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!