Phonics instruction with advanced readers
Do you recommend continuing phonics instruction with children who are reading well? My five-year old twins have taken off with their reading after completing only the first third of a phonics primer; one is already reading on a very advanced level. Should I continue formal phonics instruction? Any recommendations about how and when to address things like syllabification that will be important later in the study of poetry? The question came to mind as I saw the scope and sequence chart in Drew's book, which looks fantastic!
Best wishes,
Jennifer
I'd figure
That all the 'extra' phonics stuff can bedone two ways... one, by reading books like the Dr. Seuss ones which have 'word family' reading... and two, by using the phonics primer to go over something they continually have issues with (i.e. maybe they say 'ee-ah' for 'ea' instead of 'ee').
All you'd have to do is note any 'issues' when they read.
And FWIW, DS got less than 1/2 way through OPG before doing the same thing... I didn't bother continuing, because the 'real' books were waaaaaaaaaay more exciting to him and he was much more likely to READ them!
~Rachel~
SAHM to James (6) and Lenore (2)
Phonics
My main regret in not doing more phonics instruction in the early years (workbooks would have sufficed) with my oldest is that I think it would have helped him more with spelling. For instance, he's in 6th grade & we have to go over things like changing y to an i & adding -es. Although the rest of my children seem to be pretty good natural spellers, I'm planning to at least go over the rules with them.
Just my 2 cents...
Blessings,
Brenda
mom to 6
Phonics Continuation
Over and over, when "what do you wish you'd done differently" comes up on message boards, I see "continuing on through a full phonics program" posted by parents of older children. I saw my first dd, who read early and well with little instruction, hit a wall with multisyllabic words. We went back and did all the rest of the "advanced" phonics skills. For second dd, I continued through the end of ETC and she never hit a wall in reading, plus she spells SO much better than her older sister. For my little ds coming up on 4 yo, we will finish a full phonics program, not just ETC. I have learned my lesson. I have a lot of friends who never taught their dc to read with anything formal, and many of them are now "stuck" at an elementary reading level. I see few parents who "make" their children real-aloud to them once they are reading on their own, though. If you are going to have dc read aloud daily, I see less need for continuing phonics, as you could cover things as they come up. This would really depend on the child, though. I have one who would pick things up from me mentioning them this way, and one who needs explicit, systematic instruction.
Angela
Let 'em rip!
I don't see much value in continuing phonics instruction once a child is reading fluently. Your (and their!) time can be much better spent just reading. As long as you take time for read-alouds so they can hear the language as well as read it themselves, they should be fine. (You're probably familiar with the reasons for continuing read-alouds, but if not, this article explains one of the key benefits.)
Syllabification can come in when you really start studying poetry in the late elementary grades. Before that, you can also just show your dc a dictionary that breaks words down into syllables so they get the idea. But I wouldn't worry about it until it's actually needed.
-Drew
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"Hardly any lawful price would seem to me too high for what I have gained by being
made to learn Latin and Greek. —C. S. Lewis
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