Lack of Motivation

I never thought this day would come...right now my 5 year-old is tired of making the little books. So he's brushed them aside for several weeks now. He has lacked the interest or motivation to read these books we've made together. These same books that he was so excited over not too long ago. This behavior is normal....kids go through phases and lose interest fairly quickly. My job is to pull him back some how so he doesn't lose complete interest in wanting to learn how to read, and I lose him to video games and toys forever. Just as he lost interest in his mini books, he's also lost interest in race cars (for now). He's back into dinosaurs. How can I use this new interest that he has? Well we have tons of dinosaur books sitting on the shelf. Although the vocabulary is too hard for him to read himself, these books do peak his interests. I try to read at least one book during our reading time together. That way I have his attention, and I'm still able to sit with him and "teach" him how to read. Like most boys, he can recognize and name most dinosaurs in any book. Fortunately for me the pictures have labels next to them. Viola, perfect reading lesson! Matching pictures to words...one of the early ready strategies. My point is not to teach him new dinosaur words, but for him to notice that pictures are useful tools when learning to read. I'm hoping he will have enough motivation to want to make mini books about dinosaurs pretty soon.

Book-a-thon

Have you ever had those times (maybe more often) when your kids just want you to read one book after the other? I had that moment today while I was trying to get some work done. Being a good mommy, I didn't want to blow out the spark my son had for books so I started reading. Then one book came right after the other. I think we read about 10 books in a short time. When he gets into this "book-a-thon" mode, I start to paraphrase or read selected sentences on each page(that makes sense to the story line, of course!) I try to use the same book language so it does not dummy down the integrity of the book. Being a 3 year-old his attention span is very limited so "reading" the book fairly quickly works for him, and that's how we're able to get through so many books. It always him to satisfy his book fix, and I am able to read more books in a short amount of time. At a different time, we can revisit these books again in a more intimate reading session and really sit down and enjoy the book word for word. Try this out sometime when you're short on time...

Got Milk?

She did it! My 8-month old did her first sign...MILK. At first I thought she was waving, then I started to notice a slight difference. She was actually signing. If you've read my previous post, I've been using Baby Einstein's My First Signs DVD to aide in teaching her how to sign. Well, I'm very proud to see she is taking it on. It's funny because she is so successful at signing MILK, she uses the sign for Milk as signs for other things, like food, more, hungry, thirsty....although she may not use the correct sign, she's beginning to understand how communication works. We are so proud of her we celebrate everytime she uses it!! We can't wait for her to learn more...

Wordless Books

Have you ever been to the bookstore and found a book with nothing but pictures and thought, "well, what's the point of this?". Before teaching, I used think the same thing. Now finding a wordless book seems to be a treasure for me. We have several wordless books at home that we often look at. Not only do they benefit my two boys, but my baby also gets something out of it. These books have nothing but beautiful colorful pictures in them, with NO WORDS! Why would that excite me? There is so much we can do with these books. Instead of me reading them a bedtime story, they can "read" it to me. They can look at the pictures and figure out what the story can be about...and the good thing is, the story doesn't have to be the same each time we "read" it. Because we're not bound to words but only guided by the illustrations, we can use our creative minds to create new stories over and over. It's great. Wordless books are not intimidating, in fact, it promotes an important reading skill...comprehension. Isn't that the reason why we learn to read? To understand what we're reading? Try a couple of these selected books we use at home...and remember to save them for later, they make great writing activities at home. But that's saved for a another blog post.

Go Fish!

My kids and I went to a birthday party and in the goody bags they gave us we found a Go Fish card set. I loved Go Fish. It brings fond memories of my brother and I playing on our family room rug. My 5 year old and I played with his new set on our family room rug. This was his first time playing the game. It's so funny how a simple game can be so complex when trying to explain it. I had to teach him about pairs, about picking from the pot, about how to hold a deck of cards, and about what to say. But out of all that teaching, what I REALLY wanted him to get out of it, was not the actual rules of the game, but the language that is required to play the game..."Do you have a_____?" "No, go fish!" It's so simple but yet complex. Children at this stage have trouble distinguishing between a question and a statement. Haven't you had a time where your child would say "give me this?", and you weren't quite sure if he was asking a question or telling you something? I know I find myself often rephrasing statements into questions for my sons. A game like Go Fish helps distinguish between the two and helps children practice the differences. A question, then a statement, that's what the game is about. What a great way to teach our kids proper grammatical structure....which is what they will often find in the books they will read. Why not prepare our children for the types of language they will encounter when they begin reading. Grab yourself a deck of cards and...Go Fish!

Do You Sign?

I've been wanting to teach my 8 month old baby sign language for a while now. I haven't really gotten a chance to really teach my boys, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to teach all of them so they can communicate with each other. I came across the latest Baby Einsteins's DVD My First Signs, and thought this would be an easy way to teach my daughter. The video goes over basic sign language common for very young children to use. My sons picked up the language pretty fast. They enjoyed signing and showing their baby sister what they've learned. I'm hoping she will begin to pick it up and use it as well. It's so important for her to learn to communicate her thoughts even when her oral language is still developing. Signing would actually fill in the gaps as she continues to develop her language. Could you imagine how easy it would be to know EXACTLY what your child wants simply by using our hands? It's amazing how fast babies, beginning at 6 months, can pick up sign language fairly quickly. As soon as my daughter picks up some of the signs, I will also use books to correspond the sign to the picture in the book. This is a great way to begin introducing vocabulary she will be using in her everyday language as well as read about in books. Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, New Edition is a book I have been reading as well which gives more in depth information about the benefits of teaching sign language to your baby. It's an easy read, something to take along with you when your stuck in a waiting room!

Do you Remember the Memory Game?

My boys and I took a break from all the mini books today and played a memory game. We have the Toy Story version, but any version can be used like The Backyardigans Edition since they are a popular choice. Instead of using all the cards, I took about 10 pairs and mixed them all around. I didn't want to confuse my 3 year-old with so many picture cards that I would just set him up for failure, and he would have a total melt down in the middle of our game. So we played...flipping cards of various pictures. The game has gotten A LOT trickier than when I used to play it as a kid. The pictures were so similiar with only minor details that differ. My boys were pretty good though at noticing the differences. After the game, we counted all the cards we've collected.(My 5 year-old won.) We cleaned up and they were on their way to play with something else.

Practicing prereading skills doesn't have to be painful. It can be as easy as playing a game of Memory. The game helps develop visual discrmination and visual memory skills. What exactly is that? Visual discrimination is noticing differences between objects or what we see. An example, the minute details in pictures,how they are the same and how they are different. Visual memory is remembering what we see with our mind. You might be wondering, how is this important in reading? A big part of learning to read derives from our visual senses. We need to discriminate between pictures and words; and lowercase letters and uppercase letters. We need to learn certain words and keep them in our memory bank for later use. Playing a simple game such as Memory is fun and it gives me an opportunity to bond with my sons, but at the same time they are sharpening their visual skills. (and they don't even know it!)

A-a-Apple

Before my boys attended preschool, we started to make their own ABC books. It sat on the shelf of our office as they were enrolled in preschool collecting dust, until a few days ago. I decided to pull my 3 year-old's ABC book. We went over the pages of the letters he knew. It didn't surprise me that he knew more than the 6 letters he recognized back then. Since attending preschool, he has learned and recognized lots of new letters.

So what I did was add the ones to his ABC book in alphabetical order. I only added 4 new letters at a time. I wrote on one side of the page, "M m" (he recognized both the upper and lower case) and on the other side I gave him a choice of pictures I could draw that started with M; monkey, man, mail. He chose "monkey", and so I drew a picture of a monkey on the other page then he colored it. I had him pick the picture because I wanted him to remember the name of the picture so he could automatically associate it with the letter. I wouldn't have him pick something he was unsure of like "mail" because he could look at it and think it's a picture of a "letter" and that would defeat the purpose of matching the picture to the letter Mm. After coloring, I asked him to point to the uppercase M then the lower case m then the picture of the monkey and say "M-m-monkey". We repeated this process with the other three letters. Over the next few days, I will continue to do this until all the letters he knows are in the ABC book. Each day we will review it, and some days I will open it to random pages to see if he can "read" it. Recognizing letters of the alphabet is an important prereading and prewriting skill. Soon he will know these letters represent sounds and these letters put together make words.

So making an ABC book would not only be a teaching tool, but a resource for any child as he begins to venture into reading and writing. He can use it like a dictionary for letters to refer back to when he can't quite remember what that letter looks like or what that letter might sound like. Learning the alphabets is one of the foundations to prereading. In my article: Are they really ready for reading? I mention other prereading skills and behaviors necessary for reading readiness.

He made the leap!

My 5 year old made the leap into readers! We now have moved from homemade books to published books....this is a HUGE step in his reading progress. With the books we made together, he was able to control them. He controlled the topic. He controlled the illustrations. He controlled the words that were used. Now with these published readers, the control is with the author. (We used the Brand New Readers Red Set) I wanted to see how he would handle a challenge such as this..we started with a book called "The Chase". Before reading the book, I told him what it was about. "It's about a cat named Tabby Cat and he tries to chase things, but they keep getting away." Then we looked at each page as we do, I told him the pattern as he filled in the blank. "Tabby cat chases the ______." He saw a picture of a cat chasing a mouse. He said, "mouse." We looked at each picture and did this until the end of the book. Now why would I tell him what this book is about and give him the pattern of the story? Well, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't. The transition from self-made books to regular published books is very delicate for a child. So even if it's a leap; we still need to keep the safety net there. I need to provide my son enough support for him to feel confident enough to read it. So even if it seems like I'm "telling" him what the book says...he still does the reading work he can control. Like looking at the picture and figure out what's going on, and finding those "anchor" words that he knows so well like "a" and "the". Printed books are very intimidating, and I need to make sure this experience is a good one for him.

Floam!

My kids have been saving their hard earned allowance for this stuff...gooing and easily manipulated Floam. I really didn't know about this until we bought it. This stuff is great! It's a lot less messy than play dough, and the kids love the texture. So the boys made snowmen, planets, dinosaurs and molded them on their toys (the good thing is it comes off!). It kept them pretty busy. You're probably wondering what does this have to do with reading? Being creative when working with young children is key to any educational experience. We need to think like they do. So taking something fun like Floam allows me to keep my kids engaged. After letting them have free range on the Floam, we started making letters with them, and with my 5 year old we made both upper and lower case letters. I let my 3 year old make what ever letter came to his head. Using play materials is a good opportunity to teach or reinforce reading skills like the alphabets and at the same time the kids are having fun! Try this one out....make the letter you want them to make and see if they can copy it!

My Happy Moment

This morning we were all eating at the breakfast table. The boys had finished before me. As I got up to get more food, I turned around and found a nice surprise. Over the counter I could here little voices which sounded like "book talk" as I call it. I saw my two boys with their homemade books we've made together reading to each other. My 5 year old reading his big boy book (which are beginning to look and sound like regular books now)in his proud voice as his little brother quietly listens. Then it was my 3 year old's turn. "I like dinosaurs." he says in his best voice as he "scans" his finger over the words (he knows those letters say something!!!YEAH!). Then I hear my older son say "say it like this" and "you know what that is" which makes me giggle because that's exactly what I tell him when we're practicing our reading. As I hear him say phrases like that and in the exact same tone as how I say them, I know all the effort I'm putting into teaching him really does sink in...and it makes me proud as his teacher and his mommy! It's special moments like this I really enjoy.

A File for the Brain

Gosh, it's been pretty crazy the past couple of weeks. Now with Valentine's Day and Presidents' Weekend out of the way, we can get to our regular schedule. As we were relaxing over the weekend, I had promised my boys a trip to the beach. The boys were studying about the Arctic in preschool. They learned about the different animals that live there like polar bears and walruses. My older son was obsessed with orcas or "Shamu" as he would call it. He wanted to know what they ate. I told him walruses, fish and seals. "Seals?" he said, with a puzzled look on his face. I had to explain what a seal was. "It looks like a walrus but a lot smaller with no tusks." After my efforts in trying to give him a detailed discription of a seal, I managed just to confuse him more. So I thought of an idea...I'll take him to Seal Beach! Both my sons were excited to check out the seals. When we finally arrived at the beach my boys stared in amazement at the seals sunbathing on the sand. We stood there for several minutes as they asked us questions like why are they just laying there? Where are their feet? Why are they in the water? What is the small one? Where is the mommy? It struck up so much conversation than any book could do. I'll bet my boys will always remember the day I took them to Seal Beach. Why is this important? This experience will be useful later on...it's like a file for the brain. When my boys encounter books or discussions in school about seals or orcas, they can refer to their "file" or their day at Seal Beach. It's called background knowledge..this enables readers to tap into their "file" when tackling unfamiliar books. If a reader knows the content of the book, then the brain knows it is limited to certain words that can possibly be used in the book. Basically it eliminates a whole lot of nonrelevant words and eases the "reading work" for the child. If he knows its about seals then there's no way giraffes can be in this book. Taking children out and exploring the world is not only building character, but it's also providing opportunities for them to create "files" for them to refer to. Try taking your children out on "field trips" you'll be amazed how much is out there for them to learn and experience and apply it back into the books they read.

A Goodie!

I thought this might be helpful for those of you who are a little less creative and need something easy to use. I used this book as a resource in my classroom for my students to create books with. Not only does it come with templates to copy onto colored construction paper, it's oversize for both parent and child to enjoy! I pulled this out of my teaching tub to use with my own kids. So while we're reading together my two boys won't have to fight over whether they can see the book or not. The great thing about it too....since these are templates, you can create your own books together. Have your child choose the topic and the both of you can decide the words that will go on each page! The kids will love publishing their own big book! I'd like to know how your books turned out... please share!

Still Making Race Car Books!

Yes, my 5 year-old is still on the race car thing...although the topic is still the same, the number of words that I am writing on each page of our make-it-yourself books are steadily increasing. He has jumped from reading (recognizing these words in print) 3 words to reading 9 words in a matter of two weeks! How did I do this? Keeping the same topic of race cars has a lot to do with it. My son doesn't have to guess what the book is about, he already knows...race cars. Keeping the pattern of the words the same "I can see the red race car." allows him to be confident those words are there. So when he starts to point at each word he can match what his mouth is saying to what he sees on the page and associate that word as the printed version. Since each page repeats itself, this reinforces what he is noticing...a word! So now that he is comfortable with words like his name, "I", "like", and "car", he can venture out by discovering new words on the page. Pattern books are great for readers who are just starting out...look for books that repeat the same phrases like "I like cars. I like bears. I like toys." and with simple pictures that match the text. Be careful not to keep them in these pattern books too long, otherwise they may end up with some bad habits that will be hard to break!

Let's Talk!

So I was sitting at home with my 3 year-old. I was watching him interact with his Thomas Train sticker book (He LOVES Thomas, by the way), and I noticed what he was doing with these stickers. He was on a page that had mountains and train tracks that went across the pages of the book and in the background was a castle. He would take the trains and arrange them on the track and would say "Choo, choo!". I started to ask him what the trains were doing..."they're going to a party in the castle." "This one is leaving because he is mad." "He don't want to go to the party." He went on and on as I would ask more probing questions about what the trains were doing. Like most 3 year-olds, he has an amazing imagination, but what mattered most to me was all the speaking he was doing. I was listening to the quality of words he was using and how he was putting these words together to make phrases and sentences. Why would this matter to me? Well....before children even begin to read words on a page, they need to be able to hear it first. What does that mean? It means having good oral language (speaking) skills is an important trait for pre-readers. Oral language is developed first before any other skills, and if their oral language is developed well through active conversations with friends and adults, the quicker they are ready to match their oral language to what they see on paper. So by speaking to my son frequently about things he is interested in, proper language structures begin to become more natural to him which will be necessary when he begins reading. Sticker books, picture books and photos in magazines are great conversation starters...or even take those plastic dinosaurs (or dolls, if you have girls) and role play with them.

I Like Race Cars

My 5 year-old has really shown an interest in wanting to learn how to read. So every afternoon we sit down and make books for him. I do the writing and he does the coloring. Well for the past five days the topic has been race cars. "I like race cars" he would read...I like blue race cars, I like red race cars...now we've moved into striped and polka dotted race cars. Silly as it may seem , it does get him to read these books. It's the repetition that is helping him remember the language structure with the support of the pictures he has colored. Repetitive words will help my son begin to associate what he is saying to what he is seeing. He will soon realize that he CAN read the words on the page!