Getting Ready For Reading

Getting Ready For Reading !

I have had people ask me what I have been doing with the girls, I would think, in particular Tabitha, to help them get ready for reading.  An idea has been forming in my mind, to start another meme, one devoted to teaching our children to read.  Unless someone knows of one out there already, then could you please let me know and I will link up with them.  I know I haven't found one yet.
Tabitha really has shocked me in her ability to read 3 letter and some 4 letter words.  These are words that contain letters using their most common phonetic sound.  I will say straight off, I haven't been using any set curriculum.  I have actually tried a few different books with Tabitha.  When the response was frustration I backed off and decided to wait.  I have actually let things come naturally.  However, I will share some of the different things that seemed to help her learning along.
I am thinking each week I will share some different tips I have gleaned from books I have read and from working at the Montessori, plus what I have seen in my older kids. Additionally I plan to share what we have done the week just prior to the post to GET READY FOR READING.

Please, please join us by sharing what you have learned and what you are doing with your little ones to open up that wonderful world of books.

I would like to focus this week on one of the first important steps to preparing our little ones to read.  Phonemic Awareness.  As I have seen stated in several different places, knowing the alphabet, the names of the letters, really doesn't prepare a child to read.  I mean, it makes sense.  When we say the word, "cat" we don't say, "seeaytee."  We need to know the sounds represented by the letter. /k/ /a/ /t/ so we can say, "cat."  Children need to be aware that words are made up of sounds.  Before I knew all this "phonemic awareness" stuff, I was working at the Montessori learning to play a game with the children.  We would have the sound cards at the circle and would focus on one sound at a time.  When I say sound, most would probably say letter, but in the Montessori they teach the sound first, for the reasons above.  Let's say the sound was "f", This is what we would say: "I hear "fffff" when I say "fish" "ffflower" "fffff" "ffffox""  Then we wait to see if the children can come up with words that start with that sound.  This game is something Tabitha has enjoyed for a while.  And she can also hear the sound at the end of the word and sometimes in the middle.  We always do this for our letter of the week, and she is getting much better at coming up with words of her own.

Do you have any Phonemic Awareness games you play with your little ones?  Please share it in a post and link up.

There is a great book out there by Wiley Blevins called "Phonemic Awareness Activities For Early Reading Success."  This is probably one place were I was reading about the importance of Phonemic Awareness.  I haven't had it out since before the baby was born, so I think it is time to check it out again.  Be aware that it is focused on school teaching in a group, but I am sure there are ways to make it work for homeschooling.

I shared in a post a couple of weeks ago that Tabitha was starting to zing through the Short Vowel a Progressive Phonics book. She has read the stories focused on "at" words and now the "ad" words.  That is 12 pages.  We are so proud of her.  I now have "at" words and "ad" words on the wall next to our Letter of the Week poster.  She can get the words out whenever she wants to look at them, but only once a day will we work with them so she can receive a sticker on the back of each word card she knows.  I didn't want Amelia to feel left out so I made her some letter/sound cards, on which she will also be able to place stickers.

We also have a game to help with reading.  It is Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham game.  I mentioned this in my Homeschool Blog Hop post.  Here are some pictures of daddy playing the game with the girls:

To see what others are doing with their preschoolers and toddlers head over to:

Also linked up to