Childrearing 1st Grade

[Audreyvgs]

Teacher says he's behind in his dolch words. I have the list. Last night was the conference, today i was goin over words. There are 200 of em he needs to read on sight, I thought he was doin ok..

any tricks i should know?

Sometimes on his stuff, i think he's just pretending that he doesnt know,or is just brain dead. I can't remember bein brain dead like this, its like he is mentally worn out. Teacher says he's very intelligent, that's not the problem. We do homework as soon as he gets off the bus and has a snack. That seems to be his least tired time.

she told me he was behind, that montessori hadn't taught him as much as he needed to be in first grade, and i was horrified.

They just switched to this kind of phonics this year, and i guess the curriculum has accelerated vastly. Keeerist.

Wow, I hate the thought that i need to keep pounding him with stuff the whole time he is in my sight.... even reading to him now before he goes to bed has to be some kind of lesson, with him sight reading and sounding new ones out, I liked it better when I just read it to him and he fell asleep. This puts me in some sort of new role, and I am uncomfortable. Where is the happy medium? gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

On these dolch words, spelling starts in Oct. They're just workin on sight now. He has no concept of whats comin. gaaaaaaa

[Audreyvgs]

First thing i thought of was puttin the words on post it notes and paste em all down the hallway, he can take them off when he recognizes them.

Luckily i faux finished the hallway and varnished it, so it wont hurt the paint!

[ally]

urmm, what are these words? sorry, no idea!

[trisherina]

The Walter the Farting Dog books and Captain Underpants books are pretty appealing to boys (and boyish girls). The cooler the book, the better the motivation to figure out what it says.

Lame as it sounds, labeling stuff round the house that he relates to (you know, like they do in the Barney playhouse) might help him connect the printed word to the thing or concept.

[ally]

what are dolch words??

[trisherina]

dolch list

[Audreyvgs]

Thanks, I even had to ask, myself, cause i'd never heard of it either...it all the words they need to know on sight, its the most common words, so they can read a book right off.

[sparticle]

Why do they call it that?

[Audreyvgs]

that one is beyond me. It's a dorky word.

kids are fvcking boring

[ally]

what eh huh? i don't get it, why are these words called that? why 'sight' words?? the best way to remember things like that is by encouraging him to write stories which will include these words & just by doing that they'll sink in pretty fast.

ed to add: obviously very short stories with you there to help him. the one thing i've always thought was bad about american & certain other cultures is that they push kids too much, these are words that he'll pick up eventually, big thumbs down to the school for forcing things on kids when they're not ready.

[joppa.gal]

The Walter the Farting Dog books and Captain Underpants

Great Idea. When I was a kid, I thought reading was so cool I was an antisocialite. But then I was homeschooled, so I was kinda alter-normal.

I would make ways to make reading super-fun. Read everything in sight that has words, food labels, bollboards you drive by, so he connects the symbols with the intelligent meaning and doesn't just 'memorize a list'.

But then I'm not a parent by any means and I am not thinking of achieving a specific goal in a certain time frame- I'm kind of looking at opening his mind to the world of language symbols in the environment. I believe if he achieves a working knowledge of the symbols and not just an applied 'list' where it is very regimented it would all make more sense to him.

I encourage you to open his world up to much more than a 'list' but also the world of language symbols on the street and grocery store, etc. TV even. Take the extra second and sound out a word on a cereal box.

That way when he comes back to the dreaded 'list' it'll be more of a relaxation, because he will have has the excersize of seing words in action all day. It's okay if they don't sink in and stick right away (My opinion.) If your child gets good grades and he is working hard, that means school is not challenging him.


Can you tell I'm going for my teaching certificate?

[Audreyvgs]

Originally posted by fodder
kids are fvcking boring

No, but I know who is!

[sparticle]

Originally posted by Audreyvgs
that one is beyond me. It's a dorky word.

Ain't it? It sounds slimy or something.

I like the new avatar, BTW.

[ally]

Originally posted by Audreyvgs
No, but I know who is!

couldn't have put it better myself!



anyway, maybe try putting the subtitles on dvd's that you watch, even cut out the sound on films he knows well.