As a past elementary school teacher I was determined to have my kids reading before Kindergarten! However, I always taught 2nd grade and all of my students came into my class with the basics already in place. My questions: How do you start the process without all the resources the school has to offer? Is there a simple program that doesn't take much time? (I have plenty to do, and not a ton of time to make lesson plans or put together huge learning activities) I was ready to contact my cohorts back at the Elementary school when my friend Heather Pruett asked me if I'd heard about BOB books. This is her second recommendation that has been just perfect! The first was the Leap Frog videos.
So here is my current formula for pre-kindergarten reading... It might seem simple or lazy, but it worked and that's what counts! (Side note: If your child can't sit through a 1/2 hour movie they may not be ready!)
Step 1: (Build the foundation) purchase the DVD movie "Letter Factory" by Leap Frog and let your child watch it over and over until they know all the letters and their sounds! (It took Spencer at age 3 about 2 weeks of watching) I have seen it for $7 at Costco or a few dollars more at Target!
Step 2: (Cool and Fun) Give your child a work book (i-phone app, game, etc.) where he can practice drawing and having fun with letters. Have them point out letter and sounds all around them... make it a game everywhere you go!
Step 3: (Putting letter sounds together) purchase the DVD movie "Talking Words Factory" by Leap Frog and let your child watch it over and over until they start trying to sound out words around them. (For example: While driving around town Spencer would point out the window to a Subway Sandwich sign and say,"Does that say S...s..s.., UH, B..B..., Wa/wa ..." Sounding out the word subway!)
Step 4: (Why not actually READ) purchase the first set of BOB Books and follow their instructions... As a past teacher I recommend reading 20 min. a day 5 days a week! Plus if your getting frustrated with your sweet little guy for trying to guess words, and not sounding them out I bribe with candy. I gave Spencer a bowl of 8-10 skittles to start with and myself the rest of the skittle bag. Each time he missed a word I took a skittle from his bowl. If he got the sentence correct he got to take one of mine. He cried after I took the first one, but then he caught on and ended up with a bunch of skittles to eat at the end of his book. Interesting how a little bribe can make you a better reader :o) HA! Plus repetition... I have a few books going at a time, but I make him read each book at least 6 times (that's 6 days of reading the same book) - Spencer earns a sticker to put on the last page of the book each time he reads it. When he gets 6 stickers he know we get to add a new book to our reading the next day, and now when he pulls out any of the past books he can read them with no mistakes.
The BOB Books are a step-by-step program for guiding children through the early stages of reading. They are simple to sound out, but also add sight words and letters that borrow sounds like (HAS - the s uses the z sound etc.) We are only 1/2 way through the first set, but it's working with only about 20 minutes a day! (I also found these at Costco for $10)
Here is Spencer reading... This is for his Grandparents (not trying to brag) He just wanted to show them how well he's doing.
