All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[sphinx]

Tamarind


Thanks.

[lizuan76]

Hi Tamarind,


Can recommend more books for us? You have a lot of interesting story books.

Thanks.

[tamarind]

lizuan76:

Hi Tamarind,


Can recommend more books for us? You have a lot of interesting story books.

Thanks.

Its my pleasure to share more books here

Highly recommend this book : My father's dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet. Available at Kinokuniya bookshop or amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Fathers-Dragon-Ruth-Stiles-Gannett/dp/0440421217/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253075401&sr=8-1


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SqcQAAZ_ykI/AAAAAAAABQs/kNFUXbuqMMI/s400/dragon0.JPG\">

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SqcO2d_f6RI/AAAAAAAABQk/iCd9VeIkn-c/s400/dragon2.JPG\">



The story is suitable for 4 years old and above. The reading level is about the same as Ladybird Peter and Jane Series book 9a. Children who cannot read at this level yet, will still enjoy listening to this story being read to them.

Here is the synopsis from amazon.com :
The story begins when Elmer Elevator (the narrator's father as a boy) runs away with an old alley cat to rescue a flying baby dragon being exploited on a faraway island. With the help of two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, chewing gum, and a fine-toothed comb, Elmer disarms the fiercest of beasts on Wild Island. The quirky, comical adventure ends with a heroic denouement: the freeing of the dragon. Abundant black-and-white lithographs by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author's stepmother) add an evocative, lighthearted mood to an already enchanting story. Author Ruth Stiles Gannett 's stand-alone sequel, Elmer and the Dragon, and her third volume, The Dragons of Blueland both received starred reviews in School Library Journal and are as fresh and original as her first.

I let him read out loud about 3 or 4 pages to me everyday. He loves to read the book, and we have a lot of fun acting out the story everyday. Imagine crocodiles that love to eat lollipops ! A lion combing and braiding his hair with ribbons :

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SqcNgO_OBRI/AAAAAAAABQU/-LniiJxWbYc/s400/dragon1.JPG\">

You can never guess what is going to happen in the next chapter. As an adult, I really enjoy reading this book too.

If we want our kids to love books, we must find books that they will love to read. This book is an excellent choice.

I will post more books soon.

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi Tamarind,


I have been teaching him 2 words for a week and has no result yet. He dislikes to say the words back to me. Most of the time end up with crying or mummy get angry.

I played puzzle, 3 words letters, word search for "a" words. He told me he was tired when see all words. Headache!

He watch Leapfrog Talking Words day time (about 15 min each time, 2-3 times weekly) and learning 4 cards of 2 words at the same time.

Read a lot to him as well.

Would this confuse him?

[tamarind]

Charmaine_chong:

Hi Tamarind,


I have been teaching him 2 words for a week and has no result yet. He dislikes to say the words back to me. Most of the time end up with crying or mummy get angry.

I played puzzle, 3 words letters, word search for \"a\" words. He told me he was tired when see all words. Headache!

He watch Leapfrog Talking Words day time (about 15 min each time, 2-3 times weekly) and learning 4 cards of 2 words at the same time.

Read a lot to him as well.

Would this confuse him?

Charmaine,
You are doing fine. Don't have to worry about confusing him. You are doing the right thing by reading to him. Try to find a variety of books and discover the type of books that he loves.

For my boy, I also have to keep trying until I find the methods of teaching that he likes. For example, I used to write the 3 letter words on the white board, then point to the words and ask him to read. This is what teachers in schools are doing. It did not work for him.

For my word cards, at the beginning I only put a few simple words together, for example, 3 words ending with \"at\" and 3 words ending with \"an\", and see if he can pick up the correct ones. It took many repetitions over many months before he showed any results.

[i3mum]

Hi Tamarind,


I left a message in your blog, probably you have not seen it.

My gal is 4 year 6 months old now, she is reading book 8b, may I know what other story books do you let your children read? Do you start them on other books only after they finished P&J?

I also have a pair of twins , turning 3 in Nov, one of the twins knows most of the lettersounds, and the other needs more guidance as she can hardly sits still. Did you start your children on P&J Eg: 1a once they know the 3 letterword?

[tamarind]

i3mum:

Hi Tamarind,


I left a message in your blog, probably you have not seen it.

My gal is 4 year 6 months old now, she is reading book 8b, may I know what other story books do you let your children read? Do you start them on other books only after they finished P&J?

I also have a pair of twins , turning 3 in Nov, one of the twins knows most of the lettersounds, and the other needs more guidance as she can hardly sits still. Did you start your children on P&J Eg: 1a once they know the 3 letterword?

Oh I just saw your message on my blog and posted my reply there. I am posting the same reply here to share with other parents in this forum.

I am glad to know that you find my blog useful. You girl is doing very well !

After my girl finished reading book 12b, I let her read Charlotte's Web.

For my boy, I let him read up to book 11a, then I asked him to read the Roald Dahl books and My Father's Dragon.

Read these pages about the books that my kids have read. These are all wonderful children's classics:

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/09/books-they-love.html

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-books-for-confident-readers.html

The above are books which I ask my kids to read out loud to me, a few pages every day. They have all the freedom to read any book from our home library on their own (even when they were still reading Peter and Jane).

There is no need to finish all the Peter and Jane books, unless your girl is very interested in reading them. I think reading up to books 9 or 10 are more than enough. The child will be able to read any book.

My advise is to start reading the Peter and Jane after the kids know how to join 3 letters to form words using phonics techniques. Then it will be so much easier for them to learn new words when reading the Peter and Jane series.

But do note that some kids learn very well by remembering sight words, and may be able to learn to read without knowing any phonics. Every child is different !

Basic knowledge of phonics is still very important, and will make spelling very easy for any children.

[tamarind]

My 6 year old girl is now reading the Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, and illustrated by Roberto Inncenti :

http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Pinocchio-Creative-Editions/dp/1568461909/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253175448&sr=8-1

I first saw this book at the Jurong West Community Library. I was very impressed by the wonderful illustrations.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2531/3925479678_7d7a3e6f97.jpg\">

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3483/3925476414_d654f3ef66.jpg\">

This book is available at all the public libraries. Go to http://www.nlb.gov.sg/ and search for Author : roberto innocenti, Keyword: pinocchio.

I was so impressed that I bought a new book from http://www.amazon.com.

The text is the direct translation of the original, unabridged version written by Carlo Collodi in Italian. It is very different from the sanitizied, cute Pinocchio by Disney. This version is so much better !

The original story is actually very dark, and sometimes quite frightening. It is not suitable for very young children. But I think that every child who is at least 6 years old and above must read this book. I do advise parents to read the whole book first before deciding whether their kids are mature enough to read it.

There are a total of 36 chapters. This is a very rare English book which teaches a lesson in every chapter.

Pinocchio was a very naughty wooden puppet, who encountered many misfortunes, before he learned how to be a good boy, and how to love his father Geppeto.

One chapter which I like very much, is when Geppeto gave Pinocchio an apple to eat. That was the only food that he had. Pinocchio complained that he would not eat the skin. His father carefully peeled off the skin, but left the skins on the table. Pinoccho ate the apple, but complained that he was still hungry. Since there was nothing else to eat, Pinocchio had to eat the skins left on the table. Geppeto taught him that he should not waste anything. Then later Geppeto sold his only coat to buy a spelling book for Pinocchio so that he can go to school. I like this chapter because it educates children about poverty. Children learn that they should not take what they have for granted.

Many lessons can be learned throughout all the chapters. I liked the last chapter the best. Pinocchio finally understood how to be a good boy. Everyday, he turned the pumping machine 100 times just to earn his father a glass of milk. He made a beautiful wheelchair so that he can push his father out for fresh air. Children reading this will learn how to love their own parents.

I strongly recommend this book for all children, best to ask them read it out loud. I believe that a good book will strongly influence a child's character.

Parents should read this book too. They will learn that kids may need to go through a lot of hardships in order to learn about the consequences of their bad behaviour.

[lizuan76]

Hi Tamarind,


Love the books that you recommend.

Thanks for sharing.

[tamarind]

lizuan76:

Hi Tamarind,


Love the books that you recommend.

Thanks for sharing.

It's my pleasure