Taking an Unexpected Break from Our Beloved “Alphabet Island”
I realized soon after the new year started that Madeline was very close to finishing Level 1 of Alphabet Island. We began this curriculum last spring and completed the first section (learning/reviewing letter sounds and practicing writing lower case letters) before we beginning Kindergarten this fall. We then began the second half of Level 1 this fall (learning 3 letter “consonant-vowel-consonant” or “CVC” words and practicing writing upper case letters).
Level 1 of Alphabet Island was very well suited to Madeline. She likes the characters and the songs. There is some writing, but not too much. The approach to learning the CVC words (using word families) really clicked with her. She enjoyed the games when we find time to play them. So, naturally, I was really looking forward to starting level 2A this month after we finished level 1.
A week or so ago I pulled out out Level 2A to start reading through the lessons and seeing what we would be working on. I was quite surprised to find out that Level 2A is much more difficult than level 1!
After a handful of review pages, Level 2A moves quickly into marking short/long vowels on long lists of words, long stories to help learn complex phonics/spelling rules, and page-long spelling tests. Whoa! Madeline is definitely not ready for that as not-yet-six-year-old Kindergartener.
I found this informative quote in the Teacher’s Guide: “The majority of this program is directed toward the phonics rules for spelling. But this approach alone can slow down the reading process. To help develop reading skills, some reading instructions and material has been included. However, reading will not happen by chance. It takes lots of practice…Another reading program…or books from the library are sources of reading materials…Most students will want to read above their spelling ability. This is good. Work with the student on two levels–one in reading and one in spelling.”
Reading this section confirmed to me that Level 2A of Alphabet Island was not what Madeline needed right about now. I am not super concerned at the moment with developing her spelling skills. She is still struggling with having the patience and perseverance to write more than a few words at a time — usually words that she has right in front of her (aka copying them from a text or from something I wrote). I think a great deal of this is developmental. Once she is six or seven, I would anticipate her fine motor skills will catch up, writing will not be such a challenge, and memorizing complex rules and long spelling lists will not seem so daunting.
I still think that Alphabet Island is a great program and I fully intend to pick it up again later. I may even read some of the spelling/phonics rule stories to her so they can start percolating around in her brain (and so I can refer to them as we work on her reading skills). But that means we need something else to use right now. Madeline is eager to move beyond the three letter CVC words and learn new things about reading, so she can read more complex books.
I decided we would switch to Explode the Code for the rest of her Kindergarten year and possibly beyond. Explode the Code is a simple workbook-based phonics program with 8 main levels and a “half level” in between each one for further review (there’s also an online version of Explode the Code, but it looks a bit expensive…so we’ll be sticking to the paper version!). I ordered levels 1 1/2 and 2:
Level 1 1/2 will give Madeline additional practice in the skills she learned this year in Alphabet Island level 1, while book 2 will move into new skills like beginning and ending blends. My plan is to do one or two pages in each book per day. This still may be a bit much writing for Madeline (some pages just involve circling or “x”-ing a correct answer, but other pages require writing quite a few whole words). I may do some of the writing for her (as she dictates to me what letters to write) or I may get her an alphabet stamp set as a fun way for her to get her answers on paper. I’ll also add additional cards to her phonics flip chart, and we’ll use that for additional practice or for me to introduce new concepts. (files for the flip chart available here, here and here).
Despite a few wobbles the first time up and down the block, riding a bike came back to me pretty easily. My mom gave us a bike trailer that she had purchased to take her dog on bike rides. The dog hated the trailer, but Erik loves it! He gets to ride in the trailer in his car seat, pulled by Tony. We got an inexpensive used “back of the bike” seat for Madeline (as well as a helmet!), and she gets to ride behind me.