Thursday, October 22, 2015

boys have trouble at school


October 22, 2015, a newly published study analyzing why boys do less well in school helps us see that the seeds of distress start growing before kindergarten. 

Exact causes are not clear but it may be the cultural expectation that boys should not cry, should not be seen to be in distress, that boys should be men from early onward produces boys that are much less able to cope than girls.

Boys enter school less able to listen, less able to focus, less able to sit still, less able to control their impulses, less well prepared all-around.
  
Suggested by the researchers: single mothers clearly already have their hands full, but if they can find an extra bit of time to spend with their sons, the rewards will be great.

Time spent talking, drawing, coloring pictures, throwing a ball, walking together, etc. may help young boys feel more connected, less vulnerable, less alone, and in a stronger position to pull together their skills for school.  Helping fathers give this same kind of time to their sons, is also very valuable. 

As a reading teacher, I suggest that looking through pictures of animals online, or in books can build a bridge. Goodwill and thrift stores sell books at great discounts. I have seen many boys from wealthy families struggling and suffering with the same issues. It is never too late to jump in with support and time for your son - he will be stronger for your extra time and visible love, not less of a man.
A reading tip: quit stopping to sound out words, tell your child any unknown word, have your child keep reading. Stopping breaks the short-term memory, thus all comprehension is lost.

Show your child how to keep reading using the words he does know. At the end of the page, you ask questions - what is happening on the page, who did what, etc. Then go back to unknown words and help your child figure them out or tell him the word. In a few weeks, this method will give great results.

Your child will still be missing skills. I now use eBay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you to consider. Thank you, Mary Maisner




Monday, October 19, 2015

Reading trouble


 
Reading trouble makes a child think he is doing a hundred things wrong but only a handful of lessons are causing him problems. 

This is true whether he is in 1st Grade, or 6th Grade, or whatever grade.

His snarls will not improve until someone shows him this handful of tricky lessons. 

Successful reading comes from having a set of sight words plus a set of letters and letter teams committed to memory.

A child's short-term working memory requires almost instant retrieval. Otherwise, the short-term memory cannot work successfully. 

This blog has 160 lessons, and I give you a tip in the next sentence but a system of help is my book at eBay.
Search Instant Reading Help. All my books will pop up.

Reading tip: quit stopping to sound out words, tell your child any unknown word, have your child keep reading. Stopping breaks the short-term memory, thus all comprehension is lost.

Show your child how to keep reading using the words he does know. At the end of the page, you ask questions - what is happening on the page, who did what, etc. Then go back to unknown words and help your child figure them out or tell him the word. In a few weeks, this method will give great results.
 
The image above is by Kuniyoshi Kitagawa (1753-1806). Have a great day, Mary Maisner



Monday, October 12, 2015

Short attention span, Help my child read

Learning to read is like learning to ride a two-wheel bike: your child is required to do many things all at the same time.
The ideas on this page apply to every age because short attention span - short working memory - affects every age group. Research tells us the early lessons are not clear for children. The child is not at fault. At fault is unclear instruction.

1) While reading stories together, start teaching sight words, one at a time. All sight word lists are the same and in the same order. Your school might call the list: Dolch, Fry, Instant, Snap, High Frequency, etc. Sight words are the constantly recurring service words, such as was, saw, were, where, and later thought, though, throught, bought, brought, etc.

The 1st 25 sight words make up 33% of all print. The 1st 100 make up 65% of all print. Knowing these words makes it easy to be successful; but stumbling over any of them creates a cascade of trouble. Children do not learn these words without help from adults. Many sight words look alike and have vague meanings. Finding and circling them in cheap, used books is a powerful way to help your child. (My books include 300 sight words or download the list.)

Tip for all age children: quit stopping to sound out, tell your child the unknown word and ask your child to keep reading. Help your child connect to meaning by reading the known words, sliding over the unknown words - until finished with the paragraph. Next, ask your child what is happening in the story so far.  This method helps your child connect to comprehension.

Return now to look at your child's unknown words in the paragraph. After a couple of "sound out" tries -  tell him the word. Move down to the next paragraph, asking your child to read the words he knows, sliding over his unknown words. Many words cannot be sounded out and children often do not yet have the letter-sound skills needed.  

2) Letters b, d, g, p, q are mirror images and require your full attention. Ignore all other backward letters; they will not slow your child progress, are very rarely dyslexia, and will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade.  Use my blog's search box - top left corner- put in 1st Grade reading and backward b and working memory and how the brain learns to read and ADD, ADHD.

I use eBay as my website if you want a book. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.  All are brand new, no grade level on them, and include my contact info; email or call for help.   Have a great day, Mary Maisner