Monday, January 28, 2008

Sight Words




























































I caught it...the flu bug. I have been under the weather all weekend, but my Hubby and my children have been taking care of me...I'm so lucky! Hopefully this will go away soon and life will be back to normal- I think I am hallucinating though...

My children are looking for bonus points, not only did they clean the toy room, play nicely together- full of giggles, offer me food and drinks every other minute- Lolo wanted to be my server, but they did their sight words...ALL OF THEM!! I bought this set of post it notes with sight words on them- back to school sale- I am too cheap to actually buy post it's already written on, that makes no sense, but they were only like 20 cents, so I splurged and bought them for her. Molly sat and wrote ALL of these words, handed the paper to Lolo who was in charge of hanging them ALL on the wall. We have recently switched their rooms all around, so Molly and Lolo are in a room together and it is not finished, the walls need spackling and paint, and the whole place needs more organization. Well, the girls took action and "made" a headboard...out of stick it notes. I am so proud of them, it was a lot of work and although it looks like a mosaic of paper to me, it is art to them, it shows me they are thinking, they are learning and they are liking it. My question for everyone is... what are some of the things you do/did with your children to encourage good reading habits?

26 comments:

Courtney said...

Taylor has always wanted to read and now she is learning so we don't have that problem with her. Callee is a more "learn through doing" person so I think we'll have this problem with her. I'll have to check back and read the other comments and store it in my memory for future reference.

Amy said...

i hope you are feeling better. that stomach bug just plain scares me!!! inevitably we will probably all get it. i just hope i am caught up on my laundry when it strikes!!!

still love hearing this song. i just want to have fun too!!! while it's not fun here bringing all my groceries in on a flippin cold day!

anyhow, hope you have a good fun. have fun with those cute girls!

krissy said...

oh shucks hon! I hope you feel better soon! Better yet, milk it for a couple of more days so you can be pampered to the last possible moment!!!

The girls are sure cute and did a great job on the sight words!!! They are precious for taking care of mom when she is sick!!!

Take care! Lots of liquids!

Lizzy in the Burbs said...

I'm so sorry to hear that you've been sick. Hope you're over the worst of it and back on your feet soon! That's sweet how the girls are taking care of you, you've taught them well!


Those sight cards are wonderful, aren't they? They really do help them with their vocabulary. It's great that they are that excited about it, that's half the battle! The only thing I can suggest is read, read, read! Read to them and have them read to you as much as possible. When my boys were at that stage we made weekly trips to the local library and checked out tons of books. Also, the books on tape are a nice idea. They read along to the tape, so as they are hearing the word they are also seeing it.

Feel better and hope everyone stays healthy!

Lizzy

Are You Serious! said...

She did a good job. 20 cents that's the same price as blank post it's or close to it anyway. SOunds like a good buy to me! :)

Mary said...

Hope you feel better :)

Mari said...

Sorry you aren't feeling well - It's going around like crazy, but hasn't caught our family yet.
I love the sight cards - great way to learn those basics. When my kids were that age, we went to the library a lot. They saw us reading too and knew we enjoyed it.

Amy said...

Hope you are feeling better!
We have flashcards and read, Read, READ!! All the time! It's so fun to watch my Emma sound something out and then just beam when she gets it right! Learning is such a joy!

Don Mills Diva said...

Aww - what little sweethearts you have - I love that she wanted to be your server! Hope you feel better soon.

Lisa said...

What sweet girly-girls you have! I love their hairdo's and now with all the words? Watch out world!

PS - Hope you feel better soon :)

PSS - I tagged you for a meme if you're interested :)

Becky said...

I love that your girls made a headboard out of the Post It's! How creative!

A reading specialist I worked under before our oldest son was born, told me that reading TO your children when they are young is really important for giving children a good feel for the language and how it should sound (sentence structure, grammar, etc.) when they read and write later on in school.

My oldest doesn't enjoy reading nearly as much as he enjoys being read to. Either way, I figure it's helping him to grasp how things should sound, and his creative writing, spelling and reading comprehension are all high in spite of his drudgery of reading, so something is getting through.

Reading to kids is great for entertainment, a cuddly bonding time, and it helps them grasp the language well. Your girls might enjoy going through the Little House on the Prairie series (by Laura Ingalls Wilder) with you while they are young. These are especially good books, because you can try a lot of the things that are mentioned in the books (making button lamps, quilting, making recipes from the Little House cookbook, churning butter from a carton of whipped cream, etc.), which further engages their interest in things they can learn from books.

Hope that helps?! :)

Unknown said...

Feel better soon!! Kids can be so cute when Mom gets sick. We are working on siight words at our house too =)

Christina

Kellan said...

I'm so sorry you were sick over the weekend - I hope you are feeling better today. I am coming down with the stomach bug myself today - my son is home from school with it.

My kids all love to read and the one thing I believe has encouraged all of them is simply reading every single day to/with them. I love what your girls did with their wall- the words - very creative and smart. They are so cute too!

Have a good day - see you later. Kellan

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

I so hope you feel better soon. I swear everyone in bloggyland is sick these days. Your girls are BEAUTIFUL my friend! And very wordy. In a good way that is!

KATE said...

I love the sight words! That is fabulous!

I'm so so sorry that you're sick! I had it last week, & all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball & call it quits! It licks & it's so hard to be a mommy when you're sick! Yuck!! I hope you're back on your feet in no time!

As far as good reading habits, I have the older ones read to the younger ones. It's fabulous! They all love it & it's great practice for everyone. Cute girls you have!!

KATE said...

Thanks for the food website, I can't wait to check it out!

Zoe said...

hope you are feeling better! i love how proud they are of their creation! i have read to my children since the day they came out of the womb. we have tons of books and those are the one thing i almost never say no to. it's part of their bedtime just like brushing their teeth!

jennwa said...

I hope you feel better soon.

Wonderful World of Weiners said...

Sorry to hear you were sick.

Thanks for entering my contest. I can't wait to see who wins!

Hallie

OHmommy said...

((Hugs)) Hope you are feeling better soon. It's not fun being sick. Great idea with the site words... I am taking notes from you.

Karen said...

I remember hours and hours of reading to them, and giving in to requests to "write this word, how do you spell this?" stuff.

I hope you're feeling better, but it's nice that the girls were good about it.

Cecily R said...

We have those too and I bought them on sale!! I'm glad your girls were so great to you this weekend. Almost makes getting sick worth it...almost.

Hope you're feeling better.

Laski said...

First off--awesome that you were being taken care of! I hope you are feeling better.

OK--I am really starting at the basics when encouraging J to read (he's five months--I mean, what can I do except show him a book, read it, he chews it, 'nuff said).

BUT, as a HS English teacher, I think the biggest challenge I ever faced was getting my students to read and not completely HATE it. I mistakenly thought EVERYONE loved to read (oops! WRONG).

Anyway, here are a list of projects/activities that we did or that I learned about--most sound like a lot of fun and encourage good reading habits because they entice children to really READ, get something from what they read, and finally--APPLY IT. Key components in higher order thinking/critical thinking skills.

1. Poster project--have kids make posters about what they read. Use lots of fun art supplies!
2. A Collage--similar to the poster, but you can do a lot with this by having them integrate words/phrases from the book with their pictures.
3. Alternate ending--Have them write an alternate ending to a book they have read. You can also extend this by having them write the sequel!
4. Another POV--have them write from another character's point of view.
5. Contests--Conduct a read-a-thon or similar contest to encourage reading. Consider having a BOOK TALK (child style) after the contest so they can TALK about what they've read.
6. WRITE a book. Have one child start and pass it along. They can work together on the story line, the character development, the art work. They will understand more about what goes into writing and have a new appreciation--plus, it is all about tapping into their imagination and creativity. How fun is that.
7. Act it out: Have them act out scenes from their stories. Videotape them. Have them write a script and practice for a little more rigorous activity.
8. Journal: Have them keep a journal about what they think about what they are reading, the characters, plot. Also, have them write down all the words they encounter that they do not know. Later you can have them write their own sentences or a story using those words (after they look them up, of course).

Yikes, long post. I could go on (I guess I'm itching a bit since I'm off on leave this year).

Your girls are adorable. What an adventure to be around them all the time!!! You'll have to share what they are reading/what they like to read . . .

Amy said...

Your girls are so cute.
How far apart are they in age? When I look at them I wonder if I am just looking into the future for my little ones (they are 17 months apart and the oldest just turned 4).

Hope you feel better.

onthegomom said...

I hope you are feeling better!

I love the idea of the Post It Note Wall Art! CUTE!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Very nice post. Your web site is very beautiful.