Today was a good day here! We got in some good work time (under a bit of protest, but that’s what I get for taking so long off) and we got outside in the warm weather! I am so happy that the sun is shining and that it is almost 70 degrees here! We didn’t even need jackets!!!! I love Spring! Anyway, today Bunny did some golden bead work. She did multipication and addition. I was proud that she figured it out on her own. I think that we have gotten into a bad habit of having me walk her through everything each time she does it. This means that she doesn’t try to figure it out before she asks. So today I made her do it on her own and she did it! We also read a few words, and did some copy work. However, with all this time to observe her, I realize that we are seriously lacking some focus. She tends to stop what she is doing and watch what else is going on around her. I hope that some more dedicated work time will help that.
Bunny started off by drawing this awesome picture!
Golden Bead!
Playing secret messages. I gave her a work, she reads it, and then she finds the picture!
We were both proud that she finished it! We did it again, and she had almost memorized which word were which. I find that she easily remembers spelling and things she learns. I think that this is a very good trait. However, as she is learning to read I find that she see a word she know, and looks at the picture, then guesses the rest. This don’t allow her to read thing correctly and is frustrating for both of us. 🙂 So I think if we keep working slowly I think that will help her work toward totally reading!
She also copied this poster from the printable pack I used! She did a good job!
Pup was busy too. At first she didn’t want to do anything downstairs. I dont know why, but she just wanted to play. So I worked really hard at getting her involved. She spent a lot of time with some of our themed practical life trays, and she also play memory match again with me. After that we spend alot of time using the Metal Insets to make Princess pictures! She really likes to draw with them and lately she has started making things in her drawings! Things are getting recognizable shapes and eyes! So this was right up her ally! We had a lot of fun together! Here are some pictures of her working!
Princess stamps from her birthday!
Polishing the mirror!
Pouring
Matching
Drawing
Here is the princess that I used to show Pup what to do.
(Circle and Triangle)
Here is Pup’s Princess
(You can see the purple eyes in the middle of the head!)
We also made a castle
(square with a rectangle on each side)
Here is Pup’s. She drew the door and everything! She told me that I had small windows, but she made big ones! 🙂 She is getting so good at drawing!
So that is what we have been up to! I think that we are going to do better as we slide into a new rhythm. I hope it happens soon! Until then, I will keep trying! I think it may take us a few more days! I hope you all are having a great week!
You said: “However, as she is learning to read I find that she see a word she knows, and looks at the picture, then guesses the rest. This don’t allow her to read thing correctly and is frustrating for both of us. :)”
In the Ordinary Parent’s guide to teaching reading, the author says that she did not illustrate for this reason. She wants the child to actually read the word and in too many readers you can guess what is happening from the picture. Dwyer on the other hand says TO illustrate to make them compelling for the child. I make readers from that book of course, but when I illustrate I try to draw something that will make him wonder about the page but not be able to guess the sentence from it. He usually takes some time each time he turns the page to stare at the picture and wonder about it before he starts reading. I have to be patient and let him start reading when he’s ready. He’ll often say “Mommy, what does that boy have?” “Or what is that boy doing?” I always say “we’ll have to read and find out.”
When I make sentence to picture matches I always put in at least two pictures that have the potential to go with two different sentences but really only work with specific sentences. For example, I’ll have glass of milk in one picture and a pail of milk in the another. The full sentences might be “Pete has milk in a glass and a piece of pie.” and “Rose must bring the pail of milk up the hill.” That way if he he see’s “milk” and rushes to grab the first picture of milk he sees it eventually won’t work out. This has happened enough times that he has learned that he must read each sentence carefully. He has also learned that he can’t just grab the last picture and the last sentence/word and match them without reading them because this is the control of error. He even says out loud to himself every time “I have to read the last sentence to check my work.”
At the word stage I used to make sure at least two of the words were almost identical on purpose (say…chip and chipmunk, or cast and castle). This taught him that he had to read the whole word or everything wouldn’t match later on. He would put “chipmunk” under the picture of the potato chip and later he would read “chip” and realize he had already used that picture and would have to sort it out. You can manipulate what order you hand her the words to make sure that happens to best advantage sometimes. We didn’t get frustrated, we were cheerful about it, “oops, I guess we have to make sure to read the whole thing.” or, “Guessing doesn’t work, we better be sure to actually sound out the letters.”
Just remember, that they learn as much from their mistakes as anything else.
What has she been reading? The BOB books were almost useless for us because they were not only dull, but even Me Too can read them perfectly by looking at the pictures.
The phonics practice readers by Modern Curriculum Press have great illustrations, but you can’t guess the sentence from them either.
Hi MBT! Thanks for all of your ideas! I have made a few sentences that she needs to read and then draw the picture herself (She likes drawing) however, I think that matching pictures is a really good idea! Especially with the words that are close in spelling! I will have to make a few for her to work with! I also like your drawing something that requires them to read in order to find out! That is a really good idea! I dont remember guess as much when I was younger. I always sounded things out. My sister would guess though and Bunny seems to like guessing rather then sounding out. So I will have to be creative! Right now we have Miss Rhonda Readers. They pretty easy to read, but you can guess quite a bit from the pictures. Bunny often “reads” them to Pup. I will have to chaeck out the Modern Curriculum ones. We really hated BOB books becuase she just didnt care enough about the characters to bother reading the words! I think that I need to calm down too. I know I have said it before, but I really feel pressured by myself to get her to read! It will happen! I just need to calm down and wait! Thanks so much for you help!!!!
I didn’t told you before, but I just LOve the Princess theme you got there!!!!! sooo cute!! And your princesses made a Great work!! Love the princes and castle with the insets!! Thanks for those wonderful ideas!!!
We are having fun with the princess theme! I’m glad you like the ideas!!!!! The insets are just too much fun, plus I make sure they get some pencil practice in while they play!
We encourage the children to look at the pictures and to talk about them. It is best practice to use the pictures and to allow the child to use the picture to get as much meaning as possible. A child does not learn to read by simply putting together the building blocks of the phonics. In fact, the most recent research (I’ll dig it out for you) shows that children use a variety of strategies to learn to read. Using the pictures to give them clues is one very important strategy.
It is also known now, that most children learn to read by knowing the whole word and then breaking it down, not by building up the phonemes to make a word. So, a word like “crab” is first recognised by matching the word to the picture, then by seeing that it is made by the blend “cr” and the “a” and “b”. This is the opposite way round to the traditional understanding, which leads educaters to cover up pictures or not discuss the pictures. Reading, and more importantly, comprehension is far more that just sounding out words.
When I wrote “So, a word like “crab” is first recognised by matching the word to the picture, then by seeing that it is made by the blend “cr” and the “a” and “b”.” What I mean is that the child knows the word says crab. When he can see it says crab and match it to the picture he is also breaking the word down into its componant parts. There are repeated “Ahh – so now I can see how this word is constructed,” moments as familiar words that are recognised as whole words are broken down.
hmmmm…that is really interesting. I guess I always thought that they needed to read without relying on the pictue. So do you start with a picture and word, then move on to reading with out the pictures as they gain confidence? Or do you use both ideas at once? Or is it best to show a word and a picture, then match the word to the picture using a 3 period lesson situation? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I really think that reading is super important, but right now Bunny and I are frustrated and I’m afraid that I;m screwing her up! I keep trying things, but not too many things seem to work for long. She likes to match words to pictures so I think that I need to keep working with that type of work, but I want to some how make sure that I am getting her ready for elementary work in the fall (or there abouts). Thanks for you help!
I think that reading is a very complex skill to learn and that relying on one skill, in this case decoding a word is only one skill needed. New research shows that children need to be able to encode a word (word building with the movable alphabet) before they can decode it. Some children are able to do this with ease, building on known words, making good guesses from context and pictures. In order to help Bunny the most important things you can put her way are onset and rime activities, understaning what syllables are and being able to break words into them and using known words to work out unknown words. If you are asking Bunny to do some writing about a subject I would make her a word mat. I have lots of these in my classroom, printed and lamintated. At the moment we are learning about the Titanic, so I have word mats with words that are useful for that subject. I also have word mats with high frequency words on so that the children do not have to ask for words all the time. You will find that Bunny can recognise words that she cannot easily spell and in writing them, will be absorbing the spellings.
The pink, blue and green materials all start with objects, then pictures. I expect children to be using the green materials well into their second, even third year of elementary, although the use becomes more sophisticated. I never take away the pictures because they are the support. Once a child is ready to take the step into abstraction they will, naturally and without pushing. There is no right time for all this. I have known three year olds who can read the newspaper and eight year olds who struggle to read anything at all. The secret is to stay relaxed and find as many different ways to get reading into the day. 3 part cards are good – I have thousands of them! Having posters and annotated pictures around the environment are good. This is frowned upon in primary classrooms but is necessary in elementary. It gives the children a chance to read about familiar subjects, thereby using the strategy of context and prior knowledge to work out a word. It also gives them somewhere to go to get the vocan if they want to write about it.
March 8, 2012 @ 4:11 am
You said: “However, as she is learning to read I find that she see a word she knows, and looks at the picture, then guesses the rest. This don’t allow her to read thing correctly and is frustrating for both of us. :)”
In the Ordinary Parent’s guide to teaching reading, the author says that she did not illustrate for this reason. She wants the child to actually read the word and in too many readers you can guess what is happening from the picture. Dwyer on the other hand says TO illustrate to make them compelling for the child. I make readers from that book of course, but when I illustrate I try to draw something that will make him wonder about the page but not be able to guess the sentence from it. He usually takes some time each time he turns the page to stare at the picture and wonder about it before he starts reading. I have to be patient and let him start reading when he’s ready. He’ll often say “Mommy, what does that boy have?” “Or what is that boy doing?” I always say “we’ll have to read and find out.”
When I make sentence to picture matches I always put in at least two pictures that have the potential to go with two different sentences but really only work with specific sentences. For example, I’ll have glass of milk in one picture and a pail of milk in the another. The full sentences might be “Pete has milk in a glass and a piece of pie.” and “Rose must bring the pail of milk up the hill.” That way if he he see’s “milk” and rushes to grab the first picture of milk he sees it eventually won’t work out. This has happened enough times that he has learned that he must read each sentence carefully. He has also learned that he can’t just grab the last picture and the last sentence/word and match them without reading them because this is the control of error. He even says out loud to himself every time “I have to read the last sentence to check my work.”
At the word stage I used to make sure at least two of the words were almost identical on purpose (say…chip and chipmunk, or cast and castle). This taught him that he had to read the whole word or everything wouldn’t match later on. He would put “chipmunk” under the picture of the potato chip and later he would read “chip” and realize he had already used that picture and would have to sort it out. You can manipulate what order you hand her the words to make sure that happens to best advantage sometimes. We didn’t get frustrated, we were cheerful about it, “oops, I guess we have to make sure to read the whole thing.” or, “Guessing doesn’t work, we better be sure to actually sound out the letters.”
Just remember, that they learn as much from their mistakes as anything else.
What has she been reading? The BOB books were almost useless for us because they were not only dull, but even Me Too can read them perfectly by looking at the pictures.
The phonics practice readers by Modern Curriculum Press have great illustrations, but you can’t guess the sentence from them either.
March 8, 2012 @ 7:08 pm
Hi MBT! Thanks for all of your ideas! I have made a few sentences that she needs to read and then draw the picture herself (She likes drawing) however, I think that matching pictures is a really good idea! Especially with the words that are close in spelling! I will have to make a few for her to work with! I also like your drawing something that requires them to read in order to find out! That is a really good idea! I dont remember guess as much when I was younger. I always sounded things out. My sister would guess though and Bunny seems to like guessing rather then sounding out. So I will have to be creative!
Right now we have Miss Rhonda Readers. They pretty easy to read, but you can guess quite a bit from the pictures. Bunny often “reads” them to Pup. I will have to chaeck out the Modern Curriculum ones. We really hated BOB books becuase she just didnt care enough about the characters to bother reading the words! I think that I need to calm down too. I know I have said it before, but I really feel pressured by myself to get her to read! It will happen! I just need to calm down and wait! Thanks so much for you help!!!!
March 8, 2012 @ 12:33 pm
I didn’t told you before, but I just LOve the Princess theme you got there!!!!! sooo cute!! And your princesses made a Great work!! Love the princes and castle with the insets!! Thanks for those wonderful ideas!!!
March 8, 2012 @ 7:09 pm
We are having fun with the princess theme! I’m glad you like the ideas!!!!! The insets are just too much fun, plus I make sure they get some pencil practice in while they play!
March 11, 2012 @ 10:13 pm
We encourage the children to look at the pictures and to talk about them. It is best practice to use the pictures and to allow the child to use the picture to get as much meaning as possible. A child does not learn to read by simply putting together the building blocks of the phonics. In fact, the most recent research (I’ll dig it out for you) shows that children use a variety of strategies to learn to read. Using the pictures to give them clues is one very important strategy.
It is also known now, that most children learn to read by knowing the whole word and then breaking it down, not by building up the phonemes to make a word. So, a word like “crab” is first recognised by matching the word to the picture, then by seeing that it is made by the blend “cr” and the “a” and “b”. This is the opposite way round to the traditional understanding, which leads educaters to cover up pictures or not discuss the pictures. Reading, and more importantly, comprehension is far more that just sounding out words.
March 11, 2012 @ 10:16 pm
When I wrote “So, a word like “crab” is first recognised by matching the word to the picture, then by seeing that it is made by the blend “cr” and the “a” and “b”.” What I mean is that the child knows the word says crab. When he can see it says crab and match it to the picture he is also breaking the word down into its componant parts. There are repeated “Ahh – so now I can see how this word is constructed,” moments as familiar words that are recognised as whole words are broken down.
March 12, 2012 @ 1:34 am
hmmmm…that is really interesting. I guess I always thought that they needed to read without relying on the pictue. So do you start with a picture and word, then move on to reading with out the pictures as they gain confidence? Or do you use both ideas at once? Or is it best to show a word and a picture, then match the word to the picture using a 3 period lesson situation? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I really think that reading is super important, but right now Bunny and I are frustrated and I’m afraid that I;m screwing her up! I keep trying things, but not too many things seem to work for long. She likes to match words to pictures so I think that I need to keep working with that type of work, but I want to some how make sure that I am getting her ready for elementary work in the fall (or there abouts). Thanks for you help!
March 13, 2012 @ 5:18 pm
I think that reading is a very complex skill to learn and that relying on one skill, in this case decoding a word is only one skill needed. New research shows that children need to be able to encode a word (word building with the movable alphabet) before they can decode it. Some children are able to do this with ease, building on known words, making good guesses from context and pictures. In order to help Bunny the most important things you can put her way are onset and rime activities, understaning what syllables are and being able to break words into them and using known words to work out unknown words. If you are asking Bunny to do some writing about a subject I would make her a word mat. I have lots of these in my classroom, printed and lamintated. At the moment we are learning about the Titanic, so I have word mats with words that are useful for that subject. I also have word mats with high frequency words on so that the children do not have to ask for words all the time. You will find that Bunny can recognise words that she cannot easily spell and in writing them, will be absorbing the spellings.
The pink, blue and green materials all start with objects, then pictures. I expect children to be using the green materials well into their second, even third year of elementary, although the use becomes more sophisticated. I never take away the pictures because they are the support. Once a child is ready to take the step into abstraction they will, naturally and without pushing. There is no right time for all this. I have known three year olds who can read the newspaper and eight year olds who struggle to read anything at all. The secret is to stay relaxed and find as many different ways to get reading into the day. 3 part cards are good – I have thousands of them! Having posters and annotated pictures around the environment are good. This is frowned upon in primary classrooms but is necessary in elementary. It gives the children a chance to read about familiar subjects, thereby using the strategy of context and prior knowledge to work out a word. It also gives them somewhere to go to get the vocan if they want to write about it.
I hope this helps!!xxx