Book Club: Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!

Don't let the pigeon drive the bus! is one of my favourite books for children, since it addresses many behaviour issues from demanding attitude to anger tantrums. It is the first of many in the series of pigeon adventures. It is funny and witty and perfect for beginner readers. So consider getting one of the Pigeon books for Christmas these holidays, they ensure a good laugh. 

photo via wikipedia 

While you are at it,  click on the book photo to visit the official site and play the games you can find there online. 

Book Club: Books to read over the holidays: 2nd and 3rd Grade Reading List!

Learning to read is a difficult task. When parents ask me what they can do to help their child start reading with fluency, I can only reply with one answer. Read to them, read with them, let them read on their own. In other words, do what you did when your child was learning to read in their mother tongue. Pick a book they would be interested in. Pick a book appropriate to their reading level, that won’t be that difficult that will turn the reading process into a hateful experience.

There are thousands of books out there that can help your child read faster and better.  In this post I list some of the books that I would buy for my child if they were beginner readers.  

·       2^nd grade

During our first semester in 2^nd grade, we learnt the alphabet and ventured into the difficult task of blending sounds to read our first words. Here are a few books that will help them practice reading over the Christmas break.

Alphabet and word books:

1. Lift the Flap Word Book by Felicity Brooks

A great book to help your child make that precious word to picture connection. The drawings are very beautiful and it is made out of sturdy material for reading over and over again. Click on the photo for video link.

Sight Words Games : Memory Game and Loop Cards Printables

Dolch words are very important to a child learning to read. They are also very hard to teach, because they have to be identified by sight, hence their other names: sight words or high frequency words. Since they make up for the 70-80% of all english printed materials, they are a determining factor for success in reading, especially for beginner learners. 

The following printables are part of the Dolch Word set I have been posting for the past month. 

So go ahead, print, colour and laminate the cards and play with your child or use in class. It is simple, fast and effective. 

Dolch Words Memory Game

Digraphs Oral Practice

Here are some more fun ways to practice reading digraphs. I found hundreds of videos, so you can use these or find your own online. 

This one is from TurtleDiary.

Digraphs: th Printable Activity Trace and Play Cards

This is the tracing version of the set of words I posted earlier. Print and enjoy. You might want to print the rest of the activity pages.  For the rest of the pages and instructions on how to use them click here.

Teaching Digraphs: th voiced and voiceless Printable Activity

When it comes to phonics, digraphs are one of the most difficult things to teach. It takes alot of practice for a child to learn to identify them, then actually be able to understand the word meaning and finally read them. As teachers we sometimes forget the natural process that is required for our students to produce oral speech. We believe that since we taught something, it must immediately show in our students' output. As most of us know, this is not the case. It takes time and effort for new skills to be internalised to that point, that they can be used by our students.

More specifically, we tend to forget that practice does make perfect and that practice shouldn't necessarily mean controlled writing and reading activities. After discussing this with one of my students' parent, I decided to make a th digraph game to help my students grasp these difficult sounds. It also makes a great Sunday morning game that one can quickly make to play with one's child.