Phonics and then what about sight words?

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 05, 2008 6:00 am

Does the Reading Lesson contain sight words? If not what do we do to teach them? R&S has sight words built into (via flash cards) their lessons, but they have been condemned for this despite the fact that they turn out tons of voracious readers. So if you don't teach sight reading along with phonics how do you do it and when? Or does RL cover this?
Thanks for any help!

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:37 am

I don't know about The Reading Lesson, because we did not use it. However, Reading Made Easy incorporates sight words later in their lessons. We built a 'sight word worm' that we added to several days each week. Also, I know Carrie incorporates some sight words into her spelling lists for each week, indicated with an asterisk placed beside each sight word on the list.

*have
*sight

Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable than me will come along to answer your question.

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:53 am

Thanks InHistiming,

I asked at the WTM board and the answer was yes, they do teach sight words in RL. This makes me happy. You see I just kept hearing (mostly from one person who hs ages ago) that if you use R&S reading/phonics with your child they will be doomed to never be able to read cuz dolch words are taught along with phonics. That just seems ridiculous to me as I know lots of very good readers (read much better than I do for sure) that used R&S. But I wondered if maybe there was something to the claim. Now I see that many programs teach dolch along with phonics, but they don't get the flack that R&S does for some reason. Thanks for your post as it makes me feel better that no matter which program I use that my dd will come away being able to read even with learning sight words with phonics.

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:00 pm

Hi Susie!

I'll pipe in with my .02 here....

I think R&S gets a bad rap. They do focus quite a bit more than most programs on sight words, but they also include a phonics program that seems to balance out their particular approach. I personally feel that some sight word recognition is beneficial to beginning readers to help them get over that hump of those "controlled" readers and begin to enjoy real books. They can learn the "whys" and "wherefores" of phonics/spelling rules as they mature and are able to comprehend that information. I haven't met a phonics/reading program yet that didn't include some sight words....the, a, is, of, etc......to be able to even make a first sentence!

I think it's important to teach programs that work for our kiddos, but equally important is finding a program that works for you as the teacher! So if R&S is what you enjoy and are comfortable with, you should use it based on that, not the opinion of someone else. Phonics/spelling rules will remain the same....it's the presentation that makes a difference! Phonics Pathways, 100ez lessons, First Reader, The Reading Lesson, Reading Made Easy,....the list goes on and on. Believe me when I say, they all teach the same thing....just in different styles. Think of it this way....do you prefer the styrofoam cup from Sonic or the waxy paper cup from McDonald's??

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:34 pm

Pass the styrofoam PLEASE!!!
LOL!

You are too much!!

You know I have LLATL Blue and R&S TE, and have looked at samples of RL. I was showing dd (20 yo) how each one of them were doing the same exact thing, but in a different angle.
~LLATL would have you lay cards on the table: one vowel and 3 or 4 consonants. The child is to move the cards around and make diff words.
~R&S had something like a rainbow shaped set of consonants with a line drawn from each letter to the one vowel so that you got ba, be, bi, bo, bu.
~RL was doing something to the effect of C_A_T.
~ABeka has blend ladders and so does MFW-K. Some blend like at, it, et, etc, where others go ba, be, bi.

But they are all going to the same place just taking different roads. I agree with you fully.

It was the sight word teaching that was stumping me cuz of this one person (and a few who follow her like she is the end of all knowledge,

) that had me wondering if I was missing something.

After reading the responses here and at the WTM I feel so much better!!! I don't fear that I will ruin my dd by making a bad choice.

Right now she is loving Starfall and wants to do it all the time!! She loves the Zigzag song and will watch it over and over. When she losses it she will ask, "Where's zigzag? Ohoh, gone gone."

When I put on a video and that pesky warning comes on she will sit there like she is reading and tell me, "Mama, I'm reading!"

It is too cute!

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:35 pm

I'm a Sonic girl too!! Love happy hour!

Ya know Susie....I bought the first one of their readers just to "test-drive" with my kiddos and I found the amount of sight words way too much for us personally, but you may find it to be just right for your sweet Hannah.
I am using LLATL blue level currently and the amount of sight words with that program are just right for us. My kids also really enjoy making words with the cards.
I also prefer the ba, be, bi, bo, bu method as opposed to the ab, at, am, an, ap method. We use Phonics Pathways for reinforcement, but I really like Phonics Pathways and wish we had just used this as our main reading program.
You've been at this long enough to know that it sometimes come down to personal choice, and it's very, very nice that Carrie while offering choices, leaves this up to us.

Tabitha · Post by **Tabitha** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:11 pm

I never did sight words specifically with my oldest. We worked on phonics and went right into reading with no issues. I did use 100 EZ Lessons after she was already reading, just to beef up her reading endurance.

I will be doing the same thing with my other children and only doing sight words as they appear in whatever HOD does.

I come from a different viewpoint on this, I think. My degree and background is in Sign Language Interpreting. With fingerspelling, you are taught to see the shape of the word...sorta like sight reading. Certain letters have certain shapes. From the overall shape of a letter, you can plug in what fits to know what word is being used. However, it all deals with context. From my experience with signing, if you relied solely on the shape of that word...you might fill in something that isn't in context. You are exposed to certain words at certain levels, and can easily pick the wrong thing.

So, just from that, I stayed away from strictly sight reading and don't strive to teach it. However, I do realize things like a, the, have etc. have their place.

If your child knows their phonics, I see no reason to specifically go out of your way to also teach sight reading.

I also think this varies heavily on learning styles. My teaching is just from my preferance to do what I do. I think a little of both is a nice balance, and each child can be different in this regard.

I don't see too many people thinking about the context of a sight word, plugging only what a person already knows into a recognized shape, and having it be the wrong choice. I have heard of that causing issues in reading with some children.

There seems no right or wrong, just doing what you feel is successful for you or what you are comfortable with.