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.