandma Boycik all came to Grandparent's Day. The girls showed the grandparents a typical day at their school. Morning storytime (on tape or CD), math drills, sight words and dictation, and school pledge. They then made a lunch of chicken and strawberry salad with extra bowls of fruit and nuts. After lunch the girls and I did a dramatic reading of an African tale about The Sun. We then all logged on and completed an Art lesson together. We spent about 2 hours together. At the end the girls presented grandparents with a certificate of appreciation. |