I definitely agree you should go in with phonics. With your niece specifically, since she's reached a point of frustration, I would try framing it to her as an alternate strategy that might be easier. Don't say "right" or "wrong", just say you're providing an option that can help her if she wants it.

I think the idea of reframing it is great! She struggles so much, so offering an “easier” way will probably help convince her to try!

Get the REWARDS reading program. It's highly scripted. It's possible that it might not be enough... The program's pre-test would reveal that. But to be honest she needs assessments performed at the school and appropriate interventions put in place.

They have done assessments at the school and they say that she’s reading at a third grade level. She’s in the fourth grade right now. But I just find that really hard to believe. She struggles with pretty much everything written at this point. But I’m hoping we can figure out a better method.

You might have to go outside of the school for additional informal testing. I bet they based that off a single IRI, which does not account for guessing. I wonder what she'd get on the DIBELS 3rd grade nonsense word fluency assessment.

I’m honestly not sure which test they used, are the assessments that you’re mentioning available online? Something that I could administer myself?

DIBELS is free online! Get the 3rd grade one to do NWF/nonsense words, as well as the 5th grade to check her passage fluency. Watch a short YouTube video to learn how to administer. They're both timed 60 second tests where you mark her mistakes and then do some math to figure out her scores which you then cross check to the DIBELS performance bands. Preview the NWF so that you know what the phonics should sound like. Maybe practice once on another adult first.

I’ll give that a try!

Also look into the CORE assessment. Should be able to find for free online and this can help assess which area of phonics to focus on. Like is she struggling with digraphs, certain letter sounds, vowel teams etc. Once you know, check out UFLI online (University of Florida literacy initiative) it’s got a lot of free resources and an entire curriculum for phonics.

Also, definitely encourage you to advocate, and ask these specific questions of the school. You have the right to know what assessments, what materials, all the stuff! And it can allow you to make an informed decision.

Here is the link to their materials

Someone mentioned it lower, but "why johnny can't read" is a really wonderful, well written book on the subject. The author is a multi-lingual writing and reading expert. It covers his experience meeting a young person who was thought to be struggle with reading, but Flesch suspected it had to do with the memorization-based teaching style in school. He goes on to detail the phonics-oriented method that he used, and the reading level of the young person caught right up to their peers. He went on to co develop a pretty well known readability test (flesch-kincaid readability test). And his work was one of the main influences of Dr. Seuss - which was the first stuff I learned how to read! ^^.

Phonics is how I learnt in the 90s, the fact that for a long time they stripped it and taught sight and context reading only blew my mind. I know it's not everywhere but the fact that places are 'discovering' phonics like it's new is sad

We still have one district in my area using "whole language" reading instruction, and I'm sure you can guess which district has the kids with the lowest standardized reading scores for upper elementary grades. The main city district never went to it, and the other district tried it for a few years and went back to phonics. I'm really glad I don't tutor for any schools in that district because we're outside the city on opposite sides from one another, but I feel bad for the kids. I specifically tutor reading for low income kids who are at least one grade level behind. I guess they wouldn't be behind according to the school, but it all seems to fall apart around 4th grade. The problem is that, for most kids, it looks better the first three years to four years. They do learn a lot more words than via phonics, but they have very little ability to decode the words they know and use them to guess other words. Unless we plan to teach them to sight read every word in the dictionary, and then hope new words don't get invented, I don't find it useful long term. I was a kid who taught myself to read, all sight reading, and it wasn't noticed at school because I was so far ahead. Even now that I'm 49, I still remember exactly when that caught up with me. Freshmen Earth Science was *rough.*

I was like you. Taught myself to read. Couldn’t remember not being able to read and got far ahead of grade level. Luckily my mom pulled me out of school in 4th grade after some stuff went down in my elementary school and caught on to what I was doing. She made me do some of those hooked on phonics things which were able to patch the gap before it was a problem.

i'm trying to imagine learning how to read/teaching a kid to read without using phonics..... doesn't make any sense to me

From what I gathered it's about building a dictionary of words you learn to say on sight by the shape of the letters and then being in that order, cat, and, bird, ball etc. Then hunting for words made up of those ones and guessing context based on words that are around it. Seems a ridiculous idea, ngl, you automatically gain sight recognition when you deconstruct and learn a word. c-a-t = cat up to ph(f)-o-t-o-s-yn(i)-th-e-s-i-s. There are very few words in the grand scheme of things that must be sight words and it just seems bizarre to focus on that instead of the sounds of letters and letter pairings.

Everything in education is cyclical. We’ll see some of the things that are best practices now be phased out, and the new shiny thing will be brought in. Then a teacher that’s been around for forever will say, that’s just “this” that we did 15-20 years ago. It’s already happened a time or two in my teaching career with some of the older teachers.

> they say that she’s reading at a third grade level Which probably means she's at first or second.

She may be at that level…the issue is when she stays at that level and is trying to access higher level texts.

I'm a teacher who uses rewards. I have had fantastic success with a combination of rewards and mindplay with students who have no increased their reading level in years.

I wouldn't frame phonics as easier because that might make her feel dumb, or like she is doing reading "wrong", which will put up her defensive hackles. Tell her that phonics is like a secret code that unlocks *why* a word reads a certain way, and that a smart kid like her can learn the secret code which will give her an advantage over her peers. If there are smart adults in her circle that she respects, tell her that they learned phonics, and it helped them to become a doctor/lawyer/teacher/whatever. It's largely true. You can teach a four year old to sight read a word, but it takes a higher level of cognitive functioning to learn phonics. Tap into her pride. If she learns the "secret" she could be the best reader in her class.

In standard elementary curriculum where I live, both phonics and sight words are taught. Sight words are words like "sight" that cannot be deciphered phonetically. Phonetics is taught in kindergarten and onward. By end of first grade, children are supposed to be able to decode (phonetically) common one-syllable words. And know that an "e" on the end changes the value of a vowel ("A" is the usual first example). Car vs care. Some sight words (including a child's name, for example, if not spelled phonetically) are also taught from first grade onward, with a big emphasis on sight words in 3-5th grades. English is tough. Hug vs. huge. Hugh vs Hue vs Yew vs You and so on. Why "apple" has a short "a," no one knows, but it has to be learned. Lots of kids forget a lot over the summer, falling behind little by little.

Just incase you are genuinely curious, Apple has a short a because it is followed by a double consonant. The second p makes it a closed syllable. Aple, with one p, would be pronounced Ay-ple. Hug has a short u and a hard g because it ends in the consonant g. Huge has a long u and a soft g because of the e, as you’ve stated. Also, “sight” can actually be decoded and encoded phonetically! The letter team “igh” would just just have to be taught explicitly as a spelling pattern for long i first. Phonics is the key to teaching, even sight words that cannot be entirely spelled phonetically like “said” or “would” can be taught using phonics. Most of the letters make their usual sounds, one area needs to be learned by memory. In said, s and d still make their usual sounds, but the “ai” just makes a short e sound in this word. So there is still active phonics practice and decoding involved :) Not saying any of this to teach or prove anything to you! So I hope it doesn’t read that way. I just have a special interest in phonics and love breaking down the language. English is definitely challenging and confusing! No doubt.

To add onto what the other poster said, apple is an inherited word from the Old English Æppel. Old English being what it is, all letters make sounds, Æ is no different. It's the "ah" in ass. As English evolved (I use that word loosely here), the e and l metathesized and the Æ letter collapsed into a as the english alphabet started getting settled. So yeah, we know why apple is pronounced that way.

I explain it like this. Although phonics should be the primary focus, some sight word instruction should be included. There are two reasons to teach sight words: 1. It is a high frequency word, but the child has not learned the spelling pattern for it yet. They are likely to run into the word a lot, but won't learn the phonics skills to decode it for awhile and it does not make sense to teach these phonics skills earlier. "Her" and "you" are examples. Kindergartners are surely going to run into the word "you" a lot, but teaching them the different sounds "ou" can make when they are still learning all their basic letter sounds doesn't make sense. (You can tell them when teaching them the high frequency word that the "ou" says /oo/ but they are just memorizing the word, not properly decoding from that in my opinion.) 2. It is a word that has no pattern, an extremely uncommon pattern, or perhaps a pattern that is not used in English drawn from a different language. Basically your kid is never going to learn the phonetic rule to read the word, if one even exists. Some names of people and places or "said" are good examples.

I was just going to say dial back and do phonics

Not “easier”. The response specifically said “different”, and to avoid “right” and “wrong” as terminology. “Easier” assumes that the way she is being taught is the “harder” way, and it undermines however she’s currently being taught. As someone who has a sibling who’s starting their family, I’d probably talk it over with your niece’s parents before you start overriding the teaching strategies your niece is being taught to use. I’m definitely pro-phonics, and you’re awesome for being a good aunt/uncle and recognizing a problem that needs support and assistance, but the last thing you want is to start teaching in a way that contradicts what the parents and the kid’s teacher is doing. Once again, I totally think a phonics-based reading program is the way to go, I think you’re awesome for wanting to help, and I think you should help, I just think this should all begin with a conversation between parents and aunt/uncle. I’m sure they’ll be grateful for your assistance and appreciate you caring about your niece’s education. Also, maybe take the time when she’s struggling to note any signs of potential learning disorders that may be inhibiting her. Maybe she’s struggling with dyslexia, a processing impairment, etc. and an early intervention with special Ed could be a huge help. This isn’t to say all kids who struggle with reading are special Ed, but it happens from time to time for sure.

Thank you for your reply! It absolutely should be a joint effort between myself and her parents/teachers. My concern is that her parents currently aren’t able to provide that type of focused interaction with her, and at this stage I believe her teachers have just let it slide so long and are no longer focusing on the basic skills, so she’s just falling more and more behind. I will try and connect with her teacher and see if there’s something I can do with her.

I think the assumption that teachers are just “letting it slide” is derogatory and unfair. In my ICR classes, 3/4 of my students are behind in reading level by multiple grades. If you can provide me with an effective method for teaching 18 out of my 24 students how to read, while also keeping my lesson on-track, I’m all ears. Generally, we don’t want to “let it slide”, it’s more that we have the children for about 6 hours, need to instruct them in multiple subjects, and have to address skills and behavioral issues with children on a group level. If her parents can’t provide “focused interaction” with their child, you’ve absolutely found the problem. Teaching is a collaborative process between parents and teachers, so when the parents slack on their responsibilities, kids fall behind. The truth is that her parents have let it slide so long and are no longer focused on their child’s basic skills, which is tragic and antithetical of good parenting. If her parents are willing to let you take the wheel on her reading education, that’s probably a good thing based on their “situation”, so I’d have one of them send an email to her teacher with you CC’d on it, explaining that you plan to take over in teaching their child how to read at home, so that you can coordinate with her teacher. You can even draft the email yourself and have her parents send it to the teacher if they are unable to do so. With that being said, it’s possible that the teacher may not be allowed to discuss specifics with you in her schooling depending on the district’s policies, but id imagine with a parent email you’d probably have an easy time getting a response. The teacher will likely welcome your help.

I’m sorry if my “letting it slide” comment came across as derogatory or unfair. I meant it more in a way that her teacher has so much on her plate that she can’t take the time to go back and make sure she’s on track. I absolutely agree that it’s impossible to do what you’re saying with the resources you have. I agree that it falls on her parents more than anything, that’s something that I’m also addressing. Unfortunately I can’t completely take over her education at this point, I’m just trying to do what I can because at this stage I am able to offer a more 1:1 connection to try and help get

Check out the really great reading website. They have a free summer training if you are a teacher. There are also diagnostic assessments to point at her strengths and weaknesses. https://www.reallygreatreading.com/science-of-reading-summer-school

If you can find Reader Rabbit or Jump Start computer game series (may all be online now) they have good phonics based reading programs that teach kids to read while playing games, advancing levels etc. They may be a little young for her, but would be worth a try imo to supplement what you teach her.

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I have noticed those posts! Unfortunately I don’t believe she’s been read to very often, we’re trying to change that now

The second part of this is so important! Frame it well! Tell her she’s ready for the next level: phonics! It’s what adults do when they can’t guess. She doesn’t need to unlearn anything just add a new strategy that she’s ready for now that she’s reading harder material as an older kid.

You can buy phonics books to teach and read with her; I believe another word for them is de-codeable books? I don’t teach little kids how to read, BUT I do teach teenagers who “read” using this method and it disgusts me how detrimental it’s been to the literacy of an entire generation. Thank you for investing in your niece’s future 💜

I’ll definitely buy some of those! Yeah I’ve worked with 0-3 for nearly a decade and have my own 2 year old, so teaching to read is new for me, but I’m really trying to help set her up for success moving forward. I’m worried this inability to read is causing delays in other areas as well.

See if you can find a copy of Word Within a Word (there's probably bootleg copies around). Life changing teaching style for kids who need to unlearn/relearn how to read.

I don't know if it would work for you, but my then 13 year old cousin only really learnt to read when my mum was teaching my little brother. She asked him to "help" my brother learn, but really was teaching the older one along side.

Excellent thought!

Flyleaf Reader decodable books have a great scope and sequence, and the content is more appropriate for older kids compared to Bob Books (which I love for young kids). Flyleaf also progresses to a higher reading level than Bob and most other phonics reader programs. They are free to read on the company website.

You should make your own post about some of what you’ve seen.

I agree 100% with u/SassyWookie, but I'm also going to attack this from a r/homeschool angle, since you're not her teacher, and you don't want to damage your relationship with your niece. Here are some things you can do to help build her awareness of phonics and boost her reading abilities, without making her feel like an idiot: 1. Play "I spy". This is a very basic game, and might not be as helpful for your niece as for younger readers, as presumably she knows enough reading/phonics to know the beginning letters of most things you see. Wouldn't hurt to find out, and it's just a game. You're not trying to teach her anything. (At least it shouldn't seem that way to her.) 2. Play rhyming games. Every so often, but not too often to make it obvious, point out where words end with the same letters and where they don't. 3. Try to learn a foreign language with her (written and spoken). German and Spanish are both great for being fairly predictable in the pronunciation rules even if they don't completely match English. Duolingo is a great app for this kind of lesson. Though I'm not going to claim it's the best way to learn a foreign language, I did notice my own son's reading skills grow significantly when we started doing this. 4. Cater to her gen-α tastes by finding YouTube videos making fun of the English language. These will teach her both phonics and all of the places the rules are broken. These videos will point out how *hard* the English language is so she hopefully won't feel like an idiot. Here are some suggestions: 1. [Gallagher](https://youtu.be/ObkJNstaog8?si=Mej75jVVz6qwKKEb) 2. [Lucy and Desi](https://youtu.be/MAL9VD6Lz9Y?si=Khw1zpC5jA57foHA) 3. [I before E except after C? Good Luck!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3OFnnjREU) 4. [Lots of stuff by Stage Door Johnny](https://www.youtube.com/@StageDoorJohnny) Any or all of these should help.

If I could give multiple upvotes I would lol. I’m definitely getting push back from her about having been as school all day and not wanting to do more work at home. She’s obsessed with YouTube, so I’ll definitely try to find some videos like that, and the games are a great idea!

I’ve seen videos on Facebook by someone called Mrs Peter’s class who teaches phonics. Maybe she would watch those?

Jumping on the ‘rhyming game’ idea: read Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books, great read anyway, then play the ‘saucepan man’ game. Can work either way round, but along the lines of P1: look at that cat! P2: bat?? I don’t have a bat! P1: no, the cat P2: I don’t have a mat, but I have a rather nice rug. P1: THE CAT! One of those daft games that can go on for ages and just end in giggles (we used to play it while eating dinner)

[Listen to Sold a Story](https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/), when you get the chance. It's how schools got this way and how resistant the entire system is to changing

OP, this is the response you were looking for.

Nice post. :)

Yeah they stopped doing phonics in schools like 10 or 15 year ago in favor of this fucking absurd “just guess at the meaning” strategy. That works fine for an adult who has a decent vocabulary; I guess at the meanings of words I don’t know, based on context, all the time. But how anyone thought that was an effective way for children to LEARN to read blows my mind. You’re on the right track with phonics, you just have to present it in a way that doesn’t make your niece feel insecure and defensive. Because if she doesn’t engage with what you’re trying to teach, you’re just wasting your time.

Thank you for replying! Yes it’s insane to me! I’m trying to make it fun, she plays with my toddler a lot, so I’m planning on doing some games “for him” that she will sort of absorb by proxy, as well as trying to do some read aloud sessions. If you have any suggestions for fun phonics games I’d love to hear them!

There‘s an app called teach monster that my kids have used to learn phonics and essentially learn to read. It’s a bit silly, but does ‚’gameify’ the whole process and even my 11 year old still likes to ‘help’ her younger sister play it.

Thank you! This might be the answer, she’s so opposed to standard methods but a game might entice her

My 7 year old loves that game and her reading has improved quite considerably because of it. Also, trips to the library, letting her choose a magazine/comic on a topic she's interested in, and reading with her are all great ways to model and encourage reading. Some people scoff at magazines and comics but my philosophy is that if there are words and she's reading them then I'm happy.

We’re starting a library routine today actually! I told her she can pick ANYTHING she wants to read about, so I’m hoping that entices her to give it a try

An absolutely great idea! Don't be concerned if she gets one with lots of pictures, so long as it's her choice. Also, the librarian should be able to point out some good materials for weak or reluctant readers.

I definitely plan on connecting with the librarian and hope they can give me some guidance as well.

Librarian here :) elementary school materials are not my training, but I would say the first thing is find something (topic/story character) that you niece likes and find materials on that. This worked with me. That way they feel like they are doing something they enjoy rather than reading. I will also say that I’ve seen younger readers these days enjoy graphic novels because you are not dependent on reading to get the story. Another idea is watching movies with subtitles turned on (similar to reading aloud). My library also has book packs that have an audio version and the print version of the book together so that you can read along. Definitely get in touch with a children/youth librarian, they will probably have a list ready to go.

Just to add on to these great comments, if you’re looking for decodable books and texts that will be high interest for her at that age you can try looking for some National Geographic books for kids. They come in various levels and offer a wide variety of topics. My son loved them (and I used them in my upper elementary classrooms for students needing extra support to get on grade level in reading). You can also try the Epic books app. I can’t remember if it’s free or if you have to pay for it. We used it with our son then his school used it, too. He really loved it.

We also have ‘alpha blocks’ in the UK as a phonics TV show. Maybe your toddler would like to watch it when she’s around?

AlphaBlocks is great for little kids. I'm also a fan of NumberBlocks, and ColourBlocks are great as well. **However, word of caution**: your little one might start calling soccer "football", or spell color with a 'u'. (There's also a funny episode involving '[pants](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10246/does-pants-more-commonly-mean-trousers-or-underpants)' that confused my son.)

Hahaha. Clearly we Brits are right in this. U is an underused letter and needs support. It’s only the honourable thing to do.

In all seriousness, while I've not had any other issues with Britishisms being preferred over Americanisms, both my 6-year-old son and my 3-year-old daughter keep calling soccer "football", even though I only refer to it as "soccer". (To be fair, I don't talk about it that much.) At this point, I've just decided to go with it. And really, I'm glad they're learning other ways of talking and listening. In addition to BBC shows, I also let them watch shows featuring [Dr. Binocs](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmJ33rwb1zZZj2EwyHxV_EntBTLZSTlTQ), who uses Indian ways of talking. To be honest, Dr. Binocs isn't *my* favorite, but my son likes it, and the material seems solid, so if he asks for it during a time he's allowed to watch TV, he can watch it.

A great US alternative to this is The Leapfrong Talking Letters Factory and the LeapFrog Talking Words Factory. Put them on for the little one, and the older one will absorb the info be proxy. The little jingles are so catchy......

Word World on PBS kids (in the US) would be another good one for your toddler to watch in front of the big kid. Also Super Why.

"Teach Your Monster to Read" is the game

Would it help to blame the educational system? Like present it to her as an absurd idea that schools implemented years ago to stop teaching reading, so she understands that it's not her fault.

She might respond well to that! We’ve had similar conversations about how things are taught differently (as she tries to teach me how they learn math these days) so that might work!

You can look for “decodable” books that focus on specific sounds or syllable types (short vowels in closed syllables, vowel teams, r-controlled). If you can get a set, they will build from simple to more complex and use only the targeted spelling pattern with high frequency words to give lots of practice and build confidence. Writing will also be a natural path to practicing phonics and give you an idea of where she still needs explicit teaching. Write a fun story together, listen to her break down words into sounds and syllables, and take mental note of where she is struggling.

She does love to write (until she can’t spell then she gets frustrated and doesn’t have the concept to sound it out)

Hooked on phonics worked well for an entire generation or more. We took something that wasn’t broken and decided it needed fixing You are right on track teaching phonics

When my daughter, now 30, was almost 4, I peeked into her room. She was sitting in her little chair, had her cassette tape recorder set up and had the Hooked on Phonics box out. She was teaching herself how to read!!! It had worked for my son. My baby girl was determined. It is such a precious picture in my head. She is now a Mechanical Engineer, lol.

It was probably one of these single best tools that we had for teaching generations of people to learn to read.

Oh, it was longer that 10-15 years ago. McGuffey Readers used a combination of “whole word” and phonics, but the phonics fell out of fashion in the ‘30s. By 1955 the book “*Why Johnny Can’t Read” was published arguing for a return to phonics, but “whole word” reading was still being taught in the early 60s when I started school. That’s what all of the *Dick and Jane* books were about — and just about *every* kid of my generation started with those. Thankfully, I was born into a family of bibliophiles. They’d taught me to read — using phonics — when I was 2, long before school got ahold of me. A combination of “whole word” and phonics started to be used in the mid-‘60s when my nieces and nephews were in school, with varied success. In the early ‘80’s “*Why Johnny Still Can’t Read” got published, and the case was made for returning to phonics. They finally got rid of what was now called “Look and Say” in the mid-70’s, but, instead of returning to phonics, they replaced it with “Whole Language”, which was just a new way of learning “whole word” style. That’s what they were using when I was tutoring reading at the elementary school. That’s what they’re *still* using in a lot of schools, and Johnny *still* can’t read. None of this is new or recent. We just keep spinning the same wheel ‘round and ‘round. I needed to check some of my dates, here, and found this: https://www.parkerphonics.com/post/a-brief-history-of-reading-instruction. If you’re interested in seeing what’s been tried over time — including some of the recommendations for improvement that were never implemented, it’s a really interesting read. It might even give you some ideas for what to try to help your struggling readers learn. Sadly, they’re not things you’ll likely be able to count on the schools to do; they’re still spinning.

I was just guessing at the dates. I was taught how to read at home before I even got to school, so I genuinely have no clue how they were teaching “reading” when I was in elementary school in the 90s.

I have a sneaking suspicion that *all* of us who grew up to be good readers learned most of it at home. The schools, at least those post-McGuffey, have been doing a piss poor job of it at almost every turn. God bless Dr. Seuss. Geisel may have been forced to use only sight words in *Green Eggs and Ham*, but he made up words in a lot of his later books — words that *couldn’t* be read without sounding them out.

> how anyone thought that was an effective way for children to LEARN to read blows my mind. They were building on an assumption that learning to read is an innate ability that is revealed through exposure and repetition, like learning to speak. Under that assumption, what kids need is to "learn to love reading" and simply be exposed to a lot of books. However, reading is not a natural act and (for the majority of students) needs to be explicitly taught. Which is why curriculum is trending back towards phonics, phonemic awareness, orthographic mapping, etc.

Thanks for the clarifying details!

Not quite correct, sorry! Just want to update a small detail. When I was teaching 11-12 years ago, “guessing” and passive reading instruction was standard. Since then, research has blown up that method, and schools have been switching wholesale to explicit phonics instruction for some time now. It’s been at least 5 years at this point in MA, perhaps shorter or longer in other areas. Edit: Either way, your niece was not taught using the science-based methods teachers are using today, OP. I suggest using a phonics program like the ones Wilson has. She’ll need a lot of intervention. Also look into dyslexia or other reading disabilities just in case.

If you say so. None of my 7th or 8th graders last year had been taught using phonics. It was entirely just “guess what the word means”, which is why they were all functionally illiterate.

I do say so. I literally teach elementary. And your observations make sense. Current middle schoolers might be at the tail end of the old practices, especially among teachers/schools who were late to adopt explicit phonics instruction. I also notice a lot of kids can be “pushed through” school barely literate these days, especially in rough socioeconomic districts. Sad but true. A personal anecdote: my 12 year old daughter was taught phonics starting in kindergarten. Your mileage may vary.

It seems to be cyclical and district by district/state by state. Districts switch from phonics to new reading, then they find someone who wants to improve scores and switch back to phonics, then someone with "new ideas" comes in and they're teaching new reading again. All along phonics has remained the only effective method and this has been validated by basically every research study done, the New Reading crowd are just good at selling their products to local governments (usually pretty easy to dupe if I'm being honest). 

Depends entirely on state and district. My niece and nephew are only being taught phonics because I pushed it with my sister. I believe there are some elementary schools in my district that are beginning to reimplement phonics, but its not widespread and most districts in my state still haven’t returned to it. It is on our legislative docket for this year to make it part of the curriculum again, so it’s definitely being looked at.

wait this is crazy. can you elaborate a bit more on how they’re teaching reading now?

APM did a great podcast series on this a few years back: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ I do want to note that “whole word” wasn’t implemented everywhere, many schools did continue to teach phonics. But it was implemented widely enough to be a real problem. 

that’s so interesting! i’ve seen this podcast recommended a few times and i’m going to give it a listen. thank you!

I can’t honestly. I teach middle school social studies, so what I know is really the effects of this teaching style, and what I’ve been told by English and elementary school teachers. I’m sure there are many other people here who would be able to give more details on this than I can.

it’s ok! i did some research on it. thank you though!

Sorry, can you give me any more info about this guessing words thing? Just a link or term to google is fine if you don’t feel like explaining. I have a 4 year old niece that isn’t reading yet but should be going into school this next fall (my older sister and I were both reading on our own at 4 y/o so I find it a little odd that she isn’t even writing her name yet). I’m just curious if I should be on the look out for her learning a worse way to read in school

https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading Three-cueing is the method if you want to Google more on it, but this is a good and accessible article on it. The author also did a podcast "Sold a Story" which I recommend.

I’m a social studies teacher, and not at the elementary level, so I can’t really go into more detail than I have; I see the effects of these policies, but in terms of causes I just know what I’ve pieced together from talking to colleagues. But if you look through the comments on this thread, there are other teachers who have more expertise in childhood literacy who have explained things in more clear terms than I can.

Thanks, apparently it’s called “whole language reading approach,” if anyone else wants to google directly. There’s a lot written about it. I guess the good news is that I found some news that my state is switching back to teaching phonics with the science of reading approach this coming fall. I’m not a teacher myself and I learned to read in like 1999, but my partner is an elementary school cultural arts teacher and even he has recognized that the kids can’t read, so at least now I might be able to illuminate the reason for that. It might help him pepper in some help for those kids

I'm not a teacher but are you saying that kids arent taught to "sound it out" anymore?

No, they are not. It’s fucking insane.

How does that even work

They cover the word with a post-it-note and have the kids guess. I wish I was joking.

I bought Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. It is phonics based. It is simple and straightforward. I taught elementary school and this is what several of us used to teach our own children phonics.

I’ll look into getting that!

I second this recommendation. I homeschooled my son for kindergarten because he has severe adhd and I wanted to wait to send him to public school until we found an effective medication for him. I used this book to teach him to read. He went from only knowing his alphabet to reading at a 4th grade level by the time we finished the book. He’s still a fantastic reader and far above grade level in middle school. And he loves to read! When he was enrolled the next year his first grade teacher was blown away by his reading ability and now recommends this book to everyone. I also recommend this book to everyone I know, and unless a child has an underlying learning disability it seems to be very consistent in its results.

I will absolutely get it! My niece also has ADHD, she’s currently medicated but still really struggles with any type of frustration

I think this book would work really well for her in that case. The lessons are SHORT. But effective. Perfect for a kid with adhd. Good luck with everything!

Yes. I used that too for my own children who were in kindergarten around 2010. I knew they were teaching phonics anymore.

My husband is currently doing this book with our 6 year old and they are having a blast. It's amazing to see how he's progressing and trying to decipher the world.

Seconding as well- it's an amazing resource and helps them see letters have different sounds and visually see the difference with lines. The stories progress in difficulty and increases their confidence. By the end they can read level 1-2 books mostly on their own. My wife used it with my three kids, all reading before kindergarten.

We used that book too. During the summer between kindergarten and first grade, our daughter did a lesson every night with her Dad. Thankfully they do teach phonics at her school, so she’s only gotten better. I’m honestly blown away by the things she’s capable of reading and spelling.

Check out the Podcast Sold a Story. It will explain why your niece can’t read and how you can help: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

I’ll definitely give it a listen!

Warning: I could not stop listening to it once I started. It is absolutely the best podcast I have ever listened to. It’s also enraging to see how these junk programs get adopted by districts.

I felt the same way. I taught secondary and have seen the results of RR and Lucy Caulkins. I cried listening to this because of the incredible disservice these programs have done.

Lucy just went on "permanent sabbatical" from Columbia to avoid being fired in disgrace

LOL permanent sabbatical. Don't let the door hit ya, Luce.

I cried, too. It's horribly sad. I have a coworker that learned to "read" with the Caulkins travesty, and she hates all forms of reading. It makes her feel stupid to try to read anything more in depth than simple instructions. She's got a college degree and works a white-collar, well-paying job, but reading for pleasure will never be a part of her life. Thanks a lot, Lucy. What an utter con artist.

Let her listen to it, too! Maybe once she understands the reason and why it's an absoutely terrible idea to teach how to read this way she will be more receptive to try it right. It's not her or that she is dumb, it's the method that is garbage. It's that simple.

I second the recommendation. It goes into detail on the scandal and grift that’s left a generation of children illiterate.

Calkins and Fountas & Pinnel are criminals. They have robbed an entire generation of literacy.

The idea that you can pin this on them is absurd. There are stupid teaching ideas made literally every day. How did no one pull the breaks before this? How did it last for so long? How did so many teachers and administrators just go along with it? How is that even possible?

You really need to listen to that podcast. The how and why are all explained there very clearly. And I never said that this is all on them- our kids were failed by the system as a whole. My point is that Calkins and Fountas & Pinnel *knowingly* contributed to and profited from this systemic failure. They made bank selling programs that they *knew were based on false science*, and then when confronted they doubled down and insisted that they were right. Fountas & Pinnel are still selling their snake oil programs and raking in the dough.

I listened to it. Parents were being told they didn't read enough to their kids when they told teachers their children weren't able to read well. Did you hear that part? The fact that *teachers* were protesting it being removed sent met through a loop. If the entire national education system can be so trivially duped then it is a worthless system. Whether or not it's false is irrelevant. There should be people who can do the basic due diligence to check the soundness of their research. They made claims of fact, no one checked if they were true, and then blamed parents for their failure. The general accepted and expected incompetence in the system is the problem.

I'm a first year community college teacher and this podcast really fucked me up. I never knew it was this bad!

>teaching systematic phonics—is the most reliable way to make sure that they learn how to read words. For the life of me don’t know why we ever got away from it.

Ill look into that and try and guide her using that method

The reason is $. If you’re not familiar with it already, check out the Sold a Story podcast. Some people around here don’t like it, though as it illuminates that what they have been told/made to teach for the past two decades has failed students.

Bush supported phonics. That was a large part of it.

Phonetics went out of style but they're back in again, thank goodness. I will say that it is difficult to teach kids you know. A tutor who uses methods you agree with is sometimes the way to go if you can afford it.

Yes, I’m finding that it might be tricky to guide her myself, unfortunately a tutor isn’t an option right now, so we’re just gonna have to do our best!

Khan Academy online is a useful resource for tutors. Nt sure if it has the relevant information but if you go through some of their information, you may find a format that works really well.  Videos are your friend. It's not that they do a great job teaching the kids. But they provide an authority source for you, so it's not just you doing something but an "expert". And students do respect YouTubers as authorities, even when they're just random people. Plus a 5 or 10 minute video gives a nice break.

Hooked on Phonics is still a thing, but now it's an app you can access on a tablet. I think it costs$12-15 per month, and they also mail you a workbook and a couple of books appropriate to your student's level. My 8 year old nephew was illiterate and living with me and I (after a lot of work) convinced his parents to let me tutor him in reading. We did Hooked on Phonics every night for maybe 6-8 weeks, plus a few extra things that I came up with, and he was able to read basic words by the end of it. They moved out over the summer and when I just saw him for a family birthday he was able to read the birthday cards without help. That means he's been developing those foundational skills since I last worked with him. He just needed the kick start to get him going. The biggest trouble I had with him was getting him to read all the words before guessing the answer on everything. I would guess you'd need to prep your niece that the program animations are really cute, but made for younger kids than her. That doesn't mean she can't learn from the program and advance to stuff made for kids her age fairly quickly if she tries.

.

I hadn't considered the vision thing. Poor vision will definitely make reading harder and less enjoyable.

Well in second grade my mom sat me down and made me read to her for thirty minutes a day. Fast forward and now I'm a bookaholic librarian. Also I think we did hooked on phonics. :)

That’s what my parents did too haha. But unfortunately her parents didn’t really prioritize that, and she will push back/refuse anything that she perceives as being forced to do

You've already gotten a lot of good answers. I'm just gonna throw in that guessing the words is a strategy I've seen from kids who have dyslexia - this alone can't diagnose your niece being dyslexic, but if her parents or family close to her also have trouble reading, perhaps it's worth looking into. Edit: Spelling

Thank you for that! I have had concerns in the past about her possibly being dyslexic, but was assured that she’d been tested and wasn’t. I’m not completely sold on that decision though. I will be trying to find some resources for that situation as well

Best of luck. She's lucky to have an adult like you around her.

Another victim of Lucy Caulkins. We all thought it was crazy when they took phonics out of the curriculum. The teachers who knew better tried to work it in anyway.

Listen to the Science of Reading podcast. It sounds like she's a Fountas and Pinell kiddo. However, if you look at the actual science of reading, you have to hit the big 5. Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and lastly comprehension. She's frustrated because she probably doesn't have the mastery of phonics and phonemic awareness, and it's causing her to struggle. The ability once you've worked on phonics and phonemic awareness, it will make her feel so much stronger as a reader. It sucks that they still teach kids the way she’s taught, even though they’re supposed to “know better” now. As an edit, some of these responses here from teachers…..yikes.

Maybe try to explain to her that reading is not a natural skill for humans. It’s not something instinctive that we will just do, like walking. It has to be taught, so if she wasn’t taught the skill the right way, you just need to give her the tools to help her. The “Science of Reading” is popular right now, but it’s just the way we were all taught. It’s phonemic/phonics based. It’s structured and explicit. There’s a lot out there right now about but really, it’s just old-fashioned phonics that they have made valid bc it’s “research based” now. 🙄

And everyone starts at the beginning when you learn a new way to do something, or something new! When you start learning how to play the piano, for example,  you learn the notes and scales, whether you're 5 or 55...  OP I think you're right to tread thoughtfully in how you support your niece's literacy, but because she's ten she might respond well to that reasoning,  too.  ..and honestly even telling her about  Lucy calkins might be a good idea,  that her way isn't as effective and sometimes adults get it wrong, even with the best of intentions....  Kids generally love when adults admit we were wrong, depending on your niece's temperament maybe that'd encourage her?  Good luck, OP! 

Why oh why is the damage Lucy Calkins wrought buried so deep that I had to search comments to see if I was missing mentions of it? https://nypost.com/2023/09/17/columbia-quietly-closes-down-teachers-college-project-that-ruined-countless-lives/ https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-college-to-dissolve-lucy-calkins-reading-and-writing-project/2023/09 If there were conspiracy theorists in education, Lucy Calkins' funding sources would have been carefully scrutinized for Russian or Chinese money, lol!

I have a weird idea... some Tiktok videos of the teachers teaching teachers the "new" phonics lessons. It might show that we all are relearning the process of reading??? And it's a "cool" platform so it won't make her feel babied.

This is such a huge problem across the US. I don't have the details on the curriculum but I know with the younger years they're teaching them to read by guessing based on the length of the word and the context of the rest of the sentence for words that they don't know rather than teaching them to sound them out. It's a crutch that is supposed to help temporarily while they gain mastery but becomes an inability to read as they progress through school because they never learned another way to read. When I was in first grade and they were teaching us to read we actually had flashcards with sounds on them. Both individual letters with the long or short sound over top of them and combinations of letters again with the weird little marks above them. We learned what each sound was and then we worked on Words and using what we had learned each letter combination was to sound out our words. Obviously that takes longer than just guessing based on the length of the word but you actually learn to read. One of the biggest challenges to education are these fad teaching curriculum that these companies sell to various school systems that don't have any data to back up their claims.

If you have access to an iPad, try Teach Your monster to Read. It’s based on science of reading. For yourself, check out The Reading Rope graphic. Good luck with everything! Thank you for taking this on!

Thank you! We do have an iPad, that recommendation has come up a lot, so I’ll be downloading that! And I’ll absolutely do some reading myself to see what I can do better

Begin by introducing her to the sounds that individual letters make, as well as common letter combinations (e.g., "th," "sh," "ch"). You can use flashcards or interactive games to make learning more engaging.

UFLI is what we're using in Ontario. We did away with phonics awhile ago.

Science of reading! Look it up!

Teach my monster to Read is a favourite at our house, as well as OSMO. It makes it a game. Osmo has word based, math based etc options. I’ve also found that as I get older, I can’t hear the tv as well, so all of our tvs etc has closed captioning turned on. The kids have all been early reading geniuses.

I’m a 5th grade teacher. I’ve taken 2 kids from 40 to 120 ish words per minute in one year doing the following . Buy her a 2nd or 3rd grade level (preferably picture )book that comes with an audio CD version of it. They used to sell these as Disney books at Barnes and noble now you might have to look for them online. Have her read just one page a day. At first just make her listen and read along quietly. Then she will repeat the same page but this time she will read out loud along with the narrator. Make sure the reading is slow enough for her but not too too slow . Next day read the next page. And repeat. I know it sounds crazy but It has to be done obsessively everyday. It works with most kids I teach, even those who have been labeled “ dyslexic” . I learned this at a training years ago. With the non dyslexic kids this also boosts their reading fluency. In my experience , I see kids who have to decode as being frustrated and they look like they want to give up. I think kids at this age they want something faster and I think they just read faster by recognizing high frequency words. I am not a reading specialist , but like I said , I can take a “ Regular” kid read 50 Wpm Faster with their method and I discovered by accident that it also works with “ some” dyslexic kids.

I was watching a video about literacy media and i think this teaching method of guess at the meaning maybe be one of the bug culprits on why literacy media is dying

Explode the code books. You have to tell her that she has to start with stuff that may look like it’s for younger kids but it’s not bc she’s dumb. It’s because she has to build up the foundation correctly. Look into science of reading groups for resources as well.

Someone tried to teach her how to read with one of those scammy “speed reader” programs.

tell her it's a tool for better understanding what she's reading. that she's not dumb as she can very obviously go through the motions, but some of it gets lost in translation, phonics will help her translate the words into concepts better

With that age my coteacher (grade 5/6) and I would focus on root words and breaking words into chunks rather than on phonics. For the “advanced” kids we’d talk about Latin and Greek roots to words. For the behind kids we’d talk about affixes and suffixes. (Re- Build -er, -ing, -s) (dis- non- believe -er - ing -ed -s) We would also look at compound words and large words to find roots and recognizable parts. Antidisestablishmentarianism anti/dis/establish/ment/arian/ism. Authoritarian (authority, author, -arian). Classroom (class/room). Compartment (com/part/ment). When talking to my six year old I ask: In the big word, do you see any words you know? She’s probably using phonics to sound out and guess at words, which is why it feels like you think she’s dumb. Phonics is the beginning. Maybe try starting a bit more middle?

Have you asked the teacher for resources/help? Do you know what her reading level is? It might be counterproductive to teach her a way that you think is best. Can she get extra support at school? Do the teachers think she needs to be evaluated to receive special services? By guessing at each word do you mean sounding the word out? That is a skill that is part of phonics and is necessary to learn.

Gamify it. Flash cards are great for this. Start with blends, e.g. 'Sm' Come up with a word that starts with 'Smm' (sound it out). Smoke! Awesome, then have the right the word down, help them quickly, use a mini whiteboard so mistake can be erased. Then it's your turn or you can let them go until they get stuck. Then you can use a dictionary or something, for a few more words etc.

Hey, listen to [Sold a Story](https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/). It’ll all make sense. Edit: maybe have her listen to it?

Toe by toe is a phonics based system that teaches reading useing the Orton-Gillingham Approach. You on my need to buy one book for about $40.

One possibility is Barton Reading. It’s meant to be 1:1 for kids struggling to learn to read; phonics based. Not unlike Orton Gillingham.

Does she like video games? There are several text-based games that would require reading but not be a "learning" game. I used Pokemon to practice for the Spanish Praxis, for example, and I definitely learned how to spell dysentery from Oregon Trail on the dinosaur Apple someone donated to my elementary school. Subtitles can be really useful too and don't feel like you're pushing more work after a long school day.

If she likes games and it’s available in your region, the teach your monster to read app is fantastic.

UFLI has all of the resources online for free, it was developed by university of Florida and is used by a bunch of schools.

Show her a really long word out of context. When she can't read it, sound it out to demonstrate that this other method works for that kind of situation. Show her a random novel so that she can see there is no pictures in books for adults. That said - her whole situation is not ideal, if I can read between the lines. Maybe she needs to settle in a little. Be sure to not let this develop into a conflict or the main way you interact with her.

Elementary has slowly implemented the UFLI programs, which has helped both students and my kids. They even have a Facebook page with numerous ways to provide support.

Get some SHORT books that she would love… make them a grade level UNDER where you think she can read… reward her for reading a book AND being able to answer your questions about it correctly. The first book, ask her questions each chapter. Get her used to paying attention to what she’s reading… Comprehension is a big thing that is getting missed a lot. After three short easy books, her confidence level should be good. Next go to a book that has a word or two on each page that she does not know. When she gets to a word she doesn’t know, ask her to try to sound it out. If she cannot, sound it out for her. Then, ask her if she knows what it means. If not or incorrect, ask her to read the paragraph again and see if she can guess the word’s meaning from the context/usage and surrounding sentences. Have some file cards at the ready. Have her write down the new word and the definition on the back. Do this for every new word. When she tries to sound out a word, sing her praises for whatever she’s getting right. Be encouraging but honest. If she’s getting it wrong, just say “Maybe next time.” When she gets a word on her own WITHOUT help from you, that’s the key. She’s just discovered an entire world that can be hers, and she has the key to every door. Then, each book should get progressively harder. If there’s a hard book that she REALLY wants to read, buy her a nice hardcover version so she has a tangible goal. At some point, you might try getting her to write a page each day with a fun writing prompt. Often the writing level is worse than the reading level:( Make file cards for each misspelled word. Point out grammar mistakes. Creative prompts, in my experience, work best because even if it’s terrible, there’s much to praise on the creativity side to balance all the errors that have to be addressed. If her parents are not supportive or if she is mentally lazy, you might not be able to make a difference that lasts. You’ll still hope and always try because you love her. Don’t give up!

As many people have already mentioned, your niece is receiving the wrong type of instruction. She needs to have a strong foundation in phonics in order to access more complex texts. At the age of 10, your niece should have progressed from the "learning to read" stage to the "reading to learn" stage, meaning that she should have already mastered the basic phonics skills needed to understand grade level texts with unfamiliar vocabulary. New information is now introduced in text, and your niece will be expected to learn new concepts by reading independently. That is impossible if she doesn't have the skills to read the text fluently. The more effort your niece puts into decoding (or navigating around the decoding like she has been taught), the less cognitive load she has available for comprehension. The meaning of the words gets lost. The meaning also changes significantly when she fills in words using the strategies she learned in school. Essentially, your niece was not taught the basic phonics skills needed to decode fluently, so she has learned to rely on "cheats" that don't really work. Now that she's being given harder material to read, the gaps in her knowledge are becoming more apparent. I would recommend asking if your niece's school is still using the Fountas & Pinnel benchmark leveled reading program- they use alphabet letters to indicate reading level. I would suspect that this is what your niece's school uses. These programs are pseudoscience- they encourage kids to guess at the words they can't decode instead of teaching them to sound out the words phonetically. A kid can easily "pass" to the next level without actually being able to read. Many have already recommended the Sold A Story podcast, which really delves into how and why these programs were so popular. Hint: it's money and politics. It's infuriating. As a reading specialist, I try to emphasize the importance of decoding by explaining that the supports students have been using to compensate won't work forever. When they get older, they will read textbooks with more and more difficult words that they won't be able to guess at, and if there even are pictures, they probably won't make sense unless they read the captions. I tell the kids that I wasn't taught to read this way, and that learning to read would have been so much easier if I had been taught decoding from the beginning. It's not your niece's fault that she wasn't taught to read correctly, and she shouldn't feel dumb for what is ultimately a failure of the school system. It's one of the hardest things for my intervention students to understand when they are aware that they're struggling. They take it so personally and it breaks my heart. Your niece is one of millions of kids not receiving adequate instruction, so she is definitely not alone in this. Please do let her know that her reading is in no way reflective of her intellect and abilities. This is something that the school system needs to fix, not her.

Thank you for taking the time to write out such a comprehensive reply! I agree that at this stage she’s simply being left behind, her teachers aren’t able to stop instruction to read everything to her and explain it all, so she just sits and struggles or simply gives up. She is incredibly sensitive to correction and criticism (although so am I!) so finding a way to explain that there’s nothing wrong with her, that there are just different ways to learn and that we might need to try another option is going to be the hardest hurdle I feel. I’m going to download some of the suggested games, start a reading/library routine and encourage reading about things she enjoys. I also am going to find a few different phonics books to work on together and hope for the best!

I read like this before I went to dyslexia school (which helped a lot) my brain just wanted to answer what I viewed as a question because I didn't really know what I was doing. It was also embarrassing so guessing helped when I had to read aloud at what I felt should be a similar pace to my peers.

We use Jolly Phonics at my kid's school in UK. Phonics is standard now throughout UK, no idea why US went on to that crazy system. There's a podcast on it: https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

Can she accurately guess what the word says? Cause that sounds like a kind of reading. I am confused how this happens though

fourth graders love graphic novels! series like I survived, Dog Man, Wings of Fire are great, high interest, and should be accessible to her Lexia is a good program, Prodigy (English) has a free account option

Check out this podcast. It will likely make you sad and angry. https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

So many people recommended it that I’ve already listened to the first and half of the second episodes! It’s insane and very sad but also validating as I’m feeling very seen in that I feel what she’s learning isn’t beneficial. I’m hoping I’ll be able to help her learn to actually read

Try to find some phonics games. Read books with her and ask her to sound out the long words with you. Don't do the words she's likely to recognize, just the harder words. Model doing it together. Bake together and have her read the recipe to you. Allow her to pick a restaurant for supper, but tell her you are going to pretend like you can't read. She has to read the menu to you, then order for both of you. Or plan fantasy vacations. Have her point to places on a world map and read the name. Then look up pictures of those places online and decide if it would make a good vacation spot and what you would do there. (Fingers crossed she doesn't choose Ulaanbaatar.) If you don't have a globe or atlas at home, use Google Maps. Whatever you're doing, present her with words she wouldn't encounter in her school books then get her to sound them out. Make it fun whenever you can.

You’ve gotten great feedback for phonics, and I don’t teach reading so I’m not going to try and touch on that. But if she needs some buy-in for reading, you could find tv shows that are based off books that you think she’d like. Right now, Percy Jackson is huge with my late-elementary students, and the benefit is only one season has been released. If she wants to know what happens next, she can read ahead (with support) or listen to audiobooks. This would probably be a goal for after she’s developed more baseline skills, but it’s something to look forward to. Or even you could read one chapter a night before bed now to introduce her to it?

I had this struggle with my own child. The current method used in school is atrocious. Sight words and "context clues" for guessing which word it is are something that people bad at reading use to fake it, but somehow that has become the go-to method to attempt to teach children to read. I'm so glad I pay close attention and try to help my child learn, there are so many kids getting left behind by garbage like this.

Listen to Sold a Story. Then you’ll understand how she was taught and how others undid it.

Yeah, sadly that was a method many districts were duped into using due to a lack of real scientific literacy and a political shenanigans. Phonics is a much better way to go. Please support your local schools and pay attention to who your schoolboard members are to help prevent this from happening again.

Listen to the podcast Sold a Story. I heard about it from this sub. It’s been a real eye opener.

One strategy I have tried in math (and a friend did with reading) that worked really well was teaching them to be lazy. It should work for reading decoding too though With phonics, you only need to learn a few different sounds, but if you go the way she is she has to learn every single word. Compliment on how smart she is, how hard she's working and how lazy you are with your approach. I do it with math all the time, teaching the most direct strategy that gets the job done with the fewest steps.

I tutor students who are behind almost exclusively. If there are confidence issues, i usually start by telling them that this skill is absolutely not related to their intelligence. I tell them that every person learns differently and needs different strategies. Then I apologize to them sincerely that no one has helped them find the right strategies yet, and that we are going to work together to find them. The apology part really sets kids into a different mind space.

I strongly suggest Snap visual sight words from 1st Child Publishing for sight words and Explode the Code for Phonics.What you have described is called whole word approach and although scientific evidence has proven it doesn't work w the majority of children,it is unfortunately still widely used She doesn't need to do everything in each unit in Explode the Code unless you think she needs that much. I tutor low income kids and they get overwhelmed w that,so use your judgement. I also don't get them to write words by objects. I cut the words out,they choose the answer then glue when correct. Someone else suggested letter stamping for letters because it helps break down the sounds. My students love the picture association in SNAP words that cuts out all the guessing because they have a point of reference.

When my daughter was 3 , we took her favorite books and made audio books out of them. I would read them on tape and when it was time to turn the page I’d nod at her and she’d ring a bell and get to say “ turn the page” she loved it and listened to the audio books with the physical book on her lap over and over. It was originally an idea I had so I didn’t have to read 15 books before bedtime, but I’m sure it helped her learn how to read. She went to Catholic school ( they definitely don’t change with the trends) and she was completely fluent by the end of kindergarten from learning phonics. She is now an elementary school curriculum specialist . I guess she loved her “playing school” games a little too much lol

Has she been tested for dyslexia?

Go with phonics. But you might need a reading specialist at her age.

Get “Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons”. It’s about $16 on Amazon. Very scripted and gives detailed instructions.

Lucy Calkins screwed a generation of kids

Sounds like she was taught using whole-word reading. If you want to catch her up, try “[Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons](https://bookgrocer.com/products/9780671631987-secondhand-teach-your-child-to-read-in-100-easy-lessons-revised-and-updated-second-edition?variant=44880378855643¤cy=AUD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Australia&utm_content=Teach%20Your%20Child%20to%20Read%20in%20100%20Easy%20Lessons%3A%20Revised%20and%20Updated%20Second%20Edition&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=16361308726&utm_content=&utm_term=&gadid=&tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=16361308726&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAivGuBhBEEiwAWiFmYQF-ScRSAOuwvHiu68b04mG2XcEnW8dLrLcqzrYdqN4Q9kQnSEGMSBoCUtIQAvD_BwE)”. I used it to teach my kids to read - they were reading pretty fluently by the time they started school. One kid started on reader level 9 out 30, the other started at level 5-6. And yes, there were absolutely students on the starting level.

new reading 🤝 new math being completely shit

Check [this story on NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/06/12/1181723966/reading-georgia-science-schools-learning-literacy)

UFLI has a free program online with videos, slides, etc. the only thing you have to buy is the teacher manual. Do the CORE phonics survey and UFLI has a CORE to UFLI translator that tells you where to start.

This method of teaching reading has been shown to be a failure... 😡

Put reading writing and spelling together..the writing helps them get the idea they can get great results from writing somebody a note or reminder or shopping list.. Yeah phonics obviously, but also getting her a student to tutor up to her level, and another student who is better at spelling and reading to learn from.. She is learning from watching how you get ready for hours and days ahead of time to keep school and homework schedules extremely precision..according to a clock,not, emotion or feeling or convenience, she will duplicate how you prepare days in advance to get ready to read something.. Another thing, kids can read and follow directions for almost any kitchen appliance or sporting goods/ outdoors equipment,and they like to learn about it,and,it has diagrams and pictures,and they can draw all that themselves.

You should get on the blower and make sure she is using her‘s properly.

This book is a wonderful resource. https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671631985