Bzzzzz......It's Reading Time!

Killer is reading.  Sometimes on his own.  At 4 years old, he has finally memorized all the most common sounds that the 26 letters of the English alphabet make, and sounds out words slowly but about 80% correctly.......all day long.  A year ago, Queenie was trying to start the pre-primer section of the 210 Dolch Words (Dolch Word Wikipedia), but Killer didn't quite get the concept, so she gave it another year...

Now, with the letter "sounds" firmly in his grasp, Killer is phonetically starting to read simple story books by himself.  Queenie still thinks it's very important that Killer master the 210 Dolch words, because that will greatly improve his vocal reading later on- he'll know the words by sight and not have to sound them out. (Making story-telling and reading out loud much smoother) 

Did you know The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss was written completely out of the 210 Dolch words?  Just a tiny tidbit Queenie picked up this afternoon while trying to find a fun (free!) word chart to print out for Killer. 

Killer loves hands-on games, so Queenie printed out the first two site word charts from this wonderful site that showcases the absolutely gorgeous artwork of Jan Brett. Dolch Word lists from JanBrett.com Killer cut them out, and Queenie used contact paper to attach them to his clipboard....making a darling dry-erase board.  The game of the afternoon was Queenie saying a word, Killer finding it, and circling it with his (favorite color) green dry erase marker.

Another idea for the same "game" boards that Queenie had were:  putting a small treat (honey nut cheerio, raisin, M&M, etc...) on each box, and Killer gets to gobble up the treat as soon as he says the word correctly.

For Mr. Fumble Bumble (2 years), the bees are working on letter recognition. Queenie found a darling letter chart on this same Jan Brett website.  She attached it to a second clipboard for Mr. F.B. exactly the same way. The dry-erase board concept stays the same- only with letters instead of site words.

Queenie and the bees hope you enjoy this wonderful site that provides oodles of (free!) educational and fun activities for kids.

CORRECTION: For simplicity and ease when cleaning your "dry erase" board, Queenie has just discovered that using Crayola Washable Markers is MUCH easier to clean with a damp paper towel than dry erase markers.  So....that is her new suggestion.