In OG, every student has their own visual deck - a card with a sound/ a picture of the keyword on the backside. This is one activity that I do with my students to help them practice the sounds and how they sound when they put them together. These drills are called - Blending Drill - which is an integral part of building their reading/ recognition of sound/symbol skill. Basically, when I'm doing the visual drill, I split the visual deck into 3 piles (left to right) - beginning sounds, vowel sounds and end sounds. You can have the child point to the sound with their fingers or pointer (helps them stay on task), and ask them to hold each sound as you go (similar to holding music notes during singing) and then say the word altogether - blend the sounds together. You can let them flip the cards from the different columns to make different combinations. Be on alert for swear words!
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After a message from @RaisingBoysChat and reading an article from her blog - http://mothersraisingboys.com/?DUvOmwbg - made me realize how obscured that majority or might I say the government believes that by age 5 that they should be trained to sit still in a classroom. I would sure like to see the evidence that shows that by sitting still in kindergarten makes you smarter? and have better grades? and be a better learner? The only thing a person may want this policy is that they want their classroom of 30 kids to sit still and listen to them without hassles.....but we all know that this is impossible especially at that age??!!!!!
This is a clear example of how the education system do not include all types of learners - what about the policy of "no child left behind". I'm positive that over 80% of kindergartens will not be able to sit longer than 15 minutes at one time. I can't even sit for longer than 10 minutes, how am I suppose to expect that out of a 5 year old. On the other hand, I do agree that there should be a time to "sit and learn" and a time to "play and learn". The problem is that they don't consider students who may suffer from ADHD or ADD. Sitting for even a minute is a struggle or an accomplishment for these kids. Why is the government spending that much money to train us like a robot or computer? What I like about the Orton Gillingham tutoring is that every activity is kept to 5-10 mins long. Each activity or concept taught is always interconnected and link to practicing visual, auditory and kinesthetic/tactile parts of the English language. Within my lesson I try to incorporate activities that require the child to move around - have them either standing or jumping or lying down. Being an experienced ADD learner myself, it's torture to sit through 1 hour tutor lessons when I was young. I just trained myself to zone out and nod my head when needed to get through those hours. If the tutor back then made it interactive and hands on I would have been more of an active learner during those years. Instead I continue to struggle throughout highschool and university and my mom just continued to hire tutors. Only if my mom knew about OG program....it would have made such a difference. Instead I learned at 33 years old (after the OG tutor training program) that it wasn't about me being dumb during my school age years, it was that the school system/my tutors didn't acknowledge that every child has their unique style. The traditional classroom hasn't been working for a long time but still the government and school boards are still adamant of using this method. When they implement policies like this, children will think that the only way they can learn or feel normal is to sit down and learn.....is that the message we want to employ to our children? At early elementary grades, it's very hard to ask any child to sit for long period of time....but are they preparing us for the inevitable of sitting for 3-4 hours straight in the highschool/ college years? Since 'sit/learn' will encompass most of our later school years I have some activities that promote and help students focus on sit down activities. These can be implemented in a classroom or home environment at early ages: * table activities that require child to sit down and explore - puzzles, fun board games, short experiments - these table activities can be used as a transition activity in between class activities. * create a quiet reading area with large bean bag chairs or pillows where the child can sit/ read on their own without somebody telling them to read a specific story * have visuals when talking to children * use manipulatives or anything that the child can touch/feel when explaining new concepts - for math - use blocks and counters - learning new words - magnetic letters, sandpaper letters, glitter letters * child has their own personalized mat ( carpet square mat or placemat for tables) - keeps them sitting down in their own space * role reversals - let them be the teacher/ you be the student * incorporate stand-up or stretching activities during transitions from sitting activities * use a song that helps children know and prepare to sit down and listen - Open Shut Them (fast, slow, loud, soft versions) - Shake your Sillies out |
AuthorDora Cheung - Certified OG Tutor, Masters of Educ. Admin., Early Childhood Education, +20 yrs of teaching experience. Married with 3 boys - 13 yrs, 11 yrs and 8 yrs old. Archives
December 2019
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