Category Archives: how to make learning fun

Techniques for teaching a young beginning reader

Posted on October 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

I learned to read when I was in first grade, when I was six years old going on seven.  But so many of the beginning readers I teach today are much younger.  Right now I am working with a five-year-old kindergartener, one of the youngest boys in his class.  Although he is bright and ready to learn to read, he is also fidgety and inattentive.

Maybe you are working at home during the pandemic with such a kindergartener?  How do you teach such a child without both you and he becoming frustrated?

The answer is to have multiple ways of teaching the same concept, so when attention wanes, you can try different approaches.

Suppose you are teaching blends at the beginning of short-vowel one-syllable words.  For such a child, I would schedule either multiple ten-minute lessons, or a thirty-minute lesson divided into three parts.  What could those parts include?

  • Review using lists for five minutes.  Reading lists of words is a good way to begin.  Reading lists is boring, so move on quickly.  If the words are printed in large type with lots of white space, that helps the words to look “friendly.”
  • Using flash cards make great reviews too.  They also can become boring quickly.
  • Making words of letter tiles covers a lot of words in a short amount of time.
  • Reading words on BINGO-like cards of words turns learning into fun.  Nine words per card (three words across by three words down) is few enough not to overwhelm the child.  Ask the student to cover a word when you pronounce it.  Then ask the child to pronounce the word and you cover it.  Pennies or tiny candies used as markers offer incentive to play this game.
  • Reading cartoons in workbooks can be fun.  The drawings attract the child, but sometimes they offer clues to words which the child does not sound out, so be careful.
  • Working on appropriate workbook pages from a supplementary series is another approach.
  • Having the child handwrite words reinforces them and improves printing skills.
  • “Writing” words in a dish of sand or sugar can seem more like fun  than learning.  I would use this type lesson at the end of the time period because other approaches might seem boring in comparison.
  • The same goes for online learning.  Often it is more attractive than “analog” methods.  But old-fashioned methods can target the child’s specific needs quicker.

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Posted in beginning readers, how to make learning fun, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, printed handwriting, reading strategies, reading tips, teaching tips

Review phonics by playing a card game

Posted on July 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

Looking for a fun way to teach or review basic phonics with your beginning reader?  Try the game “Blah Blah Blah” Level 1000.

This game focuses on reviewing three kinds of words:  three-letter short-vowel words (CVC words) like “bat” and “dig”; four-letter long-vowel words with double vowels like “mail” and “feet”; and words using digraphs like “catch” and “thick.”  The three types of words are divided into three color-coded groups of playing cards.

Each player receives seven cards.  One player lays down a card such a “big.”  The next player has to lay down a card containing one of those letters in the same position in the word, such as “hog.”  The player has to say the word aloud too.  And so on.  The winner is the first player to go out.

But strategy counts too.  Some cards allow players to force the next player to draw two or four more cards.  Other cards force the next player to lose a turn.

Because the directions are simple, kindergarteners can catch on in one or two rounds.  Without “cheating” by tenderhearted adults, the child can win.

Any time I can find a way to teach a skill through a game, I am all for it.  This game does that using a proven method—phonics—to improve literacy skills.

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Posted in CVC words, how to make learning fun, methods of teaching reading, phonics

How the “Not Yet, Baby” book came to be

Posted on September 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

I have been asked where the ideas for the beginning reading books came from.  Are they real stories?  Did we make them up?  The truth is somewhere in between, as Mrs. A, the illustrator explains below about the book, Not Yet, Baby:

The idea came to me as I was traveling through national parks in Utah and Arizona a few years ago.  Occasionally I would get a text or a picture from my son, Tom, the dad of two little boys.  The younger one was walking and following his three-year-old brother everywhere.  Whatever the older boy had, the baby wanted.  Whatever the older boy was doing, the baby was underfoot.

I reminded Tom that he too, had been a younger brother and had been a pain in the neck to his big brother, Lou.  Lou would build elaborate corrals with wooden blocks, enclosing a dinosaur in each compartment.  Tom would totter across the rug, destroying the entire habitat.  On the tour bus in the Rockies, as I remembered spending hours restraining the rambunctious Tom, the ideas flowed, and within a few days I had a book full of sketches!

Not Yet, Baby is the story of a big brother and the family baby.  The little one wants to do whatever the big brother does.

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If big brother swims, baby wants to swim.  If big brother eats a hot dog, baby wants to eat a hot dog.  If big brother kick-boxes, baby wants to kick box.  Often in danger, the baby is dragged away just in time.

Not Yet, Baby illustrates typical yet humorous situations that a four, five, or six-year old would understand.  The book uses mostly one syllable, short vowel words appropriate for beginning readers.  Interactive activity pages follow—word searches, matching rhyming words, filling in the correct vowel and completing a crossword puzzle.

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As you read Not Yet, Baby, you may remember being the older child trying to understand the limitations of a younger one.

Or maybe you can relate to a baby trying to keep up, or the adult who works tirelessly to keep one child safe and another one happy.  Maybe the story will lead to talks with your child about your childhood or his.  There’s so much to talk about in Not Yet, Baby.  You can find Not Yet, Baby at Amazon.com.

 

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Posted in beginning readers, books for beginning readers, CVC words, early childhood education, how to make learning fun, illustrated books, phonics, reading in kindergarten

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Fun picture books for beginning readers, plus learning activities

Posted on July 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

Are you looking for funny stories for your beginning reader? Silly stories using easy-to-read CVC and sight words?  With silly pictures to make kids laugh? And learning activities to reinforce the phonics?

We’ve made them!

Click on the image above for more information on these beginning readers.

Years ago, when my kids were learning to read, that’s what I wanted. But I couldn’t find them. So I started writing them. My sister, an art teacher, made them even funnier with her cartoon-like drawings. We tried them out on our kids and later my students, improved them, and now they are available for you to use with your beginning readers.

The story themes focus on little kids’ lives.

• A six-year-old receives a yo-yo for her birthday, but her father wants to play with it.

• A baby brother wants to do what his kindergarten-age brother does, but he’s too little.

• A wild child makes a mess while the babysitter gabs on the phone.

• A preschooler talks his grandfather into playing with his toys.

• A five-year-old devises ways to hide her father’s bald head.

After each story are several pages of game-like learning activities to reinforce the words and ideas of the stories.

My sister, Anne Trombetta, the illustrator, and I, the author, are teachers with masters’ degrees. We’ve applied educational research to devise story lines, words, activities and art to engage new readers.

Please check out our early reader picture books. We hope you’ll not only buy  them, but tell us how your little reader responded to the silly stories.

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Posted in beginning readers, CVC words, funny pages, how to make learning fun, illustrated books, kindergarten readiness, phonics, picture books, reading readiness., sight words

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Try this word game in the car or plane

Posted on June 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

Summer means travel, and that can mean bored children.  Word games cannot only keep kids engaged, but can strengthen educational skills.  Here a game made up and shared by a clever teacher (Thank you, Carol) to use with her five-year-old son.   “The Sight Word Game” requires only a willing adult and child.

Adult:  I am thinking of a word with two letters.

Child:  Is one letter “a”?

Adult:  No.

Child:  Is one letter “d”?

Adult:  Yes.

Child:  Is the other letter “t”?

Adult:  No.  Remember how every word must have a vowel?  “D” is not a vowel, so the other letter must be a vowel.  And I already said “a” is not a letter in this word.  That leaves “e,” “i,” “o,” and “u.”  And sometimes “y” but not this time.

Child:  Is it an “o”?

Adult:  Yes!  What is the word?

Child:  Do.  Do.  Now it’s my turn to think of a word.

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Posted in how to make learning fun, sight words, Spelling

How to stop or reverse the summer slide

Posted on May 12, 2019 | 1 comment

Summer is a time when kids can lose some of their reading abilities if kids don’t read.  But it can also be a time of improved reading if kids read nearly every day.  How can you help?

Read to your child daily.  For prereaders, read picture books, asking questions to gain information from the illustrations.  For beginning readers, sit side-by-side with your child and let the child read to you.  Or if he balks, you read one page and he reads the next.  Older children love to be read to, so don’t stop just because they can read.

Ask questions while you read.  “Why did he do that?”  “What do you think will happen next?”  “Where did the story happen?”  Questions force the child to think harder about the text and to remember.  Ask questions after every page or two and at the end of the book.  This kind of questioning can help children strengthen their memory skills.

Pick a reading time and stick to it.  Usually right before “lights out” is a time when reading together can be habitual, especially if the child believes reading allows him to stay up later.  If the child doesn’t need to wake up early the next day, leave a pile of books in the bed for the child to finger through for an extra 15 or 30 minutes.

Take your child to the library.  Investigate books unlike the ones you have at home.  Use those books to expand your child’s knowledge about the world.  If one is about George Washington’s life, look for books on surveying or colonial life or false teeth.  Supplemental reading enriches and extends the ideas of one book.  You and your child can do this online too.

After you read a book together, close it and ask the child to retell the story.  Or let the child look at the pictures and retell the story.

Select a “word of the day” taken from the child’s reading. Write it on a few cards and put them on the refrigerator, on the kitchen counter, and on the car dashboard.  Use that word several times a day in sentences which the child can understand.  You can make learning the word a game.  For every time the child can tell you what the word means, she gets a sticker.

Draw pictures of words to help the child learn them.  You can put together weekly vocabulary books of the pictures drawn that week, and read them at night to help the child remember the words.  The more the child uses the words, the more likely the child will remember them.

For parents working more than one job or away from home for long hours, finding time for summer reading can be hard.  But if you think of it as a necessity for your child’s future—like brushing teeth or eating fresh fruit—you can build reading into your routine.  If money allows, you can hire a middle schooler or high schooler to come into the home and read while you prepare dinner or after the kids have had their baths.

If you have ever felt behind your classmates, you know how debilitating that feels.  Make a promise to hone your child’s reading summer skills so next fall he or she starts school on level or even advanced.  Your child’s triumphant smile will thank you.

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Posted in how to make learning fun, methods of teaching vocabulary, practice reading skills, reading strategies, reading tips, summer slide

How to teach tiny, short-vowel (CVC) words to a beginning reader

Posted on January 31, 2019 | Leave a comment

So you are teaching your four-year-old to read.  She can duplicate the 40+ sounds of the English language.  She can recognize many of those sounds at the beginnings of some words.

Now it is time to pair letter sounds with a handful of letters and to form words.  Your child might not be able to recognize all the sounds yet, but as long as she can recognize some of them, she can begin to learn words.

Most phonics programs start with three letter words using the vowel sound of “short a” and easily recognizable consonant sounds such as “b,” “h,” “m,” “t” and “s.”  You could just as readily start with the vowel sound of “short o” and other consonant sounds.  Choose one short vowel sound and four or five consonant sounds which you think the child knows.

I recommend you use letter tiles.  If you can find lower case letter tiles, great, but if not, use capital letter tiles.

Show the child a letter tile and ask the child to name its sound.  If the child is not sure of that letter sound, don’t use that letter tile yet.  Choose a different one.

Lay out three letter tiles which form a word, such as “h,” “a,” and “t.”  Separate the tiles by an inch or two.  Say the sound represented by each letter as you point to the letter.  Ask the child to do the same.  Now, slowly move the letter tiles closer together while pointing and saying the letter sounds until you are saying “hat.”

Try to make this a game.  Reward the child with a high-five when she is able to say the word as you are moving the letter tiles closer and closer.  Then try another word.  If you keep the vowel and ending consonant the same at first, all the child needs to concentrate on is the first letter.  So after “hat,” you might try “bat,” “mat,” and “sat.”  Review each word several times.

What your child is learning is called phonics, or the forming of words from letter sounds.  Some children will pick it up quickly and others will take many lessons using just those same half dozen letters.  Don’t rush the child.  Keep the learning time as game-like as possible.  Aim for short lessons of ten minutes here and there rather than a half hour at a time, especially if your child is a young four-year-old or is resistant.

When the child knows the handful of words ending with “t,” change the ending letter to one of the other consonants, such as “m.”  Go through the process again, moving the letter tiles closer and closer until the child can hear the words “ham,” Sam,” and “bam.”  When you are sure she knows how to recognize and pronounce the words ending in “m,” alternate words ending in “m” with the already learned words ending in “t.”

These three-letter words are sometimes referred to as CVC for consonant, vowel, consonant.

Resist the urge to move quickly.  You want your child to build confidence about reading.  To reinforce her confidence, you could start a phone or computer document listing all the words she knows.  Or you could hang such a document on the refrigerator.  As she sees the list growing, she will feel proud.

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Posted in ABC's, consonants, CVC words, how to make learning fun, learning, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading, phonics, reading readiness., sounds of English, vowels

Teaching silent E

Posted on November 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

Phonics instruction guides vary as to when to teach silent “e.”  Some suggest teaching it before teaching digraphs starting or ending one-syllable, short-vowel words.  Others suggest teaching silent “e” after teaching digraphs.

My best advice is that it depends on the student.  I have spent months teaching CVC words to a student, and thinking she had “mastered” that concept, started teaching silent “e.”  But when we reviewed CVC words at the end of the lesson, she pronounced all the CVC words as if  they were silent “e” words.

Yet I have taught another student who understood the silent “e” concept by the end of our first lesson on that concept. She could accurately go back and forth from CVC words to silent “e” words.  Some students recognize silent “e” patterns in a single lesson.  Some students take months.

I use letter tiles to write a CVC word like “cat” and beside it to write the silent “e” word “cate.”  I explain that the “e” is needed for spelling and to signal that the previous vowel is pronounced like its name.  I start with “a” vowel word pairs:  ban, bane; fat, fate; hat; hate; mad, made, etc.  If the child catches on, I move on to other vowels.  But if the child cannot go quickly back and forth from CVC words to CVCe words, I slow down and focus on one vowel, and one or two consonants after that vowel, such as “t” and “d” as in mat, mate; Nat, Nate; mad, made, and bad, bade.

As always with young children, I try to break up a half hour lesson with game-like activities to keep them motivated.  Even the quickest to catch on prefer to learn using games.

Should you take care to use only real words?  I use non-words all the time, but after the student has pronounced a non-word correctly, I mention that there is no such word.  This offers more pair combinations, especially for the vowels “e” and “u” for which there are not many silent “e” words.

 

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Posted in CVC words, how to make learning fun, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading, phonics, practice reading skills, pronunciation of words, reading readiness., silent "e" words

Teaching VC and VCC words beginning with short vowels

Posted on October 22, 2018 | 1 comment

Many beginning readers have trouble pronouncing two- and three-letter words which begin with a short vowel such as at and ink.  Children can pronounce “cat” yet not “at.”

Just as it is easier for children to learn consonant sounds, it seems easier for them to learn words which begin with consonants than to learn words which begin with vowels.

As a result, I teach CVC words first, including words with beginning and ending blends.  Then I teach VC or VCC words.  Many one-syllable short-vowel, words begin with a vowel and end with consonant blends.  I teach such CVCC words before I teach VCC words.

First I introduce two-letter words, some of which (in, on) children have already learned as sight words.  Other two-letter words include Al, am, an, at, ax,  Ed, ex if, it, ox, up and us.

One problem in teaching such words is that many of these words don’t have pictures which form a meaningful association for children.   How do you picture “us,” for example.  Two girls, arm in arm?  The student will say “girls” or “friends” or “sisters” but not “us.”  Another problem is that some of these words, such as “ex” and “ox” are not familiar to children.  When I can, I find pictures and make flash cards to help children associate words with pictures.  But that is hard.

After I teach two-letter VC words, I teach three-letter VCC words, including add, alp, ant, app, ask, asp, act, aft, and, egg, elk, elm, elf, end, egg, imp, ink, and off.  By teaching, I mean making words of letter tiles for children to read, and then asking them to make the words I say, again using letter tiles.  I also play BINGO using cards with these words on them.  I  make lists to read (boring but necessary).  We review these words often.  I write sentences using these words for children to read, sometimes in the form of a question which they must answer with a yes or no.  (Can an ant ask an egg to sit?  Can an elk add 2 + 2?  The sillier, the better.)

You can’t assume that because a child can read “cat,” she can also read “act.”  Tiny words beginning with short vowel sounds should be taught explicitly and should be reviewed until you are sure the child can sound them out properly.

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Posted in blends, CVC words, how to make learning fun, letter sounds, phonics, pronunciation of words, reading strategies, sight words, teaching tips

How does an almost two-year-old read?

Posted on September 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

How does an almost two- year-old “read”?  What does such a tiny child “read”?  How can we encourage the reading habit in such a tike?

I spent a week in early September with a 21-month-old who wanted me to “read” to him many times daily.  He taught me:

Toddlers love to hold books, turn their pages, point to objects they recognize and name those words.

They do not like to be read paragraph-long passages.

They do like to be read text if it is short. “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” is an example of text that works.  Single syllable words, words the child knows, words which are repeated, tiny sentences—these hold a child’s interest just long enough before he wants to turn the page.

Pint-sized cardboard books are easy for a toddler to hold. The pages are easy to turn.  And the cardboard is able to withstand the rough handling that a tiny child gives.

“Reading” often means “studying” a picture to discover what it holds. “Balloon!” he might shout, or “Piggy eat.”

Order of pages is arbitrary to a tiny child. Sometimes he will prefer to skip some pages to head right for the picture he prefers.  Sometimes he will flip back and forth, making a connection between one page and another.  For example, he might find the moon on one page and then go back to a previous page to find the moon there.

Simple drawings are best. Bright colors with plain backgrounds help the child to focus.

Animals—especially baby animals with their mothers—fascinate many children. But one time an adult horse might be a “mommy” and another time that same image is a “daddy.”  There’s no need to correct.

Touchable books captivate toddlers. A child eagerly strokes books with inserted fabric for a sandpapery pig’s nose or a furry dog’s ear.  Books with flaps are fun to open even if the child has opened the same flap many times.  Books with cutouts—like the holes that the Hungry Caterpillar eats—are just the right size for a little one to stick his finger into.

Many times, you, the adult, needn’t read a word.  Rather you might wait for the child to take the lead.  He might point to a picture and say a word.  You might repeat his word to show you are listening or to offer correct pronunciation.

Many times all he wants is for you to listen, to share his reading time without distraction. By being willing to focus only on him, to listen wholeheartedly, you teach the child that you value what he is doing.  Your unhurried presence tells the child that this activity—reading—is important.

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Posted in board books, how to make learning fun, illustrated books, learning in infancy, picture books, pronunciation of words, reading readiness., reading tips, teaching tips, vocabulary