Monday 21 February 2011

Today Was...



  • The first day that the Doctor brought home a reader to share with me. Oh man. Cute Attack City! Though I don't really know if I am doing the right thing. If anyone has any pointers on how I can help my little dude with his reading - please help!

  • The first day of my seven day cleanse with Nat from The Pagoda Tree. I started this cleanse hoping to shed some bad habits, to feel better in my body and stop my sugar habit. I have an awful sweet tooth, and since I sit not 7 metres from a vending machine, I'm expecting a new set of fillings soon. Thankfully this cleanse is like an intervention.

  • Strange.. When I picked Tiny up from preschool she was still eating her lunch. Sitting by herself at 2:30pm still munching away. She'd had a weird day, both the smalls didn't wake until 8:30am - so we were on the hop from the moment they got up. Poor little wee ones.

  • Tonight I asked Tiny to hurry up and eat her apple so she could go to bed. She looked at me and said "It's not an eyeball mum, it's an apple."

  • Tiny also shocked me to the core this morning when she walked into my room, exclaimed "I don't care," which was promptly followed by "F*** man," and then smiled at me.

Big oops.

How was your day?


really random image via Find Enclosed One Batmans

11 comments:

Liesl said...

I'm in the same boat with the reading - Argy bought home "A Book about S". Really cute! The only thing I know is that you get into all kinds of trouble if you call it a reader (apparently that's the person!)

Cindy said...

Did I ever tell you the story of driving down the street with Caleb when he was about 3 and Glen honked the horn to wave at a firend and Caleb piped up "For f$%@% sake, get out of the way" - Dad busted big time!
I think there are no reader rules, hlep if they want you too, don't if they don't and make it seem like fun and an acomplishment. Caleb reading still freaks the crap out of me

74 Lime Lane said...

We get a sheet with helpful tips and hints about "helping" or not a child with reading. Can scan and send a copy if you like?

Allison said...

Didn't the school advise you what to do with take home books?

Trying to remember (but my littlest is in grade 6 so if you smell smoke -- that's just my brain in overdrive) but I know our school sent home a tips and advice sheet on what to do.

PS, did those lego games arrive and did they work?

willywagtail said...

Never criticise, only praise. However, the best thing you can do about reading is to speak to the doctor's teacher to find out what the current theory on reading is so you don't confuse your poor son. Cherrie

Anonymous said...

Readers! Oh now that is grown up. I love outta the mouths of babes moments. Love them. xx

Sarah said...

I used to get my boys to 'read' the pictures and guess the story - to ease the pressure to 'read' words ... It was lots of fun and some stories we made really wacky!

Megan said...

First home reading book, how exciting!! As an early childhood teacher my tips to parents are (depending on where your child is at with their reading)
- make it fun, don't force it. If he's not into it, maybe you read a page and then he reads a page.
- if he gets to a word he doesn't know encourage him to have a guess by looking at the picture and thinking about the words before it.
- If he knows this trick already and is not reading the words but the pictures use post it notes to cover the pics and make it a lift the flap book, read words first and then lift the flap to see if he got it right (this only works for certain books, for example repetitive ones that say something like "I saw a cat. I saw a dog")
- Encourage sounding out but to begin with only sound out two or three letter words that are sound out-able. Words like the, is, want, come are not easily sound outable, they are called 'sight words'. When sounding out words, if he is having trouble you sound it out for him. Say each sound then pause, drawing them out. Say it again a bit quicker and then a bit quicker, then say the first sound and join the last two sounds together (eg. c...a...t, c..a..t, c.a.t, c.at) He may only be able to hear the word when you say 'c.at' to begin with but gradually he will start to get better until he can hear 'c...a...t'. You modelling the sounding out also teaches him how to do it for himself.
- The book shouldn't take any longer than 5-10 mins to read, if it takes more it is too hard.
- If there are too many words he doesn't know ask the teacher for an easier one (a sense of success goes a long way when it comes to learning to read)
- If you get the same book again, that's okay - good practise in fluency and comprehension. Try asking some questions about the book afterwards. "Who had the ball?" "What is the dog doing?" Google 'Blank Level Questions' for some tips.

Hope that helps and wasn't too much info! I'm surprised your teacher didn't send home some tips with the book, I'm sure if you asked she would have something handy (although I'm sure you're already doing a great job, simply because you have listened to him read - so many students come back to school every day without having read their book, very disheartening as a teacher when this happens!)

If you have any particular questions feel free to ask!

The Whity Wife said...

As a teacher I thought I would provide some tips on the reading- however, Megan beat me too it! Those are great tips!!!

Hope this is the beginning of an extremely fun journey for you both!!!

Anonymous said...

A few years ago there was a segment on Catalyst about reading with your kids... apparently... reading body language and facial expressions in the illustrations are a really good idea.. so '0h she looks sad' and explain why you think that... her eyes are down and her shoulders are slumped... for example.

Here is the link: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1320498.htm

Kt said...

Really great tips although I would be very reluctant to cover the pictures. For many kids that is essentially where they draw their meaning at the very early stages of reading. Particularly as those magenta books have no story to help them anticipate what is coming next...they need the picture for dog, cat, mum, bananas etc. I would instead get the Doctor to point to each word as he reads so that you teach the importance of 1:1 (while making sure he is also looking at the words without making an issue out of it) and then go back at the end and ask him to find specific words, or the word that begins with, the word that sounds like... etc.

Above all it should be easy and fun. Mainly your job at home is to help the Dr get his "storytelling voice" up to scratch, develop his confidence and have fun along the way.