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Education resources for parents and teachers
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[…] Teach your preschooler to read – yes, you can! […]
[…] Mom is one of my favorite learning website, today she shared a reading curriculum. From her article, I learned a couple new ideas in teaching alphabets, such as sorting the pictures […]
[…] that pleases that in the event that you are absolutely not pleased with all the current effects of reading in kindergarten following 60 days of using the program, you can request your cash as well as you will receive it […]
[…] of his letter sounds, use these as a review before moving on to a beginning reading curriculum (this is our favorite free program for preschool and […]
[…] been using Reading the Alphabet (a preschool reading curriculum), a lot of my phonics printables, and my new sight word […]
[…] choose activities from Reading the Alphabet, add my own, and spend most of our time on simple sight word books – like the ones […]
[…] we used some simple printables from the beginning reading curriculum, Reading the Alphabet. He loves doing the mazes with a Do-a-Dot […]
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Natalie
I agree this is an awesome price, and in general I admire This Reading Mama a lot! I wish I knew about her curriculum 3 years ago when I taught my daughter to read starting before she was even 3. I used http://progressivephonics.com/. It’s also free, and comes with the same hassle of downloading and printing all the material. It was totally worth it though as Ms Smarty Pants was reading fluently at 3.5. So, yes, I am very much with you – you CAN teach your preschooler to read.
Anna Geiger
Thanks for sharing progressive phonics with me, Natalie – I printed some of those shared readers – where mom and child each read some of the text. I’m sure I’ll be back for more!
Rebecca
Hi Natalie
Can i ask you a question? I’m a teacher (certified k-grade6) and i’ve been hired to educate a 3 year old. I thought it would be a similar process but I’m finding it extremely challenging to come up with lesson/day plans to work with him. I don’t want to force him to sit down and do literacy & math activities but thats what i’ve been hired to do. How did you get your daughter reading when the other option is play? I don’t know what is appropriate for a 3 year old
Thanks
Anna Geiger
Hi Rebecca!
Natalie may not have seen your question, so I’m going to send a reply, and she can chime in if she sees this note. You asked how to teach a 3 year old to read when the other option is play. Of course every child is different, and for some young children sitting down and learning to read/do table work is FUN and what they enjoy. Other (most) children are not interested in much work at the table, at only 3 years old.
My tip is to incorporate learning into play instead of trying to get him to sit at the table. If you are teaching letter sounds, for example, make a game out of it. Write them on the driveway and have him jump to them. Write the letters on paper plates, tape them to the wall, and have him throw a ball on the letter you call, etc. If he is learning to read, put the letters on connecting blocks and show him how when you connect the blocks you can make a word. You can easily take math outdoors in a variety of ways, and there are many ways to make math activities fun without using worksheets.
You will probably need to move toward more focused learning at the table eventually, but I would go easy on it.
These may have been things you already thought of. If you have specific skills you want to work on, I might be able to give you some ideas or direction. My Pinterest boards have lots of playful ideas for preschool learning, especially Alphabet Activities and Preschool Math. You can see all my boards here: http://www.pinterest.com/themeasuredmom/
Robyn Y
Great encouragement – I’m teaching my 3 year old how to read right now and this would be a Super big help!
Anna Geiger
It’s lots of fun, Robyn – I hope you get a chance to use it!
Krissy of B-Inspired Mama
I just got this to start with Priscilla. Can’t wait!
Anna Geiger
How exciting! Have fun with it, Krissy!
Heather
I’m the owner/director/teacher of a small preschool and in researching a new readng program for this year I stumbled on this program. I’m excited to give it a try this year. We had been using “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”, but I found it a little dry and repetitive. I like the variety of activities and can see how I can easily adapt it to fit the classroom environment.
Anna Geiger
Hello, Heather! I am not familiar with 100 Easy Lessons, but I have heard that it isn’t very exciting. I hope you find that Reading the Alphabet is versatile and fun for your group!
Heather
I got the first four lessons printed out and am starting to prep them. I’m so excited to present this to my students!
Anna Geiger
Fantastic! I hope you have a great time with it!
nan
Happy Birthday, Anna! Love the ultrasound pictures and love the blog!!! You are a
born teacher and no matter how many children the Lord blesses you with, you’ll always find time and energy to share your educational thoughts and ideas!!!
Anna Geiger
Thank you so much, Nan! It’s definitely fun and a great way to resurrect the old teaching brain. Also nice to find out I still have one :).
iGameMom
looks like a wonderful set of curriculum. I am featuring this on igamemom.com http://wp.me/p2t50R-28N thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library.
Anna Geiger
Thank you so much for the feature!
Monica
Featuring at Family Fun Friday!
http://happyandblessedhome.com/category/family-fun/
Monica
Anna Geiger
Thank you so much for the feature, Monica!
Monica
Ana,
Is there an affiliate program set up for this? Like if I wanted to feature a button on my blog? Have you trued eJunkie?
Monica
Anna Geiger
Hi Monica, I am actually an affiliate for this curriculum through eJunkie. This Reading Mama asked me personally if I would be an affiliate. I am not sure if she is seeking other affiliates, but you can certainly contact her directly via her blog.
MomAtWork
Thanks alot for your blog!! Pre-school children indeed can learn to read, especially when the reading activities are mixed with fun things like songs, puzzles, games etc. I did use Hooked on Phonics – It isn’t free but there is a 30 days free trial to get a good assessment done.
Anna Geiger
Thanks for commenting! Personally I’m not big on packaged phonics programs for my own children, but I do know that they work really well for some kids. I think as long as we make it age appropriate, hands-on, and fun, our kids can be successful.
Anna Geiger
You’re welcome, Kelly – thank you for checking it out!
Marie C.
Thanks for the resources Anna… looks like some good prices. In my opinion one must choose the best reading program for your child. It’s not a one size fits all in the learning arena. Also, I believe that parent participation is key in whatever learn to read method that is used. It looks like you defiantly advocate involved parenting… good for you!
Marie C.
http://www.ChildrenLearnReading.com
Anna Geiger
The challenge of course is in schools, where many teachers are not given the freedom to adjust what they teach based on the needs of each child. For this reason, I strongly dislike scripted curricula – which don’t take into account the needs of individuals. Thanks for weighing in, Marie!
Dani Rren
The printable sure look good! I like to do printouts for my kids who then use them to learn how to read as I find it as an exciting way of schooling them on basic reading. Thanks for the wonderful information contained here.
Regards
Dani Rren
Anna Geiger
Thanks for reading, Dani!
Tonya McIlvaine
Ok, so I was a middle school math teacher for over 15 years and thought: how hard can it be to teach reading to my preschooler. Well, I just attempted to start with what I thought was a great lesson only to frustrate both my daughter and me! We have subscribed to ABCmouse.com for a year and she really loves doing it. I dont see how it is going to teach her to read, but she is only at level 1 lesson 11. I want her to do a half day kindergarten in the fall but have been warned that she will not learn to read unless she is in a full day program. She will be in school all day for the next 15 years or so and forgive me for wanting to give her one more year of just being a kid! That said, I feel some obligation to supplement her learning in school with some learning at home. We have been doing basic things 3 days a week which she loves -art work connected to the letter of the week at preschool, letter recognition, letter sounds, etc and she has mastered all of that. I need to move to the next level and dont want to spend a fortune on several different programs….. My mother in law – along time 2nd grade teacher – is an advocate of phonics which is how I learned to read, and it worked obviously, but while I can teach your kid Algebra, I feel incompetent teaching her how to read! Help!!
Anna Geiger
Hi, Tonya! I’m right there with you on preferring half day kindergarten. I choose that for my kids too, even though with my daughter I was only one of 3 parents (out of 31 students) who did. It sounds like you’ve done a GREAT job on pre-reading skills with your daughter. I am going to post something next week about what kids need to know BEFORE sounding out. That might clear up a few things for you… but I’d like to know more about what you’ve tried. Did you try a lesson of Reading the Alphabet? What specifically was the trouble? You’re welcome to email me instead of carry this on through the comment thread. 🙂 themeasuredmom@gmail.com
shaya
Dear Anna, thank you so much for always sharing amazing works with us, you can’t believe if I tell you I spend much time reading your notes and ideas every day, today I was reading it and suddenly found out that I am on net for about 4 hours, wow your job is amazing, I really love teaching and great ideas and fun which you show us make reading very interesting, God bless you and your family, I wish all your dreams come true, amen. My lil kids will pray for you because you make them happy I will tell them about you all the time.
As you know I am a new teacher from Iran with no experience and love teaching kids so much, I have 3 ESL kids, they are 5-8 years old, after only 5 months now they know their ABC’s. they know the letter and the sounds I am so proud of them, they learn very fast and also learn the vocabulary very fast, when I show them letter “Aa” they loudly say ‘a, a, a is for apple, alligator, ambulance, ant’ wow and the same for the other letters. But now we have a 2 weeks holiday and in about a week will start new course, but do not know what I should teach them, we do two ESL for kids curriculums but its more about talking and listening and learning new vocabularies but I want to teach them phonics and also their parents want. Now they know their alphabet what would be the next step. I have made a phonic book with this order for them,
s,a,t,p,i,n,m,d,g,o,c,k,e,u,r,h,b,f,l,j,v,w,x,y,z,qu,ch,sh,th,ng,ai,ee
when they reach letter “n” they can make and read lots of words, like ” sit, sat, pin, pan, ant, is, it, nap, tap” but I told you I am new with no experience and I myself made this phonic book for them, it maybe has lots of errors, but now when I see your pages it was so fun and amazing, but the order is not the same, what should I do, would you please advise me, I have one week to start the next course so I can change my workbook please please show me the best way. God bless you lovely teacher.
Shaya
Anna Geiger
Hello, Shaya! As always you have great questions. Thank you for your patience when it takes me a while to get back to you! I think you have already started your next course, so I’m sorry it took me a while. I know you left some other comments, so I will review all of them and send you an email.
Julia Sischo
WHY??? There are more important skills for a preschooler. Play for example!!
Anna Geiger
You will not see me disagreeing with you on the importance of play. In fact, teaching my preschoolers to read has taken (at most) 30-60 minutes a week. Some of my children have had more interest in it, and we do it a few days a week. One of my sons resisted, so we took quite a few months off while he enjoyed his Legos, until he wanted to give it another go. Most days we just enjoy reading books together, and they have a lot of independent play with their siblings. LOTS of it. I absolutely do not believe in forcing children who are uninterested to be early readers, but when they enjoy it – and it’s done in a developmentally appropriate way – it’s fabulous. They LOVE being able to read, and they enjoy school because it’s not a struggle. It’s also a wonderful thing for a parent to have the joy of teaching his or her child to read, and it’s a wonderful sharing experience for both of them.
Roopa R
So agree with you on this. WHen the child shows interest, what’s the harm? Plus having them ready and open to a whole new world of books and when their play can be supplemented with what they read in books and they combine that with their imagination …you don’t know whats going to come out of their minds and mouths !!
Patti
Thank you Julia!
Allyson
This was such an informative article- thanks for sharing! I am a high school teacher but started a community reading group for kids a couple of months ago. There are a couple of 3 year olds. It is very different but I agree 100% with the comments about creating a fun activity and then embedding the learning into it. Thanks again!
Anna G
Thanks for reading, Allyson!
shipra
(link removed)
Anna G
Please stop spamming my comment section with your links. Thank you.