First Grade reading troubles....

[rjreese]

I am the mother of a first grader (7 years old) and he was having great difficulty reading. I began to get very worried last summer becasue I knew what the schools expect and I knew that he was not where he should be. I searched the internet and found www.easyreadsystem.com. It was amazing. He worked the program everyday for about 7 months and is doing great now. I can't believe the difference in his reading skills. It actually teaches phonics with use of symbols over the words. He was able to teach himself that certain words only have certain sounds. He also learned that certain words can not be sounded out letter by letter but by groups of letters..example: diagraphs. His teacher has noticed a great improvement in his reading and his readiness in class. When you can read, it makes the world a different place. You can try easyread on a trial basis to see if you like it.....it is well worth it!!!

[Kidncop]

Wow, interesting system. It seems that they have done their homework. Of course, is it really needed for an entire years worth of information in a matter of months? Would it be better to analyze why the child is having difficulty and find books that are cheaper and work just as well? The book "All For Jade : The Big Book of Nouns She Sees" isn't nearly $715 as this program is, but it uses the system taught in kindergarten and has a few 1st grader words in it. Also, it has key word pages that a parent could find if the child is reading the words or looking at the pictures. I know that there are jumble books (a lot of pictures and words together) and systems like this that want to "re-teach" children, but there are other solutions.
www.danielcswart.com

[Pegh]

These sound like great ideas but don't forget the importance of keeping up with reading over the summer months. My first daughter had trouble reading but didn't read over the summer and her skills fell when she went back to school. After that I made sure to enroll in all summer reading programs I could find. Your local library usually has a program offering prizes for every hour spent reading. Several theaters are also offering special free showing of movies for a book report (usually only a sentence or two) to encourage reading. These make the kids more interested in keeping up with the books over the summer.