Barton Level 4: Practice and Review (also...that darned shwa!!)

Anyone who has used Barton Reading and Spelling will tell you that Level 4 is a BEAST! Seriously, this is where the meat of the program starts. The first 3 levels are genius in how they set you up for success here and how they get kids learning fast. But Level 4? It has every rule you never knew you needed to know to read and spell perfectly. However, English is kinda a beast in and of itself and so the rules have exceptions and funny details and are just plain hard. Worth it....but hard. 

Both my daughter and my other oldest student are in Barton 4. Actually my daughter is "finished" but didn't totally ace the post-test so we're doing some review. Barton insists you should have a 95% accuracy or better to move on and I agree generally. So like with the other levels we're spending a little time at the end reviewing and playing games. 

My tutoring student was especially struggling with the BANANA rule and that darned schwa sound (the /uh/ in banana for all of you). Because the schwa rule is a rule of convenience vs logic (we use it to say words faster because basically we're all in a rush) and it's heavily dependent on where the accented and unaccented syllables are it is complicated to really get the hang of for some.

Anyway, so we went back through the lesson but with the 3 syllable types we've learned and a little accent symbol on post-its. So the kids would divide up a word with tiles, then label each syllable type and mark the vowel (see the cheat sheet for how to mark vowels over on the right?). After that they'd decide where the accent should go using a rubber band to determine which syllable is longest and using common sense/process of elimination. THEN they say the word again and we check to make sure they're right. 

Even for the ones where they got something incorrect it lead to great discussions about WHY it was wrong. It really seemed to help break up the concepts into manageable chunks.

We are ALL about the manageable chunks!

Does anyone else have any tips/tricks for Level 4??

Who the Heck Am I?

In case you're wondering who I am or what this blog is about, here's a picture of me....complete with falling-down-glasses, tiny nose ring, long earrings and braided hair. This is how I look 99% of the time, especially if you see me heading off to tutoring sessions. 

I'm a mom of 5 kids. One of whom is adopted. I'll let you guess who from the pictures! One of my children has diagnosed dyslexia (or: specific disability in reading) as well as several other minor special needs. I'm pretty sure my 5 year old also is dyslexic but it's too soon to tell for sure. 

Before having all these kids I was a teacher and that was okay but honestly I preferred teaching one-on-one. When I had my first kid I decided to stay home for a bit and now I'm still mostly a stay-at-home mom (and a homeschooling mom) but I also tutor 10+ hours a week. Which means I spend approximately 20 hours researching reading, prepping materials, keeping track of paperwork, and driving to my students and 10 hours actually sitting with them and teaching them. 

I take tutoring seriously because I've been there as a mom. When our adopted daughter came to us at 11 we were not told that she was completely illiterate. As in, she stumbled to try and read a basic baby board book and didn't realize road signs actually said something meaningful. I remember the day I realized she couldn't read and crying in my bedroom so she wouldn't see how upset I was. I remember the days knowing she needed help but not knowing what kind of help or who could give it to her. 

With few other options in our rural area I was blessed with the opportunity to get trained myself in Orton-Gillingham, the one research-based method for remediating dyslexia and other reading struggles. I learned a ton in my training! And I'm still learning every day through experience and talking to other moms and teachers and tutors. 

I'm not an expert. Not in the slightest. 

If you're looking for that then you should check out these guys or maybe this woman. 

All I'm here for is to share my experience. 

What's working, 

What's not working, 

What little tricks and tips I've found.

And *hopefully* lots of pictures and just regular old links and resources for you. 

And Who Are You? 

Well, I'm assuming you're a parent or educator or both and that your child or student or both is struggling to read. Or maybe you're just into researching reading methods for kicks? But my guess is the former ;) 

So if you find something here that helps please comment and let me know. If I say something totally wrong then please feel free to correct me. And if you have other ideas please please comment and share them with me and anyone else who stumbles on this site!