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?
I love being a part of my childs learning process, it is because of this that I have gotten together with other moms in my neighborhood and formed a co-op preschool. This has been the best experience for my kids because not only do I have a say in what is being taught, there are 4 other mothers there with a treasure trove of ideas to share! It is also very budget friendly as we only pitch in a one time fee of $15 per child to cover supplies. That’s it! And with two preschool-age boys, this adds up to a lot of savings.
The website that we often use is this:
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
This has a great deal of information, learning ideas, printables, project ideas, etc etc etc! It also offers the alphabet printables in Standard block print, or D’Nealian modern block print to keep everyone happy (check with your local school district as to which one they use.)
You can check out some of our lessons, fieldtrips, and other things here:
http://loriafamilydialogues.blogspot.com/search/label/our%20brains%20are%20growing
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Princess is writing a lot like that too! It is funny, because they teach kids to spell purely phonetically now-so sometimes I just have to sound it out instead of trying to actually read the words (if that makes sense).
We have that video and love it, as well as the talking word factory (about putting sounds together) and the storybook factory (which is about the different parts of a story and punctuation etc). Even if your kids aren’t quite ready for the concepts, the music and storyline is fun.
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My daughters school uses the Starfall website a lot.
My 6 year old daughter just loves it.
http://WWW.STARFALL.COM
Also we are reading the Magic Tree House chapter books and she loves them. I’m reading them to her but I just know the excitement she gets waiting for the next chapter to be read is incentive for her to keep learning at school so that she can one day read them herself.
Regards, Debbie
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This is our favorite printables site. I use it for “playing school”:
http://www.printables4kids.com/
Thanks for the heads up about the Leap Frog dvd. We’ll check that out.
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I second the recommendation for Starfall! Lydia and Nolan both love it. I’m not positive if they have printables there, but there are a lot of great activities for pre readers and early readers!
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Amy,
What a funny story!
Monica just told me about the Letter Factory and said she’ll give it to our son for his b-day.
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Both of my kids are above-level readers, and the best recommendation I can give is just to read. A lot. Of anything.
We also used to play the I-Spy game only with sounds. (I see something that starts with g, then say the sound). My son has a speech problem, so it helped him with his sounds a lot. By the time he went to school, he knew all his sounds because of I-Spy and speech therapy. They do have them spell everything like it sounds to them, which I personally am not a huge fan of because then their spelling suffers for years afterwards. The teachers said it was so they would just learn to enjoy writing, and the spelling would catch up to them eventually, but I didn’t really like that concept.
Rebekah
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My mom bought my DD the 5 DVD set for her 4th birthday. They are WONDERFUL!! My daughter knows all her letter sounds and doing some basic beginner reading after 3 months of owning them!
My mother is a reading specialist. She works mainly with 1st graders with reading difficulties. She has suggested to the pre K and K teachers that they show these videos so the kids can learn the letter sounds.
I also checked out the book below from my local library. It is a great book. http://tinyurl.com/3ax738
Tricia
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We love to read in our family! We spend a lot of long afternoons lazily exploring Barnes and Noble, which has such a cozy kid’s section.
I think it is important for kids to see their parents and siblings read, too.
When kids are young it is essential to equate reading with fun…we hit up storytimes at local libraries, book stores, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and malls. Each is unique in how they add to the fun…related crafts, special puppets or stuffed animals, letting the kids act out parts of the story, giving out stickers or coloring pages afterward.
Also, we buy books for every holiday as a treat. My son looks forward to this!
And if your kids like getting mail, try ordering them a subscription to Ranger Rick, Our Big Backyard, Highlights, Turtle, Humpty Dumpty, Zootles, National Geographic Kids, etc.
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And here are some great printables sites:
http://www.dltk-teach.com/
http://www.kidzone.ws/
http://www.first-school.ws/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/categories/preschool.shtml
http://www.edhelper.com/K3Themes.htm
I used to teach elementary school!
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We love The Letter Factory! Nolan knew all of his letters before he was two because of this movie! I am excited to hear everyone else’s responses because we are at an earlier stage right now — Nolan’s just about to turn three, and he just loves being read to.
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The letter factory is awesome! My personal favorite is the letter “H” …all those hot little h’s panting…lol…
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Oh, thank you for all of these sites and ideas! I am taking notes!
Shelli- I love the panting H’s- that made me laugh just thinking of them
It is such a great DVD!
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