3rd Grade reading skills

My rabbit hopped up here from the lake.

By 3rd Grade, be sure your child is instant with the 1st 300 sight words. (In my books or download.)

Also, help your child get control of adding endings called suffixes: ed, ing, able, en, er  // s, ly, ful, less, ness.

(This page explains how to add suffixes but for a quick book search eBay: Instant Reading Help.)

Step One: A child must see the difference between short vowel words and long vowel words.  

The vowels each have a short sound and a long sound. The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, y.   All other letters in the ABCs are called consonants.          

Short vowel rules: when a word has only one vowel, that vowel will say its short sound: bat, bet, bit, bot, but, myth.  And, when there is more than one consonant between vowels: father, catcher, better, little, whisper, bother, monster, cluster. 

Long vowel rules: when there are two vowels side-by-side (dream)   or   with only one consonant between the vowels (ripe) the 1st vowel says its letter name. Hear the e in dream? Hear the i in ripe?  Long y sounds like long i: type.

When you hear the vowel say its letter name, we say the vowel is making its long sound.  

The 1st vowel says its long sound, the 2nd vowel of the pattern is usually silent or short: dial, chaos.

Look: ed, ing, er, y, en, able start with a vowel. When you add vowel suffix to a short vowel word, protect the short vowel from changing into a long vowel by doubling the final consonant.

hop: vowel o is short, to protect short o, double the consonant p > hopped, hopper, hopping.

See the difference:  1) The rabbit hopped over the fence.   2) The rabbit hoped over the fence.

But, when the suffix does not start with a vowel, there is no need to protect the short vowel, just add the ending > hops  My rabbit often hops over to see me.

Short vowel words like stick,  ask, luck already end with two consonants, so just hook on any ending:  sticky, sticking, sticks     asked, asking, asks   lucky, unlucky  (un is called a prefix. 

Always just hook on the prefix at the front of the word, so easy, never a problem: unneeded, reenter, disservice, misspell and misuse, unused, recharged, etc.

When adding an ending to a long vowel word, trade one vowel for another vowel:

escape > escaped > escaping > inescapable > inescapably (trade vowel e for vowel y)

escapes (s is not a vowel, just hook it on)  Look: care, caring, cares, careful, carefully

Or, two vowels side-by-side, just hook it on: rain > rained > raining > rainy > rains

Or, the word ends with two vowels: stay > staying > stayed > stays    

If you would like a book, I now use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help. All of my books will pop up for you. All are brand new and full of help. Books include my contact info. so you can email or call me.

Help your child have fun reading. Best wishes, Mary Maisner

 

2nd Grade reading skills

My goose is on the loose.

Vowel lessons are the job of 2nd Grade. The ABCs have two kinds of letters: consonants which keep a constant sound and vowels whose sounds are variable.

The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, and y. 
Each vowel has both a short sound and a long sound. 

Short Rule: when a word has only one vowel, that vowel will say its short sound: bat, bet, bit, bot, but, myth (short y sounds the same as short i. ) 

Long Rule: when two vowels are side-by-side or have only one consonant in between, the 1st vowel says its long sound: bait, beat, bite, boat, brute, byte (long y sounds the same as long i). The 2nd vowel in the pattern will usually be short or silent.

In addition to short and long vowels, 2nd Grade also targets the several vowel team patterns: 

au, aw (saw, caught)     and oi, oy (noise, toy)       and ou (ouch, pouch)      and oo (zoo, goose, choose  or book, cook, look). 

Important warning: Vowel work requires your child to really focus and connect with tiny details. The chance to get this kind of deep focus is made much easier for the "sight word smart child."    Parents have no idea until it is too late. 

My blog offers 150 free lessons but for quick help with sight words and vowel lessons, I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help Vowels or Instant Reading Help plus your child's grade level. I include my contact information, you can call or write with questions.

I am retired and now teach struggling readers. Please be aware, teachers believe children can catch up from a slow start but NIH research shows only 6 out of 50 kids ever catch up. 

Write me with questions. Mary Maisner

1st Grade reading skills

Is this little turtle lost?

Success in 1st grade requires being instant with sight words (1st 100 by Christmas) and, crucially: instant with b, d, g, p, q within words. 

There are brain reasons why this is true and your child will soar. All the stars will be shining just for your child! 

Teachers will not tell you this but I now tutor struggling middle school students, so blunt will serve you better. 1st Grade is critical. Spend big time now - then the later years will be less stress.

 

For a book, consider my Instant Reading Help kindergarten, early 1st Grade at eBay, which is my website. 

Time and energy are limited; ignore backward letters, they will not slow your child, are rarely dyslexia, self-correct by mid 2nd Grade. 

Only b, d, g, p, q require rigorous attention. These five must be correctly printed and instant within words when your child starts reading words in 1st Grade.  A child will fall behind if he or she wonders, is it: olb or old?

Slowly move through consonant blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, and  br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, sr, tr, and sn, sm, sp, spl, scr, st, str (late1st Grade and 2nd Grade).  

And the digraph teams ch, sh, wh, th, as well as rhyming word families, and the tricky phonics in 2nd Grade gh, ph, ce, ci, cy, ge, gi, gy.  Note: digraph letters drop their basic sound and melt together to make a special sound: ch chair, sh shoe, wh whale, th thorn. In blends, letters keep their basic sound and blend with the other consonants: bl blue, cl clip, fl flip, etc.

Until I researched how our brains store and retrieve information, then started tutoring struggling middle school readers, I did not understand that sight words and kindergarten lessons were so critical. 1st Grade is a parent's best chance to be sure your child is in control of name, sound, shape of b, d, g, p, q -- confusing the shapes of b / d and p / q / g when your child starts reading words in 1st Grade is the road to misery. Why? New lessons never stop coming, plus the brain has embedded something even if it is wrong. That incorrectly embedded something will be very hard to fix.   

This is a fatal flaw in our teaching system. NIH shows only 6 out of 50 ever catch up. It is not because the child is not smart enough. Research says it is because lessons are not clearly presented.   I would add - that these vital lessons need to be tracked.  All of my books help the parent keep track of what has been mastered, and what has not yet been mastered. 

 

Feel welcome to write with questions. Have fun reading with your child! Mary Maisner