DonPotter.net Blend Phonics

[christielee7278]

Any thoughts?

We are slowly working through the ETC A, B, C books. Would Blend Phonics work well ETC? It looks pretty straightforward.

Do you print it all off?

Thanks!!

[ElizabethB]

Yes, it will work well with ETC. All well designed phonics programs work well together.

It is very simple and straightforward. It's also very efficient, it teaches a lot in not much space.

You are supposed to teach it from a white board. I would print it off, but you don't have to.

I use it and the Blend Phonics Reader for my remedial students, along with Webster's Speller and my phonics lessons.

If you want something they can read from, I'd print out the Blend Phonics Reader and use that instead, the print is bigger.

My daughter enjoys working from a white board, and especially enjoyed it last year in K.

I would do some spelling from it, as well. Both Don and I do mainly oral spelling from the words with our students. At first, words they've already read, then work up to words they haven't read yet.

[christielee7278]

Thank you!! I've been on your website several times, and checked out the Webster speller. I really LOVE the Webster speller too and plan on using it too.

This is our first year to homeschool so my oldest who is an excellent reader was taught phonics in school. I've read to him and with him since he was a baby, but didn't *teach* him to read. Phonics is the one area I'm terrified of messing up! My boys LOVE being read to, even the baby who hands me books all the time. lol I'm hoping their love of books and my complete willingness to do whatever it takes will create three more excellent readers. =)

Thanks for your help!!

[christielee7278]

I didn't think to use it for spelling too. Thanks for that idea as well!!

[ElizabethB]

You're welcome!

Phonics is actually very easy to teach, they had to work hard to find ways to mess it up.

Young girls 16 years old used to teach it and the rest of the R's to a wide age range in one room schools with no failures when they taught with Webster's Speller. I met a 94 year old woman who taught in a one-room school, she said she never had a child who didn't learn to read! She also didn't think teaching in a one-room school was difficult at all, or remarkable in the least. She said her brothers did difficult things--all 4 of them were in "The War" and 2 of them died in "The War." (That's what she called it, and with that emphasis, "The War.")

As long as you get them to sound out every sound from left to right (simply explained in Blend Phonics and Word Mastery on Don Potters page), don't teach more than a few sight words (here's how: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html) and teach all the sounds they need to know to read any word except a few crazy exceptions like hors doeuvres (I can't even spell it!) or a few other French words, you'll do fine.

PP, OPG, and Webster's Speller all teach all the phonics a person needs to know. Blend Phonics doesn't, but it's a nice program and a great start, and it teaches enough for most students, but you should teach a few more sound-spelling correspondences to be sure.

I believe in phonetic spelling through at least 3rd grade for phonics review, and at least a second year of phonics, even if it's only a few words or concepts a day for review. With a child that had trouble, I'd review through at least 6th grade but as long as it took if I had to.

Students in one-room schools got to see phonics taught for reading and spelling every year, that was probably a good thing.

I actually find it easier to teach reading than potty training. Our daughter was reading and spelling 3 letter words before she was potty trained. We just got our son potty trained this week, he turns four next month. He can spell a few 3 letter words and knows all his letter names and sounds. He's running around hyped up now from sugar bribery. We only bribe for potty training. (So far! Never say never, but we're not fans of bribery normally.)

[Lovedtodeath]

We used Lauri letters and scrabble tiles instead of a whiteboard.

[christielee7278]

Thank you!! That makes me feel much, much better! lol My mom tells me all the time that I'm worrying for nothing. My sisters and I who all went to ps knew how to read a few words before kindie because she worked with us on phonics. She keeps saying it's easy. She even still has our old phonics books from kindergarten that I keep meaning to get from her.

Which do you recommend more, PP or OPG?

Thank you so much for the encouragement!!

[JudoMom]

Thank you!! That makes me feel much, much better! lol My mom tells me all the time that I'm worrying for nothing. My sisters and I who all went to ps knew how to read a few words before kindie because she worked with us on phonics. She keeps saying it's easy. She even still has our old phonics books from kindergarten that I keep meaning to get from her.

Which do you recommend more, PP or OPG?

Thank you so much for the encouragement!!

You might want to check and see if your library has them so you can try them out. They are laid out quite differently. I liked PP, but had a friend who liked OPGTR.

[Lovedtodeath]

I only like OG based programs. If you want my true preference. Alphaphonics is good. We are using OPG and it works very well if you use a whiteboard or what not. DD got to 3rd grade level with the Accelerated Achievement Demo disk. The only thing to watch for is moving too slowly, teaching blends as phonograms, using too many whole words but claiming to be phonics, and ending blends. If it doesn't have those, it should work very well.

If you are starting early, and buying something instead of trying to reuse or get by with borrowing to save money, the OG program in my sig is my #1 choice.

Sensational Strategies for Teaching Beginning Readers™ (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=9&intProductID=77)
or less expensive:
http://orton-gillingham.com/Photos/Recipe%20for%20Reading-TN_17719081.jpg (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=18) Recipe for Reading (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=18) http://orton-gillingham.com/Photos/Recipe%20for%20Reading%20workbooks-TN_42719083.jpg (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=22) Recipe for Reading Workbooks (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=22)

[jg_puppy]

the OG program in my sig is my #1 choice.

Sensational Strategies for Teaching Beginning Readers™ (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=9&intProductID=77)
or less expensive:
http://orton-gillingham.com/Photos/Recipe%20for%20Reading-TN_17719081.jpg (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=18) Recipe for Reading (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=18) http://orton-gillingham.com/Photos/Recipe%20for%20Reading%20workbooks-TN_42719083.jpg (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=22) Recipe for Reading Workbooks (http://orton-gillingham.com/frmShoppingCatalog.aspx?intCategoryID=4&intProductID=22)

Is there any place where I could see a sample page?

Jan

[Lovedtodeath]

http://www.orton-gillingham.org/

http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/mag30.html

There is more information here. I have not been able to find samples. I think I am going to bug them about it.

[christielee7278]

http://www.orton-gillingham.org/

http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/mag30.html

There is more information here. I have not been able to find samples. I think I am going to bug them about it.

Do you care to tell me the difference between this type program and others?

[jg_puppy]

I found several at epsbooks.com. I didn't realize they were published by the same makers of ETC.

Jan

[Lovedtodeath]

http://epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?seriesonly=200M

Aha! But the samples here are meant to be used by someone with training. The Sensational Strategies program is written for parents without OG training. I just emailed them asking for samples.

[ElizabethB]

Which do you recommend more, PP or OPG?

Thank you so much for the encouragement!!

You're welcome!

I've used PP with several students and they have all liked it and done well with it. Several homeschooling friends have used OPG with multiple children and done well with it, and I've looked through it and liked what and how it teaches.

PP has larger print so you can teach out of the book easier with a young child, and its instructions are simple and straightforward, but not overly detailed. I teach from a whiteboard for a young or attention challenged student, but for older students I teach from a book and the large print is nice. This year, when I do PP with my daughter, we work from the book.

OPG has smaller print but more detailed instructions geared towards day by day plans for a homeschooler.

[jg_puppy]

May I ask another question? I don't mean to be taking over this thread so if I need to start a new thread then I will.

My son just turned 6. He knows all of his letter names and almost all of his letter sounds. (He struggles with speech so some of them are not that he doesn't know the sound, but that he can't produce the sound correctly.) Well I printed out blended phonics. I have read it and watched the video. I tried it just to see if I could even get him to read the first word maybe two words. It didn't work well. He can easily tell me the individual letter sounds, but he doesn't have a clue how to blend even two letters together. Like ba . He has no idea. The only way he got it was by me finally saying the correct sound. We have worked on ba before so this is not the first time that he has worked on this combination.

Does anyone have ideas of what we should do? On an interesting note my son did tell me this morning that if he knew how to spell then he could be able to read. He is so much harder to figure out than his sister. I am considering OPGTR, SWR, or the OG program mentioned earlier in this thread.

Jan

[ElizabethB]

Does anyone have ideas of what we should do? On an interesting note my son did tell me this morning that if he knew how to spell then he could be able to read. He is so much harder to figure out than his sister. I am considering OPGTR, SWR, or the OG program mentioned earlier in this thread.

Jan

You could teach reading through spelling. Webster's Speller was used very heavy on the spelling end when it was taught in the late 1700's and early 1800's, and there are a few programs that teach reading through spelling. You could use any program and teach it through spelling, but it might be easier to use a program designed for that.

[Lovedtodeath]

Orton-Gillingham and Spalding (Writing Road to Reading) are known for teaching reading through spelling. I am PMing you.

[Lovedtodeath]

From what I understand, WRTR is designed for someone with training, like the OG materials on the EPS site. http://www.ourfathershouse.biz/shops...ml/page16.html

This was just brought to my attention. It looks to be based on WRTR but written for homeschoolers like the sensational beginnings program.

[jg_puppy]

From what I understand, WRTR is designed for someone with training, like the OG materials on the EPS site. http://www.ourfathershouse.biz/shops...ml/page16.html

This was just brought to my attention. It looks to be based on WRTR but written for homeschoolers like the sensational beginnings program.

That link doesn't seem to be working for me. What is the name of the program?

Jan

[Lovedtodeath]

sound beginnings (http://www.ourfathershouse.biz/shopsite_sc/store/html/page16.html)

It looks very similar in basic design to sensational strategies, but not as colorful or multisensory.

[Lovedtodeath]

Letter from Orton-Gillingham.com It looks like Sensational Strategies is for only grades K-1st if you are teaching at a normal pace. I was under the impression that it was complete. I hope this additional information helps. I cannot see any attachments, I will have to see if something is wrong with my email account. My mom tried to send pics that I did not get the other day.

Carmen,

I would really recommend the teacher resource, "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children", by Marilyn Adams. This book is a curriculum for improving pre-literacy skills. Specifically targeting phonemic awareness, this program helps young children learn to distinguish the individual sounds that make up words and their meanings. Teachers can choose from a range of activities to use with the whole class or individually, from simple listening games to more advanced sound manipulation exercises such as rhyming, alliteration, and segmentation. This book has everything teachers need:

• Teaching objectives
• Lesson plans
• Activity adaptations
• Suggested kindergarten and first grade schedules
• Informal large group screening tests

You can start with the kit, "Sensational Strategies for Beginning Readers", as soon as your child has some knowledge of phonemic awareness and letter recognition. I started using this kit with my daughter at age 3. This kit addresses the first 31 sounds of the English language, which is the foundation in which everything else is built on. Children should have mastery reading and spelling with these first 31 sounds before moving on to more advanced concepts. After your child has mastered these sounds we recommend the book, "Recipe for Reading", by Nina Traub. This book will provide you the sequence for introducing new sounds beyond those first 31. It also provides you with phonemic awareness and multi-sensory activities, as well as, words and sentences for dictation. With this resource and an additional card pack, you can continue all the multi-sensory drills and strategies you learned from the kit with more advanced concepts. After all the skills are learned in "Recipe for Reading", we recommend the series "How to Teach Spelling" by Laura Rudginsky.

I know that The Writing Road to Reading is a multi-sensory-based reading program founded by Romalda Spaulding. The Orton-Gillingham methodology is also, a multi-sensory-based reading and spelling method. It was founded by Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham. The Institute's program focuses on using the methodology with all types of students (special needs and regular ed.), in all types of settings (one-on-one, small group and whole classroom). I am not sure when the Spaulding method was created, but Orton-Gillingham has been around since the 1930's.

I will attach some samples from these books I've mentioned. Also, I am not sure if anyone would be interested in training, but I highly recommend it. I will send you some information regarding our 30-Hour Comprehensive Training in a separate email.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Helen Brandon
IMSE Teacher Trainer
1-800-646-9788

At 11:02 PM 2/21/2009, you wrote:

I belong to an extensive online home-schooling community. We have been interested in your program and I have been suggesting it to home-schoolers starting out with phonics, but we would all like to see samples. One person bought this program on my recommendation and was dissapointed, saying that it was "too young" for her children. My son is 2 and I would like to know a recommended start age with some of the multisensory materials. I would love to see samples posted online, or alternatively, at least emailed to me. Do you think you could do something to help us?

Thank you,

Carmen +++++Hello again. I wanted to add that many more home-schoolers are familiar with The Writing Road to Reading and would like to know how your program differs. From what I understand, the Orton-Gillingham method came first and Spalding changed it or added to it, but we do not know how the methods are specifically different, and that is the question that I see posed most often. Thank you so much for any insight you can give me into your program.

[Lovedtodeath]

Letter from Orton-Gillingham.com It looks like Sensational Strategies is for only grades K-1st if you are teaching at a normal pace. I was under the impression that it was complete. I hope this additional information helps. I cannot see any attachments, I will have to see if something is wrong with my email account. My mom tried to send pics that I did not get the other day.

Carmen,

I would really recommend the teacher resource, "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children", by Marilyn Adams. This book is a curriculum for improving pre-literacy skills. Specifically targeting phonemic awareness, this program helps young children learn to distinguish the individual sounds that make up words and their meanings. Teachers can choose from a range of activities to use with the whole class or individually, from simple listening games to more advanced sound manipulation exercises such as rhyming, alliteration, and segmentation. This book has everything teachers need:

• Teaching objectives
• Lesson plans
• Activity adaptations
• Suggested kindergarten and first grade schedules
• Informal large group screening tests

You can start with the kit, "Sensational Strategies for Beginning Readers", as soon as your child has some knowledge of phonemic awareness and letter recognition. I started using this kit with my daughter at age 3. This kit addresses the first 31 sounds of the English language, which is the foundation in which everything else is built on. Children should have mastery reading and spelling with these first 31 sounds before moving on to more advanced concepts. After your child has mastered these sounds we recommend the book, "Recipe for Reading", by Nina Traub. This book will provide you the sequence for introducing new sounds beyond those first 31. It also provides you with phonemic awareness and multi-sensory activities, as well as, words and sentences for dictation. With this resource and an additional card pack, you can continue all the multi-sensory drills and strategies you learned from the kit with more advanced concepts. After all the skills are learned in "Recipe for Reading", we recommend the series "How to Teach Spelling" by Laura Rudginsky.

I know that The Writing Road to Reading is a multi-sensory-based reading program founded by Romalda Spaulding. The Orton-Gillingham methodology is also, a multi-sensory-based reading and spelling method. It was founded by Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham. The Institute's program focuses on using the methodology with all types of students (special needs and regular ed.), in all types of settings (one-on-one, small group and whole classroom). I am not sure when the Spaulding method was created, but Orton-Gillingham has been around since the 1930's.

I will attach some samples from these books I've mentioned. Also, I am not sure if anyone would be interested in training, but I highly recommend it. I will send you some information regarding our 30-Hour Comprehensive Training in a separate email.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Helen Brandon
IMSE Teacher Trainer
1-800-646-9788

At 11:02 PM 2/21/2009, you wrote:

I belong to an extensive online home-schooling community. We have been interested in your program and I have been suggesting it to home-schoolers starting out with phonics, but we would all like to see samples. One person bought this program on my recommendation and was dissapointed, saying that it was "too young" for her children. My son is 2 and I would like to know a recommended start age with some of the multisensory materials. I would love to see samples posted online, or alternatively, at least emailed to me. Do you think you could do something to help us?

Thank you,

Carmen +++++Hello again. I wanted to add that many more home-schoolers are familiar with The Writing Road to Reading and would like to know how your program differs. From what I understand, the Orton-Gillingham method came first and Spalding changed it or added to it, but we do not know how the methods are specifically different, and that is the question that I see posed most often. Thank you so much for any insight you can give me into your program.

[Lovedtodeath]

I found several at epsbooks.com. I didn't realize they were published by the same makers of ETC.

Jan

I don't see the samples. Could you find a link for me?

[jg_puppy]

I didn't find any samples of Sensational Beginnings. I did find some samples of Recipe for Reading which you mentioned in the same post. http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?subject=62S&subjectdesc=Intervention&series=491M

I also watch the video on the OG website. Do you have any idea what program(s) are being used in the video. http://www.orton-gillingham.com/Promotion/Promotion6.htm

Jan

[jg_puppy]

Thank you for posting the letter from Orton-Gillingham.com. It does help clear up my confusion about the order of the programs.

Jan

[Lovedtodeath]

It looks like the video is following the OG manual and training with materials found in The Sensational Beginnings program and the Recipe for Reading program. I did not know there were flashcards with blends. I hate that! lol

I don't want to start and stop with different things while second guessing myself like I did with DD, so that is why I was planning on this for DS. I love OG based spelling programs, but wow if I get everything they recommend for reading that is a pretty penny! I think I will do a library and used book search.