Children learn in a variety of ways. It's a good idea to incorporate different activities when teaching reading. It helps to reinforce the text when there is an activity to connect the reading to, other than just what is visual on the page, or the sound of one's voice.
This fun activity involves the kids coloring in letters on a shirt that they can wear.
Of course, they don't have to color in the letters, they can just be fun to read and recite, to learn the order of the alphabet.
If you notice, the alphabet letters are shown in three different colors. The consonants are in red. The vowels are in blue. The crossover letters are in purple. Crossover letters are letters that sometimes act like a consonant, and sometimes like a vowel.
Most people are taught that the letter Y is sometimes a consonant and sometimes a vowel. Now Y has a pal; W.
W is also a crossover letter. The W acts like a consonant in the word - who. The W acts like a vowel, like a silent E in the word - flow.
Y can represent a variety of sounds. Y is a consonant in the word - yellow. Y acts like a long I in the word - fly, and like a long E in the word - baby.
A coloring alphabet shirt is a fun way to reinforce this concept. Teachers can wear alphabet shirts too.
Whether you're ordering a shirt for a teacher and/or student, I recommend acrylic paint markers for fabric. to color them in. The paint markers are quite permanent, and it's pretty simple to apply. Be sure to place a sheet of flat cardboard between the fabric layers before doing any coloring or painting on the shirts.
Happy reading; and coloring.
Cheryl Paton
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Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Literacy and Phonetics - Making Reading Fun for Kids
Part of learning is to make it fun. My daughter loved reading before starting school. She loved being read to and was learning how to sound things out. She had favorite books and looked forward to more. When she started elementary school, the school had a Book It Reading Program. The kids were rewarded for reading a certain number of books, and she loved that too.
Then came a higher grade, and the school wanted the kids to do timed readings. Do you want to be timed while you read? Do you think that would be fun? Well I know that my daughter didn't. She was pretty quick at reading; she had been reading pretty fluently for her grade levels and beyond for a while. But having to be timed, took the fun out of it. Reading became a chore.
After that class was over, she eventually learned to put the fun back in, and began to enjoy reading again. If you have any kids in grades that are doing timed readings, you might want to have a chat with the teacher. It's more important to give kids a reason to read, than to time them. Talk to them a bit about what the book is about. Spark their interest in wanting to find something out. You can do this by asking the child about what they think will happen.
My daughter is has graduated from college now, and recommends that the kids keep a reading journal. The kids read for a block of time and then write a short summary; a couple of sentences about what they've read. She remembers doing this in first grade and enjoying that activity.
Having kids enjoy learning to read as kids, is a great way to create adults who also enjoy to read.
Having the child dictate their own stories is a great way to build reading skills. Find out more on Dictate a Story.
Cheryl Paton
Then came a higher grade, and the school wanted the kids to do timed readings. Do you want to be timed while you read? Do you think that would be fun? Well I know that my daughter didn't. She was pretty quick at reading; she had been reading pretty fluently for her grade levels and beyond for a while. But having to be timed, took the fun out of it. Reading became a chore.
After that class was over, she eventually learned to put the fun back in, and began to enjoy reading again. If you have any kids in grades that are doing timed readings, you might want to have a chat with the teacher. It's more important to give kids a reason to read, than to time them. Talk to them a bit about what the book is about. Spark their interest in wanting to find something out. You can do this by asking the child about what they think will happen.
My daughter is has graduated from college now, and recommends that the kids keep a reading journal. The kids read for a block of time and then write a short summary; a couple of sentences about what they've read. She remembers doing this in first grade and enjoying that activity.
Having kids enjoy learning to read as kids, is a great way to create adults who also enjoy to read.
Having the child dictate their own stories is a great way to build reading skills. Find out more on Dictate a Story.
Cheryl Paton
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