Since my son has just entered the realm of learning letters & blending sounds, he is well on his way to reading! We have been trying out various products, but of course, as many of you know, each child is an individual & needs to be taught according to their individual needs. My son LOVES being read aloud to; but he hesitates at reading simple sight word books (which we were dabbling in with the Just Right Reader program. But it was just too advanced for where he's at right now on his reader journey.) 

So, one fun thing we are trying out this week for my son, are the Bob Books off of Amazon (I will put a shopping link below) & we also ordered the Versa-tiles that come with some sets of Bob books & a workbook so that he can practice various tasks with numbers (1-9.) When we look at the workbook together, the puzzle-like answer case is positioned above or below the book while we work; once he's placed each tile, we can close the case & lock it & then flip it over to check & see if he's identified the right pattern to match the workbook. 

Phonics Pathways is another excellent resource for teaching kids both how to read & spell.  My son & I have been studying vowels & vowel patterns out of it this week & there are a lot of good lessons & strategies in that manual! (See both links below for more pricing & details.)

This post is in conjunction with my latest podcast show, #24: Reading Comprehension & Extensions. More show notes on this episode can be found at: 
for-the-love-of-literacy.mailchimpsites.com/ 


Teaching Reading Comp. Strategies: 
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1. Set a purpose for reading-- why is a child reading something in particular? Should they walk away with knowledge of a person or a person’s life, a character trait or attribute, or a skill?
2. Summarize; can a student recite what they just read to you? Of course it doesn’t need to be word verbatim; we are not discussing memorization here. But if they can paraphrase what they read, that means they got the gist of it.
3. Model thinking aloud or unpacking your thinking. For example, you might say: “So this happened as a result of XYZ  & now we will have to keep reading to see what the main character does to resolve the problem.”
4. Sequencing. Ask the child to state what happened FIRST in the story, what happened NEXT, THEN, & LAST or FINALLY.  My students use to have a comprehension story string (pictures strung up on yarn) that they would hold & move along in their hands as they used the pictures to prompt their memory to retell part of the story.
5. Activate childrens’ prior knowledge & help them make connections. A text is much more powerful when a child can connect it to their life, another story, or the world.  This strategy is known as: text-to-self, text-to-text & text-to-world connections.
6. Identify new vocabulary while decoding the text. Help kids find a system independent of constantly asking an adult what a word means. (i.e. keeping a dictionary handy or perhaps having access to dictionary.com in today’s day & age, so that encountering a new word doesn’t keep them from understanding a passage or story they’ve read, & it also doesn’t discourage them from completing the reading.)
7. Ask questions during & after reading.  It may seem tedious to you to do this at first, but eventually, the child might start creating their own questions as they get excited about reading. Right now I think it’s the cutest thing in the world, but when I tease my son a little & hold the page before the climax of a story is reached, he’ll say, “Keep reading Mommy! Let’s see what happens next!”
8. Ask students to restate a main idea or lesson learned (Aesop’s Fables) from their reading in their own words. Again, paraphrasing is a higher cognitive skill, so you know a student has understood enough if they can reword a story correctly.
9. Teach reading strategies like reading with a highlighter in hand.  I did this a lot when I tutored students one-on-one & in small reading groups in my classroom, because I was teaching students that we had a purpose in reading; I would go over the questions before we read & then encourage students to highlight any sentence that sounded like it might help us answer the question.
10. Use graphic organizers or story maps to guide thinking. These are great resources for students to organize their thoughts in or even the flow of the story. 

Reading Tip #39: Try out book box subscriptions for your children.  Getting happy mail each month is truly exciting & it can be engaging for little readers too! Although the books may not be tailored specifically to your child, they can still read & learn about interesting topics, ranging from under the sea, to construction vehicles & towns to socially emotional intelligence books. 

So far we have tried out the following boxes: 

• Bookroo- $16.95 for 2 gift-wrapped picture books/ $21 for chapter books (monthly) 
• My First Reading Club- $16.99 a month (5 books) 
• Literati - $9.99 monthly for checking out 5 books + additional cost to keep any of the books that came in the box after 1 week.  (Usually a heavily discounted price per book, even from Amazon.) They also have book club groups; my son is in Club Sprout.    
• My Bookworm Club: $10.99 monthly & you get to try before you buy! (For up to a month per box.) One of the neatest online library systems ever!

I would try out even more kids' book boxes (& maybe one for me!) if finances allowed. Currently we are not still doing Bookroo, although their selection is impeccable & I have loved all the books we've gotten. Additionally, we don't always end up keeping a book from the Literati box, so we pay for checking some  new books out & loving them, as well some little trinkets, including book stickers with my son's name on them.  You do not have to pay return shipping when your week is up. 
My First Reading Club includes a variety of picture books in their packages & a gift for Mom too! We got 4 picture books & 1 activity book (stickers, pop outs, etc.) this last time. 

Reading Tip 38: 
Read with "book buddies" & have book buddies available for play throughout the house.  You will be amazed at the imaginative play kids will instill in a little stuffed egg or Pinkalicious doll (from the books you've read with them.) And if you don't have any book buddies currently, make a couple of sock puppets-- your kids will love that too, I promise! Anything to be more active & engaging in our reading. 

 
Teach love, kindness, & tolerance for all people by integrating books from diverse backgrounds, handicaps and disabilities into your read-aloud time with your children. Here are some examples to get you started:  

I Am Enough
by: Grace Byers
(A lyrical ode to being who you are & respecting others along the way.) 
https://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Enough-Grace-Byers/dp/0062667122/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=I+Am+Enough&qid=1591228462&s=books&sr=1-1

I Am Perfectly Designed 
by: Karaomo Brown
(A boy and his dad go on a walk downtown and learn about all of the ways they were created to belong together, in a family.) 
https://kidsbooks.com/Store/Details/9781250232212B/i-am-perfectly-designed


The Butterfly's Journey
by: Heather Porazzo 
(A sweet book depicting a butterly's late emergence and autism awareness.) 
https://www.amazon.com/Butterflys-Journey-Autism-Awareness-Childrens-ebook/dp/B077NJHNPP/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=the+butterfly%27s+journey&qid=1591228415&s=books&sr=1-3

Don't Call Me Special 
by: Pat Thomas
(A children's book that explores questions about physical disabilities, including special equipment used to help those who are disabled.) 
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Me-Special-Disability/dp/0764121189/ref=pd_bxgy_img_3/146-7475984-2505050?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0764121189&pd_rd_r=c0337635-2353-4cd8-acdd-08e3b14322c0&pd_rd_w=ZulyI&pd_rd_wg=A10Bh&pf_rd_p=4e3f7fc3-00c8-46a6-a4db-8457e6319578&pf_rd_r=2N3GT8PQ2KZ3H15KEF1Z&psc=1&refRID=2N3GT8PQ2KZ3H15KEF1Z

One Big Heart
by: Linsey Davis
(God gave us all special traits & characteristics that make us uniquely who we are.  From our skin, to our hair & eyes, we can look different, but there are many things which we have in common with others too.)

https://www.amazon.com/One-Big-Heart-Celebration-Different/dp/0310767857/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2C7MFOL3ZBY5L&dchild=1&keywords=diverse+childrens+books&qid=1591314292&s=books&sprefix=diverse+child%2Cstripbooks%2C196&sr=1-4