The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part One

Parental information: to help make both ‘reading and spelling’ exercises more likely to be understood and remembered:

1st.	Read the words in column one with your child, repeating each word two times. Then have your child read the words in column one with you, repeating each word twice. Then have your child read the first column of words alone, two times for each word. Repeat for the remainder of the word list.
2nd.	Syllabicate words like: stren-u-ous, ser-rat-ed, haz-ard-ous, anx-ious-ly, cour-a-geous-ly, Mich-i-gan, cir-cle, sug-ar, coug-ar, ex-cit-ed... ...then have your child identify the vowel sound in each syllable.

If you recall, your child was taught to identify and decode all triple blends such as str with short vowels to a level of automaticity. Those children who remember their lessons will know how to syllabicate and decode words. Your responsibility will be to help your child learn to understand the meanings of every word in every lesson. You may be the only person to teach the meanings of new words since public school reading teachers feel there isn’t enough time to teach this important part of language development.

Parents: Use this time to go over word meanings for all words. Help your child to recognize synonyms such as: ‘face’ as in the face they wash every morning, or the face of a cliff, the front of a building or a mountain. Take time to teach words such as 'does', as in "he does his homework" and "all female deer are known as does."

Show your child a serrated knife blade, then ask, “If your boots had serrated soles, would the soles be rough or smooth? Many children who struggle to remember new words learn best when they are offered the same visual clues, then asked to print the word in damp sand or on rough sandpaper. It is essential that all new words be repeated orally, for as many times as needed, until they own the word.

It may seem trivial but I expect you to avoid making the same reading/language omissions that public school primary reading teachers make when teaching words such as:

Vowel Sound captions such as:

Provide visual clues, such as those shown in previously learned Short Vowel exercises. Refer back to words from earlier word lists in order to evaluate how well your child was able to retain their word recognition and meanings. For example, show your child a map of Lake Michigan (since this story takes place in the state of Michigan), then show your child videos and pictures of cougars and fawns, and what a gorge looks like, or a highway or chute.

Story Word List

Ask your child to read the story on their own. Later, question your child as to events that took place in the story and when the time seems suitable, ask your child to read the story to you.

The two rules parents must follow when listening to their child read to them:

Rule # 1

Be silent, let your child read the story with no interruptions. Let your child make mistakes as long as they are making sense of the story. It is essential that you let your child create a flow of oral reading fluency when reading to you. Children who have parents who interrupt are children who don’t like reading to their parents. The only time the parent interrupts the reading of the story is when what is being read changes the direction or the meaning of the story.

Rule # 2

Any errors made while your child reads the story to you should be a teaching moment which you come back to after the oral reading session is completed. Never let mispronounced words appear as a criticism. If your child is to achieve reading fluency let them make mistakes. By making sure that your child is able to both recognize most words and their meanings, you will reveal whether your child has reached reading fluency.

The following story will give you the opportunity to practice being the objective listener that your child enjoys reading to.

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The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part One

We met at Barry’s house since he had a rec room that was far enough away so that his parents wouldn’t hear us talking about our plans to hike through Eagle Glen Forest to the Caves at Eagle Ridge. There were six of us and we were discussing what supplies and equipment we would need for our weekend expedition. My family had recently moved to Canyon City, about a hundred miles northwest of Chicago. My dad was a Chicago chemist whose lab had a view of Lake Michigan. He had recently been given a position as chief chemist at the company’s head office in Canyon City. They offered him a huge house with a pool, tennis court, basketball backboard and hoop and a backyard that was large enough to play touch football. I met some courageous hiker-friends at high school. After several local hikes, we all decided to explore the caves. We now began planning our secret trek to the one place our parents forbid us to never set foot in. Little did we know of what lay ahead or we would have listened to our parent’s warnings.

At the end of the meeting, everyone went home to busily prepare for our weekend excursion. As we were leaving, Neil asked me, “Frank, does your dad still have some of his rock climbing equipment? We might end up needing his climbing rope. And don’t forget to bring your new camera.” Neil wanted a few pictures of our climb to view when we got back home. I searched the cupboard where I thought my dad had stored his climbing gear and packed many items I thought would be needed, including his rock climbing boots for myself. That morning, everyone set their alarm clocks an hour before their parents would wake up. I wanted to be prompt so I left early and met everyone at the bus stop which was an hour’s bus ride to the park entrance.

While we were waiting for our bus to take us to the preserve’s entrance, two women asked us where we were going with all the hiking equipment? Claude said, “We’re hiking to the river for the day.” Two days before the meeting at Barry's, Neil made a separate list for each of us which included food and things we would need for the trip. Food stuff like sugar, flour, eggs and desserts. Neil said he would bring enough water to get us to the Canyon Falls River. Hugh was to bring the safety kit and a portable stove for cooking. Mary brought her map of the forest preserve that showed the trail we needed to follow for us to find our way to Canyon Falls River and then to the Caves at Eagle Ridge. As we hiked along the trail, Mary spotted two does and their fawns. We saw rabbits, squirrels, a fox, groundhogs and a family of baby chipmunks. We all hoped to see a wild boar. Thankfully, there are no dangerous animals such as cougars or bears on the preserve. By now the forest was in full bloom with its beautiful flowering bushes, colorful butterflies and multicolored hummingbirds that stopped in mid-air to examine us.

The trail was easy to manage and led us to the campground with exit signs that showed different routes to various parts of the forest. Mary says the map for the trail to Canyon River is the red sign between two large Dogwood Trees that is mounted on a rocky cliff above the trail entrance. Claude spotted our path and ran to the entrance. As soon as we were on our way, I sensed something odd was about to happen but kept it to myself. Our trail became marked with scarred trees and overhanging branches that blotted out the morning sun. As we trekked farther into the forest our footing became difficult to manage. Everyone had to be careful where they stepped because of the huge rocks and slippery tree roots that grew around and on the path. The trail ran through winding hills until we reached the base of a steep cliff. We were hours into our destination and realized that either the map was wrong or we must have taken a wrong turn. We had two choices, either climb to the top of the cliff or try to find our way back to the campgrounds. We tried to circle around the cliff and discovered that our only choice was to try and climb the face of the slippery slope. No one wanted to retrace the trail and as a group we all agreed to make the climb. This was to be a challenge since few of us had ever been faced with a climb this steep and difficult.

We rested for half an hour before Neil and Hugh, our best climbers, tried to find a safe passage to reach the top. They found a shaft that was safe enough for us to climb and made it to the top in less than two minutes. Hugh stayed close to the edge of the gorge while Neil came down to help the weaker climbers. When it came time for me to climb I was glad that I wore my dad’s climbing boots with its serrated soles that dug into the earth and tough tree roots that grew throughout the shaft. As each of us worked our way to the top, a moist rain began covering the entire cliff. This made our climb to the top more challenging. Everyone made it to the top except Claude who waited anxiously for his turn. Claude was never a good climber because of his fear of heights. I threw my boots down for Claude to use to make the climb but one boot got hooked on the edge of a large stone.

Hugh climbed down to assist Neil. Both tried encouraging Claude to try the climb but Claude was frozen with fear and too scared to even try. Things worsened for Claude when on his first attempt up the shaft, he slipped on the slippery slope and slid twenty feet to the bottom of the muddy part of the chute. By now climbing to the top had become increasingly hazardous because of the slippery conditions. I stayed at the crest of the gorge while Hugh and Neil helped Claude to climb the slope. As Claude was only an arms length from my grasp and reaching the top of the shaft, the rock Claude was using for support gave way and he plunged backward into thin air with nothing to grab hold of. His most frightening nightmare had now become a daymare.

...To be Continued....

Kids! Tune in next time, same time, same site for more adventures of “The Caves at Eagle Ridge.” What will happen to Claude? Will he survive the fall from the top of the cliff? Will the trek go on? Will Frank and the group be able to reach the falls?

Parents: The following exercises will soon let you know how well your child remembered those reading skills that you thought were mastered to a level of automaticity.

How to Start

This first story is written for children at a primary school grade level.

1. Start by reading the word list with your child and be sure your child understands the meanings of each word.

   It will be OK for your child to use a dictionary for answering vocabulary questions. There are synonym, antonym and homonym exercises that will challenge your child’s vocabulary skills.

2. Before you begin, ask your child to find every homonym in the first sentence. If there are problems, review the concept of homonyms (See "Rules" on the Learning tree).

3. Ask your child to find the Consonant Sound of C in the first sentence of the second paragraph.

4. Read across the third line in the word list, then have your child identify the digraph sounds of words spelled with CH.

5. Ask your child to describe the two meanings of wind and close. Does your child understand wind as blowing and wind as winding a clock? The same for the word ‘close’, as in "close the door" and "you are standing too close to the fire." The words close, wound and wind as well as strenuous and hazardous are no more difficult to grasp than the word ‘smithereens’. Does your child know about the word and name Frank? As in "let’s be frank about this!" These exercises are to expand your child’s vocabulary skills. I know from experience that a six or seven year-old child is capable of understanding the meanings of the words that I hope you are able to teach them.

   Every program is designed to enhance word recognition and bit-by-bit gradually strengthen vocabulary skills. No word is beyond your child’s ability to learn its meaning. It’s up to you to help your child learn words with more than one meaning. Let’s be frank about this!

6. Ask your child, what are the vowel sounds for each word in column six? How well your child answers these “vowel combinations” quizzes will give you clues that identifying vowel sounds may still challenge your child’s ability to decode words.

7. Word meanings are essential for all reading lessons. For the story, “The Caves at Eagle Ridge”, I have included Homonyms, Synonyms and Antonyms. Make sure they know their meanings and be patient with me for introducing words like strenuous, serrated, hazardous and courageous into your child’s vocabulary. Explain each word, especially the word 'wound', as in, "I wound the clock" and "I have a wound from falling down." It is essential that you spend time helping your child to remember the various vowel sounds. This exercise will inform you as to how well your child hears the vowels and is able to correctly place each word on the correct vowel sound line.

8. You may find it necessary to review words with a 'Schwa' sound. Some words are pronounced differently because of their vowel sounds. You might as well teach words the way they are expressed in a dictionary. If you haven’t already begun, this first story has several words that need to be pronounced the way I hope you will teach them. Why not teach your child the correct pronunciation of words such as: 'rēmind' which is pronounced rĭ/mind, and the word rē/member is pronounced rĭ/member. The word is dĭ/mand not dē/mand. Rĭ/ply not rē/ply. Rĭ/move not rē/move, rĭ/venge, rĭ/view, rĭ/verse, dĭ/pend, dĭ/ny and dĭ/liver.

   It’s a shame that children are not taught Schwa sounds in primary school. Especially the word ‘women’ when it should be pronounced wĭ/men. I’ve heard teachers pronounce this incorrectly. My eldest son continues to pronounce women, first vowel o͝o (as in book). Do this as directed and your child will begin to strengthen their pronunciation and vocabulary skills.

9. Don’t be alarmed by your child’s inability to write answers to the questions in complete sentence form. Middle school students still struggle writing answers in complete sentence form. This is only difficult because few teachers provide instruction that allows every student to write answers in complete sentence form. I will teach you how to teach your child to answer reading comprehension questions with full descriptive sentences.

Let’s get started. It is OK to use a useful dictionary.

Your child will be challenged by some of these exercises and is permitted to use a good dictionary for vowel sounds and word meanings.

The only way your child will be able to complete this exercise correctly is for you to ask,”What vowel sound do you hear?” in words like anxious (short ă), busy (short ĭ), said (short ĕ), etc.

Exercise # 1: Short Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

(Every word to be hand-written)

Exercise # 2: Long Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

Exercise # 3: Irregular Vowel Sounds

(Use a dictionary if you wish)

Exercise # 4: Consonant Sounds of C and G

Exercise # 5: The Three Sounds of the Digraph CH

Exercise # 6: Antonyms

Words that mean the opposite

Find the word that means the opposite.

Place the letter of the word in the bracket of the phrase:

Exercise # 7: Homonyms

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different word meanings.

Place the letter of the word in the bracket of the phrase:

Exercise # 8: Synonyms

Words with the same word meaning

Place the letter of the word in the bracket of the phrase:

Questions and Answers

Before you begin, have your child read the question to you, this will be the format from now on. All answers are to be hand-written and rewritten if the answers are illegible.

1. Why did the children leave so early in the morning?

   
   

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2. How many hikers in the group were boys?

   
   

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3. Who were the best hikers?

   
   

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4. Who is the story teller?

   
   

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5. Who is your hero in the story?

   
   

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6. Why did the hikers meet at Barry’s house?

   
   

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7. Do you think it was wise to go on this trek?

   
   

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8. What animal did the group hope to see?

   
   

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9. What did the two women ask the kids at the bus stop?

   
   

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10. Who spotted the trail sign to Canyon River?

    
    

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11. How did Frank feel once they left the campgrounds and began to hike the new trail?

    
    

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ANSWERS: For parents for the above exercises

Exercise # 1: Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

Every word to be hand-written

Exercise # 2: Long Vowel Sounds in the First Syllable

Exercise # 3: Irregular Vowel Sounds

Exercise # 4: Consonant Sounds of C and G

Exercise # 5: The Three Sounds of the Digraph CH

Exercise # 6: Antonyms

Words that mean the opposite

Find the word that means the opposite.

Place the letter of the word in the bracket of the phrase:

Exercise # 7: Homonyms

Words that sound the same but are spelled differently

Exercise # 8: Synonyms

Words with the same word meaning

Questions and Answers

Before you begin, have your child read the questions to you. This will be the format from now on. All answers are to be hand-written and rewritten if the answers are illegible.

Most children have difficulty writing answers in sentence form. Teach your child how to use the words in the question as part of answering the question. For example, question a) asks,”Why did the children leave so early in the morning?" Show them how to use the same words toward writing the answers, as:

1. “The reason the children left so early in the morning was...” and they write the rest of the answer in perfect sentence form: “...so their parents wouldn’t know where they were going and refuse to let them go to the caves."
2. "There were __ hikers on the excursion."
3. "____ were the best hikers in the group."

1. Why did the children leave so early in the morning?

   The children left early in the morning so that their parents wouldn’t hear them leaving the house.

2. How many hikers in the group were boys?

   Five of the hikers were boys.

3. Who were the best hikers?

   Both Hugh and Neil were the best hikers.

4. Who is the story teller?

   Frank is the story teller.

5. Who is your hero in the story?

   My hero in the story is _____________.

6. Why did the hikers meet at Barry’s house?

   The hikers met at Barry’s house because Barry had a rec room that was far enough away from where his parents could hear them discussing hiking plans.

7. Do you think it was wise to go on this trek?

   I think it was/wasn’t wise to go on this trek.

8. What animal did the group hope to see?

   The group hoped to see a wild boar.

9. What did the two women ask the kids at the bus stop?

   The two women at the bus stop asked the kids, “Where are you kids going with all that hiking equipment?”

10. Who spotted the trail sign to Canyon River?

    Claude was the first to spot the trail sign.

11. How did Frank feel once they left the campgrounds and began to hike the new trail?

    Frank sensed something odd was about to happen.

Next:

The Caves at Eagle Ridge

Part Two