Printable Books for Emergent Readers Review and Giveaway

Do you have an emergent reader in your home? If so you may notice how difficult it can be to find books on their reading level! It seems the easy readers (even the level 1) at the library (at least our library) are all too advanced for very early readers! Seems silly when reading books (not just words on a page) gives kids a sense of accomplishment and helps early readers gain that much needed confidence! 

Jackie over at Ready-Set-Read, a reading specialist turned stay-at-home mom, created several Printable Books for Emergent Readers just to help those beginning readers! I received a copy of her books in exchange for my honest review, and we have a great giveaway too!

Jackie offers a variety of books for different levels of beginning reader. Each group of books contains 4-6 books, and you can read about each set in more detail in the links below. The 5 groups of emergent readers she currently offers are:

Nursery Rhymes
Dolch Sight Words Pre-Primer 1
Dolch Sight Words Pre-Primer 2
Christmas Books
Fall Holiday Books


Her readers are created with pictures that aid the text and a single sentence per page for beginner readers. There is repetition in them too which helps them remember the words they just read! For more information about the books head over Ready-Set-Read!

When you print them each book is a half page, so you get two books out of each page! This was perfect for us since I have 2 beginning readers! Most of the books are in black and white, so your child can color the picture which gives them more ownership of the book (at least in my mind it does). The few readers that are in color focus on finding specific colored objects.

My girls were super excited to see the little books. It had been a while since I had printed out any little readers for them, and they immediately grabbed them and started reading! The books I printed were actually a little too easy for Bria who is mid-1st grade level, but they were perfect for Nadia!Nadia read one and then declared, "I read this book all by myself!"  Honestly, Bria lacks confidence in her reading, so even though they were easy for her they were also good for building confidence.

These are great little books for early readers and can be used at home or in a classroom setting. They help improve reading skills while building that confidence kids need to read well! To purchase any of Jackie's great little readers head over to Teachers Pay Teachers!

Jackie is also generously giving away a set of ALL 5 GROUPS OF READERS to one lucky winner! Enter below! 

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Sight Word Treasure Hunt

Last year for Talk Like a Pirate Day, the kids got all dressed up like pirates and followed a map of our yard (while practicing gross motor skills) to find treasure. This year the girls informed me that dressing and talking like a pirate was scary. Ooooook....so I found a new take on the treasure hunt for them, a Sight Word Treasure Hunt. 

I started with yellow baked cotton balls with sight words written on them (yes I saved these from our Turkey Feeding last year). I placed a winding trail of them them throughout the yard leading to pirate treasure!

When I brought the girls out I told them some pirates had been there and left behind a trail of gold that may lead them to pirate treasure. 

They would have to follow the trail to find the pirate treasure, but in order to move on they would first have to read the word on the gold piece.

They had to be quick to keep Eli from grabbing them all before the trail was gone!  He was so sad when  he found one, and I wouldn't let him grab it! Bria had to help with a few of the words, but between them both they made it to the treasure!

They were all pretty excited to get some of those little gold and silver treasure chests! 

They all enjoyed sampling the pirate booty, and Talk Like a Pirate Day continued without the "scary" pirate garb!

Starting Sound Snapping

Excessive numbers of fireworks, yeah we have them! Every year we buy fireworks after the fourth (they are cheaper then, and we watch professional displays on Independence Day), and it seems we always have extras that get stored and found again the next year.  This year we found bunches of those little snappers that you throw on the ground, plus we bought more! So now I came up with a fun little reading game for the girls to play. They got to practice hearing the beginning sounds of words while playing with snappers.

I specifically chose words that started with c, ch, s, and sh. The girls needed more practice hearing the difference in sound especially with ch and sh.

I drew the letters on the sidewalk, and when I called out a word, they threw a snapper on the sound it started with.

This was really good practice distinguishing the four sounds particularly the ch and sh sounds. Even Nadia caught on pretty quickly! Besides they always love anything that uses fireworks!

Have you used fireworks to teach anything?

Reading the Easy Way 1st Grade

123 Homeschool 4 Me has created a series of sight word reading programs for preschool, kindergarten, and 1st Grade. Each Reading the Easy Way program includes everything you need including lesson plans, printable worksheets, readers, and fun games!

We were specifically given the opportunity to review the 1st grade program (and provided the program free of charge in exchange for an honest review).  

The 1st grade program includes:

8 Week Lesson Plan 
Roll & Read Game / Flashcards 
Trace! Read! Stamp! 
Sight Word Coloring 
Word Search 
Trade’m Cars Game
Chugga Chugga Sentences Game

Dino Feet 
Safari Train Words Game 
Sight Word Bingo Game
8 Readers 

I have to be honest and say we didn't try out everything that was included.  I tried to pick and choose the pieces I thought would appeal to Bria the most. We started with the worksheets. She really enjoyed the stamping, but her favorite by far was the color by sight word! 

The readers seemed to be a good level for her. Easy enough that she wasn't overwhelmed, but still a little challenging. She enjoyed reading them to Grandma more then to me.

We did try a couple of the games. We started with the Chugga Chugga Sentences. I thought this would be a great way to practice making sentences and writing them with spaces between the words and punctuation.  And it is. The problem she had was that she kept drawing words that didn't commonly go together in sentences. By the time we got to the third car she was a little frustrated. Part of it was because I only put words in the baggie she could already read, so there wasn't as much selection. It is certainly a fun concept that we will revisit once we have learned some more words.

She loved the Bingo! She enjoys playing Bingo and is familiar with it because we have also used it for phonics. She was really excited when I let her use a package of Gummy Lifesavers I had in the kitchen.  Too bad she had to share them! 

This is a fun and simple way to teach sight words quickly; the whole program only takes 8 weeks! With everything included the program can be used for all types of learners, including those fidgety kinesthetic learners! The programs do build on each other, so in order to successfully read the readers your child will need to complete Reading the Easy Way Preschool and Kindergarten, be in 1st grade, or at a 1st Grade Reading Level.  This is NOT a complete reading program as it does not include phonics. It can only be used to supplement a reading program or used during vacation to prevent a loss of skills. It CAN be used by kids attending public, private, or homeschool to supplement their learning!

***For more information or to purchase Reading the Easy Way please visit 123 Homeschool 4 Me!

Beth, the creator of Reading the Easy Way and author of 123 Homeschool 4 Me has generously offered to let me give one lucky reader a copy of Ready the Easy Way 1st Grade!

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Big Books for Little Kids (Answering the Why and When)

When my oldest was 4 years old, I started reading the girls Big Books. What I mean by Big Books is longer chapter books. I know this is normal for many parents to do, but it is not something I was used to. I was only read chapter books at school. Well, we are homeschooling, so guess what, we read chapter books aloud at home. Makes sense. But even if you aren't homeschooling, I would like to encourage you to read chapter books aloud to younger children. No they don't understand all of it. No they don't have the attention span to sit through as much as you may want to read (especially if you enjoy reading). So why would you want to go to the trouble of reading Big Books aloud? Here are my reasons:

1. Big Books introduce new VOCABULARY to little ones. It always amazes me how much of a story kids will listen to when they don't know all the words. They still understand what is going on too; just ask them! My girls frequently will ask what a specific word is while reading, and even if they choose not to ask at the time, they have been introduced to it. They have now heard the word, and heard it used in proper context. Next time they hear it, it will not be completely foreign to them.

2. Big Books also increase exposure to new and different SITUATIONS. The first big book we read was The Tale of Despereaux (guess I was a bit over zealous with a 3 and 4 year old). We encountered prison, neglectful, abusive parents, and parental death; as well as forgiveness. We encountered a lot of complex situations that they have not dealt with in a safe home environment where we could discuss anything that needs to be discussed.

3. Big Books help build RELATIONSHIPS.  If you are spending so much of your time with your child reading and discussing important aspects of the book, you can't help but build the relationship you have with your child. All that discussion can help instill values and good character traits in them too.

4. Big Books help improve your child's ATTENTION SPAN.  Maybe at first your child won't sit for a long period of time, but if you find a book that interests them they will start. I know when we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we got through half the book in the first sitting because the girls were that interested. The more you do it the longer they will pay attention. Not sure they are paying attention? Ask them what is happening or to draw you a picture of what they remember.

5. Big Books help improve your child's IMAGINATION.  Unlike television, movies, or even picture books that show kids exactly what things look like, big books make them imagine it.  Few pictures and usually black and white pictures mean they have to see the picture in their mind. .They have to imagine the scene the author is describing, the sounds, the smells, the colors.

Now you are thinking, I can see the benefits of reading Big Books to my kids, but how in the world will I find the time. This can be hard even if you are home with the kids all day long! Here are the times we have found will work. Obviously we do not do these everyday, but we usually pick one and use it even if it is just to get through a chapter.

1. Obvious one first, BEDTIME!  Many of you are probably already reading before bed. Just read a chapter of a big book instead of a picture book. Easy!

2.  If your children are still young enough that you give them a BATH take advantage of the time to read them a big book.  They can't go anywhere, but they don't have to sit still and listen either. They can listen and splash around at the same time!  Older kids may even enjoy audio books if they are taking a bath.

3. Speaking of audio books, listen in the CAR! Everyone can enjoy big books in the car. Many libraries have audio books that you can check out or here is a great site where you can find free audio books.

4. Are your kids slow eaters? Mine are! If you finish your food first you can read to them at MEALTIME! Why not use the extra time and keep them amused (and not playing with their food).

5. This is actually our favorite because it makes something my girls don't enjoy much more enjoyable, read while they CLEAN.  So they pick up their toys while I read to them. This is actually helpful for my oldest as she is quite fidgety anyhow. She still won't sit for books (at almost 6); she wiggles and squirms and stands and wiggles some more. Cleaning gives her something to do while listening.

So now you know why and when to read Big Books; head to the library and get some!

Here are some great books lists to check out too:

Books for Young Readers

Great Chapter Books for Early Elementary

Top Ten Chapter Books to Read in 2013

67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age Ten

215 Read-Alouds for Elementary Aged Children


**Disclaimer: I have not read all the books on all these lists. Please make sure you review any unfamiliar books before reading them to your children! **

Sidewalk Rhyming Practice

What I hope was our last snow of the year is almost gone, and we purchased new sidewalk chalk after using all of ours painting our trees. Naturally the girls wanted to use it right away! Isn't that what you are supposed to do with new art supplies? Which was fine because they sure weren't do well sitting for schoolwork!

So while they were opening and trying all the new colors (we found a box with 48 colors), I had an idea to practice some reading with them.  I took some different colors and wrote some rhyming words with endings we had been working on on the sidewalk. I started with -ay and -ow and ended up adding -ie and -oy.  I used 4 words with each ending spaced randomly.

Then I had the girls read me the first word and jump to the next rhyming word until they reached the end. Then they went to the beginning and chose a new ending to jump through.

 

I was amazed at how willing Bria was to do this. She thought it was great fun and made most of the jumps easily. I don't even know how many times she jumped through them all.

Nadia went through them once, but then she went off to build a snowman with the leftover snow.

If you couldn't tell it is a snowman toasting a marshmallow over a bonfire. Bria added the marshmallow and bonfire; Nadia made a point in saying it was a pretend fire so the snowman wouldn't melt from it.

Even without the snowman the girls, Bria especially, had a good time practicing reading without even realizing it! We will definitely have to try it again with different words!