Sight Words

My 6 yr old is having trouble with his reading. He is on the correct level, he just doesn't read fast enough. I try to work with him, but working full time, and getting home at 6:00 to cook dinner and all the other chores doesn't leave any extra time to spend with him on reading. We try to read every night, but the teacher says that he needs to read the same story 3 times at night, and practice sight words each night. That on top of all the other homework. And it is difficult with the twins wanting my attention at the same time. I feel really bad about not being able to spend more time on sight words and reading. It is even more difficult when DH is at work. I feel like it is my fault he is not excelling like he should. Anyway, I went online today and ordered 'Sight Words with Sampson' which is computer program and 2 sight words DVDs. Has anyone ever used this software or DVDs? The DVDs are from the Kid 20/20 website. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

My boys who are also 6, love the sight word flash cards. We race against each other to see who can say it the fastest. Another thing that I do with the boys, is when they are in the bath tub and after they have washed, I break out the shaving cream and they have to spell their words in it. Starfall is another excellent website for reading, you can just pop him down on the computer and he can read along with the story. I am not really sure why they are worried about speed at this point, but what grade is he in, K or 1st? Usually they are looking for comprehension, recognition, and fluency at that age. As he becomes more confident with his reading skills his speed would pick up, but I personally would not make him read a book 3 times in one day... I think that the flash card races every other night and shaving cream during bath time would be enough to get him going... Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

I think you are right. He is not very confident right now and hesitates. Probably more so at school than at home. He is in the 1st grade, and she said that all of their reading is timed in the 2nd grade, so she doesn't want him to have a hard time. I am sure it is so they get them ready for the TAKs test in the 3rd grade. I think it is sad that they teach these kids in a manner just so they will pass that test. I don't know if your kids have to take that or not, it may be a state requirement. We have and use the sight words flash cards, just not often enough. The shaving cream is a good idea. I could use that for spelling words too. I also checked out the starfall website. That is a neat sight, and I am going to let him do that as well. I just hope our internet connection is fast enough! We haven't upgraded to high speed yet!

 

My DD is 7 and her teacher sends home lists of sight words. You can also google, "high frequency words" or dolch list and that should give you some sites you can print words out from. Here is Dolch word list, you can print this out. But if you google them you will get more results.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself. Practice and read with him as much as you can. Perhaps in the summer he can get a tutor for a few months so he'll be able to "catch up" by 2nd grade. My friend with twins boys did this for her boys when they were between 2nd and 3rd grade because their reading skills were a bit behind "the norm." They did so well with the extra attention that they surpassed most of the kids in 3rd by reading at a 4-5th grade level!

 

Some other suggestions, stick up sight words around the house and when he finds them he has to read them to you. Play concentration with the sight words, maybe he can do this why you are cooking dinner you just have to look up when he has a match. After he reads the book to you maybe he can read it to someone else in the house, the dog or a stuffed animal. The more repitition he has will help him build his fluency.

 

I agree, don't stress out about it and do as much as you can. A tutor during the summer would definatley help him. We signed Isabel up at Oxford reading center beginning of the school year, b/c she was at a DRA Level 0 and we didn't want her to fall behind the rest of her class, and she's finally making some progress. She could do better, but is always busy doing other stuff. Her sister is reading at a 2nd grade level, all on her own.

Our teachers here also want that the kids read the book 3 times, but not back on back. It will help with their comprehension and fluentcy.

 

QUOTE(TripleL @ Apr 15 2008, 03:34 PM) [snapback]723018[/snapback]
He is on the correct level, he just doesn't read fast enough.


Does he read easier texts at the expected speed? If so, and he's reading harder texts too slowly, then I would level him down a bit.

 

I second starfall.com, my 6yr old DD loves it. I got the twins a DVD called Meet the Colors, it's won many awards, and they learned their colors in two weeks. There is one for sight words in the series as well, I bought it on Amazon... here it is... http://www.amazon.com/Meet-Sight-Words-Ani...4090&sr=8-1

 

If you think it's his confidence, then I agree that letting him read books that are easier for him will help him build his confidence. I also agree that you shouldn't stress over it. You said he knows the words, and that is a big part of the process. It is hard on us parents to get all that homework done, divide our time between kids, get a meal prepared, and get the kids in bed at a reasonable hour. the evening after school is rough at our house, especially if you toss in a few after school activities. Maybe one night each week you can set aside a little time just to help him work on this. Maybe, if you have a crock pot, put it on a timer and get that meal cooking before you get home from work and have one less thing to have to attend to that one night.