Blending Sounds
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: blending sounds, learning, reading Leave a commentDay 31 – Blending sounds
Today’s focus is the opposite of yesterday’s.
Today we are talking about BLENDING sounds.
This is the act of hearing spoken sounds and forming words with them.
Again, there are lots of games you can play to impress this upon your student, and these are things you can do even while driving or waiting in an office for an appointment.
One way to teach the blending of sounds is to pretend you are robots… You speak stiffly and disjointedly to the reader, and ask them to “interpret” what you are saying. You can even speak in complete sentences. Just make sure to talk “like a robot” and create natural breaks between sounds. You student then has to interpret what you are saying – for example, after introducing yourself (as the robot), you could say, “I like yellow cars, do you?” (which would be I-like-ye-llow-cars, do you?) and so on. You can ask the student to pick up a toy, describing it, and the child’s responses show that they understand what you are talking about. And gets them on the way to more complex sound structures!
If you are interested in learning more activities like this or others I have written about, feel free to email me, or try searching some of the keywords that I’m writing about.
You really CAN make a difference in your child’s development!
Thanks for your patience in playing along with the 31 Days of Reading series! Stop over occasionally and say hello!
Reading Fluency
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: comprehension, fluency, literature, reading Leave a commentDay 30 – Fluency
Fluency is the ability to read with efficiency and ease.
Fluent readers can read quickly and accurately and with appropriate rhythm, intonation, and expression.
Fluency promotes comprehension: when a reader is fluent, the reader can grasp the meaning of the written word more easily.
Can you guess what one of the biggest tricks to fluency is? Yup, you guessed it…
READING! READING! READING!
…and, of course, being read to.
One of the reasons for this is that listening to someone else read models appropriate phrasings. And reading aloud with someone nearby offers the student the input that can help them feel successful with reading – a listener can enjoy the story, give tips for challenging words, and help them phrase the structures. In addition, reading often – as well as listening often – provides the student with context clues to help them decode the challenging words they are hearing.
Just another reason to read to your child (or adult learner), and why they should read to you!
What do you have in your bag of tricks?
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Joy, Language & Reading, Teacher Tips, Working Mom | Tags: bag of tricks, Library, secrets Leave a commentDay 29 – Skills, or, your Bag of Tricks
Teachers use a bag of tricks to keep their student’s captivated. For substitute teachers this includes activities on paper that can keep student’s busy, and maybe even candy (if allowed in the school district). when I was substitute teaching I kept a book of riddles to read aloud, packs of pencils and erasers, a newspaper (excellent for interactive activities), and a list of activities and educational games to play when the lesson left by the teacher was finished quickly.
As a parent, you can do the same!
Keeping educational toys and books in a bag in your car, learning word and math games that can be played during waiting periods – which are so hard for our kids! – and having a routine board game night (at all ages) are great tricks for your own bag.
And there are other tricks you can add to your bag…
There is a story in my family about my dad fixing our broken down car in the middle of the woods on Cape Cod. My dad whittled a part and stuck it in the car and was able to drive the family out of the woods. Really! Of course this was before EFIs and computer diagnosis… But he learned about the innards of his car from a book. He also used a book to learn how to put a roof on our house, fix our water heater, and put in kitchen cabinets. He always said The Library was his source for everything!
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Like my Dad, my husband borrows expensive books from the library when he needs to fix our cars (notice I don’t say “wants” lol). These books are Chilton Manuels and there is one out for every car detailing what you will find in their engines. And of course, now that we have the information on the internet, that, too, is an amazing resource!
Finally, don’t forget to ask friends, your Sunday School teacher, and your librarian for tricks to add to your bag about including reading in your family!
How about that for a bag of tricks?
Thump, Roll, and Rumble – Word Sounds
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading, Teacher Tips, Working Mom | Tags: phoneme, segments, sounds, words Leave a commentDay 28 – Phoneme segmentation
For adult learners as well as younger readers, breaking words into sounds using finger taps is a great way to teach the sounds in words.
One example is showing the student cards with the letter sounds, and tapping out the sounds as you make them and say the word. Here is a video I found online that uses pennies as markers, and you don’t need letter or sound cards. All you need for this are pennies.
At your house you will lay out the pennies (or whatever marker you want to use) in front of your learning-reader, and you will voice the word, as the instructor in the video does. Your student will listen to you and move the markers appropriately.
Your student will be listening for the number of sounds, and what the sounds are. Multiple skills! Have fun!
Escapism
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading | Tags: escape, peace, reading, travel Leave a comment
Day 27: Reading to make travel arrangements & reading during your escape!
It’s a small world
Posted: November 26, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: cultural awareness, friendship, literature, reading, sharing Leave a commentDay 23 – Cultural Awareness
It Really is a Small Small World…
Reading folk tales and ethnic stories allows students to understand and to appreciate a literary heritage that comes from many different backgrounds.
Reading to your child these stories and histories from other cultures not only can entertain your children, but can open their world to life beyond their own community.
One great benefit of this is the awareness and openness that students will gain from learning about other cultures. They will be less likely to negatively stereotype and bully or socially freeze out students from other cultures. Stories with ethnic histories or focuses can increase their own cultural awareness as well. In addition, most of them impart a lesson (often that good triumphs over evil or a moral lesson).
Today there are many choices of books about cultural awareness and histories, but if you want to start with traditional stories retold in America, you could try “Hansel and Gretel”, “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”, or “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”. The library offers much more than it did many years ago – there are stories from every culture that have been translated into English and ready for your enjoyment.
Reading Memories…
Posted: October 22, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading | Tags: Memories, reading Leave a commentDay 21: Reading Memories…
Welcome!
One of my earliest memories is of my mother reading to me. My parents were in their forties when I was born, and I had siblings almost 20 years older than I. We had some OLD books! We had a great version of Grimm’s Fairytales, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, and more.
She read to me about Little Black Sambo (the best story ever about a kid who TRIUMPHS over something POWERFUL (great read for a kid who feels weak), she read to me Chinese folk tales, and stories that were way above my mental level. She knew that the sound of her voice would be soothing, the repetition of sentences would improve my own sentence structure (eventually), and I would catch on! She had great expectations and cheerfully anticipated that would be able to follow along.
Do you do that for your children? Do you expect the best and speak positively around them and to them?
Why Read?: Sven Birkerts on the essential link between literacy and the imagination
Posted: October 20, 2012 Filed under: Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: books, imagination, knowledge, reading, Sven Birkerts Leave a comment
Day 20: Literacy and the Imagination
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Why Read?: Sven Birkerts on the essential link between literacy and the imagination.
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Thanks for stopping by for day 20 of:
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Fabulous, it’s Friday Again! Obi Wan is patient…
Posted: October 20, 2012 Filed under: Book Review, Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: book, book review, books, culinary, literature, mystery, reading, recommendation, review 1 CommentDay 19: Fab Friday and How Obi Wan is a patient teacher
Oh! I love a good book!
Greetings and Salutations!
Today is day 19 in 31 Days of READiNG
and
Welcome! It is time for the Fab Friday Book Review!
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Do you enjoy the sweet taste and texture of the perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie? One that doesn’t have too many chocolate chips, but not too few – so that you can savor the chocolate in each bite, around the bit of vanilla cookie?
Or do you enjoy cooking, and sharing what you have cooked; trying new recipes; experimenting with ingredients?
Then you might enjoy the next few books I am going to recommend. No, they are NOT recipe books, though they have recipes in them. The protagonist in each is a cook, chef, or baker. And all of the mysteries include recipes that are served in the books!
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These books with culinary themes are a joy for a cook who likes to read!
Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Mysteries are the most MOUTH WATERING culinary mysteries out there. I always have to try her recipes before I’m even done with the books.
Something funny – Once I took one of these books out on CD (audiobook) from the library (if you want to know, it was The Apple Turnover Murders).
The reader of the audio book was great – and even better, spoke with the accent of the book’s location – Minnesota. All I could think of was an old SLN skit, “Pat and Patty’s Backpack Shack”. If you know what the accent sounds like, just try saying that out loud.
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Goldy Schulz is a caterer who stumbles over murders, and solves them, despite her son, her rude ex-husband, and her new catering business. Throughout the life of the series, Goldy goes from divorcee to dating diva, falling into murder mysteries, and solving them!
Those are just 2 of the authors of mysteries with a culinary theme. Look at your local library or bookstore for more!
And as usual, if you have a favorite culinary mystery, of a favorite book in any genre, please post it in the comments.
Thank you!
Learning on the Web
Posted: October 19, 2012 Filed under: Hands-on Activities, Language & Reading, Working Mom | Tags: computers, gaming, learning, reading Leave a commentDay 18: Free Websites to aid in reading development
Believe it!
There are awesome FREE websites that you can use to enhance the skills of your learning-reader!
Here is Starfall, an outstanding site that any teacher might recommend…
There are many outstanding educational activity websites that are free and available for use. On our last day playing the 31 Days of Reading game, I will be posting a useful list of great sites! Stay tuned!
Thanks so much for stopping over!
My Evident Faith 