Progress Oct 14th

We are moving ahead with our lessons at a slow pace. I know that it is because my kids this year are new to fun family phonics but they are still getting it. We are in the middle of blends right now and that seems to be a lot easier for them than the "clowns". I haven't moved away from the clowns yet but keep reviewing them in different ways each time. When we finished reading "The Fun Family Book" I expected that they would all be able to read the whole book, but that wasn't so. I don't know how others groups have found this, but most of my kids can still only read 3 letter words so words like Teddy, family and even book were too hard for them. I haven't been using the "new word" sheets very much, perhaps I need to find more ways to fit that in. I do have them in the form of a Bingo game but it seems really hard for them. There are a lot of sight words that completely stump them, such as "and, so, the etc. On the plus side, if you compare what they can read now compared to the fist of Sept. they have all improved. The other plus is that they still love coming here, and I still love having them here. I am still amazed everyday that this is my job and I actually get paid to do it. What a blessing.!

Using small puppets to create a story for "blends"

I bought a small finger puppet theatre at a garage sale for $2.00. I have been looking at it for awhile, thinking that I should make use of it. I tried making finger puppets to correspond to each of the letters of the alphabet but it seems like a daunting task and I stopped at about letter g.
I decided to try using it for one of the "stories"
I used foam material and did my best at drawing some of the characters in the story. Dave, frog etc.
It looks like it might add interest to a story,I will give it a try on the kids tomorrow.

Not the greatest activity

I tried having 2 children make words with these stick on letters while 2 others did their drawings. The plan was that they would then change places and read what the other had constructed on the window. It wasn't too successful. I found it took the kids too long to find the letters that they wanted, and they were making words like their own names etc. I decided that it was just a time waster.

Glueing

This is just another way to work on the same story. I photocopied an extra copy of one of the stories and then cut out the words. The children then have to find words and glue them on top of the words on their sheets. Before they glued the words I asked them to sound them out.

Musical Words

This activity is a big hit with everyone. (Perhaps not the teacher) It can get carried away so I use it sparingly. I put flashcards of the words that we are working on around the table. I then start some lively music and the children dance around the table. When the music stops they pick up the word nearest to them and read it out loud. It can quickly turn into a racing game with the older boys so we sometimes shut it down early.

Bringing life to stories

The children that I am working with are not moving ahead as fast as planned. The reason for the slow start is that none of them have done the first level. I wanted to fit in a bit more review before we headed into the blends so I had to come up with more ideas of things to do.
I found some stuffed animals and gave them the names from the story. The children loved it as I named animals to fit into the characters of Pam, Nan and Cat. As I read each line from Story Number 1, I moved the Cat around from sitting on Nan,then the Mat, then finally on Pam. It was a fun way to see the words in print and to help the children grasp the content of the story. This way I hope to be able to work on comprehension as well as reading.

Cube game

The cube that I made out of kraft dinner boxes worked really well. We have now moved on to a different area of the fair and I would like to use the cube throwing game again. I looked for a few weeks in various stores but I could not find a cube with blank sides that you could put in whatever you wanted. I decided that I would have to make one. It took me about 1 hour to make. I bought some heavy clear plastic for $1.00 which I cut to fit around the cube. I then cut slits where I would want the papers to slide in. Sewing machines don't sew plastic very well so I put paper over the seams as I sewed them. After all sides but 3 were sew together I slid the cube inside and glued the last 3 edges shut. It seems to work.