Writing Experiences

Amelia has entered a new stage in her writing . She has started to sound out words and write them phonetically. I first noticed it when she was playing. She was trying to write the name Sarah. As I watched her (without her knowing) she said the word slowly and wrote the letters SRU. 

Want to try a few more???

Gramo

Sale

Butrfli

 (Grandma, Sally, Butterfly)

At this stage she is exploring with sounds and writing them as she hears them. It is really fun to watch her explore this new found skill.

This picture does not really show her writing, but shows the detail she has started to put into her illustrations.

Thanks for letting me share!

Alphabet Activities: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Here is an activity I prepared for Amelia recently to reinforce alphabet sounds...

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

For this activity, I attached a tree print-out found HERE to a medium sized cookie sheet  . I applied it with contact paper. Next, we read the story together and each time we came across the next letter in the alphabet she would find the matching magnetic letter and place it on the cookie sheet. During the second half of the book she took the letters off and placed them back in the basket.

Inside of the book.

Lessons 1-20 Complete!

Amelia finished the first 20 lessons in her reading book and filled her sticker chart! She is very proud of herself. Last night, we went to Borders to pick out a book she could read on her own.  We bought the first set of BOB Books. She should be able to read the first book now and the second book within the next few lessons. She couldn't resist also picking out a princess book with vinyl stickers. This picture shows the "story" she read for lesson 21. The lessons provide practice in reading, comprehension, and word finding (ie. "Find the word this"). The letters and picture cards below show her initial sound sorting cards and the first 10 sounds she is reading with. The only one not included is the th sound as I do not have sandpaper letters or picture cards for the blends and digraphs.

Reading Words

Today we reviewed the two most recent sounds we have been working on. Amelia sorted the objects into two columns. During our reading lesson, (we are on lesson 10 now) she was really getting the hang of reading words. Today she read...

 sat   see   me   am   rat   mat

 She read all these words without our help...and very confidently. I am so proud of her! When we get to lesson 20 and her first reading chart is full of stickers...we will have a reading party and go to Borders to buy her her first book.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a really amazing program. I can't say enough about it.

We also did some writing lessons using a dry erase marker and laminated letter cards.

Sandpaper Letters and Picture Cards

We started a new extension activity for our reading lessons today. Amelia has been tracing the sandpaper letters after each reading lesson for the letters that have been introduced so far. She really enjoys this activity. To give her some added practice, I added picture cards for her to sort. She first says the sound each letter makes as she lays the cards on the table in a row. Next, she sorts the cards by their initial sound. So far we have learned m, a, s, long e, and t.