Posts Tagged ‘pre reading skills’

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Diary of an Emerging Reader: Fun & Games

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

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.
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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.
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Do you have a reading success story or guest blog you’d like to share? Let us know.

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Diary of an Emerging Reader: Developing Pre-Reading Skills (One Step at a Time)

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Before reading begins, a child must first understand and master key pre-reading skills. Skills like learning the alphabet, shape recognition, matching, sorting, learning patterns and sequencing.
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Wilson, age 3, our reader-in-training, is doing pretty well with alphabet recognition (give or take 3 or 4… or 8 letters, depending on when I ask him) so I thought I’d spend some time this week focusing on specific pre-reading skills. The My First Bob Books sets are wonderful in that they build upon simple concepts (i.e. shape identification) and then progress to more advanced skills (such as matching and sorting and sequencing.) The sizing and color-coding of the books is really helpful too, especially when you’re dealing with a short attention span and a child who likes to dump all of his books out on the floor.

We started with the red color-coded books, the first books in the My First Bob Books: Pre Reading Skills set that focus on shape recognition and matching. We breezed through those; I could tell that Wilson really understands his shapes. But then he grabbed one of the yellow books, the “Guessing Machine,” which helps kids understand the concept of sequencing. It’s book number 11 out of 12 in the set so I knew that by following Bob Books’ numbered progression, this would be a relatively advanced concept. And it was. Sequencing – the ability to predict or guess what happens next in a story – was a completely foreign concept for him. So now I know what he doesn’t know. This was a really important realization for me as a parent. And, truth be told, I’m not sure I really understood what the term sequencing meant exactly –and why it was important — until I started going through the My First Bob Books with Wilson. Now I get it. I can talk about sequencing concepts in our every day conversations (“What happens next?” You put on your shoes and then we’ll walk to the park…”) to help him grasp the step-by-step pre -reading and literacy skills that build a good foundation for reading. mf-bob-books-1

Do you have any pre-reading skill development tips you’d like to share? Let us know.

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Video Blog: Five Tips for Teaching Your Child to Read

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Taking the first steps into reading with your child should be fun for both of you. Sometimes how to make that happen is a bit of a mystery! These short videos will give you simple, clear suggestions of several early reading techniques to use with your child.

Identifying shapes and letters
Learning to identify and name shapes is an important pre-reading skill. Pay attention to how Paul’s dad helps him find the circle and identify the triangle. First he asks a question, then he waits for Paul. This gives Paul a chance to figure it out for himself, and also communicates to Paul that his answer is important. It is essential that children are given time to try before you step in.

Talking about the sounds that letters make
When reading with your child, be respectful and accurate. If the child does not use the correct letter or word, do not dwell on it, but calmly give him accurate information. Do not let silliness sidetrack you into accepting a wrong answer. This will not help with learning. Praise immediately when he answers correctly.

Talking about the story
To develop a love of reading, children need to fall in love with the story. Take time to talk about the characters, actions and emotions in a book. Encourage your child to engage with the illustrations as well as the writing. Ask your child what is happening in the story. The entire early reading experience, including your attention, a fun story, and early reading success, can build a love a books that will last a lifetime.

Giving praise
Giving praise instructs and encourages your child to read accurately. It’s important to notice achievements large and small, when a child is learning to read. Your calm consistency and gentle approval make your child’s first steps into reading a successful and happy experience.

And finally…
Enjoy yourselves!
With a few simple techniques, a warm couch, some snuggly quiet time, and the right book, learning to read can be fun and satisfying for you and your child, every step of the way.

Do you have any reading tips or video blogs you’d like to share? Let us know.

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Diary of an Emerging Reader: Independence

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Mine! No! I need it! I DO IT BY MYSELF!” Someone in my house has control issues.

Wilson, our two and a half year-old reader in training, is going through a new “phase.” Call it the terrible twos. Call it testing the limits. Call it newfound independence. Today his preschool teacher took me aside and said –after she informed me that he was acting out— “maybe he’s on the verge of some great milestone.” Let’s hope so.

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We use to enjoy story time with complete pleasure and ease. Now we have battles. One minute he’s happy being read to, the next he wants to read to himself. Last night we couldn’t agree whether Sally, one of the My First Bob Books Pre Reading Skills characters, was a circle or a ball. I decided it wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things and let it roll off, so to speak.

I know that as the saying goes, this too shall pass. What’s most important right now is sharing a love of books and reading, whatever shape that takes. Wilson can enjoy books at his own pace. If he wants me to read, that’s great. If he takes the lead, that’s fine too. We can also turn it into a game, pointing out colors and shapes and letters of the alphabet for as long as attention spans allow. I have enough battles with my little person already; story time and learning to read is not going to be one of them.

Got a reading tip or early learning experience you’d like to share? Let us know.

–Allison

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Diary of An Emerging Reader: Wilson, Wilson, What Can You Read?

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

A few days ago I walked in on our Reader in Training (Wilson, age 2.5) alone in his room and witnessed him “reading” a book to himself: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, illustrated by Eric Carle.

“Brown Bear, Brown, Bear, what do you see?” said Wilson in his sweet toddler voice, “I see a…” and then he would pause, peek ahead at the picture on the following page, and return to where he left off. “I see a red bird looking at me! Red bird, red bird, what do you see?” and the process would continue: pause, peek, repeat.

It’s the perfect example of how word repetition combined with simple illustrations work together to build pre-literacy skills. Did Wilson actually know any of the words he was “reading”? I wasn’t entirely sure so I decided to find out. “What is this word?” I asked, pointing to the word “blue.” “It says “blue horse, blue horse, what do you see?” he responded. Next, I brought out some flash cards that I’d saved from his older sister’s preschool days. “How about this word?” I asked, showing him the word ‘the.’ “I don’t know,” he said. “There’s a t and a h and a e,” he said.

For those of us who have been reading for a lifetime, witnessing the first steps into reading may not be obvious. We take for granted that we no longer have to recite words on a page; we simply associate those black squiggles with what we’re saying. What Wilson is doing now is making his rhyme match the picture – important pre-reading skills which are part of a good literacy foundation.

After discussing Wilson’s progress with Lynn at Bob Books, she had some valuable suggestions for continuing to build his pre-reading skills:

* Show him where the word “horse” or “blue” is in the text so that he can begin to understand that the letters that make up the word “blue” or “horse” are the same every time.

* Choose a letter of the alphabet like b and practice making the sound “bbbb” every time it appears.

*Go on a letter hunt for “b.” Saying all those fun b words in a gentle way introduces this brand new idea in a way that is playful, interesting and supportive.

Even thought Wilson is not reading actual words yet, his memorizing and “play reading” are wonderful steps forward as he prepares to join the world of young readers. So far he’s doing great and we’ve got plenty of time to work on pre-reading skills before he heads off to school in a few years.

Oh, and speaking of time… for those of you who have been regularly following the Bob Books blog, we wanted to let you know that beginning next week, we will be moving to an every other week posting schedule. In the meantime, please keep those great comments and ideas coming. We love to hear from you!

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Diary of an Emerging Reader: “A is for Atta Boy”

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Wilson, our reader-in-training, read the newspaper to me yesterday morning. Okay, maybe not quite… “read” is a relative term when you’re talking about a 2.5 year old who can point out a few letters on a page. Still, I was pleased by the progress he’s making with alphabet recognition. Letters that he didn’t know a few weeks (or even a few days ago) are now in his vocabulary. We started with the weather. “Hey Wilson, I asked, “what’s this letter?” “W!” he shouted. “And this one?” “e!” and how about this one? “Um, I don’t know.” Or this one? “Number one!” Overall he knew four out of the seven letters in “weather.” I went through the letters once more one by one, slowly pointing to each letter, saying the name and giving him time to repeat back each one. Then we looked at the word weather again. This time he was able to get six of the seven letters right before the weather suddenly changed—our dear student dumped over his cup of milk all over the paper. Time for a new activity!

One of Wilson’s favorite books is Chica Chica ABC by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault. He loves the rhythm and repetition in this book, and for some reason—perhaps because of the “chicka chicka BOOM BOOM” reference, he has begun calling his owies “chicky boom booms.” As in, “I fell and I got a chicky boom boom on my knee.” It’s become part of our family vernacular. The fact that the book has an ABC theme had not been of much interest to Wilson but I did ask him to point out a few of the letters to me when we read it most recently. He gets letters like e, r, s and v correct nearly all of the time whereas lowercase letters with round shapes (like a, c, q, n and m) are harder for him to separate.

Later in the day we spent some time with My First Bob Books: Alphabet. Wilson happily sat on my lap on the carpet as I read the books “EF,” “GH,” “VW” and “XYZ” (not in any particular order – these were the books that he personally selected after dumping them out on the floor.) For some reason he was fixated on the illustration of the vacuum in the VW book. That and the watermelons on page 6. “Watomelwon, I like watomelwon!” He started to get wiggly so I stood him up in preparation to put the books away. In his socks, Wilson jumped onto one of the books and started to slide. I got an idea. “Put your foot on the letter A,” I instructed, and he did. “Now, put your hand on the letter H”… and he did. We both started giggling. “Now… put your nose on the letter I” and we were both in hysterics. Who knew alphabet games could be so fun?

Let us know if you have any fun alphabet games to share.

-Allison

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What is Early Literacy?

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

It’s the mother who sings to her infant. The baby who chews on the board book! The toddler who asks for his favorite stories to be read to him over and over again. Sound familiar? Early literacy is what children learn and know about reading and writing before they actually read and write.

As you’re most likely already aware, early literacy skills develop in the first 5 years of life. According to recent brain development research, children are born with 100 billion brain cells. By the time a child is three, his or her brain circuitry is basically developed, which is why it is important to form positive learning experiences and attachments as early as possible.

You make such a difference to your child’s early learning successes. When you read, talk or play with your child, you’re stimulating the growth of their brain. It’s that simple! Even if a child or baby doesn’t appear to be learning, they are. Hearing stories, handling books, playing with blocks—it all adds up to early literacy. With each interaction, your child is learning important pre-reading skills such as vocabulary development, sound awareness, reading comprehension and letter recognition.

Here are a few tips to engage your child in early literacy activities:

Read to your child every day. Even if it’s just for a few minutes. Even if your toddler forces you to skip pages or chews on the corner of the book.

Talk about the pictures. Ask: what’s happening and why?

Talk about the story. See if your child can tell you what happens next.

Point to words. Run your finger along the words as you read them.

Make it a game. Ask your child to point to certain objects. Use funny voices or make sound effects when telling the story. End story time with tickle time.

Let us know if you have any tips you’d like to share!

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Diary of an Emerging Reader: Appreciating the Unexpected

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

What do you get when you put one highly exuberant 2 year-old, a literate yet bossy 7 year-old, and 24 books in one room? A little bit of everything, I have to say…

We started off with a refresher on My First Bob Books: Pre-Reading Skills. Last week, Wilson (our reader in training) had a bit of trouble recognizing his shapes, not to mention holding his attention span. This week? “Triangle! Square! Circle!” he shouted when he spied Tanner the Triangle, Seth the Square and Sally the Circle. We read through the first three books with relative ease. Wilson sat still and pointed to the shapes without prompting.

Elizabeth (age 7) then read the first two books from the My First Bob Books: Alphabet set to her younger brother. “What does this letter say?” she asked, pointing to the letter A. “6!” replied Wilson. “No, Wilson, it’s the letter A,” she corrected him in a mothering tone. “What is this letter?” she asked, pointing to the letter B. “B!” shouted Wilson, resulting in a congratulatory “yes!” from the rest of us. Elizabeth read through a few more pages but then–don’t ask me why– things went downhill after that. Both kids began jumping on the bed, giggling uncontrollably and dumping books onto the floor. Then Wilson bit his sister on the arm. “Okay,” that’s it” I said. “Help me get these books back in their boxes.” Putting the books back in order and according to each set was a terrific task to assign to Elizabeth. “Wilson, you put all the red ones together,” she said… and he did! “Now the yellow ones,” she instructed. Amazingly enough, he was able to complete that task as well. Yay, he’s getting better with his colors, I thought. But wasn’t this supposed to be a reading exercise? Then I realized that working on early learning and pre-reading skills such as colors, numbers and shapes doesn’t have to be an organized activity, it can happen on the go; anytime, anywhere.

Got a pre reading tip to share? Let us know.

–Allison

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My First Bob Books: Prepping for Pre-Reading

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Because Bob Books are all about that magical moment when letters and sounds turn into words, children need to grasp a number of important pre-reading skills (such as recognizing letters, shapes, patterns, sorting and sequencing) before reading begins. But where do you begin? How do you start?

With this in mind, we published our newest series of Bob Books, My First Bob Books in July 2008. Intended for parents to read to their young children (whereas the Bob Books Foundation Sets are designed for children to read to their parents) these two sets are geared towards getting your young ones ready for reading.

My First Bob Books: Alphabet is of course, all about the alphabet. The books encourage letter recognition, letter sounds and repetition. It’s about tuning young ears to the sounds that letters make. Also known as phonemic awareness, this is a skill needed in order to progress to reading readiness. Parents can have fun with the books and turn letters into a game, such as “b-b-b-ball, b-b-b bunny, b-b-bear. What other words start with the letter b?” Finding objects within the illustrations that match the letters is also part of the fun. (Clues are listed in the back of each book.)

My First Bob Books: Pre Reading Skills focuses on sorting, shapes, patterns and sequencing. For example, seeing the similarity in the shape of a triangle and the letter A. Or that round shapes translate into the letters o, c, q, or b. This set begins with simple shapes (triangle, square, circle) and builds progressively, with shapes getting organized in different groupings. Again, this is an opportunity for the parent to point things out and ask questions; i.e. “Can you point to the square?” or “What shape is this?”

As Bob Books original illustrator John Maslen is now retired (happily painting away, see our previous blog post), we found a new illustrator for My First Bob Books, award-winning UK-based illustrator Sue Hendra. We looked all over the world; finding the right person was no easy task. The illustrations may look simple but there is so much humor, fun and joy that are conveyed in the drawings– the art does a lot to make the Bob Books fun for kids to read. After all, that joy in learning is what Bob Books is all about.

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Back to School!

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

For many of you, the last weeks of August are all about back-to-school prep: shopping for folders, new clothes, backpacks and lunch totes. Filling out forms. Meeting new parents, teachers and kids. Whether your child is enrolled in preschool—or entering first grade—making early literacy and reading skills part of your back to school preparations is a fun way to get kids excited about what’s ahead.

For starters, if you aren’t already reading to your child every night, it’s a great time to start! Aim for 10 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. Need some suggestions for age-appropriate books? Check out your local library, bookstore or favorite online bookseller. Here are a few of our favorite back to school themed titles:

Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School by Herman Parish and Lynn Sweat

It’s Back To School We Go! by Ellen Jackson and Jan Davey Ellis

Curious George’s First Day of School by H. A. Rey

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell

As you read the stories, talk about what’s going on in the books. Why does that character feel that way? What do you think will happen next in the story? How do you feel about going to school? Which words in the story do you recognize? For advancing readers, have them read a few words (or pages) to you.

For preschoolers, shopping for school supplies can be a great opportunity to work on pre-reading skills such as sorting and alphabet and shape recognition. What shape is this notebook? What color is that crayon? At the store, have your child help you find things on the list. Can you show me what starts with the letter P? Can you find the word “school” on the signs in the store?

And don’t forget to set a good example at home. Let your child see you reading the newspaper, engaged with a magazine or enjoying a good book. A love of reading and books is something you can foster anytime of the year.

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