Reading help for 6 year old--games, software,...

[4HppyCamprs]

I am going to second ReadingEggs.com my DS6 loves that website. It really makes reading fun and it does testing before your child starts so it starts at the right level.

 

[famofsix]

Hi all,

I have a 6 year old who is in 1st grade. He struggles with reading. I sent him to Kind. last year, when I should not have. He is the baby of 5 kids and has a late July birthday. He barely met his standards last year, so I could not hold him back. Now, he is really struggling in 1st grade. I read nightly with him and he goes to school early for tutoring sessions. I am so sad to see him have such difficulty.

We are buying our kids a laptop (more for my oldest who is in 6th grade--the district is trying out not having textbooks and just putting the textbooks online). I am wondering if anyone can tell me about some great reading software or a great reading system. The V-tech things look really young, but maybe they are the way to go. I was looking at reader rabbit--any opinions??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I've been there with my boy and we had quite a journey (still on it) but he is in 5th grade now and reading fluently and can now comprehend what he reads (as opposed to what someone reads too him). The best advice I can give is the ask lots of questions, address any eye/hearing/ learning issues and just keep enouraging him the way you are

Many days I wanted to cry because I hated to see him struggle but he did need time to mature and he does have some learning issues (we found this out when he was in first grade). The tide is turning now and he feels more confident and is just blossoming. It may take just this year in First grade for your son or more time but he will get it

Some things that my son liked alot was playing games like Zingo, Monopoly Jr., Scrabble Jr, Memory with pictures and then sight words, card games...these all sparked his confidence. We also did weird things like throw the football and make score charts...anything that required charting or seeing words in print. Sometimes we just wrote the names of family members together or he helped write the grocery list....

 

[carebee21]

I have to agree with the sight words. My son, also in first grade, was really struggling with reading. And I was really worried because he's one of the older ones in class. I talked with the teacher and had the speech therapist check him. Both said to work on sight words and gave me a complete list. Now when we read together he can pick out those words and it's inspired him to read, rather than before when it would frustrate him. In the past month he's completely taken off and he's reading so much better and confidently.

 

[shelly3girls]

After many years of struggling DD is now on grade level in 4th grade. It sure was a struggle up until now but things have finally clicked. The Bob books are very good. Flash cards for the sight words help a great deal too. It was very difficult for me to continue to find easy books for her to read but the teachers were able to supply many books.

At the end of 1st grade we demanded for our DD to be tested even though the teacher said she was fine. They found that she was only on a beginning Kindergarten level. When the principal found out he was really upset and became our advocate. Within days DD was in Reading Recovery. Unfortunately she only got 6 weeks of it b/c school was ending but it still helped. Your school should have some kind of support for struggling readers but most likely your son will not receive it unless you demand it. There are probably plenty of other kids that need it too.

I know this is looking ahead but please make sure your son does some kind of reading program over the summer. Your school might offer one. DD actually did a reading camp at a school who specialized in struggling readers. It was a huge succes and she improved almost two grade levels over the summer according to her MAP testing at school. The biggest thing they helped her with was self confidence and phonics. In my opinion phonics is really the key to success. There are two things that I learned this summer.
1. Quantity is better than quality- it is proven that a struggling reader will improve more by reading lots of easy words than less more difficult words. Always make sure pleasure reading is below their ability.

2. Have the child follow along while you read books that interest them. They may not be able to read the words but by following along they recognize sounds and improve.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I am on my 2nd first grade boy to struggle with reading and the best advice I can give you is to read to him.

Only you know your son's personality, but in my experience with mine, if I try to push him to learn something he's not ready for or is frustrated with he will not want anything to do with it. He won't touch "reading" toys like Leapfrog ones, he does like Reader Rabbit cd's for the computer, but if I were to suggest he play them or try to schedule it he would revolt. Instead I read to him, it's our snuggle time. I try to get him to choose the book, but he doesn't like reading or being read to so I usually pick. I try to either pick a character he likes or something fun/silly.

I try to encourage him to read words by not making it a lesson. Things like a sign in the grocery store above the apples, "hey, what do you think that sign says?" Just working it into our day rather than making a lesson out of it.

One other thing my son enjoyed was the Leapfrog Letter and Word Factory dvd's. I think it helped that my older kids thought they were fun and watched them with him.

It may just be that he's not ready yet and needs more time. Everyone learns at a different pace, but of course it doesn't hurt to cover all of your bases so you can head off any problems now.


My now 11yo struggled in kindergarten and first grade, too. We moved toward the end of kindergarten and the new teacher told me that she "couldn't teach him" because he didn't already know how to read and her students did. He didn't even know all of his letters, despite his old teacher and I working with him, he just wasn't ready. I immediately pulled him out (and had a meeting with the principal). I started him back for 1st grade because they offer extra help starting in 1st and by Christmas break he was reading at grade level. It just clicked. Now he's doing very well reading and really enjoys it.

 

[spacemountainmom]

Amy,

I volunteer in my DS (6) first grade class twice a week. I work with all of the lower level readers to try and bring them more up to speed. These are kids that are struggling but do not have a learning disability.


We work with sight works alot. I mean alot! Almost everyday. More than reading. It is mainly to get them to progress with their reading. The Teacher reads with them on the days that I am not there. Now when I work with kids that are on level we do more reading.

I would suggest working on the sight words. The have your DS find those words in the story you are working on.

Here are some of things we do together.

1. memory games with the sight words
2. go fish with the sight words
3. bingo (make your own boards with words he is struggling with)
4. today we played baseball. A baseball field on a ditto sheet. 3 games pieces and then flash cards. 2 letter word 1st base, 3 and 4 letter word 2nd base, 5 letter 3rd, and anything longer was a homerun. They loved this game today.
5. dry erase board (write the word down, find it in a story, count the letter and write it again)

Start with the kindergarten sight words. Once he masters those he will be feel more confident to keep trying.


Then when we do read we right down the words that they struggle with. The words go on sticky notes and stay on the page where the word was found. Then the Teacher know which words to reinforce.


What are some of the books you are working with right now? They may have too many words for him right now. The less the better when they are struggling. Lots of repeat words and rhyming words to help them sound them out. Like mat, cat, hat, that.

HTH!

I have volunteered with 1st graders who are behind in reading for many years and there are some great ideas here.

I also use flashcards a great deal. Another technique that really works is to have your child take a "picture walk" through a book. Have them try and figure out what the story is about by paging through and looking at the pictures. It helps them to visualize what the words should be. I do a lot of work with the white board. Sometimes, just writing the word they are struggling with on the white board helps the child to focus on that word and it is easier to read later when they see it in the book. I also have them work on spelling on the white board. If they can write it, the reading usually comes along.

Good luck to you and please know that this is pretty common in first grade. I have worked with many, many kids over the years, both boys and girls. Reading usually comes along with a little time, practice and patience.

 

[torinsmom]

There is a website www.starfall.com that has lots of educational games for kids. My kids love to play on that. I find the V-tech type stuff is somewhat difficult and does not hold their interest when they are not reading yet.

Also, have you asked the school to test for a learning disability? If this is the case there may be more focused help that he can get.

As a teacher, I love, love, love Starfall!

One thing about requesting he be tested as a 6 year old. At this age, the range of normal is so broad that it takes a lot to qualify for services. If the child does not qualify, I believe you have to wait a few years before re-testing(at least that was the case with my son) My son has dysgraphia, ADD, a working memory LD and a math LD and he did NOT qualify in 1st grade. He was able to be tested again in 4th grade and everything showed up then. It seems like there is not an idea of "normal" yet when they are really young.

My son is in Kindergarten but they use a web based program called Raz-kids that has been wonderful for my son. The teacher gave us a password and log on and it is full of online book activities and help. Students earn "points" for every task and create their own environments (like a forest or planet) where they can "purchase" items to put in their environments. My son loves it and it gets more advanced as they go. Check with the school and see if they offer something like this.

You can do Raz-kids on your own as well. I believe it is around $89/ year.
http://www.raz-kids.com/ It is the sister program of a site called Readinga-z.com http://www.readinga-z.com/ which has hundreds of printable books for kids of all levels with worksheets, etc. We use this one at our school.

OP, how has your DS been taught reading? Some kids do well with phonics, while others do better with whole word. My son was a whole word learner and it took him a long time to learn to read, probably because everyone around his was trying to teach him to read phonetically. Once we focused on word families (man, can, tan) and sight words, he really took off.

 

[jackie101]

Some great suggestions. I also have a first grader that struggles

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

I don't really have any advice for you as I'm fortunate enough to be able to home school my boys, just some support. DS(now)7 had a heck of a time with reading, just doesn't like it really, and we have had many fights over it. My sister (also home schooling) said not to worry, let it go, it'll come. I didn't ask him to read anything really for me for 2 months or more. Just watched him. He'd start reading signs, then things on tv, stuff in magazines (esp TRU catalogs!) and I tried again. DH and I were just talking last night about him, he was in the car reading a book to DS4 (too sweet) and DH said he reads better than the other boys at scouts his age or a bit older (all schooled kids).

My point is, although you don't have that option of "giving him time off" from it, is just for you to not get too stressed over it. Yes checking into learning issues or eye issues is a great idea, but just wanted to hopefully give you the reassurance my sister gave me in that sometimes it just takes longer and they need a break to take it all in.

Good luck! I'm sure all will turn out well... and thanks to all PP's for some great looking sites I'll be checking on too

 

[Swimalie]

You have gotten some great advice. In addition to the BOB books (we got ours at Costco) I recommend PBS Kids Island http://pbskids.org/island/ You can do different games there involving sounding out words, sounds of letters, etc. Kids earn "tickets" with every game they play and then they can cash them in for items in their own clubhouse. My 5 year old kindergartner loves it.

One thing my son's school has not done that we are doing is work on phonics. We started it before he started school and it's helped him learn to read on his own. Now he's writing longer and longer words thanks to knowing those phonics.

Oh and games that work on letter sounds are great, too. I volunteer in my son's classroom with the reading time and we do games like memory where they have to match the letter with a picture that matches that letter ("u" and umbrella).

Good luck.

 

[ckmommy]

Once again--thank you all for posting. I just ordered level 2 and 3 of the BOB books. They should be here for Christmas. I am going to bookmark all of the site that have been mentioned. He will have such a good time on the computer. As for the sight words, he knows them all. We worked really hard on them all summer. We did them everyday and added new ones when he got good with the old ones. I was really hoping this would help his reading. Well, he sees the sight word in text surrounded by other words and does not get it. When I isolate the word he gets it.

I am going to follow up with the teacher and talk to the nurse about his vision.

Thanks so much!!