One of the things I like best about the Bob Books is how they progress sequentially, introducing different concepts in handy, easy-to-hold books. Lately I’ve been using the My First Bob Books: Pre-Reading Skills with Wilson, our emerging reader. Because he knows his shapes pretty well, we’re now breezing through the first three books (which cover learning simple shapes, finding hidden shapes and matching shapes) and are spending more time on the other three groups (sorting, patterns and sequencing). We’re having fun with each book beyond the text, asking questions, finding hidden objects and playing games.
My First Bob Books are not only intended for you to read to your child (whereas the foundation sets are intended for your child to read to you) but they are full of fun learning games that you can play with your emerging reader. For example, in “Fix It” (book 5) kids are asked to identify certain shapes that will enable the broken toys to get fixed. The illustrations contain additional shapes (triangles on the curtain, a smiley face on the flag), which I asked Wilson to identify and count. In “Get Ready” (book 10) the illustrations are spaced on the page as to give kids clues to what happens next. I turned it into a game by asking Wilson which toys he would play with first, second and last. Wilson loves blocks so we had a lot of fun with “Block Town” (book 7), which introduces simple patterns. I had him repeat all of the shapes in the pattern (“square, rectangle, rectangle, square”) and then we got down on the floor and created our own pattern – using the Bob Books!
My emerging reader has an extremely short attention span so our reading sessions progress at their own pace. Once he gets wiggly or starts throwing books on the floor, it’s time to move onto something else. Still, I can definitely tell that each time we pick up the books, he’s putting into action the concepts that we learned in previous reading sessions. Which is pretty exciting.
Do you have a reading success story or guest blog you’d like to share? Let us know.
Every child is different, so there is no specific age when your child will be ready for reading. Instead, look for signs and signals that may indicate reading readiness. Because young children learn so much at a very rapid rate, you may not even be fully aware of how much they already know. Some children grasp reading concepts and are able to sound out simple words as early as age 3; others may not start until age 5 or 6. Learning to read is very much a process; as your child’s first and most important teacher, he or she will need your patience, as well as your encouragement, every step of the way.
