The Reading Railroad 023

Potential challenges

• Kindergartners like to practice writing but their spelling is usually incorrect. This is called inventive spelling and is considered to be completely acceptable at the kindergarten level. The important thing is they are trying to communicate through print, and this should be encouraged!
• Children often mix up lowercase letters such as "b," "d," "p," "q." It may help if you ask them to focus on one letter at a time. They can write the letter, say it aloud, and repeat words that start with that letter.

How to support your child’s reading development

• Be a regular at your local library! This is a perfect time to let your child get a library card.
• Make reading a daily occurrence.
• Let your child help in reading and writing activities around the home, such as making a "to do" list or a grocery list.
• Talk to your child during mealtimes and throughout the day. Ask questions that lead him/her to describe and think about his/her experiences.
• Praise and encourage your child’s efforts to speak well, to read, and to write.

Activities

• Play games with specific directions, such as Simon Says.

• Give your child directions involving two or three steps and ask him/her to listen and follow them.
• Play word games with your child. Say a sentence like, "I’m thinking of something in the kitchen that is yellow." Let your child guess all of the yellow items in the room until he/she selects the correct one. Take turns. Continue this game with different instructions, such as "I’m thinking of something in here that starts with the letter "t." These types of games are great for the car.
• Play with parts of a compound word. Ask your child to say a word from the list below. Then ask him/her to say only one portion of the word. For example, you say, "Say cowboy." Your child repeats the word cowboy. Then, you say, "Now say cowboy without boy." After a few moments of thought, your child should say, cow. Here is a list of example compound words for you to use:

  cowboy Say it without boy: cow

  outside Say it without side: out

  outside Say it without out: side

  cupcake Say it without cup: cake

  baseball Say it without base: ball

  jellyfish Say it without jelly: fish

  campground Say it without ground: camp

  rattlesnake Say it without rattle: snake

• Play rhyming games with your child. Give him/her a pair of words and ask if they rhyme, such as run/sun, nose/rose, spoon/moon. Include combinations such as sock/soup, ten/top, mice/mouse. Once these are mastered, see if your child can come up with some rhymes on his/her own.

• Play 20 Questions. Say, "I’m thinking of something. The category is animal." Let your child ask yes/no questions to see if he/she can determine what it is that you’re thinking. (This helps develop questioning skills.)

• Sing favorite songs. Willaby Wallaby Woo and Apples and Bananas are fun, silly songs that help your child practice rhyming and gain valuable understanding of the beginnings of phonics.

• Help your child make up silly songs by fracturing the classics; for example, "Twinkle twinkle little rat, how I wonder where you sat."

Favorite read-to books

• Make Way for the Duckling by Robert McCloskey

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

• Miss Piggle Wiggle series by Betty McDonald

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
  by Judith Viorst

• Frederick by Leo Lionni (see below. Book of the Month)

• George and Martha by James Marshall

• Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

• Babar by Jeane de Brunhoff

• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

II. Poetry Month

April was Poetry month, but it is never too late to read poetry to your child. It is always a great time to explore the world of words with your kids!

Poetry is often a child's first introduction to reading. For some of the best, check out these books:

The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

Mother Goose: The Original Volland Edition edited by Eulalie Osgood Grover, illustrated by Frederick Richardson
(You may want to edit some of the stories as you are reading them. I think they are kind of violent!)

Nibble, Nibble by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard

Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein

III. Site of the Month

Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids
Make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.

IV. Book of the Month for Kids

Frederick
In a gentle and lyrical turn, Lionni's Frederick is the story of a family of mice preparing for winter. One mouse - Frederick - does not gather corn, nuts, and wheat along with the others and instead sits apart explaining that he is gathering sunrays, colors, and words.

Five stars all the way... A must read


Testimonies on Amazon.com
The single most important book of my childhood
Encouraging children's creativity
I give Frederick six stars and one huge heart!
A beautiful story about the power and value of imagination
a must-read for all children
Frederick understands quality of life