Teaching Reading

My goal for Aaliyah was to teach her the basics of reading before DeSean was born. With a little bit of encouragement (thanks Maria!) we succeeded!  We played matching games and "Go Fish!" with alphabet flashcards to teach letter recognition and phonics. I am currently using Hooked on Phonics -  primarily because I found a set at an unbeatable price (FREE!).  It was missing most of the extras like flashcards, cassette tapes/cd's, and some of the additional readers; but our local library has a set that I borrow when I need them. We are currently going through the second book for the second time. (The second time through we read only the review pages -timed, stories, and play the word games.)

I made my own flashcards; but Aaliyah was still having a little trouble with spelling so I "upgraded" them in color.

I have two sets-   one set of everything in black and one set color coded.  All the vowels are red - every word must have a vowel - so she knows that if there are no red letters in her word then she has misspelled it.
All beginning blends are in blue and ending blends in green.  Some vowel dipthongs (gliding vowels)  are also in red.

Yes, our little man is walking around the house...

and trying to help his sister get it right!

Notice Cassidy in the background listening.  I am always amazed by how much she picks up!

 

We still sometimes have trouble with distinguishing "d" from "b", but overall...I think she is doing pretty well.

P.S.  Aaliyah will be turning 5 years old this month and Cassidy will be turning 3.  I am excited about their birthdays and I haven't even spilled the beans about their gifts....yet.  (I am horrible at keeping secrets!)

Maybe these ideas will be a blessing to someone.
Until next time,