Reading help for 4th grade, 5th grade...fun side of words

Once children have turned away from reading it is a real trick to get them to take a second look.

One of the tricks you have is the history of the words themselves.

Look at the word fence.  Fence comes to us from a short-cut slang word for defense.

A swordman fencing was defending himself:

Alfred was lunging with a glimmering sword to thrust away danger. Parrying with a low feint, before swooping in with a surprising upper-thrust assault. (feint say faint.)

The art of fencing gives us several words to entice our reader: 

1) foil: means to stop something, frustrate the opponent's goal, thwart an action: Alfred foiled his sister's plan to snack on a cookie by gobbling down every last one.

The word foil comes to us from a short-cut for foliage - leaves and flowers - a foil being like a little leaf stuck on the tip of the sword to avoid injury during practice. (also called a button)

2) from foil comes foible (say foy b'l): meaning the little weaknesses people have, habits and mannerisms that can get them into trouble: Alfred's foible of exaggerating minor mishaps into huge events gave Ajax the chance to tease Alfred in front of the prettiest girl in the world. 

Foible originally referred to the weakest part of the sword, running from its mid-point to the tip. Feeble comes to us from this word family.

Another fun word is defeat, meaning to thwart another from gaining a feat. Feat: an unusual act of daring, a remarkable deed, a prize.

I have created books to make reading much more fun. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up. All books are brand new and full of the skills and comprehension exercises your child needs. All books include my contact info; email or call for help.  Rule: ce, ci, cy always say s. Rule: ge, gi, gy most often say j. 

My wonderful graphics are from Corel Clipart; put together by the talented group at Micrografx.

Thank you for visiting my blog, Mary Maisner

Sight Words: the transfer skill helps your child read

  

Teachers use the word transfer to mean your child has learned a lesson and knows that lesson can be used in several places.  New readers do not have enough experience of the world to realize, for example, that the word the - is used forty times in his favorite story. 

It is important to help your child; let's get started:

The first ten sight words are:

the,   of,   and,   a,   to,   in,   is,   you,   that,   it.

Begin with the word the. Put your child's finger under the the first time it appears in the well known story. Hold your child's finger under the.

Tell him that when we talk our words run together like water coming out of the faucet but when we read, each word is separate. When we read, words are like cars on the street. There is space between each car - there is space on the page between each word. (A tiny space but a space.)

Tell you child that each word has its own letters.  Ask if your child knows the word he is pointing to?  Tell him it is the word the. (Fabulous if he knew the word.)

Take a minute to see if he can name each letter in the >  t   h  e. 
Tell him the is a word we use when we talk. We say things like: close the door, where is the phone, who has the answer. Help your child make up a sentence using the.

Now ask your child if he sees any other the words on the page?   Ask him to point, help him find the throughout the story.   Read the story, asking him to point to the each time it is used in the story.  

After reading the story, find a piece of paper for keeping track of your child's growing word list.
Title the paper with your child's name: Adam's word list
Below the title write his first word the, or allow your child to write the word the.

As you read other stories ask your child to point to the.  When you child recognizes the in several stories, then, and only then, he actually knows the word the. This is called transfer.

The second sight word is of . Proceed with these same steps with the word of. And, add of to his word list. Remember that review is a critical part of keeping these words well anchored.

I have created a few books to help your child learn all of the tricky lessons plus a special comprehension method. My books are full of color pictures and special tools to help your child be a reading star. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you.  

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please feel welcome to leave a comment or question.
Have a great day, Mary Maisner

Short vowel rhyming families

Short vowel rhyming families are an easy way for your child to slide into reading.  You and your child can print these exercises but you can also provide your child some action while learning.

For example, ask your child to stand with his back to the wall and permit him to take one step forward with each correct answer.

You say, "Our rhyming family is cat, sat, that; you can take one step forward if you tell me a word in this rhyming family that starts with r (rat).

OK, now we have cat, sat, that, rat; you can take one step forward if you tell me a word in this family that starts with m (mat.) So, now we have cat, sat, that, rat, mat. 

You can take one step forward if you tell me a word in this family that starts with f (fat.)  This time you say the rhyming family with me: we have cat, sat, that, rat, mat, fat.

You can take one step forward if you can tell me a word in this family that start with b (bat). Say the rhyming family with me: we have cat, sat, that, rat, mat, fat, bat.

If you run out of space, ask your child to take one step backward each time. If you have a set of stairs, you can allow your child to sit on a stair and move up and down - sitting each time - sitting is safer than standing.  Other words you can add to this rhyming family: pat, hat, scat, brat, drat, splat.

Asking your child to repeat the rhyming family each time with you helps strengthen both the rhyming element and your child's short-term memory span.

I have create several books to help your child become a Star Reader. I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.  Being smart from the start is what you want for your child!

By the way, this wonderful squirrel was drawn by Hans Hoffman in the year 1578.
Have a great day, Mary Maisner

                  

reading lessons without paper and pencil

We usually think reading instruction needs paper and a pencil but there are many ways to help your reader while you are riding in a car or waiting in a line.

Sing the ABC song. Knowing the alphabet has many important functions. Even older children need this review.

Your 5th, 6th, 7th grade child needs to be good at alphabetical order. (Exams like to ask students of this age to alphabetize a list of words and often extend the task to the 2nd or 3rd letter: shield / shred and scald / screed, etc.)

Quiz the names of the vowels: Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu, and Yy.

Children forget which letters are in the vowel group. Your child needs to know which letters are vowels:
1) when changing y to i, such a berry to berries.
2) when adding ed, ing, er, able, as opposed to ly, s, or ment. (different rules for vowels)

Play "I spy." With beginning readers stick with single letters at the start of a word, like p or t. Tell your child you spy something that begins with a p (pretzel)  Ask your child to look around and guess what you "spy." Let your child tell you the first letter of something he "spies," and you guess.   

As your child gets more capable, add things that begin with a double letter, like br (bridge, braces, brown shoes, etc.) or ch, th, sh, wh, pl, pr, and so on.

Have fun with these activities; they will make a difference to your child's reading! 

I now use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up.

I have created a few books to help your child be a star with the tricky lessons and comprehension. Lots of story-reading and skills practice; lots of color pictures, include my contact info. Be sure your child is ready for any challenge!

Please feel welcome to leave a question or a comment. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Mary Maisner

oi oy vowels help your child read



Do you think our leopard enjoys sitting
high in its tree?   yes    no   maybe

Rhyming families are an easy way for your child to see how sounds work. First, show your child how rhyming works. Point to and read this list together:

man         fan          tan           plan
can          ran          pan          than

Help your child see that only the starting sound changes. Say: tell me how man is different from can.

Now that your child sees how rhyming works, let's look at oi and oy. Oi / oy are special vowel teams that do not use long vowel or short vowel sounds.  Oi / oy always use the same sound you hear in boy and boil.

Let your child point as you read these words several times, letting him join in when he can:

boy    joy      Roy       enjoy        ahoy         annoy

toy     soy     Troy      cowboy    destroy      employ

Enjoy and cowboy have longer beginning sounds but they still end with the same sound.

Let's try the boil / coil rhyming family (toil means to work: I am toiling when I wash the floor.)

boil           broil          coil         foil          soil        spoil       toil

When oi and oy are together they always make this same sound. Try these words:

royal     loyal     voyage

Use my blog's search box -  top left corner - to find other lessons. If you want a book, I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help Vowels or Instant Reading Help 1 Grade, 2nd Grade or Instant Reading Help plus your child's grade level.

Thank you for visiting my blog, Mary Maisner

Help for 3rd grade reading troubles

Teachers are soft-hearted. They will say your child will catch up. Research says you have to help. Do not panic. I have books (at bottom) and you can start today: 

(Tip: quit stopping to sound out. Tell your child unknown words; best to build comprehension.)

One: Be sure your child is instant with b, d, g, p, q. You may already know your child confuses b / d  or  p / q / g when reading words. Let's look at that problem.

Give your child a pencil and paper. Tell your child to try to spell the words you are going to say.  Avoid stress for your child - you are only looking at the underlined letter - ignore the others. Words: saber, harbor, harder, tread, cupboard, ragged, kinder, tried, snagged.

A child that confuses letters must get instant with b / d and p / q / g within words. 

When you are cooking or cleaning - give your child pencil and paper to print the words you are going to say. 

Start with b and stick with it. Use a dictionary or story; say 6 words a day: b at the start, b in the middle. And buy used books - Goodwill & ARC -  for your child to circle the letters you tell him to circle - find and circle b - have your child show you what he circled. Then move on to d, then p / q.  (Note: Qq says kw: quiz, quick, quest.)

Two: Get a list of the 1st 100 sight words - target one word at a time. Ask your child to circle the word in a used book and show you. Put the list on the frig - have your child put a star beside each learned word. Review his known words every day & add two new words. Then get the 2nd 100 sight word list.  All sight word lists are the same and in the same order. Your school may call it: Snap, Instant Words, High Frequency, etc. (Download sight words or buy my books which include a list of the 1st 300.)

Three: Use my search box - top left corner - put in: backward b, then working memory, then high school reading (to see a quick comprehension method for every age.) 

Comprehension: Schools to do not stress comprehension with the troubled reader but that is where my books start. All of my books show your child how to immediately get a strong connection to comprehension. Surprisingly, this tool makes everything else easier.

I now use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will come up for you. All are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help.

Write me with questions, I will help you. Mary Maisner

My good reader is having trouble; what can I do?

Research from England published December 2011, states the alarming discovery that 39% of children who enter primary school with a "bright start" are "no longer reaching advanced levels when they leave."

Three problems can happen at school:
1) Teachers believe phonics (letter / sound connections) are boring and good readers do not need to learn them.

2) Teachers are unaware of exactly how to teach the skills tools required.

3) Teachers do not have enough time for the practice required for children to gain mastery.

As words and the ideas within the text start to become more complex, being instant with the tricky phonics components becomes required. Aim to have your child ready by mid-3rd Grade. One-on-one with a parent is huge help; see what to do:

Use my search box - top left corner - to get quick help at home. Put into my search box: backward b and fix reading trouble; later comprehension and short vowel long vowel and compound words and ce, ci, cy and ge, gi, gy. This blog has 160 lessons.

I now use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help, all my books will pop up for you. All books are brand new and teach a special comprehension method plus the tricky phonics in stories and skills pages, with lots of color picture. 

The wonderful Little Owl watercolor above was drawn by Albrecht Durer in the year 1508.
You can read the BBC article quoted above by putting in your search line BBC News: Slow starting students don't catch up.

Please feel welcome to leave a question or comment. Thank you, Mary Maisner