DIY audio CDs

[Chenonceau]

You can VERY easily record audio with ANY personal computer. Press the Start button on your PC or laptop. Go to All Programs\Accessories\Sound Recorder. Plug in a microphone (costs about $10)… press the Start Recording button and when you are done recording, press stop and save your file in a folder.


The audio file thus recorded, plays on Windows Media Player that comes loaded as standard software in any PC. Just double click on the file from Windows Explorer and it’ll play. You can put the file on any iPOD like thing… When he wants to, my DS carries his audio files in a little cube audio player that I bought from 7 Eleven.

You should not have to buy any big deal software or hardware to record. Most PCs have in-built microphones too. I like to use a plug-in for better control and to screen out extraneous voices (people’s footsteps… others talking) that always happens when we are recording.

If this is not clear enough, let me know. I’ll do a post on my personal blog with step by step screen shot uploads.

[buds]

prata_queen:

Buds, my gal recently listened to a Scholastic series of 26 books, A to Z. While she was excited to sit down and flip the pages whenever there was the ‘PING’ sound, she wasn’t able to follow and point to each word. She is coming to 4yo.

My children were very very young when we started reading stories aloud. For the part on pointing to words during reading, it was normal practice in our case. They did not have to know what the words are. I guided the pointing-process at that stage. (guided pointing) For DD2, that was how she \"picked\" up words! Yes, literally memorizing words by reading & pointing to them at the same time. Be it with Peter and Jane books.. or their favourite story books.. For DD1, she picked up the sounds in words. She'd be sensitive to beginning sounds first as i read slowly and emphasizing on initial sounds. Later on the ending sounds and when she was more advanced with phonetic rules and sound combinations, she figured out the rest. That's how different both of them are. Both were early readers as young as 3.5 to 4 years old... reading simple books on their own. Even if they were a few words per page kinda reading or simple sentence a page reading.

When independent reading gradually improves, reduce pointing for better reading flow & fluency. They will then slowly grow into the silent reading stage for personal enjoyment & fulfilment.

prata_queen:

I think there are some crucial factors to enable the child to follow the CD independently:-

-\tSufficient familiar words that the child recognizes by sight so the child doesn’t get totally lost.
-\tAge-appropriate.
-\tStory must have a storyline and be interesting.

Attractive illustrations are a must for children this young. They begin to like a book via the pictures first. We look thoroughly at the pictures and encourage description for every character.. the character's costume, hairstyle, looks.. the scenery in the picture.. Pictures tell a thousand words they say.

Words should preferably not be too small and spaced nicely for effective pointing-of-words routine. Guided reading is mainly encouraging sight word recognition for most children. Hence i mentioned it isn't really necessary for a child to know familiar words prior to beginning reading. Children require guidance at this stage for sure. For my DD1's case, who was more sensitive to sounds... it's an exception.

prata_queen:

The Scholastic series aimed to introduce as many words beginning with each alphabet, per book but I find that there is hardly any storyline and was boring. Also, there were many words that my girl did not know. I think it is not age appropriate for her.

Mebbe it wasn't so much not age-appropriate. Perhaps it was more to the fact that there was no storyline since the series you used aimed at encouraging more vocab instead of a story... hence not offering much of an interest to her at that moment.

prata_queen:

Thus I think the best way is for me to select her favorite books and DIY our own audio CD. She probably already knows the stories by heart and will be able to follow the words as the CD plays along.

In our case, we grew up reading Ladybird story books from simple ones to more challenging ones and some of the simple ones came with the audio CDs. For story books you already own, guess it would then be a great idea to DIY since she is more familiar with them already; hence being able to relate to the stories better... which may result in capturing her interest to read independently.

Agree with Chenonceau that there is no need for expensive equipment at all.

[prata_queen]

Chen, thanks so much! I can picture it mentally. Let me go and try it out.


Buds, my gal is a fast learner but when it comes to independent reading with her, we just can’t seem to ‘achieve’ it. We used to read every night, but ever since #2 was born, we hardly read. So she seems to have stagnated for a year.

[Chenonceau]

Emmmm… I dunno if they’re still around but my kids had fun with computer books like the Little Samurai and Baba Yaga and the Magic Geese. I sat them in front of PC and they loved the stories. You get read to and you get to click on stuff and make them move…


That was years ago though.

[buds]

Baba Yaga from the USBORNE series arh Chenonceau?


prata_queen... my girls also love these online reading books.
> http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/other.asp
Not only that! These stories come with follow-up games and activities.
You may try it out and see if your girl likes them. :hugs: Take it easy and
work at her pace... no worries.. with such an involved parent like yourself
i am very sure she'd be reading independently in no time at all.

[prata_queen]

thanks for generously sharing this online resource

[buds]

It's a hit with my children. You are welcome. Hope she likes it.

[Chenonceau]

Mine was this Baba Yaga...

http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/jndav8.htm

The Little Samurai is this one...
http://www.robobargains.com/p-5762.html