Do-It-Yourself
Charlotte Mason Reading Lessons
by Jennifer Spead
http://joyfulshepherdess.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing by linking directly to my blog!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Post 1 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading. Stage 1, The Alphabet & Visualization page 2
Reading Post 2 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading: Stage 2, Word-Building (part 1 of 2) page 7
Reading Post 3 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading: Stage 2, Word Building & Phonics (part 2 of 2) page 12
Reading Post 6 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: "Reading At Sight" Lessons page 26
Charlotte Mason Reading Lessons: Post 7 of 7 - Reading by Sound page 31
All quotes by Charlotte Mason in this brief treatment are taken from her Home Education series, Volumes 1-6. In this informal conglomeration of my notes I have not taken time to quote them properly; if ever published formally, I will cite them better.
Post 1 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading. Stage 1, The Alphabet & Visualization
My dear children, being 7, 5, and 3 years old, are all in various stages of learning how to read and write! As I've taught them with various methods, I've discovered that Charlotte Mason's holistic method really is best. She combines phonetic work with using living books to make reading interesting and fun to children. However, her methods are not readily apparent to someone who is reading through her works quickly, since pieces of them are in various places. So I've decided to create a series of posts covering the various stages of the learning to read & write process, in hopes that they will help someone in addition to just me!
(Feel free to leave comments, especially if they shed further light on Charlotte Mason's methods or purposes behind what she was doing!)
STAGE 1: Learning the Alphabet
Charlotte Mason has a wonderful description of a child’s beginning stages of learning to read! Let’s break it apart phrase by phrase so we can catch all of her important points and nuances. (To read the whole paragraph, click here and scroll down a little to “The Alphabet,” page 201)
All Quotes taken from Charlotte Mason Homeschool Series Volume 1, pg 201 - 202
“The Alphabet.”––
When: - when a child is interested, often before age 2
“When should he begin? Whenever his box of letters begins to interest him. The baby of two will often be able to name half a dozen letters;”
~ Note: All of the activities in this first step could take a few years. No rushing! In fact, rushing could be very detrimental to what you are trying to accomplish.
- “There is no occasion to hurry the child”
Atmosphere: - as a Game ONLY
“and there is nothing against it so long as the finding and naming of letters is a game to him.”
Caution: - No pushing or showing your child off!!!
“But he must not be urged, required to show off, teased to find letters when his heart is set on other play”.
Goal: Child knowing both form (mental visualization) & sounds (phonetics) of all the letters, and connecting the two in his brain.
“if the alphabet be taught to the little student, his appreciation of both form and sound will be cultivated.”
How: 1 Letter at a time:
- “There is no occasion to hurry the child: let him learn one form (letter) at a time.”
FAQ: Does it HURT to start the child this early? No!
“Let the child alone, and he will learn the alphabet for himself: but few mothers can resist the pleasure of teaching it; and there is no reason why they should, for this kind of learning is no more than play to the child“
Steps of Learning the Alphabet:
1. Kinesthetic/ Visual Models of the ABCs:
- Obtain plastic refrigerator magnets for your child to play with, in both upper and lower case. (Leap frog has nice sets - Word Whammer contains lower case, while Fridge Phonics contains upper case.)
- “As for his letters, the child usually teaches himself. He has his box of ivory letters... big and little, and knows them both.”
2. Encourage association of each letter with the first sounds of words.
- “and picks out p for pudding, b for blackbird, h for horse, ”
- Key Point: This is part of Charlotte Mason's holistic view of learning to read. It is important to connect the letters to an aspect of language that the child recognizes. Favorite words will elicit an "I get that!" delighted response in the child when she realizes the sound this letter symbol makes is a linguistic part of her favorite things.
- Here is where those ABC books you received as shower gifts will come in handy! Or search your local library for a beautiful one. If you are a member of AmbleSide_Year0 yahoo group, you can access a beautiful printable Alphabet Book here.
- Do NOT confuse the primary sounds a letter makes with some words which start with letter blends called phonograms. For example, c says hard “k” and soft “s” sounds. Pick words which start with those sounds, such as cat and ceiling. Do NOT use a word that starts with a ch, like church. Ch is a separate phonogram, and needs to be taught by itself. (see note at the very end of this post on phonograms).
3. Learn both Name and Phonetic sound of each letter.
- "The baby of two will often be able to name half a dozen letters” (emphasis mine)
- “and picks out p for pudding, b for blackbird, h for horse,” (phonetic sounds)
- TIP: Focus primarily on the phonetic sounds, but make sure your child learns the names, too.
- For a listing of the phonetic sounds the letters of the alphabet make, see the beginning of this document from Don Potter’s website: The Alphabet Code and How it Works. The only thing missing in this article (at least for the 26 letters) - Y as a vowel makes the same sounds as I (and sometimes long E at the end of a word), and S can also make a Z sound at the end of a word. (Note: Don Potter has a lot of great resources, but please do not confuse his methods with Charlotte Mason’s. I do not believe she would have endorsed all of his suggestions, though many are good.)
- Ask your child, “What letter does your name start with? Juh Juh Juh John?” etc. Names of family members, favorite toys, & other items of special interest will catch your child’s attention and make fun play for him.
- Encourage your child to pick out, from among his letters, the letter that makes the appropriate sound for the word at hand. ("Can you pick out the letter that starts the word, 'Apple?' /a/, /a/, /a/?")
- Try to teach all of the sounds the letters can make. Some vowels make 3 different sounds! But remember, at this stage in the game we're sticking mostly to letters that begin words. Your child might not be ready for letters in the middle or end of words yet.
4. Begin "handwriting" lessons!
A. Timing: Note that handwriting in sand is recommended by Charlotte Mason as a game for children as young as under 2!! Because of this, I believe Charlotte Mason intends the following "handwriting" to be done simultaneously with letter learning. (V. 1 pages 207-208) - "Our children learn their letters without any teaching. We always keep by us a shallow table drawer, the bottom covered half an inch deep with sand. Before they are two, the babies make round O and crooked S, and T for Tommy, and so on, with dumpy, uncertain little fingers. The elder children teach the little ones by way of a game. The sand is capital! We have various devices, but none so good as that. Children love to be doing. The funny, shaky lines the little finger makes in the sand will be ten times as interesting as the shapes the eye sees."
B. Primary Goal of handwriting at this age: Child’s ability to VISUALIZE letter in his mind’s eye!
- “But the learning of the alphabet should be made a means of cultivating the child's observation he should be made to see what he looks at. Make big B in the air, and let him name it”
- It’s important to note: The child must be able to visualize a B just from you writing in the air, leaving no physical trace of the letter behind. This is a KEY power to cultivate! For more information, read Nanci Bell’s Seeing Stars.
- This visualization will be used heavily in Charlotte Mason’s beginning reading lessons.
C. Secondary Goal: To connect visualization with the phonetic sound the letter makes.
- This is not included in Charlotte Mason's writing, but is confirmed in more recent research. (such as Nanci Bell in Seeing Stars, and successful reading programs like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Spell to Write and Read)
- To this end, please have your child say the phonetic sounds of the letters as they write.
D. Familiarize Yourself with the correct strokes for forming print letters.
- Teaching your child the correct strokes now (see steps E & F) will prevent him from forming bad habits, which are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to break later.
- Learn the steps YOURSELF so that you can teach them to your child.
- I suggest Handwriting Without Tears for learning stroke sequence. Check out Handwriting Without Tear’s Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide. It’s inexpensive, and full of great ideas both for large motor handwriting activities (which you are allowed to use now) and small motor activities (which you should wait until your child is 5 or 6 to begin).
- A good free resource is: Petersen Directed Handwriting’s Ebooks. Go to this website, and scroll down to E-Workbooks for Print Writing. Step 1 should be sufficient to familiarize yourself with the strokes.
E. Start with Capital, Print letters, IN THE AIR
- For some reason, Capitals are the most natural to little kids - by instinct, these are the first letters most children write on their own (I’ve seen this in my own 3 kids; Note I haven’t researched this, this is my opinion.)
- “Make big B in the air, and let him name it, then let him make round O, and crooked S, and T for Tommy, and you name the letters as the little finger forms them with unsteady strokes in the air."
- Notice that Air Writing requires only LARGE motor skills. Small motor skill writing (pencil & paper) is inappropriate at such a young age.
F. Move on with Lower Case letters, IN SAND if in the air is too difficult.
- “To make the small letters thus from memory is a work of more art, and requires more careful observation on the child's part. A tray of sand is useful at this stage. The child draws his finger boldly through the sand, and then puts a back to his D; and behold, his first essay in making a straight line and a curve.”
- Note that SAND could be used with Capital letters if they are too difficult to visualize in the air.
- After SAND is mastered, move on to AIR WRITING for Lower Case letters.
5. Other games are appropriate at this time, for handwriting, phonics awareness, naming letters, letter recognition, & visualizing letters “in your mind’s eye.”
- “But the devices for making the learning of the 'A B C' interesting are endless.”
- For more Large Motor handwriting ideas, check out Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten Teacher’s Guide. (I recommend this guide because it will serve you for a few years, not just in preschool.)
6. SUMMARY OF PROCESS for learning 1 letter (make sure your child can do this for each letter of the alphabet before he/she moves on to Word Building):
- Visual Game: Find The Letter on a Page (both lower & upper case)
- “let him learn one form at a time and know it so well that he can pick out the d's, say, big and little, in a page of large print.”
- Phonetic sounds: Associate with objects he knows
- “Let him say d for duck, dog, doll, thus: d-uck, d-og, prolonging the sound of the initial consonant,”
- Phonetic sound finally memorized without the aid of words:
- “and at last sounding d alone, not dee, but d', the mere sound of the consonant separated as far as possible from the following vowel.”
- Air writing/ Visualization: Child should finally be able to write the letter in upper & lower cases in the air. (Sand writing may have to precede this). Have your child say the sound it makes as he writes it.
MOVING ON.... The next steps.
Charlotte Mason’s next step in the literacy process is Word Building. Read about it here!
Also, handwriting will be discussed further at the First Grade level. Charlotte Mason has more suggestions!
Reading Post 2 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading: Stage 2, Word-Building (part 1 of 2)
WOW! I had no idea that my post on Charlotte Mason & learning to read & write would be so popular! I’m glad it was helpful to so many of you. Because of its popularity, I decided to start right away on the second post in this series.
All quotes in this post are from Charlotte Mason Homeschool Series Volume 1, pages 202-204. If you would like to read the few pages in their entirety, please click here. Scroll down to “Word-Making” and read through “Early Spelling.”
STAGE 2: Word-Making (PART 1!)
When: Upon completion of Stage 1 (learning ABCs & more - see post here for all this entails). Charlotte Mason still considered this to be “informal” enough to take place prior to age 6 if the child is ready.
How: Still a game.
- “The first exercises in the making of words will be just as pleasant to the child. Exercises treated as a game, which yet teach the powers of the letters...”
What: Games with short words, not sentences. (see below)
- “Exercises treated as a game, which yet teach the powers of the letters, will be better to begin with than actual sentences.”
Is This Reading? No.
- "This is not reading, but is preparing the ground for reading; words will be no longer unfamiliar, perplexing objects, when the child meets with them in a line of print."
STEP 1: Short Vowel Word-making.
GOAL: “The Child... will master the short-vowel sounds with initial and final consonants without effort.”
REMINDER: “Do not hurry him.”
PROCEDURE:
1. “Take up two of his letters and make the syllable 'at': tell him it is the word we use when we say 'at home,' 'at school.' Then put b to 'at'–– bat; c to 'at'––cat; fat, hat, mat, sat, rat, and so on.” (Note: YOU place the consonants at the beginning (or the child does as you hand them to him, but the CHILD says the new word.)
2. “First, let the child say what the word becomes with each initial consonant to 'at,' in order to make hat, pat, cat.”
- Note: Don’t use words your child won’t recognize: “Let the syllables all be actual words which he knows.”
3. “Set the words in a row, and let him read them off.” Here a blackboard might be helpful.
CONTINUE WITH ALL SHORT VOWELS:
- “Do this with the short vowel sounds in combination with each of the consonants”
- Here is my Short/Long Vowel Combination Spreadsheet for you to download for free of all the different short vowel combinations I could come up with (now finished!). You probably won’t have to teach all of them; just enough to “get it” thoroughly. Some children are able to combine the letter sounds surprisingly quickly; others need more time.
LETTER TILES
- Definitely use tactile letters for your word building lessons. I like fridge magnets (see next comment), but you could also use sandpaper letters, bananagram tiles or scrabble tiles. At one point I made cursive letters with puffy paint on 3-inch cardboard squares, which worked well. (Although I don’t think I’ll use cursive again this early - more on that in a later post).
- I recommend using lower case letters at this point, unless you’re making a name.
- I like to use Leap Frog’s Word Whammer at this stage. It lets the child make 3 letter words while they play with their refrigerator magnets. However, it is not a replacement for one-on-one time.
AIR WRITING/ VISUALIZATION
- The AIR WRITING that was helpful in visualizing letters when the child was learning them (see previous post) continues to be a useful tool in learning how to visualize words. So I suggest including this in your short vowel sound games until your child is ready to close his eyes and visualize (see below).
- Instead of using physical letter tiles, you can have your child write a 3-letter word in the air. (To connect the phonetic sound to the visualization, sometimes have the child say the phonetic sound of each letter while he writes it in the air, rather than the letter names .) Then, have your child “erase” the first letter, and tell your child a different letter to air write in its place. Have your child “read” what he’s visualizing in his mind’s eye.
- Make sure to read my previous post, since it includes details on beginning “handwriting.”
CLOSING EYES/ VISUALIZING/ EARLY SPELLING
- When your child has mastered visualization using air writing, move on to merely having him or her shut his eyes and read the 3-letter word back to you from what he sees “in his mind’s eye.”
- “Early Spelling.––Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word, and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do without effort.”
- Note that this visualization is an important component of learning to spell! If you are consistent with this, your child will master much spelling alongside learning to read.
- Note: Please do not confuse Charlotte Mason’s emphasis on visualization with “whole word” learning to read. Because you are laying a solid phonics background, and emphasizing phonetic sounds at the same time as visualization, this method should not cause the same problems which plain old “whole word” memorization as implemented in many public school settings has caused.
FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH VISUALIZING:
**If your child is still struggling with learning to visualize words even after using air writing with word families, please pick up a copy of Nanci Bell's Seeing Stars. It's expensive, but could provide invaluable insight into using air writing to more specifically challenge your child to visualize words more effectively. It's much more detailed and in depth than Charlotte Mason's discussion of the subject. (This advice per my friend Lorraine... Thanks, Lorraine!)
PRONUNCIATION/ PHONICS:
- “Require him to pronounce the words he makes with such finish and distinctness that he can himself hear and count the sounds in given way.”
- Modern educators call this "phonemic awareness," and it is a vital skill that a child must possess in order to read well. Many children who cannot identify sounds within a word will be diagnosed with dyslexia.
- There are many ways to do this. One way would be - when visualizing, have the child sometimes say the phonetic sounds of the letters rather than their names. I say sometimes so that you know he’s actually visualizing, not just sounding out the word.
- Here is an example of how the curriculum Spell to Write and Read accomplishes this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM0KVLYIZSw.
CONNECTING WORDS WITH ACTUAL THINGS:
- “Let the syllables all be actual words which he knows.”
- Charlotte Mason did not suggest this, but I think an idea in keeping with her holistic philosophy for this stage would be to, as you teach them, print words on index cards and attach them to items around the house. This would be easy to do with bed, cat, Dad, Mom, (animal) cage, etc. - anything you have in your house. If your child has fun with this “game,” go for it! If not interested, you could put a few words up and later, if your child gets excited about it, you could make more together.
YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THIS STEP WHEN:
- “the child will learn to read off dozens of words of three letters,
- “and will master the short-vowel sounds with initial and final consonants without effort.
- “Before long he will do the lesson for himself. 'How many words can you make with "en" and another letter, with "od" and another letter?' etc.
- When your child can read the short vowel sound words mixed up in this Blend Phonics Reader from Don Potter’s website, they’re likely ready to move on. Or you could read some of the first 33 pages (probably towards the end) from Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery , also from Don’ Potter’s website.
PROS & CONS of EARLY READERS at this stage
- One of the highlights of Charlotte Mason’s word-building lessons is that there is still no need for books. The under-6 child is still very kinesthetically- oriented; thus the letter tiles & air writing are most appropriate. You risk boring the child when you switch entirely to paper.
- Though your child may be able to read some easy readers such as the BOB books, I feel that Charlotte Mason would not recommend that he spend much time in “twaddle” (which most easy readers at this stage are).
- from V. 1, page 209: "I should never put him into words of one syllable at all. The bigger the word, the more striking the look of it, and, therefore, the easier it is to read, provided always that the idea it conveys is interesting to a child. It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' ... We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
- Note that this quote is talking about the next stage of reading - learning to read sentences and “read by sight.” Still, it is clear that a parent must guard against the child’s boredom if you choose to use easy reader books at this stage.
- However, if you think it would encourage your child, go for it! Perhaps just make easy readers from the library available if the child is interested in his free time. Don’t push or require them. If your child takes an interest in a particular book or series, have them available regularly for your child to peruse. The Child’s interest in the reading material is the key.
- CAUTION: Make sure not to have your child “show off” at this stage to grandma or your friends! (Unless your child brings it up - that’s different.)
STEP 2: Long Vowel Word-Making
Word-making with Long Vowels, etc.––When this sort of exercise becomes so easy that it is no longer interesting, let the long sounds of the vowels be learnt in the same way: use the same syllables as before with a final e; thus 'at' becomes 'ate,' and we get late, pate, rate, etc. The child may be told that a in 'rate' is long a; a in 'rat' is short a. He will make the new sets of words with much facility, helped by the experience he gained in the former lessons.
- Repeat the activities you completed with the short vowel sounds, emphasizing closing the eyes and visualizing the word, and ensuring that phonetic pronunciation is in place.
- The child will quickly get the idea that the silent E makes the vowel say its name.
- I’ve collected long vowel combinations in this Short/Long Vowel Combination Spreadsheet (now finished!). Please note that the words in italics have coordinating short/long vowel sounds when you add a silent “e” at the end, such as fat, fate; pip, pipe; etc.
- You could read pages 34-39 from Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery (from Don’ Potter’s website).
A Recommendation: May I suggest the book The ABCs and All their Tricks? The chapter on "Long" and "Short" vowel sounds is eye opening! I'll be recommending this in a later post, as well!
Reading Post 3 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading: Stage 2, Word Building & Phonics (part 2 of 2)
Have you ever thought that Charlotte Mason did not ever mention phonics instruction in her writings? Or maybe that she just barely touched on it? I know I used to!
But then I realized the Charlotte Mason had a very pervasive phonics program in place, she just called it by a different name - the catch phrase of “phonics” had not yet been invented. She called it “learning the power of the letters.” This phrase permeates her reading lessons from beginning to end.
Charlotte Mason began more advanced phonetic instruction at the end of her “word building” exercises. So, if you haven’t yet read my previous post on word building, please do so now! The first phonetic exercises follow the same exact process.
The quotes in this post will all be taken from Charlotte Mason’s v. 1 pages 203-204. You may read along here if you wish: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html Scroll down to “Word-making with Long Vowels, etc.”
STAGE 2, WORD BUILDING. STEP 3: Introduce Blends
Charlotte Mason writes, speaking of word building:
Then the same sort of thing with final 'ng'––'ing,' 'ang,' 'ong,' 'ung'; as in ring, fang, long, sung: initial 'th,' as then, that: final 'th,' as with, pith, hath, lath, and so on, through endless combinations which will suggest themselves.
If you haven’t read my previous post on word building, you’ll need to go back and read about the many aspects of creating words with your child! Make sure your child masters short and long vowel sounds. Then, come back here and do the same sort of things with phonetic blends. The “endless combinations which will suggest themselves” makes it clear that Charlotte Mason intended teachers to teach all of the phonetic sounds eventually, as they suggested themselves (in a child's later reading lesson). To get started, you teach a few as a finale to your word building lessons.
Which phonetic blends do I teach first, you may ask? Well, to me it looks like she begins with the consonant-sounding blends, which are the most obvious:
ng
th
sh
ch
ph
wh
Each of the above combinations makes its own distinct sound - there is no other letter that the child has learned yet that can make that sound.
More advanced (end of words):
ck
dge
tch
ff, ll, ss, zz
Use the same process as you did earlier with building short and long vowel words. Use letter tiles; work on visualization; early spelling; phonemic awareness; continue to use words the child already knows.
One additional material you may want to make: letter tiles for each phonogram you teach. (You could make these all at once to save time). I think it's important for the child to realize that each phonogram is a unit that makes a distinct sound, just like each letter makes its distinct sound. You can accomplish this with phonogram tiles. An easy way to make these is to cut thick cardboard to the desired size (2-3 inch squares should work, or whatever size your current letter tiles are), print letter teams in pencil, then paint over them with puffy paint, glitter glue, or glue & sand. Here are some cursive letter tiles I made for my son (although if I was doing it over I would stick with print - Charlotte Mason waited until 1st grade to introduce cursive).
Once you’ve gotten these major beginning phonetic combinations down (or maybe even before you’ve gotten through this beginning list), I would like to suggest that Charlotte Mason would prefer you to move on to “Reading at Sight” lessons (next post!). But lest you think this means she doesn’t want you to teach your child phonics, notice this quote:
This process (Reading at Sight) should go on side by side with the other––the learning of the powers of the letters (Phonics instruction!!); for the more variety you can throw into his reading lessons, the more will the child enjoy them.
Ah-ha! So here we have it - you will continue phonics instruction every other day (she’ll start calling it “spelling lessons”) once you start “Reading At Sight” lessons, which I will begin to describe in my next post.
Why move so soon to “Reading At Sight” lessons? Why not learn all of the phonetic combinations first? Here is Charlotte Mason’s answer:
Lessons in word-making help him to take intelligent interest in words; but his progress in the art of reading depends chiefly on the 'reading at sight' lessons.
Also, Charlotte Mason felt that reading could not happen entirely on a phonetic basis:
If words were always made on a given pattern in English, if the same letter always represented the same sounds, learning to read would be an easy matter; for the child would soon acquire the few elements of which all words would, in that case, be composed. But many of our English words are, each, a law unto itself: there is nothing for it, but the child must learn to know them at sight; he must recognise 'which,' precisely as he recognises 'B,' because he has seen it before, been made to look at it with interest, so that the pattern of the word is stamped upon his retentive brain.
I will admit that it is true that MOST words can be described phonetically, especially with advanced phonetic combinations. But here is what Charlotte Mason has to say about this:
By way of illustration, consider the delicate differences of sound represented by the letter 'o'... to analyse and classify the sounds of 'o' in 'for,' 'symbols,' 'know,' 'order,' 'to,' 'not,' and 'words,' is a curious, not especially useful, study for a philologist, but a laborious and inappropriate one for a child. It is time we faced the fact that the letters which compose an English word are full of philological interest, and that their study will be a valuable part of education by-and-by; but meantime, sound and letter-sign are so loosely wedded in English, that to base the teaching of reading on the sounds of the letters only, is to lay up for the child much analytic labour, much mental confusion, due to the irregularities of the language; and some little moral strain in making the sound of a letter in a given word fall under any of the 'sounds' he has been taught. (p. 215)
So we see that Charlotte Mason believes that focusing solely on phonics as a basis for teaching to read is inadequate. However, she does believe in teaching phonics (alongside of “reading at sight” which will be the next post), and thus we are left needing to educate ourselves about which phonetic combinations we are to teach!!
Here is how I, personally, felt about this fact: Wait just a minute! Where do I find out more about phonetic combinations? I’m just a Mom - I haven’t had any classes in teaching reading - how do I know what to teach?
Fortunately, through recommendations, I’ve discovered the following helpful information:
In English, we use not only the 26 letters of the alphabet as our basic phonetic building blocks, but also combinations of letters. Up to 4 letters can be put together to come up with just 1 sound! These are called “phonograms,” and there are 70(ish) of them! Some of them, such as the ones I already listed above, make consonant sounds. Others make vowel sounds.
I highly recommend the book the book The ABCs and All their Tricks (jump in on the chapters labeled “Vowel Teams” and “Consonant Teams” for beginning phonetic combinations; advanced combinations follow). This book goes beyond the rules and explains the “why” behind the phonetic sounds. If you are going to try to teach phonics on your own, without a packaged curriculum, Charlotte Mason style, it’s a great idea to educate yourself about “the powers of the letters” using this book. Plus, it has some “word family” lists which you can use in your reading lessons (more about that in future posts!)
You could use Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery , from Don’ Potter’s website. Starting at about page 41 she begins to teach various phonetic combinations, in word family format. So this would be a good, simple resource. Don't read straight from the book, though - continue to have the child use his letters to build the word (for now). Use the word building process.
Alternatively, you can get more information about phonograms from the program Spell to Write and Read (which is not entirely Charlotte Mason, since it disassociates phonics instruction from reading lessons, but it definitely has some strengths).
“The Alphabet Code and How it Works” from Don Potter’s website is a nice summary. Also, these cards list all of the phonetic sounds there are in words, and which letters can make them: http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Blend%20Phonics%20Flashcards%204x6.pdf.
Finally, you may be thinking, “Can I just teach my child a separate phonics curriculum? Do I have to follow Charlotte Mason’s recommendations?” My answer is-- Yes and No.
Yes - You should absolutely do what is best for your family. Some people will just not be comfortable doing this themselves for various reasons, and that is entirely OK! If you feel that way, there is nothing wrong with choosing a good phonics curriculum to use along with your reading lessons. Don’t stress yourself out!
No - Charlotte Mason designed her reading lesson sequence to be wholistic. She based her phonics lessons around the reading texts the child was studying (more on this in my next post). She believed you should start with the word and move backwards to the phonics - that the word would be much more interesting to the child than a tiny phonogram. Thus, she used the (hopefully very interesting) words the child was learning to teach phonics, rather than the other way around (using phonics to teach the words). If you agree with this philosophy, you’ll want to follow her methodology. (If you don’t agree with this philosophy, may I suggest Spell to Write and Read, which starts with the phonics and ends with the words? But maybe read my next post first?)
I’m looking forward to my next post, which will get into... Reading At Sight Lessons!
COMMENT:
My lovely friend Lorraine has this resource to recommend. Her recommendations are always gems!
"One thing I might suggest is that you beg, borrow, steal, or buy a copy of the Bluedorn's book _Handy English Encoder Decoder_.
"I had already purchased The ABC's and All Their Tricks, and I liked it for a bit, and even suggested it myself, but it didn't take long to realize that it didn't discuss 'all' their tricks.
"The Encoder Decoder has never failed to answer a question, however.
"Both resources might be of value, but 1) a rhyming dictionary (available online or in book format - we have used both since we found one at our library book sale one year) and 2) the Encoder Decoder are what I personally recommend most.
Thanks again, Lorraine!
Reading Post 4 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: Reading by Sight & Sound: Two Leading Principles
Charlotte Mason devotes twenty-two pages to the topic of “reading at sight” lessons and all that they entail. Wow! Even for a prolific reader, it is difficult to get through this section of Volume 1 without some confusion. It took me several reads to understand what Charlotte was really getting at, and why she gave three different examples of “first” reading lessons. With this series I hope I can clear up some of the confusion for my readers!
So let’s dig in! You can find this section of Charlotte’s Volume 1, Home Education at AmblesideOnline here: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html Scroll down to page 204, “Reading at Sight” and read through page 226 (stop before “Recitation”). Over the next few months, I will dig into these pages.
The driving IDEAS behind Charlotte Mason’s reading lessons:
Charlotte Mason buries the two key thoughts which unify her reading lesson process in the middle of this section - but it would be helpful if you understand it right from the beginning. So let’s begin, for today, by skipping ahead to page 214, “Reading By Sight and Sound.” Read through page 216, stopping before “Tommy’s First Lesson.” And take your time! Soak it up! Hint: the key paragraph is, “These Symbols Should Be Interesting.”
Done?
OK, let’s review the beginning of that key paragraph:
The child cares for things, not words; his analytic power is very small, his observing faculty is exceedingly quick and keen... But the thing he learns to know by looking at it, is a thing which interests him. Here we have the key to reading. No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him. The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea of full of interest. How easy to read 'robin redbreast,' 'buttercups and daisies'; the number of letters in the words is no matter; the words themselves convey such interesting ideas that the general form and look of them fixes itself on the child's brain by the same law of association of ideas which makes it easy to couple the objects with their spoken names. (page 216)
WOW! So here we have it. Charlotte Mason focused on whole words as a basis for learning (rather than on little phonetic pieces) because she realized that it is the word itself that is interesting to a child. The child is not really interested in the study of phonics. Little letter combinations are, let’s face it, boring and meaningless. BUT the word that all the letters together represent is vividly interesting! (Note that language experts, such as Berlitz, confirm that the word-symbol is the next step in learning a language after mastering a spoken word.) This is why we are going to use a full word as our starting point for advanced reading lessons. (After all of the groundwork of phonics has been laid to a good extent - read my previous three posts! Post 1 Post 2 Post 3)
The partner idea follows at the end of the paragraph:
Having got a word fixed on the sure peg of the idea it conveys, the child will use his knowledge of the sounds of the letters to make up other words containing the same elements with great interest. When he knows 'butter' he is quite ready to make 'mutter' by changing the b for an m. (page 216)
A HA! Finally, the way to introduce new words. Once these advanced reading lessons have begun, the child has the opportunity to use his knowledge of the phonetic sounds of the letters to make up new word using pieces of the words he already knows - the words you teach him in his reading-at-sight lessons. Charlotte Mason knew that a child will learn to read new words by comparing their structure with words he already knows. Here she states very clearly that sounds (phonics) have an important place in the learning-to-read process.
So let's recap these two vital ideas:
1. A Charlotte Mason reading program will use an interesting word (as opposed to a phonetic chunk) within a high-quality, attention-getting literary context, for day 1 of a reading lesson. Why? This is far more interesting to a child than working endlessly through phonics and only phonics.
2. A Charlotte Mason reading program will follow up that attention-grabbing introduction with additional phonetic work using that word's phonetic structure as a teaching tool (day 2). The child will be introduced to entirely new words (new to him) using this process. He will still be interested because it came from a word he (hopefully) loves, or at the very least, a word which arouses his interest.
The principles in her own words:
“Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
These are the basic principles you must grasp before you start your own Charlotte Mason reading lessons with your child! You can also use these to evaluate other reading programs to determine how "Charlotte Mason friendly" they are.
I'll post more when I can!
Reading Post 5 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: Reading by Sight & Sound: Additional Principles
Here are some other points of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy behind Reading Lessons by Sight and Sound. It’s important to go over these before we start an example of an actual reading lesson sequence, so you understand the “why” behind the lessons. Sorry it's so long - unfortunately there is no helping it!
Don’t forget - these “Reading by Sight and Sound” lessons are actually not the beginning of reading lessons. They come after the introduction of the Alphabet & basic word building - see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3. Also make sure to read my 1st introduction containing overarching principles about Reading by Sight and Sound. I personally prefer to work from one or two leading principles when homeschooling my children - and Charlotte Mason’s make a lot of sense!
I've taken these quotes from Charlotte Mason's section on learning to read from Volume 1, pages 199-222. Read it for yourself here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
1. Learning to read can be difficult, and is not “natural” for most children.
“We forget how contrary to Nature it is for a little child to occupy himself with dreary hieroglyphics––all so dreadfully alike!––when the world is teeming with interesting objects which he is agog to know... It is quite necessary he should know how to read; and not only so––the discipline of the task is altogether wholesome for the little man... Let us recognise that learning to read is to many children hard work, and let us do what we can to make the task easy and inviting.” (p. 214)
2. Charlotte Mason does not claim to hold the perfect “recipe” for learning how to read.
- “Let us bear in mind that reading is not a science nor an art” (p. 215)
- “There are absolutely no right and necessary 'steps' to reading, each of which leads to the next; there is no true beginning, middle, or end.” (p. 215)
3. Reading instruction should be personalized to each child.
“The children must still be the first consideration with the educator.
4. The point of reading lessons is to learn the symbols for the spoken word;
- “Learning to read is no more than picking up, how we can, a knowledge of certain arbitrary symbols for objects and ideas.” (p. 215)
5. This is best accomplished using interesting whole words as the basis for the reading lessons (and secondly learning the phonetic components of those words for further instruction).
- “What we want is a bridge between the child's natural interests and those arbitrary symbols with which he must become acquainted, and which, as we have seen, are words, and not (meaningless phonetic combinations of) letters.” (p. 216)
6. Goal: DELIGHT your child with the reading lessons, and your child is set for a long-term love of reading!
- "Reading is to him a delight henceforth, and it will require very bad management indeed to make him hate it." (p. 219)
CHARLOTTE MASON’S USE OF PHONETIC INSTRUCTION:
(Warning: Charlotte Mason sounds very anti-phonics in her writing here. Please don’t forget all of the phonetic groundwork she has laid which we have already discussed. In truth, her approach to reading is a blended approach using both whole-word and phonetic instruction. Since the whole-word vs. phonics debate has continued throughout this century, I’ve concluded personally that probably a blend is best - it takes some of both types of instruction for a child to truly learn to read. If your child is weak in one area or the other, by all means, focus on the type of instruction which your child needs.)
1. Charlotte Mason does not agree with endless phonics instruction which is disconnected from words.
“No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him.” (p. 215)
2. The next step in language learning (after speaking) is the recognition of the written symbol of the entire word. Phonetic sounds are meaningless, and thus should not be the sole basis of reading instruction.
- “The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea full of interest.” (p. 215)
- “We forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain... It's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him... Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea." (p. 208-209)
- “All this (the movement to spell words phonetically rather than wholistically) goes on the mistaken idea that in reading we look at the letters which compose a word, think of their sounds, combine these, and form the word. We do nothing of the kind; we accept a word, written or printed, simply as the symbol of a word we are accustomed to say. If the word is new to us we may try to make something of the letters, but we know so well that this is a shot in the dark, that we are careful not to say the new word until we have heard someone else say it." (p. 210)
- “First, as last, they (children) learn to know a word by the look of it, and the more striking it looks the easier it is to recognise; provided always that the printed word is one which they already know very well by sound and by sense.” (p. 211, emphasis mine)
3. Charlotte Mason believes there is a “moral strain” in teaching reading lessons from a purely phonetic basis, and also that it is too laborious a task for young children.
“For the arbitrary symbols we must know in order to read are not letters, but words. By way of illustration, consider the delicate differences of sound represented by the letter 'o' in the last sentence; to analyse and classify the sounds of 'o' in 'for,' 'symbols,' 'know,' 'order,' 'to,' 'not,' and 'words,' is a curious, not especially useful, study for a philologist, but a laborious and inappropriate one for a child. It is time we faced the fact that the letters which compose an English word are full of philological interest, and that their study will be a valuable part of education by-and-by; but meantime, sound and letter-sign are so loosely wedded in English, that to base the teaching of reading on the sounds of the letters only, is to lay up for the child much analytic labour, much mental confusion, due to the irregularities of the language; and some little moral strain in making the sound of a letter in a given word fall under any of the 'sounds' he has been taught.” (p. 215)
- “We could, if we liked, break up a word into its sounds, or put certain sounds together to make a word. But these are efforts beyond the range of children.” (p. 210-211)
4. Charlotte Mason focused on phonics for pre-reading lessons (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3) and will continue to do so in her “Word-Building” or “Spelling” lessons. The difference between these & a purely phonetic approach is that she derives her phonetic instruction from the words of the reading lesson, rather than teaching phonetic sounds and then basing words off of those.
- “Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
- “For the second, and less important, part of our task, the child must know the sounds of the letters, and acquire power to throw given sounds into new combinations.” (p. 216)
- “Though many of our English words are each a law unto itself, others offer a key to a whole group, as arrow gives us sp arrow, m arrow, h arrow; but we have alternate days––one for reading, the other for word-building––and that is one way to secure variety, and, so, the joyous interest which is the real secret of success." (p. 214)
THE PRACTICAL SIDE: WHEN & HOW LONG?
1. Age: Whenever a child is ready. Make sure you have covered this ground first (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3). An average child will probably be ready around age 6 (the age reading lessons are scheduled on Charlotte Mason’s PNEU school schedules). Some gifted children will be ready earlier, or may even teach themselves; some late bloomers will be ready later. No need to push - anywhere from age 3 to 8 is considered “normal” from a developmental perspective (this from my personal studies, not Charlotte Mason).
- “Time of Teaching to Read, an Open Question.––Reading presents itself first amongst the lessons to be used as instruments of education, although it is open to discussion whether the child should acquire the art unconsciously, from his infancy upwards, or whether the effort should be deferred until he is, say, six or seven, and then made with vigour.” (p. 199)
2. Attitude: As a special privilege.
- “I think it's rather a good idea to begin a new study with a child on his birthday, or some great day; he begins by thinking the new study a privilege.”
- "His reading lesson is a delight, of which he is deprived when he comes to his lesson in a lazy, drawling mood." (p. 222)
3. How long will it take to teach my child how to read?:
- “Let him learn ten new words a day, and in twenty weeks he will be to some extent able to read, without any question as to the number of letters in a word.” (pages 215-216)
- “Every day increases the number of words he is able to read at sight, and the more words he knows already, the longer his reading lesson becomes in order to afford the ten or dozen new words which he should master every day.
A Year's Work.––'But what a snail's progress!' you are inclined to say. Not so slow, after all: a child will thus learn, without appreciable labour, from two to three thousand words in the course of a year; in other words, he will learn to read, for the mastery of this number of words will carry him with comfort through most of the books that fall in his way.” (p. 206)
- Not all children will learn 10 words a day; some will learn fewer, some more. So it may take more or less than a year for an individual child.
GENERAL “HOW TO”
1. Use high quality literature. Prose primarily, poetry secondarily.
“At this stage, his reading lessons must advance so slowly that he may just as well learn his reading exercises, both prose and poetry, as recitation lessons. Little poems suitable to be learned in this way will suggest themselves at once; but perhaps prose is better, on the whole, as offering more of the words in everyday use, of Saxon origin, and of anomalous spelling. Short fables, and such graceful, simple prose as we have in Mrs Gatty's Parables from Nature, and, still better, in Mrs Barbauld's prose poems, are very suitable. Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children” (p. 204-205)
- Note: I personally am thrilled with the Treadwell Primer and subsequent Readers. I suggest purchasing a hard copy (as opposed to e-reader) because it will get a lot of use! I like that the stories are high quality classics, yet use a limited number of interesting words to begin with. Subsequent stories add to the store of words, but not too many at a time. The Primer is all prose. Poems are added to The First Reader. These are public domain, so any reading lessons we create based on these books can be shared for free with other homeschooling families. They are fun & interesting classics, definitely not Twaddle. Case in point: my son likes to go back and reread the stories he has already learned just for fun.
- When you’re done with the Treadwell Primer, you could learn some easy readers for fun, if you wish. Little Bear, Frog & Toad, Sydney Hoff books, Henry & Mudge are all high quality, though definitely not required.
2. At this point, you may teach your child very long words. Don’t stick with “easy” one- or two- syllable words. (But make sure to cover this ground first! see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3)
- Here is a fictional conversation between a mother & Charlotte Mason (pages 208-209):
MOM: "But the reading! I can't get over three syllables in the first lesson. Why, it's like teaching a twelve-months old child to waltz."
CM: "You say that because we forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain."
MOM: "Yes, the darlings! and it's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him."
CM: "That's just it. Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea."
MOM: "That may be, but when he gets into words of three or four syllables; but what would you do while he's in words of one syllable––indeed, of two or three letters?"
CM: "I should never put him into words of one syllable at all. The bigger the word, the more striking the look of it, and, therefore, the easier it is to read, provided always that the idea it conveys is interesting to a child. It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
MOM: “You are taking high moral ground!”
3. Opportunity to teach careful pronunciation:
- “Careful Pronunciation.––The little people will probably have to be pulled up on the score of pronunciation. They must render 'high,' sky,' 'like,' 'world,' with delicate precision; 'diamond,' they will no doubt wish to hurry over, and say as 'di'mond,' just as they will reduce 'history' to 'hist'ry.' But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation.” (p. 206)
4. Check your child’s comprehension.
- This is a step Charlotte Mason does not dictate in her three examples only because she assumes it will not be a problem.
- “As for understanding what they read, the children will be full of bright, intelligent remarks and questions, and will take this part of the lesson into their own hands; indeed, the teacher will have to be on her guard not to let them carry her away from the subject.”
- Do double check that your child is understanding what they are reading to catch any problems early.
5. Goal of Reading at Sight lessons: To know each word thoroughly.
- “And he is to know those nine words so well that he will be able to read them wherever they may occur henceforth and for evermore.”
- You’ll see how this works in Charlotte Mason’s 3 examples.
6. Length of Reading at Sight lessons: About 20 minutes max. Stop before your child’s interest runs out, while he’s still wanting more.
"The first lesson must have been long?"
"I'm sorry to say it lasted half an hour. The child's interest tempted me to do more than I should." (p. 213)
- I've personally found that my younger readers have a shorter attention span. Don't be afraid to stop after 5 or 10 minutes. 20 is the normal attention span of a 6 year old early in the day. (And I had a 6 year old who had only a 5 minute attention span for reading which had to be done by 9 AM, otherwise it was a lost cause!)
7. Other Materials:
- Alphabet letters (as described in previous posts)
- Blackboard & chalk
- Possibly word manipulatives from the reading material (more about these later)
- Word notebook. Your child should write all the new words he learns in here daily.
“By this time he has eighteen new words on the blackboard of which to make sentences with the nine loose words of 'pussy’... Tommy's new words are written in his 'note-book' in print hand, so that he can take stock of his possessions in the way of words.” (p. 221)
(Note: A very young child may not be capable of keeping a word notebook. Please don’t start this unless your child is at least 6. The fine motor skill requirement here may cause more harm than good before then. Focus on air writing the new words if you have a younger child.)
- Phonics resources. I suggest printing out Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery from Don’ Potter’s website and purchasing either The ABCs and All their Tricks or Handy English Encoder Decoder. Also see Post 3 for more phonics resources.
What Charlotte Mason is reacting against:
1. Ugly reading & mistakes in pronunciation due to not knowing new words prior to encountering them in a story.
“Ordinary Method.––Now, compare the steady progress and constant interest and liveliness of such lessons with the deadly weariness of the ordinary reading lesson. The child blunders through a page or two in a dreary monotone without expression, with imperfect enunciation. He comes to a word he does not know, and he spells it; that throws no light on the subject, and he is told the word: he repeats it, but as he has made no mental effort to secure the word, the next time he meets with it the same process is gone through. The reading lesson for that day comes to an end. The pupil has been miserably bored, and has not acquired one new word. Eventually, he learns to read, somehow, by mere dint of repetition; but consider what an abuse of his intelligence is a system of teaching which makes him undergo daily labour with little or no result, and gives him a distaste for books before he has learned to use them.” (p. 206-207)
2. Boredom through endless pure-phonetic instruction (“spellers” of the olden days - take a look at an old Webster speller for an example - there are some at www.donpotter.net).
“It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
Next post: Actual Reading-At-Sight lessons!
Please feel free to leave comments, especially if I've interpreted any of Charlotte Mason's suggestions incorrectly!
Reading Post 6 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: "Reading At Sight" Lessons
Charlotte Mason gives three examples of her “Reading at Sight” and “Spelling” lessons in Home Education Volume 1 (Please read them for yourself here: https://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html).
1st Example: pages 204 through 205 (broken up with a bit of philosophy in the middle).
2nd Example: pages 211-214
3rd Example: pages 217-222
Charlotte Mason gives us many great activities for teaching children to read! Some children will need more work with memory - usually younger ones or beginning readers - and for those children, she presents more activities. Other children will take to reading easily and memorize words quickly. Those children may find many of the activities boring.
Fortunately, Charlotte Mason’s examples are presented in increasingly detailed order. She starts with instructions for children who need the least amount of help with memorizing and visualizing (likely more advanced readers or gifted beginners), and progresses to children who need most help with memorizing and visualization (likely beginners).
In this post I will focus on the “Reading at Sight” lessons. These are to be interspersed with “Spelling” or “Word Making” lessons, which I will go into in my final post!
Feel free to leave comments!
ADVANCED READER (Example 1):
Day 1, Advanced Reading at Sight Lesson:
1. Teacher reads 2 lines (not more than 10 words), pointing to words.
“Say–– ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are,’ is the first lesson; just those two lines. Read the passage for the child, very slowly, sweetly, with just expression, so that it is pleasant to him to listen. Point to each word as you read.” (p. 204)
2. Ask student to read individual words that you just read, in random order.
“Then point to 'twinkle,' 'wonder,' 'star,' 'what,'––and expect the child to pronounce each word in the verse taken promiscuously.” (p. 204)
3. Continue Step 2 until all the new words are mastered.
“then, when he shows that he knows each word by itself, and not before” (p. 204)
4. Let the student read the two lines perfectly.
“Let him read the two lines with clear enunciation and expression: insist from the first on clear, beautiful reading, and do not let the child fall into a dreary monotone, no more pleasant to himself than to his listener.” (p. 204)
5. Let the student say the two lines from memory.
“Of course, by this time he is able to say the two lines; and let him say them clearly and beautifully. In his after lesson he will learn the rest of the little poem.” (p. 204)
6. Word hunt to reinforce new words (key: teacher guides to the general location):
“The child should hunt through two or three pages of good clear type for 'little,' star,' you,' are,' each of the words he has learned, until the word he knows looks out upon him like the face of a friend in a crowd of strangers, and he is able to pounce upon it anywhere. Lest he grow weary of the search, the teacher should guide him, unawares, to the line or paragraph where the word he wants occurs. “ (p. 205)
Day 2, Next Reading at Sight Lesson PLUS an Advanced Spelling Lesson:
1. Repeat all of Day 1’s activities with the next two lines of the selection.
“The next 'reading at sight' lesson will begin with a hunt for the familiar words, and then–– ‘Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky,’ should be gone through in the same way.” (p. 205)
2. Require the child to spell (from visual memory - eyes closed) any new, shorter words (and eventually, new longer words, too!).
“As spelling is simply the art of seeing, seeing the letters in a word as we see the features of a face––say to the child, 'Can you spell sky?'––or any of the shorter words. He is put on his mettle, and if he fails this time, be sure he will be able to spell the word when you ask him next; but do not let him learn to spell or even say the letters aloud with the word before him.” (p. 205-206)
3. Check for comprehension.
“As for understanding what they read, the children will be full of bright, intelligent remarks and questions, and will take this part of the lesson into their own hands; indeed, the teacher will have to be on her guard not to let them carry her away from the subject.” (p. 206)
Characteristics of an “Advanced” student:
- Will learn to read new words simply by having them pointed out and read to him while he is paying close attention.
- Will be able to close eyes and easily spell the new words he has learned to read.
- Will not need many additional exercises to master both of these subjects!
If your child does not display these characteristics, read on for more reading and spelling activities! Most children will need additional activities to build their visual memory for excellent reading and spelling capabilities.
Average Beginning Reader (Example 2):
Goal: “The point is that he should see, and look at, the new word many times, so that its shape becomes impressed upon his brain."
Preparation:
A. Type all the words of your story into the computer. Format them into little cards that can be cut apart. Print 6 copies. Make sure you keep them in the order they appear. You may separate them according to progressive lessons - about 10 new words in each lesson.
“First, I bought a dozen penny copies of the 'History of Cock Robin'––good bold type, bad pictures, that we cut out. Then we had a nursery pasting day––pasting the sheets on common drawing-paper, six one side down, and six the other; so that now we had six complete copies, and not twelve.” (p. 211)
B. Cut apart the words for your first lesson, about 10 new words total. Store in a marked envelope.
“Then we cut up the first page only, of all six copies, line by line, and word by word. We gathered up the words and put them in a box, and our preparations were complete.” (p. 212)
C. Continue cutting apart words for subsequent lessons, storing & marking appropriately.
D. Get a blackboard ready wherever you will work, large enough so you can write 10 words on it in a long column.
“I always use a black-board in teaching the children.” (p. 212)
Day 1 Lesson:
1. No distractions.
“Bobbie and I are shut in by ourselves in the morning room.” (p. 212)
2. Choose the most interesting word or name. Write it on the blackboard in print writing.
“I write up, in good clear 'print' hand, ‘Cock Robin’. Bobbie watches with more interest because he knows his letters. (p. 212)
3. Say the word you have written. Have child repeat.
“I say, pointing to the word, 'cock robin,' which he repeats.” (p. 212)
4. Word Find among word cards for just this lesson.
"Then the words in the box are scattered on the table, and he finds half a dozen 'cock robins' with great ease.” (p. 212)
- Note: you don’t want to have too many cards, or the child will get frustrated.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 with all words for the lesson (up to 10 words, total). Leave all 10 words up on the board, in column form.
“We do the same thing with 'sparrow,' 'arrow,' 'said,' 'killed,' 'who,' and so on, till all the words in the verse have been learned.”
6. Have the student read, in many different orders, from the blackboard, all the words he has learned .
“The words on the black-board grow into a column, which Bob reads backwards and forwards, and every way, except as the words run in the verse.” (p. 212)
7. Have the student play a “matching” game by finding all the words from the lesson from among the word cards & arranging them into a column, the same as you wrote on the board.
“Then Bobbie arranges the loose words into columns like that on the board. (p. 212)
8. Allow the student to make his own column, in any order he would like, from his word cards.
“Then into columns of his own devising, which he reads off.” (p. 212)
9. Dictate a sentence slowly, and let the student find the right word cards and make them into a sentence.
“Lastly, culminating joy (the whole lesson has been a delight!), he finds among the loose words, at my dictation,
'Who killed Cock Robin
I said the sparrow
With my bow and arrow
I killed Cock Robin,'
Arranging the words in verse form.” (p. 212)
10. Have the student read the sentence out of the book you’re using.
“Then I had still one unmutilated copy, out of which Bob had the pleasure of reading the verse, and he read it forwards and backwards. So long as he lives he will know those twelve words." (p. 213)
11. Have your student read words from the book as you point at them randomly.
“he read it forwards and backwards.” (p. 213)
(Note: Charlotte Mason recommended reading it backwards to ensure that the child really knew each word and was not reciting from memory. However, that may cause a child to be confused about which direction he is supposed to read! I suggest pointing at words randomly to check that your student knows each individually.)
Day 2: Spelling Lesson (more details in my final post in this series):
“Though many of our English words are each a law unto itself, others offer a key to a whole group, as arrow gives us sp arrow, m arrow, h arrow; but we have alternate days––one for reading, the other for word-building––and that is one way to secure variety, and, so, the joyous interest which is the real secret of success." (p. 214)
Day 3 Reading-at-Sight Lesson:
1. Repeat all of the Day 1 activities with the next lines in the selection.
2. Review the words from the first day(s) by pointing to them randomly and having the student read them. This ensures he will not forget them.
"When we have mastered the words of the second verse, Bob runs through the first in the book, naming words here and there as I point to them. It takes less than a minute, and the ground is secured." (p. 213)
Repeat days 2 & 3 until the selection is finished! When done, have the child read the entire selection.
Beginner Reader who needs help to build visualization & memorization skills (Example 3):
Preparation:
Do everything as in Example 2. In addition:
E. Prepare up to 12 sentences which you will dictate to the child and the child will find the words. Ensure you have word cards for all of the words. For any words your child does not yet know (1-2 at most each session), have blank cards to put in as place holders for the not known words.
F. Obtain a special notebook which will be the student’s “Word Bank” of words he knows.
Day 1: Reading-at-Sight Lesson
1. Choose the most interesting word or name. Write it on the blackboard in print writing.
“We write up in good big print hand 'Pussy.' Tommy watches with interest: he knows the letters, and probably says them as we write.” (p.218)
Extra: Have your child say the phonetic sounds of the letters as they are written on the board. If writing a phonetic combination, say it as you write it so the child does not go wrong.
2. Say the word you have written. Have child repeat.
“We simply tell him that the word is 'pussy.' Interest at once; he knows the thing, pussy, and the written symbol is pleasant in his eyes because it is associated with an existing idea in his mind.” (p. 218)
3. Have your child look at the word until he is certain he knows it. In other words, until he can visualize the letters in his mind’s eye.
“He is told to look at the word 'pussy' until he is sure he would know it again.”
4. Have the student find the letters in the word from memory (from among his letter box).
“Then he makes 'pussy' from memory with his own loose letters.” (p. 218)
Extra: If you have made letter squares with phonograms (2 letters together that make a special sound), have him use the phonogram squares to make up the word. (See my earlier posts for details.) Since there are so many phonograms, try to pre-select the ones he’ll need.
5. Word Find among word cards for just this lesson.
“Then the little bag containing our two lines in loose words is turned out, and he finds the word 'pussy'” (p. 218)
- Note: Again, don’t have too many cards, or the child will get frustrated.
6. Word Find among the line of the poem for the word being learned.
“Lastly, the little sheet with the poem printed on it is shown to him, and he finds 'pussy,' but is not allowed yet to find out the run of the rhyme.” (p. 218)
7. Repeat steps 2-4 with all words for the lesson (up to 10 words, total). Leave all 10 words up on the board, in column form.
“'Coat, little, like, is, her, warm, I, so,' are taught in the same way” (p. 218)
8. As the student finds each word on a word card, have him arrange one of each just like the column on the blackboard.
“When each new word is learned, Tommy makes a column of the old ones” (p. 218)
9. Have the student read, in many different orders, from the blackboard, all the words he has learned .
“and reads up and down and cris-cras, the column on the blackboard.”
8. Allow the student to make his own column, in any order he would like, from his word cards.
9. Dictate a sentence slowly, and let the student find the right word cards and make them into a sentence.
“He knows words now, but he cannot yet read sentences. Now for the delight of reading. He finds at our dictation, amongst his loose words, 'pussy––is––warm,' places them in 'reading' order, one after the other, and then reads off the sentence. Joy, as of one who has found a new planet!” (p. 218-219)
10. Continue with about 12 dictated sentences, but not directly from the selection if you are keeping it a secret (see #11).
“Then, 'her-little-coat-is-warm,' 'Pussy-is-so-little,' 'I-like-pussy,' 'Pussy-is-little-like-her-coat,' and so on through a dozen more little arrangements.” (p. 219)
11. Optional: Keep the selection a secret until the child has learned all the words for the entire nursery rhyme!
“If the rhyme can be kept a secret till the whole is worked out, so much the better. To make the verses up with his own loose words will give Tommy such a delicious sense that knowledge is power, as few occasions in after life will afford.” (p. 219)
12. If you’re not keeping it a secret, now is the time dictate to the child the entire sentence from the selection and allow him to make it with his word cards. After that, let the child read the sentences containing the words he has learned directly from his book.
13. When you are at the end of the final lesson for all of the words in the rhyme, allow the child to make up the entire verse with his own loose words as you dictate it to him, and finally read it directly from his book.
“To make the verses up with his own loose words will give Tommy such a delicious sense that knowledge is power, as few occasions in after life will afford.” (p. 219)
Next and Final Post: “Spelling” or “Word Making” lessons!
Charlotte Mason Reading Lessons: Post 7 of 7 - Reading by Sound
In this, my FINAL post on Charlotte Mason’s reading lessons (at least for now!), we will talk about how phonics and spelling fit into her reading lessons. Make sure you have read posts 4-6 on the principles of Reading by Sight and Sound first!. This post will cover Day 2 lessons, “Reading by Sound.” This type of lesson should alternate with the Day 1 lessons which were described in my last post. When your reader is getting more advanced and has a longer attention span (or perhaps with a gifted child), you may be able to accomplish both the Day 1 and Day 2 lessons on the same day, and thus go faster.
Charlotte Mason gives only one thorough example of her “Reading by Sound” lessons. It is found in Home Education Volume 1, pages 219 to 222 (Please read it for yourself here: https://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html). If you read my last post, it is in the context of Ms. Mason’s third and most detailed example of how to conduct a reading lesson with a child.
DAY 2 LESSON: “WORD MAKING” or “SPELLING” or “READING BY SOUND”
(all are interchangeable titles for the same types of reading activities - and though Charlotte Mason only mentions it in passing, this is also a VOCABULARY lesson!)
Note: These lessons can take a long time! The Day 2 lessons may need to be broken up into several days depending on the child’s attention span.
“[It is desirable that 'Tommy' should not begin to 'read' until his intelligence is equal to the effort required by these lessons. Even then, it may be well to break up one into two, or half a dozen, as he is able to take it].” (p. 221)
PREPARATION:
1. Using the list of words your child learned in his Day 1 lesson, make a list of all the words that rhyme and are spelled the same as the words learned in Day 1.
2. Prepare a list of sentences you can dictate to your child that will use the rhyming words and words your child already knows (preferably words that have been recently learned and need more practice).
3. Create word cards using the words needed for the sentences in # 2.
4. Have the following additional materials available:
- Alphabet letter tiles
- Phonogram letter tiles (have the phonograms your child will need pre-sorted and available)
- Blackboard & chalk
- Word Notebook
STEPS: With each word learned during the Day 1 Lesson do the following:
1. Say the word to your child. Have him make it with his letters from memory. If he can’t do that, show him the word long enough for him to remember it, then remove it and have him make the word with his alphabet and phonogram letters.
“He makes the word 'coat' with his letters, from memory if he can; if not, with the pattern word.” (p. 219)
2. Say the word again, stressing the first phonetic sound. Ask the child to take away the first sound (keep saying it phonetically, not the letter name), and ask him what remains. You may physically separate the first letter of the word from the other letters so the child has a visual.
“Say 'coat' slowly; give the sound of the c. 'Take away c, and what have we left?' A little help will get 'oat' from him.” (p. 219)
3. Ask the child how he would make a word that rhymes with the original word (the only difference in spelling should be the beginning sound). Have the child find the appropriate letter & put it onto the ending part of his first word. Then write it on the blackboard.
“How would you make 'boat' (say the word very slowly, bringing out the sound of b). He knows the sounds of the letters, and says b-oat readily
4. Repeat step 3 until you have made all of the words that rhyme and are spelled the same. In the process, teach BLENDS and NEW VOCABULARY. Make a column of all the new words on the blackboard.
- This is a great time to introduce BLENDS, which are two letters which have distinct sounds but which are often pronounced together, such as fl, bl, st, tr, etc.
- This is also a great time to TEACH NEW WORDS and increase your child’s vocabulary. Your child has now advanced enough in reading that he will start to encounter words in books which do not occur in normal speech. It is to his advantage for you to explain the meaning and pronunciation of these words to him.
“fl-oat, two added sounds, which you lead him to find out; g-oat, he will give you the g, and find goat a charming new word to know; m-oat, he easily decides on the sound of m; a little talk about moat; the other words are too familiar to need explanation.” (p. 219)
“'Stoat'––he will be able to give the sounds of the initial letters, and stoat again calls for a little talk––another interesting word.” (p. 220)
5. Have the child read the column of all the new words up, down, and randomly.
“He has made a group of words with his letters, and there they are on the black-board in a column, thus
c-oat
m-oat
g-oat
fl-oat
st-oat
b-oat
He reads the column up and down and cris-cras; every word has a meaning and carries an idea.” (p. 220)
6. Practice using the new words by dictating sentences to your child which combine the new words with words he already knows. Have him find the words from a selection of word cards.
“Then the loose words he knows are turned out, and we dictate new sentences, which he arranges: 'I-like-her-goat'; 'her-little-stoat-is-warm,' and so on, making the new words with loose letters.” (p. 220)
7. Dictate a sentence which includes words your child does not yet know how to read. Have your child put in blank word cards for those words. This will give him a desire to learn more!
“Now for a new experience. We dictate 'pussy in the boat.' Consternation! Tommy does not know 'in' nor 'the.' 'Put counters for the words you don't know; they may soon come in our lessons,' and Tommy has a desire and a need––that is, an appetite for learning.” (p. 220)
8. Repeat steps 2-7 with all the remaining words that the child learned in Day 1.
“We deal with the remaining words in the same way––'little' gives brittle, tittle, skittle: pussy, is, I, and her, give no new words. 'Like' gives mike and pike. 'so' gives no, do (the musical 'do'), and lo!” (p. 220)
“By this time he has eighteen new words on the blackboard of which to make sentences with the nine loose words of 'pussy.' Her skittle is little, her charm is brittle, her arm is warm, and so on. But we take care that the sentences make sense. Her goat is brittle, is 'silly,' and not to be thought of at all.” (p. 221)
9. Have your child write all his new words in his Word Bank Book.
“Tommy's new words are written in his 'note-book' in print hand, so that he can take stock of his possessions in the way of words.” (p. 221)
NOTES ON SELECTING WORDS FOR STEPS 3 & 4:
A. Words that rhyme but are spelled differently:
- If a child suggests a word which is spelled differently, just tell him it is not spelled using the same letters, and move on.
“Tommy will, no doubt, offer 'note' and we must make a clean breast of it and say, 'No, note is spelt with other letters'; but what other letters we do not tell him now. Thus he comes to learn incidentally and very gradually that different groups of letters may stand for the same sounds. But we do not ask him to generalise; we only let him have the fact that n-oat does not spell the symbol we express by 'note.' (p. 219-220)
B. Words that are spelled the same but do not sound the same:
1. If a word is very close to sounding the same or is used as a rhyme with another word in the reading selection you’re using even though it’s not a perfect rhyme, go ahead and include it in the list of words that you’re making in step 4. Do not make a big deal of it.
“From 'warm' we get arm, harm, charm, barm, alarm; we pronounced warm as arm. Tommy perceives that such a pronunciation is wrong and vulgar, and sees that all these words are sounded like 'arm,' but not one of them like 'warm'––that is, he sees that the same group of letters need not always have the same sound. But we do not ask him to make a note of this new piece of knowledge; we let it grow into him gradually, after many experiences.” (p. 220-221)
2. If a word is pronounced totally differently from the word you are using, do not include it in your group of similar words in step 4. Notice that Charlotte Mason does NOT include the word “do” as in “do your work” in the following selection of words:
“'so' gives no, do (the musical 'do'), and lo!” (p. 220)
FINISHING UP THE READING SELECTION: Continue alternating Day 1 and Day 1 lessons until your reading selection is mastered. If you have been able to keep the rhyme a secret until the child has learned all of the words, have him read it perfectly when they are all learned.
- “There is no stumbling, no hesitation from the first, but bright attention and perfect achievement... Perfect enunciation and precision are insisted on, and when he comes to arrange the whole of the little rhyme in his loose words and read it off (most delightful of all the lessons) his reading must be a perfect and finished recitation. [Spirited nursery rhymes form the best material for such reading lessons.]” (p. 220-221)
WORKING WITH AN ADVANCED OR GIFTED READER:
Many of the activities described above are extremely detailed and time intensive. Gifted or advanced children may not need to go through all of the above steps. Here are some substitutions and short cuts you can use when you feel your student does not need everything described above:
- Have your student visualize the word "in his mind's eye," air write it, and do steps 2-4 entirely in the air.
- Skip many of the sentences for a child with exceptional visual memory who does not need additional practice.
- Review the "Spelling" in Example #1 from my last post for the extremely pared-down version of this lesson, which can be used with a student with amazing visual memory.
FINAL RESULTS of these reading lessons:
- Large stock of words memorized
- Power to attack new words because of knowledge of familiar combinations
- Positive results will give him a sense of accomplishment and the feeling that he is able to keep learning.
“By the time Tommy has worked 'Little Pussy' through he has quite a large stock of words; has considerable power to attack new words with familiar combinations; what is more, he has achieved; he has courage to attack all 'learning,' and has a sense that delightful results are quite within reach.” (p. 221)
Written and Copyrighted by Jennifer Spead: http://joyfulshepherdess.blogspot.com/
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