Is 1st grade too young for the emerging readers?

[Emilylou]

My DS turned 6 in July. Last year we finished 100 easy lesson to teach your child to read. He can read but doesn't really seem to be getting how to "sound" things out. He seems to be reading by memorizing the words. He is the kid who knew all his letters and sounds by 2. So I decided to put him in 1st grade ABEKA LA's to really drill sounds, letters and the rules into him.
I also started him on the emerging readers- the easier bible. He can read it OK but REALLY doesn't like it. and isn't sounding words just guessing at them. since starting the reading he has been giving me a hard time every day when we are doing school. This is new- he usually a very eager student.
My question- Should I just put the emerging readers away for a while or until next year, let him have a year to get strong LA/Phonics skills under his belt. Let him read the ABEKA readers (yuck) and simpler books from the library?
Thanks for any help.

[water2wine]

I don't know the answer but is he not sounding out the words no matter what you give him or just this one book? I am just wondering if 100 lessons did not prepare him enough for the level in that he is not able to look at words on that reading level and sound them out or if he is able to do it with lower level books, like maybe I can read 1 books? Maybe he just needs more practice before you go to the emerging readers? I have 100 lessons but have never used it to be absolutely honest. Looking at it where it has them end I would think if he could read the lessons there and was not recognizing all words by sight but sounding out it looks like he should be able to do the emerging readers.

I will tell you that my dd with special needs struggles with the first book in the beginning and for that reason did not like it because it made her work. By the time she finished it she loved it. On the other side of the equation I have one that started peaking at it and trying to read it before she was finished with The Reading Lesson.

Hope you get some answers. I am not familiar with the 100 lessons method to know if it is teaching by sight or not. But it does look like it teaches somewhat different than the Reading Lesson does. I am just wondering if that is the difference?

[jenntracy]

i have an almost 6yr old(October) He finished 100 easy lessons end of July. We have been practicing reading the early readers at the library. i feel like he is just a little bit below The Beginners Bible (that is what we have and like) . i wanted him to feel confident in reading, not frustrated.

We started out reading some of Margaret Hillert's Beginner Reader books from the library.

Now we have moved on to the "red" and "green" labeled early reader books at the library. some of the "red" labeled ones are two easy and that is why we are doing some "green". With the "green" labeled we don't necessarily read the whole book. They are usually broken up in different stories or chapters so we just read til he is tired of reading. Henry and Mudge series is one we just started reading. My son seems to enjoy those. Eventually we will do some in Nate the Great series.

I am using LHFHG this year (2nd half) for Kindergarten. Really my son is advanced in the math and reading areas, but if i had to put a grade on it for "school" i have said Kindergarten. It will be November or maybe January ( we will take off from school from Thanksgiving til New Year) when we start the Emerging Reader.

Hope this helps.

Jenn D.

[my3sons]

The Emerging Reader's Set is scheduled to be used with either Beyond Little Hearts or Bigger Hearts. Sometimes it can be used earlier if a child is comfortably reading picture books at the level of Amelia Bedelia or Frog and Toad quite easily. Phonics can really be done for around 1-3 years - it just depends on the child. Since your ds is having a tough time reading the first book in the Emerging Reader's series, is not sounding out words and relying on site words, and is feeling frustrated in general with reading, I'd consider doing another year of phonics with a different program. Something like The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy that HOD carries would work well. I think it is so important not to rush through phonics. If a child needs a few years of phonics, it is so worth doing. Even dc that need 3 years of phonics can really take off at that point and be extremely strong readers, so just because dc may need more phonics, that does not mean they are going to have difficulty reading in the future. When it clicks, it clicks, and every child seems to be on a different "clicker" for phonics. If doing another year or even a half year of phonics is not appealing, you could spend some time having ds read BOB books and level 1 reader books. But, I still like the idea of one more year of phonics - you could even do just another 6 months of phonics, get The Reading Lesson, and double up on lessons each day to fill in any gaps. You'll know best what to do, but reading is soooo important - I wouldn't rush to get the The Emerging Readers if more phonics are needed. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Happy2bMommyof3]

I used 100 EZ lessons with my ds and finished at lesson 80 when she was about 5 1/2. I noticed she was daydreaming alot during the lesson and I couldn't get her to focus. I found out that it was because she was bored. I tried her on the Bob Books and then we went on to the Dick and Jane readers. The Bob books are great because they start out so simple that it really builds their confidence which I think is half of the struggle in the beginning. Last Year for 1st grade we did Rod and Staff Pathway Readers (First Steps and Days Go By) and this year we are with HOD and doing the emerging readers. She is whizzing through them. I agree with the earlier post that reading is so important that you don't want to push them so that they become frustrated. I think that it is better to go slowly and build their confidence so they can really develop that love of reading.

[Shimmer]

Don't know if this how helpful this is, but we're using 100 Easy with my oldest along with Learning Language Arts Through Literature the blue 1st grade level. We started using them together around Lesson 32 in 100 Easy. I liked that LLATL has readers as part of the program and the complexity of the readers has a nice progression. The beginning ones are sooo basic, but it's great that she could read the beginner readers easily. I'm really enjoying using them together. LLATL is pricey though.

[Emilylou]

Thank you for all the advice. I agree I have been pushing him to much. I have put away the Emerging Readers, and giving him ABEKA early readers and some Level 1 and 2 readers from the library.
He seems much happier and I am hoping to built up his confidence before moving to harder readers. HOD offers so many great choices of books, I guess I was to anxious to get to them.

Thanks for the help and encouragement. I love this board~

[Tree House Academy]

It sounds like he is not ready for Emerging Readers then. My ds will be 6 in a week and he is doing the emerging readers, but he has a really strong foundation in Phonics and he does a great job sounding out words. The fact that it is very frustrating for your son tells me that he needs either a different approach or he is just not ready. It isn't age based, it is more for phonics. I would start back at scratch with phonics - we use Explode the Code, so I would use Book 1 and start all over. Go as fast as he can go - skip what he does already know - and go from there.

My older son learned to read by sight words in PS. We are STILL working on phonics with him and he is 10. It is so important to get the sight word reading mentality broken when they are little rather than waiting until they are older.

[Emilylou]

My older son learned to read by sight words in PS. We are STILL working on phonics with him and he is 10. It is so important to get the sight word reading mentality broken when they are little rather than waiting until they are older.

This what happened to me and I still can't sound words out! I learned to read and spell my memory. I think that is why I was able to catch it with him quickly.

[Busymomma1]

I agree with your decision to slow down. My dd completed 100 EZ lessons before age 5, but then wasn't really interested in really reading on her own for 6 months. Then, at about age 5 1/3, we got simple readers from the library, with 1 sentence a page. It seems to me we did this for a very short time, then she started reading Cat in the Hat type books within a few months, and zipped on to chapter books on her own. From easy readers to chapter books happened in 6 months! But I think the key really was WAITING those few months after completing 100EZ and then getting her going with material that was easier than the final lessons in the book. So, she started off with easy readers, built confidence and zipped along. We did Emerging Readers her K year, and this was AFTER she could read chapter books (she's a Sept b-day, and we didn't start K until she just turned 6). We did Emerging Readers at a point when they were "just right" for her... not too hard, sometimes easy, just right. So I think you are right in waiting until it is a little easier. It'll build confidence! I'm needing to do this with my son (age 6), who isn't so quick to learn to read as his sister. I think he's more typical. But... slow and confident is better than me pushing him and frustrating him.

Be blessed!

[crlacey]

We finished 100 Easy Lessons at the end of K. DD had just turned 6. Now in 1st grade, she is not having any problems with the Early Readers Bible. So for us, it was a good match. But we had also been doing some ETC books (she's now on book 6), so maybe that helped her some. We found a series of readers at the library she loves (Piggie and Elephant), she will pick these up to read on her own when she's bored! But there was a point in time when she "hit a wall" and we could not move past it, so we stopped and did a bunch of review. Then one day, she was able to move on. I've heard that it's common to hit that wall.

[Tree House Academy]

My little fella loves Mercy Watson (and I admit it, they are pretty darn cute!).

[abby]

My little girl did the emerging readers pack last year as a first grader and we had wonderful success! I think it just depends on where your little one is at. We had finished Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons the previous summer and she did well with it. To start out it was quite a bit for her to read so when we began with the Bible I read 1 page she read a page and it transitioned us nicely into her reading it all on her own. We also read a little bit everyday(except Sunday) which allowed her to read less each day and to allow her the daily consistency, which helped alot. Hope this helps.