Fun Materials, Books & Games For Phonics!

[buds]

Pink Picture Boxes are used to follow up the concrete activity with the

Pink Object Boxes. Just to recap from where i last left off... Pink is the
colour scheme used in Montessori lessons to depict the 3-letter phonetic
words stage. In this stage children are learning to blend indvidual letter
sounds to form words and are also introduced to simple letter
combinations with ending sounds like...

>an >at >ed
>eg >ip >ig
>ot... etc...

From here, children can move on to the individual word family reading.
Children will also be exposed to reading short phonetic sentences with
inclusion of simple sight words. Learning Phonics without any reading
exercises cannot 100% help with reading fluency. A good reading pgrm
will offer age-appropriate literature for children to reinforce the sounds
or words that they have learnt.

As with all other Montessori materials, the picture boxes are no different.
Yes, they too are self-correctional. It is really not too time consuming to
make your own. And you can even recycle. Fish out those old magazines
for pictures to paste on the cards... or cut out from old assessment books.
For this example, i just took these pictures from my PC's clipart for quick
home usage. Printed them on light pink paper and had them all laminated
and cut out in identical sizes in uniformity. Sizing, i dun impose hard and
fuss rule especially if it is for personal use cause smaller cards mean less
ink and paper is used.. As long it fits in your box nicely, it is fine
by me.

For drained out momma's and ehem.. cough.. cough.. lazy mommas...
it is okay if you can or only have time to write the words on paper with
a marker too. Better than no effort at all. Hehee..

Now once the cards are done... ask child to unroll work mat and begin
arranging the picture cards one at a time, from left to right. Remember,
left to right is the natural eye-sweeping glance for reading text and the
same fashion for writing too.


http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1yTcai


Next, ask the child to read the matching word cards one at a time...
Try not to rush them while they spend some time blending the individual
letter sounds. They can ask for help should they need.. try not to
immediately offer the answer (sounds) when they seem to struggle.
Allow for the child to TRY. You may prompt the child though... like,
\"Do you need help with that?\" instead of saying, \"That card says cat.
Now match the card under the cat picture.\" :roll:


http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1yPrcJ


The usual way this lesson is done is by finding the words to match the
pictures from the left first naturally... however, for me... i do allow if
the child reads the word cards at random and matches them, but i will
request the child read all the words from the left most card, when the
child finishes the matching activity.


http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1yRCoA


As it is self-correctional, in this instance... the control of error is >when the
last word card does not match the picture card. It is also important to
conclude the lesson. For closure.. and encouragement.

For the child who has no trouble with the box, the lesson can be ended
by concluding, \"We have worked with Picture Box 1 today, tomorrow we
will work on Box 2! \"

For a child who may not be proficient yet, lesson can be ended this way...
\"We have worked with Box 1. I will leave this box on the shelf. You can
work with it again anytime. Would you help put this box on the shelf
so you will know where to find it when you want to work with it again...
thanks for your help.\"

Happy trying!
:celebrate:

*Need to backtrack? Click this link http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1927&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15.

[buds]

With all things taught concretely, there's always the absract part of it..

And also the written part of it to reinforce lessons learnt. This booklet
can be printed as add-ons to your current Phonics Readers or it CAN
be your own FREE readers set. Your children can colour in the pictures
and you can also ask them to copy the sentences on a line as penmanship
practice.

Try out this http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Word_Family_Booklet_3.1_-_at.PDF

For all the complete booklets, you can download them FREE @
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html#WordFamilyBooklets

This site also has thematic booklets for you to download and practise
those sight words you want your child to know/learn. Have fun! And
load up those ink cartridges, people!

Cheerios!
:celebrate:

[rocklee]

Hi Buds


I read some of your postings here and I must say that I really admire your creative ways of teaching children. I always believe that learning should be fun and not a chore. Unfortunately, my children find that homework is always a chore. Despite giving them 100% of my free time and effort in helping them with their revisions, the results may not be satisfactory. So I see that doing assessments and worksheets may not be an effective way of learning.

My son always looks forward to group work or discussions in school. He also enjoys making presentations and of course his favourite is the PE lesson. This shows that he prefers more interactive way of learning instead of doing homework all the time. Therefore, it has become the greatest challenge for me to make homework "interesting".

I have tried bringing my children downstairs to a quiet corner whereby we just do some light reading or play some word games. This is to help them to stay focus and get them away from the distractions at home, eg tv, computer games, psp etc. We also tried story telling. Sometimes, before we go to sleep, each of us is suppose to think of a short story to tell. It can be anything imaginary. This is to encourage their creativity and at the same time to speak proper English or Chinese. However, I really run out of ideas at times. We also played games like scrabble and pictionary. My children simply love these activities. I enjoy doing these activities with them too but it requires a lot of effort on my part to keep it going. Hence, it could be very taxing.

I wonder if you have any interesting ideas in teaching children of the lower primary that can relate to what they are learning in school?

Thanks.

[buds]

Heyya rocklee,


I can understand where you are coming from and please allow me
to first tell you that you ARE really doing a lot! One thing why some
children are put off worksheets and assessments is coz they've had
enuf of the paperwork in school... in tuition class... and we still wanna
make them do more paper based assignments when they're back with
us.. Quite poor thing really lah if we think about it. Imagine us all
working our bones off day after day... after day... :roll: ... sigh... no
rest and just never ending work.... yup, no fun in that, yo..

As much as seat work is important, fun activities can inspire learning too.
So does enuf sleep and outdoor time for playground and leisure sports...
these will help too. Growing children need time to unwind to
release the tensions and requirements of school. Or else they tire easily
and may seem unmotivated. There are also children who are just plain
studious and find joy in studying, reading or finding out more information
over the topics done in school, etc.. But at times we do have to be more
creative with our time with children of this generation. The expectations
of now and before is a total contrast.

I know it IS very taxing for you, devoting your entire free time for your
children to ensure they keep up. On my end, i will try to whip up some
creative juices on your request. As for your end, i hope you will find
some \"ME TIME\" for you to de-stress, rest or unwind... away from your
two \"emperors\". It is imperative that you are rested to enjoy
your children better, darling! Take care..

And join us for the auction later if you can.. The adrenaline rush can be
better than physical exercise out running the treadmill @ the gym. Hehee!
But not for the faint hearted tho.. you've been warned. Kekekeke.. :lol:

[buds]

It is also fun to carry out craft activities with young children after they

manage to follow lessons well. Try this http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mbagcat.htm to reinforce the
\"ag\" word family.

Word family worksheets available http://www.kidzone.ws/phonics/worksheets2.htm
and http://www.kidzone.ws/phonics/worksheets1.htm

Did your child understand the story from the booklet you made?
Here's a http://www.dltk-teach.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/cat/b-activity.gif to do to emphasize on story comprehension.

Then print out two of each of these http://www.kidzone.ws/phonics/bphonics1.htm and play word family snap!

These are just some ideas to inspire you to learn thru hands on activities
with your children. Such activities simultaneously provides revision on
Object Box 1 and Picture Box 1, that you have done with them to
introduce some of the 3-letter phonetic words with vowel /a/ in them.

Have fun!

[rocklee]

Thanks buds. Will try more hands on activities with my children during the school holidays. I always emphasize to my children "work hard and play hard". Looks like we can always incorporate "work" into "play" and kill two birds in one stone.


Cheers

[Starling]

Thanks Buds for introducing such useful websites. Was contemplating buying books at Popular just now & am glad I save the $.


Bought a few Phonics range from Scholastic range, ie those with letters starting A, B, etc to Z and the short & long vowels. 3 for $9.90.
will try out with my kids next week before deciding whether to get more…
The whole range wont be cheap …retailing $4.50/book.

I can’t see much improvement from my boy who is having the phonics enrichment from his current childcare, so I guess I’ll have to spend more time.

[buds]

Thanks guys. I posted http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=877&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 here too. Good for kiddies

who do not like to do seat work for a long time. [Kinaesthetic Learners]

[jessn]

Hi!


Thinking of getting some interesting dvd/vcd to teach my kid words. Currently, I have the leapfrog letter factory and talking words.

Heard that there is this dvd called word machine. Do you think this is good or is this a duplicate of the leapfrog?

Any others that you will recommend coz I hve no inkling which is good?

Tks for your help…

[buds]

I've not watched the Leapfrog DVD before but

THE WORD MACHINE is entertaining, catchy,
goofy and not bad at all! My girls enjoy it!
Me too, actually!