ready for kindergarten reading



See the baby kittens?  yes  no  

1) Children are expert at reading their parent's mood so be calm and stay positive no matter what. Expect that learning a lesson is going to be successful over time - not immediately; show no frustration with your child.

2) If you have a reluctant child, get a 10 minute "hour" glass or other easy timing device. Show your child how it works. Be strict about stopping when the time is up. Short and sweet is best. Some parents cannot work with their children; get Grandma or Grandpa to help.

3) Start with easy lessons:  At Office Max, Target, etc. get an ABC letter strip. Learn the name and sound for 3 letters at a time. Sing the ABCs song; play "I Spy" for items that start with B, then C, and so on. 

Play memory-building games like Go Fish. Also, set a small item  somewhere in plain sight then ask your child to find it; place 4 items on a plate - look at them - then take away the plate and name all 4. 

Get a book of finger-games and play them; name items that come in pairs (shoes, socks, salt and pepper, etc.); sort the silverware for size and shape; look for round items, look for square items; soft items, rough-feeling items - talk about how items are alike / how they differ. 

Tip: Printing backward letters is natural, will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade, is rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's progress - ignore them. However, b, d, g, p, q are crucial to success. Use my search box - top left corner - put in backward b. 

I now use eBay. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All books are brand new and include my contact info; email or call for help. Let's make reading fun and easy for your child, Mary Maisner

ready for 4th grade reading

Could I be lost?

Reading takes a big step up in 4th grade. The basic tricky letter teams need to be instant: teams such as ce, ge, ph, silent gh, etc.

Your child also needs to be in control of adding endings like ing, ed, y, s, es, ies, etc. And, changing y to i.

The complex vowel teams are now going to take center stage: tion, cian, tious, cious, ous, ious, etc.

Words in the stories and informational reading are much more challenging. A strong comprehension method is very important. Do this:

Today: 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 return to unknown words; help your child figure them out or tell him the word. In a few weeks, this method will give great results. Lots of words cannot be sounded out but your child can get the meaning and keep reading. Look: canoe and chaos cannot be sounded out but your child can get their meaning and continue reading. This method works. Comprehension and vocabulary will increase. Most words are not new to your child's ears but they are unrecognized in print.

 

I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will come up for you.

All my books give you a systematic review of the critical lessons: ce, ge through tion, tious, changing y to i, etc. Both the struggler and the star reader will gain the power needed for success.  Your child will answer questions and write responses on the workbook style pages of the book. 

Thank you, Mary Maisner 

multi-tasking reading help

Are these puppies thinking about taking a
tiny nibble? 

Your child's brain is always multi-tasking. It is always monitoring: whether he or she feels scared or secure, hungry, too hot, have to go to the bathroom, how long the lesson is going to be, an argument overheard at home, what is going to take place later, whatever else is happening in the room, or to people close by. 

At the same time all of the above self-monitoring is going on - your child is trying to learn a new lesson plus remember the old ones: letter sounds and words which may be wobbly.

Add to that, remembering what is happening in the sentence or the story.

This is why it is so important to have the basic reading tools deeply embedding in your child's long term memory. The lessons below need to be ready for instant recall:

1) Sight words - all sight word lists are the same no matter what your school calls them: Snap, Instant, High Frequency, etc. (In my books, or download.)

2) Names and basic sounds of each ABC letter; mastery control of name, sound, shape of b, d, g, p, q so that your child does not confuse b / d and p / q / g when he starts reading words in early 1st Grade. Ignore all other backward letters; rarely dyslexia, will not slow your child's advance, and will self-correct by mid 2nd Grade. Better to hit the critical lessons.

Tip: Quit stopping to sound out. Stopping breaks the working memory. This is the way the brain works for everyone. Tell your child unknown words. Tell your child to keep reading onward using the words he recognizes.This will build your child's connection to comprehension.

3) 2nd Grade: phonics teams ce, ci, cy, ge, gi, gy, sh, ch, th, wh, blends like br, bl, cr, cl, etc. and higher level sight words: thought, through, bought, brought, etc.

This is a ton to learn; do not feel overwhelmed as a parent. Reading stories to your child as your child runs his fingers under the words is very important. After the story, go back to look for one sight word at a time (the, saw, was, is, in, it, to, etc.). Also look for individual letters b, d, g, p, q, and so on.  Have fun!

My blog has 160 lessons. But you might like a book full of help, I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All books are new and include my contact info. Have fun reading with your child,  Mary Maisner

phonics need to be instant

Do you think our lion looks like the king of the jungle?
Albrecht Durer painted this lion for us in the year 1521.

Most of what adults do all day is done on automatic pilot, meaning instant and without thought. Even the framework of what we do at work only needs that we plug in the details.

Our young children do not have much on auto pilot. They have to learn even the smallest parts of a job before they can get near finishing a task. 

Even 1st Grade reading requires that your child get into his, or her, auto pilot 26 basic letters plus the 1st 25 sight words. In the brain, auto pilot is called long-term storage memory.  Keep in mind, that working memory calls up into action those lessons from storage memory as your child's eyes move along a line of print.

When lessons are not ready for instant recall - your child's brain will retrieve them too slowly, or not at all. (Think how you react when you cannot find something in your own brain.)

This is not the child's fault, it is the way the brain operates. 

Phonics is the set of letters which stand for sounds: f stands for the sound at the start of fish. The ph team and the gh team also stand for the f sound: phone and laugh. Other phonics teams are the ce in center, gi of giant, ch of chair and ache, etc.

Unknown to our conscious mind, our eyes see which letters and words are going to be needed next. The brain starts searching in storage memory before we are aware it is doing so. When the item can't be found instantly, a cascade of trouble starts for the helpless little reader.  

Teachers want to do it all but there is not enough time at school for the repetition required to get the essential lessons sweetly embedded in storage memory. Parents must help.

My blog has 160 lessons. Use the search box - top left corner - put in: backward b;    sight words; compound word story; short vowel long vowel;  ce;   ge;  oy;  ou;  or any reading topic.

I use ebay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All are brand new and include my contact info; call for help. Sometimes parents and children do not work well together - very common -- hire a tutor or grandparent to teach my books. You will be glad you did.  Thank you, Mary Maisner

Should my child repeat kindergarten?

Any parent can find themselves in this situation. Research shows 1 / 3 struggling readers have college graduate parents. Rarely does a child lack ability; instead the child lacks maturity.

1st Grade lesson-learning requires a child stay in his chair, follow directions, and complete assigned tasks. Observing this, a kindergarten teacher will talk to parents about repeating kindergarten. This is a truly difficult decision. Consider two factors: 

1) Doing well in 1st Grade is high-stakes. Leaving 1st Grade with less than grade-level reading skills makes it really difficult to ever get to grade level reading. Research shows most children graduate high school in the same class placement the child had in 1st Grade. It is better to repeat kindergarten than later repeat 1st Grade.

(Teachers believe a child will "catch up next year." Research shows this is not true; only 6 out of 50 children ever catch up from a slow start in 1st Grade.)

2) Whether you decide to repeat or not - your child has had a rough kindergarten year. Therefore, he has weak letter skills.  Please start today - below I tell you what to do - to build your child's letter skills. Depend on no one else. Starting 1st Grade with a specific set of letter lessons is crucial for every child. 

Use my search box - top left corner - put in backward b, later, working memory. 

And, you need a book for structured support.  I use ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will come up. Get the book with the panda on the cover. 

If you do not have the time, get a grandparent, or tutor to teach my book. Some parents and kids do not work well together - common problem. My books include my contact info; email or call for help. Best wishes, Mary Maisner

is baby talk OK

Would it be fun to pet these sweet puppies?
This painting was done by Benno Adam (1812-1892).

Baby-talk is good for young children because the adult is speaking slowly and stretching out the letter sounds.

Your child learns to speak by imitating the sounds within the words he hears. It is alright for your child to have his own way of saying words. And, it is such fun to hear.

About the time your child is nearing age 3 - 3 1/2 years old it is best to slowly shift into being clear with letter sounds. Be sure you are putting the final letters on the end of words. Don't obsess, just be aware.

It will be much easier for your child to learn to read words if he has heard all of the letters he will see in the printed words.

And, extend your child's word awareness. For example, use grandma (gramma), grandmother, even granny. Using a wide variety of words will help your child more easily recognize them in print, and more quickly gather comprehension. 

A big "speaking bank" makes it much easier for your child to gain a big "reading bank." Being aware of complex words and complex ideas helps your child be ready to work with them in print.

You might like to look at the books I have created for your child. I use eBay as my website, people trust it. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you.
Have fun with words, Mary Maisner

kindergarten reading, 1st grade reading help

Little owl is a watercolor by Albrecht Durer.

Kindergarten and 1st grade are the most important years of your child's reading life. A wobbly start decides a child's path because new lessons just keep coming; no way to catch up. 

Being bright should protect your child but it will not. 

What goes wrong? Parents believe great preschools and kindergarten will prepare their child but there is not enough time for the required practice of b, d, g, p, q.  

Do not panic. Use my blog's search box - top left corner - put in backward b and working memory.

Then, relax. Teach those letter lessons. And, point out one sight word at a time while you are reading stories together. 

Stick with that word until it becomes instant.  1st ten sight words: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it.  All sight word lists are the same and in the same order.

My blog has 160 free lessons. If you want a book, I use eBay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All are brand new, none have grade level printed on them, all include my contact info; you can email or call with questions.

Have fun reading with your child, Mary Maisner