Ethan hands me this piece of paper (shown above)
Ethan: Well?
Me: What?
Ethan: Read the letter.
Me: Um, what does it say?
Ethan: (big sigh) It says, "Get me some cheese crackers."
Me: I think it needs to say, "Please."
Ethan: I can't spell that word yet.
Me: Well, we will need to work on our letters then.
We
are at a fun stage, developmentally speaking, with Ethan. He is taking
an interest in writing and putting together words. I can see the
beginning stages of reading in our future although the spelling of
words can get pretty tedious as we have to write everything out
together.
He really enjoys copying words off of boxes and in the
books that he reads. The writing backwards thing is still working
itself out, but he is doing so much better than he was. I think part of
this still has to do with him being left-handed. Just a mommy theory
though!
To help Ethan with his letters, we made a trip to the
library and found a movie produced by the hooligans who take all my
money (also known as the LeapFrog company). The movie is called, "The Letter Factory" and is all about teaching children their letters and their letter sounds.
I
popped the movie in and watched the wonders of letters come to life
with them. It was smartly written and reminded me of Richard Scarry and
his tactics for teaching children their letters. It was so good that I
made my husband sit down and watch it with us. We both were in
amazement at how well it was written and the smart ways that they
helped kids learn their letter sounds. The letter E for example was an
old man who made the "Ehhhh" sound. The letter L licked a lollipop and
made the "Llll" sound as he licked. In short, it was all the images and
learning techniques that made the process of learning their letter
sounds fun again.
Emily, at two, has been chanting all of her
letter sounds to anyone who will listen. I went to Ethan's parent
teacher conference and had the teacher told me that out of all the
children in the class, Ethan was the only one who knew all of his
letter sounds. He learned all of those from that movie- I can't even
take credit for it.
The kids loved it and watched it for three
weeks, until it had to be returned to the library. I applied a gift
card and Easter money towards the entire five collection set from the
company and am eagerly awaiting their arrival as much as my kids.
I
thought I would share this experience because I always appreciate when
other parents point out to me products that really work, especially
when it comes to educating my children. We are just in the beginning
stages though and I am sure others have some great recommendations.
Sound Off:
As we venture into this new world of reading and spelling, I am
interested in finding out what tools you used to help your children.
Are there any sites that you frequent for printables? Do you have any
book or movie recommendations? How do you foster a love for reading in
your kids?
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We also have "Letter Factory" and my 2 y/o knows most of her letter and the sounds they make. We couldn't believe it when she started walking around, pointing out letters and making the sounds. I think the movie is incredibly well done too. Grandma & Grandpa purchased the Leapfrog "Word Whammer" for her (http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Word-Whammer-Fridge-Phonics/dp/B0002SC7CE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1212419592&sr=8-1)
which has magnetic letters and follows the same format and sounds as the movie, which really reinforces the learning. There's a single Word Whammer for teaching letters and phonics, but I really like the larger Word Whammer with 3 letter spaces for beginning to learn to build 3 letter words. I know she'll be able to grow into this and use it for years.
I used to teach kindergarten (I teach 4th now) in a low-income neighborhood where many of my students came to me knowing no letters at all. After trying many approaches to teaching reading, we watched The Letter Factory one day to reinforce what we'd learned. I still had many kids who weren't retaining their letters or sounds. After including The Letter Factory into our curriculum 1-2 times per week, our kids were improving exponentially. We even took it a step further and used the next DVD about making words and the 3rd about stories. I've seen NOTHING that made as big a difference as these movies. We even made our own "Word Factory" by cutting slits in a large sheet of manila paper and running strips of paper with letters on them through the gaps to create words like they do in the movies.
For those with internet access and at the point where Ethan is, checkout http://www.starfall.com. It's awesome!
The LeapFrog Fridge Phonics set has been GREAT for my son! It sings songs and allows them to form 3 lettered words!
The letter factory is great. Another great tool is the website http://www.starfall.com
teaches ABC and reading basics. My kids love it!
We have the LeapPad and have the Letter Factory book/cartridge. My kids love it and the boy knew all of his letter sounds by 2.5 by watching his sisters play with it. Of course we read together a lot too, but I credit the LeapPad with them learning their letter sounds and practicing forming the letters. I had no idea there were videos! I must research this more…
My family is VERY into reading…it might have something to do with all of us having extreme aversions to things like dirt, sports and sweat. I remember, around age 4 or 5, my family began reading scriptures every night, together. We would go round-robin style, each person reading a verse. This got tedious with four year olds, who needed everyone's help, but we quickly got the hang of it, sounding things out. As my siblings were added to the mix, we would all chime in when a kid got stuck. (Let me tell you, it came in handy later, in school – my sister and I were the only kids in class who knew what the HECK Shakespeare was talking about, since we were used to the language from years of scripture study.) Later, around age 6, my father began reading us a chapter out of the Chronicles of Narnia at night. I remember one night, going to my father (around 1st grade) and telling him I was ready for my goodnight story. He was busy, so he pointed out, "You know how to read- go read it to yourself." I had never thought about it, but I was THRILLED – i didn't have to wait for someone else to read my favorite books to me! I could go hide in my room and read them to myself!
I love starfall.com. It is a completely free, research based site put together by a university. It goes all the way from letter sound relationships and phonemic awareness to decodeable books. It has multiple modality, interactive web-based activities and oodles of printables.
I have used the printable decodeable books with English Language Learners in my upper grade classrooms. You can have the kiddos read the books. Once they are familiar with the story, cut the text and pictures apart. Have the kids read the text then for a comprehension check, have the find the picture that matches the text. They can also sequence the test and pictures.
Great stuff!
Great post – thanks for the info!! I will be checking out the Letter Factory as soon as I get to the library. I had given up on the Leap Frog series a couple of years ago for my older two, but this sound great for my 4 year old!
Our secret has been refrigerator letters, numbers & shapes! Because the letters are sometimes hard to find in the stores, if I see them these days I get them. With a 10 & 8 year old in the house, I love coming into the kitchen and seeing all of the messages they leave … and the 4 year old loves to "play school" with them and his older sister!
I have now taught 5 children to read (all girls). My first read at 3 1/2, but she was the first-born and is very smart. We started with letters that stuck to the bathtub and played with them. We also had magnetic letters that she played with. She learned their names there. And went on very fast, almost on her own. With the others, I had a set of flashcards which we matched with the bathtub letters for recognition(not in the tub). The we learned the sounds, learning one at a time and adding about one per week. Then I used a printed material called Explode the Code–just the first three pre-reading books. They introduce only the consonant sounds. Then I went to a phonics program which started with a. It is not the best phonics program, but it is the cheapest–by Christian Liberty Press. If they were learning to read before they wrote well, then they dictated things to me. Teaching your child to read is a wonderful thing. My kids are all crazy about books, even the 2 year old boy–but he's not reading yet!
Wow, these are such great ideas, everyone! I am hoping to try some of your ideas with Ethan and I appreciate the feedback.
We did get the rest of the DVD's and they are EXCELLENT. Some of them are a little over my daughter's head (who is two), but they are perfect for the preschool age child or those in the pre-k stage.
Thank you for all of your comments- I love reading ideas for this summer!
you rawk, amy
Wow that sounds great! I have bought an ABC and 123 learning DVD with Winnie The Pooh and was very disapointed in them. I'll have to check these ones out.
My DD loves going through the alphabet with the Little People ABC's Zoo Game here:
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp
And to help her to love reading I read a bedtime story to her everynight. She knows them all so well that she helps me "read" them by filling in the words when I pause for her. I also buy her books all the time, anytime she finds one she loves from the library we buy it for our collection at home. Toys I'll limit, but not books.
Thanks for a great post and product review!
I was going to suggest starfall.com, but see that it's already been mentioned, it is a wonderful site, so I'm not suprised.
Word World is a wonderful PBS series that is all about letters and words. My three year old loves it and makes me promise each night that that I'll tape it for him the next morning if he doesn't wake up in time.
I used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann with my oldest son. The book is entirely scripted…you only follow what it tells you to say. At 6, my son now reads on a third grade level. We have just started it with my 4 year old, too. As a former teacher and homeschool mom, I highly recommend this for reading!
I can't wait until my son learns to read (he's only 2), but he has learned his letters thru PBS shows. I grew up on Sesame Street and now he watches that and SUperWhy. The show shows characters from books going into classic stories and finding letters and words. My son does know all his letters. If I point to one he says it pretty clearly. I only hope it's a good start. I like the other hints commenters have left. I will have to remember them. Thanks for this post.
My 3 year old son also loves SuperWhy. I found I can download episodes from itunes and from the pbskids.org website for him to watch when we miss it on TV (we limit TV to an hour a day, and he would use the whole hour on SuperWhy). We actually use it as a reward once his chores are finished for the morning. I will have to check out the Leap Frog videos too. I've seen them referenced on several other blogs recently.
I highly recommend the word whammer. Thing 2 used it and loved it. He has has the Letter Factory radio.
There are also many many many computer games that would help with letter development. Any of the Jump Start CD's are great. There is Ready for Reading wiht Pooh.
My first Leap Pad was a great introduction to Thing 2. The books are simple to follow and age appropriate.
I agree with Starfall.com. It is the only kid's website I've found that isn't just inane games and a big advertisement. Especially with homeschooling several grade levels, I need a separate activity to keep my middle busy when I am working with the oldest. Starfall is a great interactive resource.
I also have many, many audio stories from our library's website and Storynory.com. I try to get stories that are the same as ones we are reading. I've found that, unlike movies, which tend to pull interest away from the books, audio stories draw my kids to the books. They love to listen to the stories while reading the books.
Too funny!
everythingpreschool.com and often, I find exactly what I want just by googling w/o having a special site in mind.
We make CD's reading the kids favorite books then they "read" during quiet time. I agree w/ Jenni, above.
I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago on online learning games for preschoolers. I use these as a fun way to support the literacy and numeracy work we do together.
http://planningwithkids.com/2008/05/20/10-online-learning-games-for-preschoolers/
This one is a real "back to basics" but here it is anyway: Be a reading parent.
Yup, not just take 'em to the library and have bed-time stories and have books everywhere, but let your kids see you in the act of reading–serious, sitting down reading–on your own. The bonus is that you get to read and instead of feeling indulgent or guilty, chalk it up to good parenting!
Another everyday tip: Point out when you are reading something. IE, "I'm have to read the mail now," "Let me read the instructions," "I want to read the ingredients," and so on.
Happy reading!