Organizing All About Reading

I struggled for a while with All About Reading Level 1 trying to figure out how to organize all of it.  I’d seen different posts with how people were doing it and that got me thinking.

 

At first, I hole-punched the word cards and had them on a ring.  But, if I was looking for a specific lesson, then I had to flip through all of the words.  Time lost, okay only a minute or so, but in 7 year old time that is IMMENSE.

 

Enter my plan, and this will work smoother next year because I will know ahead of time how I want to do this.

 

This is a mini-manila envelope.  It’s about half the size of a normal one.  I suppose I could put them in full size ones, but this works perfectly once game pieces are cut out, and if it’s a lesson with only word cards.

 

I send the kids off to cut things out for me, and then I staple or glue it together.

 

If it’s a game that has a sorting element or something that “eats the word,” I glue it to the front.  The eat the word games then have a slit cut into them so the game piece goes directly back into the envelope.  This lets me revisit favorite games easily.

 

Which as you can see is wildly popular.

 

Behind the individual lessons are our spelling boards that I created several months ago.  The letter tiles are attached with velcro to a laminated file folder.

 

I’m going to link over at Learning All the Time to share this

Fun Read Aloud for Girls

This is actually the exact version I have, so that amuses me.  Back when I was in college I read this book and thought it was absolutely charming, especially since the illustrations are in the style of the Color Fairy Books, which I loved.

 

Now this past week I have had Princess all by herself with another little girl.  This seemed like the perfect time to read the book to her without accompanying complaints from the boys.

 

The Ordinary Princess is the seventh princess born in a magical kingdom.  Everyone is sure she will be the most beautiful little princess ever and the biggest party is planned for her christening.  Every fairy in the kingdom is invited, and they give her all manner of gifts, charm, grace, ability to dance, and then the last fairy comes.  She’s been listening to all of the other gifts and thinks they’re quite silly, and she says “I give you the gift of ordinariness.”  Immediately her hair loses her curl, freckles sprout and her eyes change to a muddy color that’s not brown and not blue.

 

She grows up and isn’t the perfect princess every expects and there lies the problem, so she decides to solve the problem and runs away.  And that’s when the fun begins!

 

Last night as we were reading it, I got begged to read more, so we read about 30 pages in one night.  I actually think I’ll stop writing now and see if I can convince the girls to listen to some more, we’re probably not going to finish it before the boys come back, which is a shame.

 

I’m gonna send you over to Natalie at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to learn about what other kids are reading this week!

New way to practice spelling or phonics

 
Write in shaving cream

Okay, it’s not new, I was using this almost 10 years ago when I was teaching, but some of you may not know about it.

We’ve been using it for our All About Reading Level 1 in place of the letter tiles.  Though my kids still do like to use our spelling boards.

Educating Laytons has just started Tactile Tuesday!

All About Reading tip

I took some of those fun games they have in the All About Reading workbook and made them into an envelope game.  For the feed the monster, I glued him on, and cut a slit in the envelope so we can feed him.

Afterwards the pieces just store right in the envelope we fed them into.

I did the same thing for the monkey game, and plan to do the same for all upcoming games.  Now it’s easy to play it over and over again. Update: 1. Sorry for the bad photo, I took a quick picture with my phone in a rather dark room. 2. Since first creating this "game" we have done the monster game almost every day, I'm taking it super slow with Princess and taking about a week a lesson for now.

All About Reading Level 1 comes out today

And I’m super excited because I’ve been waiting for it for a while.  Now to ensure there’s money in the budget for it……..  But, All About Reading Level 1 is on sale right now!

Why am I so excited about All About Reading Level 1?

 

1.  We love All About Spelling, and this looks to be in the same genre.

 

2.  I’ve been using the sample of the program with Princess for the past few weeks and I haven’t had any fights recently about reading.

 

3.  Did I mention I love All About Spelling?

 

4.  I’ve looked at the samples of the book online and the length of the stories are a good length, as opposed to some of the other early readers I’ve gotten.

 

 

5.  Another use for my spelling board………  Which by the way is working marvelously!

 

Now the only thing I’m debating about, and I’d love your thoughts, should I order the entire kit or just the teacher’s manual and workbooks?

 

Here’s my dilemma, I’m trying to be a good steward, and I have a lot of readers already.  So, I probably don’t need them, but I want them.

 

I need opinions fast because IT’S ON SALE RIGHT NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 6!

homemade tools: spelling board

We use All About Spelling and it has 100 or so spelling tiles.  They encourage you to get a magnetic board that is about 2 foot by 3 foot for this.  The problem is I have problems knocking the magnets off and losing them.  Enter my solution:

Supplies: laminated file folder (for durability), All About Spelling letter tiles , velcro (bought at Feiner supply [thanks to Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations for giving me the heads up of where to buy]), scissors

This is fairly self explanatory, but I figure I’d give you the tips I learned in making three of these.

1.  Measure out the space between velcro strips and figure out the right distance.  I figured out it was roughly an inch space.

2.  I figured out it worked best for me not to have all of the multiple letters out at this time.  There might come a day someday when the kids need them, but right now there are no double letters out, and only the 3 digraphs we’ve started on.

3.  I used rubber cement to put on the labels for the different phonemic segments consonant blends, vowel teams, etc).  I had originally used packing tape, but that makes it harder to pull up if I need to rearrange, which I’ve already had to do once.

4.  Figure out roughly how much space you need for each section before gluing down any labels (see above comment on the packing tape).  I figured out the primary alphabet needs 3 rows with some extra space left over.  The vowel teams needs about 2 rows, and the consonant blends needs a row (maybe 2, wasn’t real sure yet), and the other two categories can pretty much split a row).

5.  I’ve got the extra letters and such in ziploc bags right now and squirrelled away, hopefully somewhere I can find them again.

I got this idea from something I saw on pinterest, but I just spent 20 minutes scouring my boards and can’t find the original post.  If you pinned this idea or have seen it, could you let me know the source so I can credit it.  Also, they had a printable to some plain alphabet tiles if you don’t want to buy the AAS ones.

Princess all by herself

I corrected her on the b/d switch, but other than that she figured out them all by herself.  And then drew the picture.
 

Favorite Resource this week: Education Cubes

Ages ago I won the chance to use Education Cubes, and I’ve mentioned it once or twice using them.  Well, we used them again a few weeks ago, and this is a great way to have fun and not totally forget what you learned this year.


1.  Write the material you want to cover all over your sidewalk using chalk.  We are reviewing simple addition and sight words.


2.  Everybody roll a different die (I had to make them change colors, otherwise each kid would review the same six things).  Than try to be the first one to your answer.


Repeat over and over and over again!

YEAH!

Back when I first wrote this post I did it partially to show off the Education cubes, and then I forgot to put in the link to the site for them.  My brain is dead sometimes.

Writer’s World: making books

Did you know it’s very hard to type when a dog is laying on top of your arm?  I’d make him move but hes so warm and comfy…….

Here’s another great way to make use of your workbooks.

All right, I made him move.  He’s still on my lap, but it was really driving me crazy typing with one hand.  It was taking so LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG.

Yes, I am working on my patience, and it is much better, thank you.


Back to my point though, this section of our workbook has the kids drawing lines and matching the picture to the sentence.  Well, I knew what would happen if I had my kids do that.
I’d have a very messy page with lots of extra lines, and kids who weren’t happy.

Instead, I cut out the sentences and pictures, and then made a mini-book by cutting copy paper in half and hamburger folding it into a book.  I set it up using a placemat and putting the words on one side and the pictures on the other with a gluestick.

Voila, instant easy reading activity.  Added bonus, they had to decide what order to put the sentences in for it to make sense.


That is the face of a happy little girl, and I’m sure it has nothing to do with the giant cup of water she has sitting next to her.

Other added bonus, they happily haul these little books back out to read to their Daddy when he gets home.

SCORE!

Okay, typing around a puppy is getting a little hard, and he ate my queso, which I’m not happy about.  So, I’m off to bed.

Oh, and make sure to check out my post today over at ABC and 123 for a great idea for Groundhog’s Day.  We’re doing it again this year, provided the weather cooperates.

One more phonics game

Okay, that is probably still a lie.  But, I’m going to pretend for now that is this is the last.

 

I figured out a good way to store these (at least for me) is to hole punch it and put I on one of those bookbinding rings.  It works really well because then I can also throw them in my purse and let them practice these while waiting in line somewhere.

 

Oh, and my Science Sunday post this week is going to be very amusing……… 

 

Now head on over to Homeschool Creations to see some more fun preschool and kindergarten posts.

My phonics reading game

Well, there weren’t many suggestions on where to get some quick phonics games, aside from a suggestion of getting Happy Phonics, which I’ve heard is awesome, but I don’t want to buy another curriculum.  I was really looking more for a couple of quick games that were online somewhere that I could print.

And, so I made up our game in a few minutes.  I’m probably going to make a second game for the rest of the short A words they use rather than having my kids do the worksheets, but I’m not going to share that since I’m just going to copy their pictures, and that would be violating copyright…


Supplies needed: printable (click on the picture)
scissors to cut pieces apart





How we played it.  First I cut the pieces apart so the word and picture were still attached to each other.  That let them look at the word and know which picture went with it.  I didn’t want them thinking the picture for mug went with the picture for cup.

Then I finished cutting it apart, and only passed out about half of the cards.

This kept the game at about a 5 minute length, which meant we got to play several rounds during their attention span, rather than just one or two………
This particular time we did it as a Go Fish variation, but it could easily be used for memory, or any of the other little kid card games.

Quick tip for reading

I know, it’s totally one most of you have thought of, but this is really working for us!


Each day for reading the kids are writing their words for the day on an index card.  After they’ve written the word, they turn the card over and illustrate it.

I then bind them into a book, and they tell stories from it.  First they read the word and then flip the card over and expand on the word with a multi-sentence story.  But, they LOVE this!  I mean LOVE!

Finally, I feel like we’re making progress with reading.  Oh, and I’m thinking I’ll be designing a beginning reader game soon, so stay tuned for that.

I’ll probably eventually hook this up to ABC and 123, and maybe Works for Me Wednesday, Writer's World (over at Giggles and Flowers).

Books about Florida

 

One of these things is not like the other one, one of these things just doesn’t belong:

 

Can you guess which of these books is not about Florida?  If you guessed “The Little Cat Baby” that would be correct.  And it was also the miss of the week.  It was just weird.  Really weird.

 

But, successes…….

 

A Country Schoolhouse- the clear cut winner, though it doesn’t take place in Florida I chose it for Florida because Florida has the oldest still standing wooden schoolhouse in St. Augustine.  So, we read this.  It’s a cute story of a grandfather telling his grandson what it was like to grow up in a schoolhouse.  Look for another post on this.

 

The space books-  I’d totally recommend “Life on a Space Shuttle,” it’s part of the Rookie Reader series that has never failed me.  “Launch Day” is geared for older kids, I’d say 3rd grade with a guess, and was too many words, and it covered much of the other book.  But, the pictures are great in both of them.

 

Animal books- all of these are from series we’ve gotten before and had great luck with, so nothing really new to say.  Other than “Barbara Manatee…….  You are the one for me…..  You came from up above, and you’re the one I love……”  Yes, yes, thank you very much I did get that stuck in your head.  Mwa ha ha ha ha ha

 

So, that’s my quick post about what we read this week.  We also reread several Halloween books, but I already wrote about them, and I’m trying to gather them up and hide them from the kids to save for next year…….

 

Head on over to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns to see what everyone else is reading this week.

review: Sing, Spell, Read Write

So, I have very mixed feelings on this product.  On the one hand, I do have to agree my kids are really enjoying it, and they seem to be catching on better (we haven’t hit the part where they hit a snag before yet).

But, on the other hand, I have to say their customer service is atrocious.

I ordered the K/1 combo kit, and it comes with a large number of workbooks, lots of games, a CD of the songs, and a treasure box.  It also came with a VCR tape of how to use this curriculum.  Yes, I did say VCR tape.  Really.  No, I’m not kidding.  VCR.

It has a teacher manual for the first grade materials, and a 2 page pamphlet for the kindergarten, and a VCR tape to explain how to teach this.
 
So, here’s where the problem set in.  I don’t have a VCR, ours broke 3 years ago, and we didn’t replace it.  I managed to borrow a VCR from my brother, and discovered the video is somewhat helpful, but not really.  It’s mainly going through step by step what it says in the 1st grade teacher manual.  Not too helpful, and very self congratulatory.

Also, it’s heavy on consumables.  They’re high quality, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a LOT of workbooks.  For each letter in the K program there are at least 6 or 7 pages.  I’m not sure how many you’re supposed to do a day because it never says, but I’ve simplified it down to 4.  Though, I’m guessing it’s one a day.  Maybe.

Now, as to their customer service.  When I discovered it was  VCR tape, and the scant K teacher manual they had said “watch the video,” I sent an email asking if there was a DVD available, and asking if there was more to the teacher manual somewhere.  It took over a week to get a response back, and it basically said, “No DVD, and look at the first grade manual.”  Not so helpful.

Now, here’s how I made it work for us, because heaven forbid I actually use something the way it was intended to be used.


As I said, I scanned all of the pages for one letter and put them into a word document and then I’ve simplified it down so they all print onto 2 pages.

For the cut and paste part, I have them glue it into a spiral notebook, and write the letter for the day again.

I will say this, for all of my frustration with the way it’s set up so far.  They really like it.  I don’t get complaints about sitting down to work on it, and they enjoy the different ways they present it.



They love to play the games.  I’ve glance through the readers, and I think they’ll love those too.  They’re bright and colorful and not too many words per page.




And, it seems to be working.  We’re not to the point of trying to read yet, but I see progress with all of them.  They’re handwriting is getting much better and it’s in amounts they can do at one time.


Would I buy it again?  Yes, though I probably would just get the 1st grade kit rather than the combo.  At which point I would buy multiple copies of the workbooks because those actually use all of the page.  Overall, mixed feelings on the whole thing.  UPDATE:  As we got further into the year the stories became too long for my kids and I had to quit using it.  There was too much frustration.

Disclosure: I bought  this, I was not given a copy to review, I’m just sharing my opinion for others to know what I think and help them make decisions.

Summer Bucket List and Summer Reading Challenge

 

I’ll add in the Summer Bucket List button as soon as I remember who is hosting this, help!

 And now I've added it in.

Julie of Just Playin’ Around also has a book blog called My Book Retreat and I routinely read her posts (if rarely comment) and think I’d love to read more, okay I read a fair amount.

Here’s my definite books:

1.  Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher- I’m halfway through, should be done in a day or so

2.  White Knight, Jim Butcher- I’ll finish powering through Dresden Files soon, I’m sure.

3.  Small Favors, Jim Butcher- last one we own currently, I’m sure if I find any of the other ones I’ll pick it up

4. Chronicles of Narnia- this is also going to be part of another challenge that is a fun idea of reading/watching whatever you can/want to from that series.

5.  Creative Correction, Lisa Welchel- parenting book, in theory I’ll be putting up my thoughts on chapter 1 this week, I”m reading it with a friend and comparing notes.

6.  I’m sure I’ll read something else during this time.  We’ll see what I find on our trip.

SUMMER BUCKET LIST

1.  Attend Warrior Prince Academy (in progress)

2.  See Toy Story 3

3.  Make Build-A-Bear toys for the kids.

4.  See the Grand Canyon for the first time.

5.  Go to the San Diego Zoo.

6.  Visit friends, all over.

7.  Go swimming a lot.

8.  Go to the Austin Science and Nature Center.

9.  Go to the Children’s Museum.

10.  Make ice sculptures using paper cups.

11.  Read lots of fairy tales, and maybe make knight stuff.

12.  Finish learning about butterflies, and hopefully insects.

12.  Get at least one more room “clean and organized.”

13.  Find out what color the carpet is in my room (I’m sure there’s a floor in there somewhere).

14.  Finish the early Jesus Bible stories.

15.  Sew at least 3 projects.

16.  Let the kids try sewing one thing.

17.  Find a new park.

18.  Feed the ducks.  Snicker, snicker, and if you went to ACU that would be a hilarious comment.

19.  I’m sure I can come up with two more things…….  Play lots of board games together.

20.  Go see the Zilker Summer musical.

21.  Have lots of picnics.

22. Have a fun water game day.

TO DO BEFORE OUR TRIP AS FAR AS PACKING

While I’m making lists might as well make this one:

1.  Go to AAA and get their books about the different states we’ll be driving through

2.  Tune up car

3.  Get Batman’s seatbelt replaced (waiting on parts)

4.  Print off lots of coloring and learning pages.  Note to self, go to learning page and print off their insect theme section.

5.  Pack suitcases; find a good travel soap for washing clothes.

6.  Organize snack types of things and drinks.

7.  Hmmmm, lots more stuff, but I need to go be a superhero with Princess.  I’ve got my power ring, and now to fight bad guys.

A Fun Great Reading and Writing Activity

So, this is one of those great early learning activities that is better the closer they are to reading and writing.

Supplies: stickers, magazines, what have you whatever they can use to create a story, a booklet (I used these)

My kids used this:

Go Diego Go Pictures for Stories

 

All you do is turn them loose with glue, scissors and whatever they’re using to make their story.  I explained to mine that they could glue their pictures in the box on the top half and I would write out the story on the bottom half.  This is a great early writing activity because so often kids get stuck with what should I write?  This solves it for them.

Here’s Superman’s story as narrated to me (actually it’s one mini-story per page):

Diego went with his friend Diego and they went into the building.

 

 

 

 

He goes skating on the snow, and then he goes to the car and he swings with his little jaguar and he tells rescue pack to change into something and then he goes to bed and he never gets up because he’s sick.

 

 

 

“I save all the animals,” said Diego.  And then he saves the tree frog.  He tells them to jump out of the water and then he takes them to another tee and then he goes to bed.

 

And then the sloth climbs backwards and then he goes to bed.  And then he saves the really fast animal.  THE END

That’s when he saves his pet jaguar.  His pet jaguar was looking for his mommy.  And Diego found his mommy.  That’s how he saved him.

 

And then his camera Click finds an animal that eats ants and the penguin.

I left that one with the space for the words, so you can see what the book looks like.  Superman is working on his second book now.  And the kids LOVE this!

 

 

Head on over to ABC and 123 for some other great ideas people are adding as you read this.

Our hit of the week

Okay, as you saw in the Easter egg hunt post, that’s been wildly popular here.  Ever since then they’ve been hiding their eggs again, and finding them.  It cracks me up to see them hide the eggs, and then wander back there 2 minutes later and act totally surprised the eggs are there.  I thought to capitalize on their interest.
So, I wrote out a bunch of sentences they could read and some numbers for them to count up to and put them in the eggs.  They happily hid and found the eggs for another 30 minutes and reading and counting as we hid them upstairs, downstairs, and outside.