Friday, July 27, 2012

help struggling reader


1. Put into the search box of this blog: sight words. Your child must get instant with as many sight words as possible. Do not panic. Pick three sight words a week to practice: ask your child to point to the sight word in stories & print the sight word three times every day.

2. If your child is confusing b / d and p / q / g when reading,  start with b. Ask your child to underline letter b in whatever printed material you have around - newspapers, junk mail, stories, books your child can use a pencil in; 

and, when you are cooking or washing dishes, ask your child to print the letters of words you are going to dictate. Only do 4 a night; short sweet lessons are best. Pick words that have a b at the start or b within the word, like busy, bank, about, rabbit, stub

(You are only look for the b - correct spelling is not your goal.)   After your child gets consistent with b, move on to d. Being unsure of these look alike letters is the problem that will hold your child back. Once this problem is in the brain of the child - adults need to work really hard to fix it! Write me, if you want.

Tip: No more stopping to sound out when your child is reading. Tell your child to read the words he knows and keep going. You tell him the unknown words. In several months this method will produce good results. (Many words cannot be sounded out but your child can gather the meaning of the story and keep going. Look canoe means boat; boulder means rock. There are many odd words like these two examples.)

One of my 8th grade tutor boys had not been reading books at school. He was assigned books on tape. After learning my special comprehension method, he made the Honor Roll at his private school. Struggling readers are very smart children, but they cannot help themselves because the lessons crippling their progress are invisible.

I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All are brand new and come with my contact info; email or call for help. If your child seems to be getting a slow start please get my book. Or, a book, to give you support and structure. If you do not have time or you and your child do not work well together - a common problem - hire a personal tutor to teach my book. My lessons are specific; you will not find them elsewhere. 

Feel welcome to ask a question or leave a comment below. Have a great day, Mary Maisner






Monday, July 16, 2012

Avoid summer reading loss: easy tricks



You can be riding in a car or doing jobs around the house, such as fixing a meal, while helping your child sharpen his reading skills.

Allow your child to give you an oral answer, or use pencil and paper.

1) Your child will need a pencil and paper for this one. Good for any age, goal: competency with reversible letters.

Ask your child to "do his best to spell each word," then dictate words your child does not already know how to spell. You are only looking for the correct direction of letters b, d, g, p, and q.

Possible words: marble, saber, about, nibble, libel, double, dribble, abdomen, bubble, stubble, obstruct, object, tremble, abscond, squabble, quibble, scribble  / muppet, prattle, opal, grapple, pirate, wiggle, wrangle, sparkle, quill, equip. Expect your child to write k for qu.

2) With or without pencil and paper, goal: recognize short vowel versus long vowel.
Good for any age because older kids must know short vowel / long vowel when adding endings, like: ed, ing, er, or s, ly, etc.

Ask your child to name the vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y.  Teach y is a vowel. 
Remind your child that long vowels say their names. Do you hear o when you say rope, poke, note? Yes. Do you hear a when you say say pain, name? Yes.  A vowel is called long when it says its name.

Now, you write or say: hop. Ask if o is long or short? Letter o is called short. A vowel is called short when it does not say its name.

You write or say: stop. Ask if o long or short?   (Short) 
You write or say: top.  Ask if o long or short?   (Short)  

Write or say these short vowel words: clip, dip, drip, flip, grip, hip, jip, lip, nip, pip, equip, rip, sip, slip, skip, tip, trip, yip  //  nap, lap, trap, snap, slap, map, slam, cram, ham, jam // cup, rub, stub, scrub, bud, thud, mud, cut, shut, put  // bet, met, set, let, pet, get, net, shed, fed, sled

Now, you write or say long vowel words: blame, flame, game, lame, maim, name, same, tame, nail, mail, bail //  treat, beat, cheat, creep, sweep, delete, clean, screen, beam, speed // pipe, ripe, strike, slide, ride, shine, line, side, write  // boat, float, gloat, choke, note, slope, hope, mope, store, soar, close, rose // glue, argue, continue

Being sure of short  vowel / long vowel will matter later when your child is adding ed, ing, er, s, ly, ful, etc. 
I have created a few books that can make a huge and rapid difference for your child. I use eBay. Please search Instant Reading Help. All my books will pop up for you. All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help.  All my books teach a special comprehension method plus tricky sight words, and tricky phonics.  Be ready for the challenge of the upper grades.

Write with questions. Thank you, Mary Maisner