www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ

Where I’m going with this is, there was a sub section of Schoolhouse Rock called Grammar Rock that taught everything from what a noun is to how to spot interjections in a sentence. One of the all-time favorites is ‘Conjunction Junction’ that taught kids that conjunctions do the business of “hooking up words and phrases and clauses”J

I know we eventually learn all those grammar rules the old-fashioned way, but isn’t it so much easier when the information is presented with catchy music and lyrics? That’s something to think about when you’re teaching your child their reading lessons. The more fun and interactive you can make it, the better and easier it’ll be for your child  to grasp everything!

While we’re on the subject of old classics, let’s talk about a book series that many kids (girl’s especially) have come to love in their early readings: the Little House the Prairie books. Laura Ingalls Wilder chronicles her life as an early frontier girl in Minnesota. These books are so enjoyable and educational because they show a piece of American history that is often overlooked: the early stages in this country’s development where families had to hunt for their food, build their own houses, plant harvests and hope for survival during rough winter months. Laura’s adventures and life lessons have a way of resonating with children who can see similar situations in their own lives even set in modern times.

There are eight original Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and if you choose to have your child start this book series, try to have them finish the whole series so that they can experience the entire story arc. The book titles are:

Little House in the Big Woods
Farmer Boy
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake

Little Town on the Prairie
The Long Winter
These Happy Golden Years
The First Four Years

And for nostalgia’s sake don’t forget the classic TV series with Michael Landon and Melissa GilbertJ

Do you remember the classic episodes of ‘Little House on the Prairie’? I don’t know if you paid close attention to details, but all the children in the school house read the same set of books. They’re called McGuffey’s readers and they were in fact used “…for three quarters of a century…by four-fifths of all American school children”. (www.howtotutor.com/guffy.htm) The original set consists of 7 books that begin with short vowel reading stories and eventually end with advanced reading lessons. Something distinctive about the way they lay out their lessons is at the beginning of each story/lesson they group the words that are predominate in that lesson and also include pronunciation marks and the words broken up into syllables. I’m not sure any modern reading systems include that much detail anymore.

Beyond that, McGuffey’s readers taught many moral lessons that in our politically correct times may not be as widely accepted as in the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ days. However, you should definitely give these books a look, if nothing for the nostalgia of checking out such a large reading movement that was so prevalent in the not so distant past. Happy reading! Do you have any old classics you loved as a child? Please comment below…

In the past we’ve discussed how to help anchor your child’s recognition of the alphabet by using wall cards. These can be purchased at any office supply store in the education section, as well as in teachers supply stores. We’ve also talked about the ‘write way to reading’, meaning the art of helping your child learn reading skills through writing words, sentences, and just letters by themselves. Now it’s time to combine these two techniques!

Picture dictionaries are a great way to use pictures and letters together to build your child’s reading skills. Your child can create a picture dictionary by using handy printable alphabet pages with accompanying pictures that they can color which you can find on many websites such as http://www.enchantedlearning.com/categories/preschool.shtml or in alphabet workbooks that can be ordered through just about any education resource company.

So do some online sleuthing and find a great set of printable picture dictionary sheets for your child today! Happy hunting J

I don’t know about you guys, but one of my favorite word games growing up was word searches. You know, the letter puzzles that are arranged in a grid that look like gibberish but have hidden words inside? Talk about developing deciphering skills! Once kids discover how to find words out of a jumble of seemingly nonsensical letters, they’ll love the challenge this game can bring.

It’s easy to find word searches in stores, like in the handy booklets kids can carry with them on road trips. Or if your kids are more computer savvy, there are plenty on websites that have free word searches for their use like http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/ that features word searches that your child can customize to their liking.

Usually word searches will help build a child’s confidence to try bigger challenges like crossword puzzles—another old classic that every child should experience!

Remember playing hangman with friends on lazy summer days as a child? I bet you didn’t realize you where helping your reading skills by doing so! Hangman can be a very helpful game because it engages foresight and memory of word and sentence structure. It may not be the most popular after school game anymore, but it’s definitely worth it to introduce this old classic to your kids. Start out with one-word puzzles and eventually build up to sentence-long puzzles. A cute idea is to pack a hangman puzzle inside their lunch box once a week and have them figure it out during their lunch break. Be sure to add a few clues for them. When they get home, you can have fun checking if they guessed correctlyJ

The rules of hangman are:

1)      Draw empty spaces that represent letters in a word, so that each letter had its own line to be written on.

2)      Ask your child to guess a letter that may be in the puzzle. If letter they guess is in the puzzle write it in the space(s) it belongs.

3)      Draw a box under the spaces you’ve drawn for the words in the puzzle. This box is where you write any letters that aren’t in the puzzle so you’re child won’t guess incorrectly numerous times.

4)      Every time they guess incorrectly you draw a part of the hangman’s body on the noose (i.e. head, body, two, arms, and finally two legs.). So in other words, they have 8 incorrect guesses before the hangman is complete and they’re out of guesses.

5)      When they guess the word or sentence correctly, they’ve won and then it’s their turn to make up a puzzle for youJ

Enjoy!    

An essential part of the reading process is learning how to predict storylines. Teaching your child how to do this early on makes successful reading a lot easier because foresight and predicting storylines is a critical part of the reading process. Luckily, teaching your child how to predict storylines is as easy as it sounds. In fact, most kids have a natural inclination for it. Have you ever read your child a bedtime story only to have them interject questions like "What happens next?!" or " Are they going to make it away from the witch and live happily ever after?", etc.

This is the time you can start planting the seeds for how to predict the outcome of stories. Always ask them "What do think will happen next?" when they ask you any questions about the outcome fo the storyline. When they begin reading you stories, it's your turn to ask what will happen next Once you have their prediction you can tell them what you think will happen as well. If it turns out that their prediction is off you can ask them the question again after they read a few more pages if they still think the story will end the same way. Make adjustments to your guesses and teach them that it's okay to reframe your thinking as you read so they can understand that changing plot points will change the ending of a story.

Making predictions is only one reading strategy we'll be discussing on this blog. Look for more topics on this subject in the near future…