I have agreed to tutor the Brown-Eyed Girl this summer. She had a difficult time in school the last quarter, and the teacher was concerned about what the consequences of passing her on to the next grade my be for Brown Eyes.
My sister sent a pile of papers to me and I am sitting here looking over one of them and am puzzled as to the method the reading teacher used with Brown Eyes. I have before me a list of words in order of frequency used. The teacher strongly encouraged the parents to work with the kids on these words over the summer so that they will have a leg up on third grade. (We’re talking about children going into second grade here.) What the heck??? I am trying to figure out which program I might use to organize them into some sort of logical order so that Brown Eyes can work smart. I was thinking a spreadsheet, but I don’t have a spreadsheet program on here anymore. It’s starting to look a whole lot like mental manual labor.
[rant]Every now and then, I see a bumper sticker that says, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” I am not technically a teacher, yet I have taught three kids to read. In California, as far as I know, it is illegal for parents who aren’t certified teachers, or who don’t have a certified teacher as their child’s tutor or overseer or whatever, to homeschool their children. Simply based on that, looking over Brown Eyes’ stuff, that makes me angry. What is the point of a certified teacher if the parent is going to end up teaching the child everything at home anyway? [/rant]
Guess I’d better get cracking. That word list is not going to rearrange itself.
July 2, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Are you familiar with Spelling Power? It’s a fairly expensive program (book, or book + CD ROM, around $60, I think), but it lasts through high school. It has worked really well with my kids. It’s kind of a cross between phonics and sight-based spelling. And, the methods they use to help kids remember the words works really, really well. And, it doesn’t take a ton of work each day — I always stopped at 20 minutes. (It says “only 15 minutes a day” but IME, that’s if the kid has a fantastic grasp on handwriting. Slower handwriting means more time spent.)
In the back is an appendix of all the words used in the book. You could start with the teacher’s list, then find which Spelling Power lists those words are on (which are generally grouped by a certain spelling rule or phonics sound)…
Hope that makes sense, and I hope that helps!!
July 3, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I’ve often wondered why children have sooooo much homework nowadays compared to my days in school, yet they don’t seem to be any more advanced. I wonder if kids would learn easier if they put their lessons in cartoon form on television after school?
July 3, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Karen, now that you mention it, I have Spelling Power. Great idea! It has been a long time since I’ve even looked at it. It has exactly the kind of lists I’m thinking of.
As I looked through Brown Eyes’ packet of papers, I did find her school spelling words list which was organized much better than the “”Dolch” 220 Basic Word” list. I can’t imagine why anyone would go about teaching new words in such a nonsensical way, but apparently it’s supplemental. Regardless, it’s not working smart. Why not kill several birds with one stone?
Dot, I think there are certain cartoons that are really well done, in that they are catchy, and the kids can’t help but learn from them. Sesame Street had one that goes through my head often.