A "Card" for You

See you in 2012!

Kindergarten Set, Book 7

Lesson One

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
• Introduce new blend: sh
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book7 ("She Did It") pp. all

Click here for a tip on teaching the digraph sh.

Lesson Two

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book 7 ("She Did It") all

Set 1, Book 3

Lesson One

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Introduce new sound: h
• Introduce new sight word: the, a, A
• Review sight word: O.K.
• Build words: hat
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") pp. 1-3

Here is a tip on teaching the sight word the.

Also, please note that I tend to teach the children a and A separately. This is because most children who learn a (as in I saw a dog), will not recognize it as being the same as A (as in A dog crossed the road). It is good, though, to point out that they are really the same letter, so that the children start making the connection that words can be spelled the same, regardless of any capitalization.

Lesson Two

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, hard-s, t
• Introduce new sound: hard-g
• Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
• Build new words: God, gas
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 4

Lesson Three

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, soft-s, hard-s, t
• Introduce new sound: r
• Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
• Build new words: ram, rat
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 5

Lesson Four

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Review sight word: O.K., the, a, A
• Build new words: hag, tag
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") pp. 6-ff

Lesson Five

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
• Word building: practice some of the words built on previous days
• Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 1-3

Lesson Six

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
• Word building: again practice some of the words built on previous days
• Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 4-5

Lesson Seven

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
• Review sight word: O.K., the, a, A
• Build new words: cat, rat, hat, mat, sat
• Read: Set 1, Book 3 ("Dot") pp. 6-ff

I like to write out at five times in black, and then use my colored pen to add different letters to the front. This helps illustrate the logic of the words--that at always says at, and that different letters added to the front of the word change the word.

______________________________
Read More:
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Set 1, Book 2

Lesson One

• Review sounds: short-a, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Introduce new sounds: c, d
• Build new words: Dad, cat
• Read: Set 1, Book 2 ("Sam") p. 1-3

Lesson Two

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Build words: mad, sad
• Read: Set 1, Book 2 ("Sam") pp. 4-7

Daughter Q. had a few days where she could only handle about one page per day. We did our little reviews, we got through a page (occasionally more, but only when it was a reread or there were very few words on the pages), and then she jumped down.

Sometimes she did this before we were officially finished.

I have learned to say, "Are you done? Or do you want to read one more page?"

It's not that I want to be completely child-led here, but rather that reading one page is enough at this age and stage and for this particular child, but I don't want to stop her if we're under ten minutes and she really wants another page. So I ask, an inevitably she sees Toddler O. driving our battery-powered Jeep in the backyard (that, incidentally, a neighbor child outgrew and we got for free thankyouverymuch). She decides it is her turn to drive, and she leaves.

Just like that.

So on to the (admittedly short) lessons.

Lesson Three

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Introduce sight word: O.K.
• Build new word: mad
• Read: Set 1, Book 2 ("Sam") p. 8-ff

Remember to keep working on smooshing those sounds.

Lesson Four

• Review sounds: short-a, c, d, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Review sight words: O.K.
• Build new word: tan
• Read: Set 1, Book 2 ("Sam") p. 1-ff

Yes. All of a sudden on the fourth lesson, she read a whole book. She is a bizarre reader. Some days it is very slow going, and other days she acts like she already knows how to read and doesn't hardly need lessons, at least not in regard to what we're working on. So we just keep plugging away, and go fast when she's ready to go fast, and slow when she needs to go slow.

I still maintain that her lesson patterns are weird.

Kindergarten Set, Book 6

Lesson One

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who
• Introduce new sight word: come
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book6 ("Milk") pp. 1-7

Lesson Two

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come
• Introduce new blend: ink
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book 6 ("Milk?") pp. 8-ff

Click here for a tip on teaching the blend ink.

The book acts as if milk is a sight word, but the word follows the rules just fine and the students should be able to figure it out okay. You get bonus points for leaving the couch, taking the child to the fridge, and verifying that it does in fact say milk on that carton inside.

Lesson Three

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book6 ("Milk") pp. 1-ff

Kindergarten Set, Book 4

Time to pat ourselves (and our students) on the back. One hundred days! If you've been following these lessons straight through, that means you've given around one hundred days of lessons. And look how far they've come. If your student is like my student, a hundred lessons ago, she didn't know the sounds of any of the letters.

Isn't that amazing?

In the past one hundred days we've read 30 books. We've learned the basic sounds for every letter (save q). We've learned two diphthongs, one digraph, one blend, and two word endings.

This is the amazing thing about teaching. A single day never really feels like much, but all of those small moments add up to something big: reading.

Lesson One

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero
• Introduce new sight word: who
• Introduce new blend: ook
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Read: Kindergarten Set, Book 4 ("Who?") pp. 1-ff

Click here for a tip on introducing the blend ook.

Lesson Two

• Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who
• Review appropriate sections in the binder
• Review Read: Kindergarten Set, Book 4 ("Who?") pp. 1-ff

Set 1, Book 1

When I commenced reading lessons with Daughter Q., she was still three-years-old (a few months away from four). I always knew she would read earlier than Daughter A. (who began at just under five), but later than Son E. (who began almost exactly on his third birthday). I still think there is a lot to be said for beginning reading lessons closer to five years of age, but sometimes children are just ready, and we have to go with it.

I will say, however, that with three-year-olds it is of the utmost importance that we keep the lessons to ten minutes or less. We do not want to overwork their little minds, or discourage them when they are just starting out. As for my "preschool" time with Daughter Q., we often begin with a story, or a couple activities from her Kumon cutting and folding workbooks. We do ten minutes (or less) of reading, and then I send her outside to play with her younger brother.

And this only three or four days per week.

So I will show you what we did for Days 1-3, and you will see that it is much slower than we would do with a five-year-old. That is the nature of the beast. If you teach a child something at 3 it will take you a month or more. If you teach them at 6, it'll take you ten minutes. But if they insist on learning at 3, then take the long road you must.

As my husband likes to say, "'Tis my duty to."

Ahem.

Lesson One

• Introduce new sounds: short-a, m, soft-s, t
• Build a word and practice sounding it out: at, Sam
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") pp. 1-2

NOTE: Please remember the prerequisites for commencing with reading lessons! 

Lesson Two

• Review sounds: short-a, m, soft-s, t
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") pp. 3-4

If reading only two pages per day seems slow, you might be interested to know that I had anticipated only one! When I taught Son E., I think it took a month to get through all of Book 1. Just remember that slow and steady wins the race.

Or something like that.

Lesson Three

• Review sounds: short-a, m, soft-s, t
• Introduce new sounds: short-o, n
• Build new words: Mom, not
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") pp. 5-6

At this point, she was slowly understanding the idea of trying to slide the sounds together as she read so that it is easier to figure out the word. This particular child has always had a good memory, and it is coming in handy for her as she quickly memorizes the words and knows them anywhere. She has proved to be one of the easier children to teach.

Lesson Four

• Review sounds: short-a, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") p. 7

I can't remember why we only read one page. Did we get interrupted or distracted? Or was the page difficult? I'm sorry...I should have noted it in my binder. 

Lesson Five

• Review sounds: short-a, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Build new word: Tom
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") p. 8

This was the first time my daughter read "The End," which appears (appropriately) at the end of each Bob Book. I never really bother to teach it. The vast majority of children know, even at the young age of three, that stories end with "The End." I just point at it and tell them what it says, and they can usually read it the next time they finish a Bob Book.

It is important to keep in mind that it is helpful that they distinguish the two words from the very beginning. Soon enough, she'll be reading "the" in a story context, and she will already know it. Here is a tip on teaching "the."

Also: remember to tell your student if you plan to have them read most of the books twice. This avoids any unnecessary disappointment.

Lesson Six

• Review sounds: short-a, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Build words: Mom, sat
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") pp. 1-5

Lesson Seven

• Review sounds: short-a, m, n, short-o, soft-s, t
• Read: Set 1, Book 1 ("Mat") p. 6-ff