And speaking of learning to read…there’s no better way to teach children how to read than by example!  My schoolroom is loaded with picture books of all sorts that I’ve read over and over again to my children from the time they were babies.  Because I’m a picture book junkie, I knew I’d score high on this newest list I stole from Kristen at A Day in the Life.

Seventy-two out of 100!  I’ve highlighted my very favorites from this list in blue.

1. ABUELA by Arthur Dorros,
2. ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY by Judith Viorst
3. ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK by Eric A. Kimmel
4. ANDY AND THE LION by James Daugherty
5. BARK, GEORGE by Jules Feiffer
6. THE BOSSY GALLITO: A TRADITIONAL CUBAN FOLK TALE retold by Lucia M.Gonzalez; illustrated by Lulu Delacre
7. BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES by Russell Hoban; illustrated by Lillian Hoban
8. BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? by Bill Martin, Jr.; illustrated by Eric Carle
9. BRUNO MUNARI’S ABC by Bruno Munari
10. BUZ by Richard Egielski
11. CAPS FOR SALE; A TALE OF A PEDDLER, SOME MONKEYS AND THEIR MONKEY BUSINESS by Esphyr Slobodkina
12. THE CARROT SEED by Ruth Krauss; illustrated by Crockett Johnson
13. A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER by Vera B. Williams
14. CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; illustrated by Lois Ehlert
15. CLICK, CLACK, MOO : COWS THAT TYPE / by Doreen Cronin
16. COME ALONG, DAISY! by Jane Simmons
17. CORDUROY by Don Freeman
18. CURIOUS GEORGE by H. A. Rey
19. DINOSAUR ROAR! by Paul Stickland and Henrietta
20. DON’T LET THAT PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! by Mo Willems
21. DUCK ON A BIKE by David Shannon
22. FIRE TRUCK by Peter Sís
23. FREIGHT TRAIN by Donald Crews
24. FROGGY GETS DRESSED by Jonathan London
25. THE GARDENER by Sarah Stewart
26. GEORGE AND MARTHA by James Marshall
27. GO AWAY, BIG GREEN MONSTER! by Ed Emberley
28. GOIN’ SOMEPLACE SPECIAL by Patricia McKissack
29. GOOD NIGHT, GORILLA by Peggy Rathmann
30. GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret W. Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd
31. GOSSIE  by Dunrea Olivier
32. GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY by Allen Say
33. HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson
    
34. HARRY THE DIRTY DOG by Gene Zion ; illustrated by Margaret Graham
35. HENRY HIKES TO FITCHBURG by D. B. (Donald B.) Johnson
36. HORTON HATCHES THE EGG by Dr.Seuss,
37. HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOOD NIGHT? by Jane Yolen
38. I KISSED THE BABY! by Mary Murphy
39. IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura J. Numeroff
40. IT COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE: A YIDDISH FOLKTALE retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach
41. JOHN HENRY by Julius Lester; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
42. JULIUS by Angela Johnson ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
43. KITTEN’S FIRST FULL MOON by Kevin Henkes
44. LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE by Kevin Henkes
45. THE LINE-UP BOOK by Russo Marisabina
46. THE LITTLE RED HEN: AN OLD STORY by Margot Zemach
47. LON PO PO: A RED RIDING HOOD STORY FROM CHINA by Ed Young
48. LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE by Bernard Waber
49. MABELA THE CLEVER by Margaret Read MacDonald
50. MACHINES AT WORK by Byron Barton
51. MADELINE by Ludwig Bemelmans
52. MAISY GOES SWIMMING by Lucy Cousins
53. MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS by Robert McCloskey
54. MAMA CAT HAS THREE KITTENS by Denise Fleming
55. THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS by Mordicai Gerstein
56. MARTHA SPEAKS by Susan Meddaugh
57. MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL by Virginia L. Burton
58. MILLIONS OF CATS by Wanda Gág
59. MISS NELSON IS MISSING! by Harry Allard and James Marshall
60. MR. GUMPY’S OUTING by John Birmingham
61. MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS: AN AFRICAN TALE retold and illustrated by John Steptoe
62. MUNCHA! MUNCHA! MUNCHA! by Candace Fleming
63. MY FRIEND RABBIT by Eric Rohmann
64. THE NAPPING HOUSE by Audrey Wood
65. NO, DAVID! by David Shannon
66. OFF TO SCHOOL, BABY DUCK! by Amy Hest
67. OLD BLACK FLY by Jim Aylesworth
68. OLIVIA by Ian Falconer
69. OWEN by Kevin Henkes
70. PAPA, PLEASE GET THE MOON FOR ME by Eric Carle
71. PIERRE: A CAUTIONARY TALE by Maurice Sendak
72. THE POLAR EXPRESS by Chris Van Allsburg
73. PUSS IN BOOTS by Charles Perrault
74. THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF MOTHER GOOSE: A TREASURY OF 386 TIMELESS NURSERY RHYMES by Arnold Lobel
75. ROUND TRIP by Ann Jonas
76. RUMPELSTILTSKIN by Paul O. Zelinsky
77. THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats
78. SPOTS, FEATHERS AND CURLY TAILS by Nancy Tafuri
79. THE STORY OF FERDINAND by Munro Leaf
80. THE STRAY DOG Marc, Simont
81. STREGA NONA by Tomie De Paola
82. SWIMMY by Leo Lionni
83. SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE by William Steig
84. THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter
85. TAR BEACH by Faith Ringgold
86. TEN, NINE, EIGHT by Molly Bang
87. THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY by Simms Taback
88. THE THREE BEARS by Paul Galdone
89. TRASHY TOWN by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman
90. THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS BY A. WOLF by John Scieszka
91. TUESDAY by David Wiesner
92. UPTOWN by Collier Bryan
93. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
94. THE WHEELS ON THE BUS adapted and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
95. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak
96. WHERE’S SPOT? by Eric Hill
97. WHISTLE FOR WILLIE by Ezra Jack Keats
98. THE WOLF’S CHICKEN STEW by Keiko Kasza
99. YOKO by Rosemary Wells
100. ZOMO THE RABBIT: A TRICKSTER TALE FROM WEST AFRICA retold and illustrated by Gerald McDermott

Kristen also reminded me of the 1,000 Good Books list that I need to browse again during my summer planning.

Another mom from the Homeschool Open House (I wish I could remember who she was to give her credit!!) suggested a bookworm.  You put a caterpillar head on the wall and add circles to the body for each book.  You could do almost anything.  A racetrack with car cutouts, a tree with apples, the moon with stars, a birdhouse with birds, a barn with animals or hay bales……..

The hands-on, active reading/spelling lessons are working wonders.  I’ll be sure to write a post sharing the specific activities we’re using after I get some multi-sensory teaching “miles” on me!

Let me first start by saying, Duh!!  I have a master’s degree in education.  I’ve studied in depth about teaching reading.  I’ve studied in depth about reaching various learning styles.  I’ve known for many years that my son learns in an active, kinesthetic, hands-on sort of way.  Why did it take me attending an hour-long workshop session to rekindle the idea of teaching my son reading in a different way??  I actually do know the answer to my question.  Because this sort of teaching is going to require much more preparation on my part.  It’s going to require more of my focused time each day.  But, my goodness, it will all be worth it to give him a solid foundation in reading and spelling!  So, on to the review of what I learned…, relearned…, refreshed in my mind.  Yes, I like that one!

First, let me mention Tina’s Yahoo group.  It’s full of ideas, printables, helps, diagnostics……In fact, you may just want to forget reading anything else I’ve written and just go join the group!  In case you’re still with me, following are notes from her handouts and notes I took.

“The wise man builds his house upon the rock.”

Learning to read is similar to this.  The “foundation” of the “house” being “phonological awareness” – being able to notice, think about and manipulate individual sounds in words.  Some examples: rhyming, syllables, understanding that changing letters means changing sounds.

The “walls” built upon the foundation are “phonics”, “vocabulary” and “fluency”.  Phonics is understanding the predictable sound/letter connection.  Vocabulary is understanding word meanings.  Fluency is the ability to read accurately, quickly and with expression.

And the “roof” of the building is “comprehension” – the ability to understand and make sense of what you read.

So, you must start with the foundation – phonological awareness.  (This is from me – Teaching with a multi-sensory approach means you are using more than the visual mode of learning.  You pull in auditory things (having to do with sound), tactile things (having to do with touch), active things (get the body moving) and maybe even taste or smell.  Some children will understand better using one or more of these approaches.  Most workbook style curriculums only use the visual method.) Multi sensory activities for phonological awareness would include:

*reading lots of rhyming books (Dr. Suess)

*saying a word and having your child come up with a rhyming word

*finger tapping or clapping out syllables

*using a manipulative such as magnets on a white board to represent letters.  For example, write cat.  Say cat slowly, emphasizing each sound.  You child pulls downs a magnet for each sound heard.  This helps them begin to understand that each sound has a special place (or reason) for being in the word.

*using magnet letters (or some other type of letter – even notecards) to make a simple word like “at”, then having your child pull down new letters to add to the beginning to make new words – c-at, h-at, b-at

Now, on to phonics to build one of the “walls” of the building.  This is where we teach the letters and correspoding sounds.  Multi-sensory approaches would include things like:

*pulling down magnet letters on a white board as words are sounded out

*putting red chips under consonants and green chips under vowels as they read a word you’ve written on a white board

*laying letter cards on the floor and having the child jump on the letters when they hear the sound

*making little vowel puppets on popsicle sticks and asking your child to hold up the correct stick when you say a word

*laying plastic screen (from craft departments) over large letters you’ve written on paper and asking your children to trace the letter with their finger.  The plastic gives a nice tactile attachment to the letter.  This is good for children who have a hard time writing letters correctly, too.  It’s the same idea as writing letters in sand or rice or shaving cream, but gives more of a bumpy tactile feel on the top of the finger.

Another “wall” to build is vocabulary.  She didn’t go into vocabulary during the workshop.  But I think it would include such things as :

*having vocabulary cards and definition cards that the child matches

*vocabulary charades

*drawing a picture of the words

*using a particular word in a sentence and asking your child to guess whether it was used correctly or not

*building play dough creations of vocabulary words

The final “wall” is fluency.  She didn’t give multi-sensory ideas for fluency, but said that the #1 way to improve fluency is repeated readings of short passages that are at or below the child’s reading level.

And you top the building off with the “roof” of comprehension.  She said children can’t comprehend what they’re reading until the foundation and walls are built.  Again, she didn’t give multi-sensory ideas to improve comprehension, but my experience has been that children will easily comprehend when the other “parts” are in place.  The biggest stumper to comprehension for a younger child seems to be fluency.  As children get older and read more fluently, the biggest stumper in comprehension seems to be unfamiliar vocabulary words or the inability to phonetically break apart long, unfamiliar words.

Tina felt like children needed to be monitored or assessed often in the early days of reading.  Here are some websites she recommended for free assessments:

*Don Potter – phonics books, remedial drills, assessments, articles

*Balanced Reading – early reading assessment

*National Right to Read Foundation – reading competency test

And finally, she recommended a book called All About Spelling to give your child a solid start to spelling and extra phonics help.

Learning is experience.  Everything else is just information.    -Albert Einstein

Although I’m not one for labels, a mom does start to wonder when her seven year old isn’t reading very well after much instruction and still has many letter and number reversals.  I haven’t worried, and still won’t, for a little while longer while I give him a chance to mature, and actually care that he’s not a great reader.

At the same time, Diane offers lots of simple suggestions to assess and help with potential problems.  She offers some advice about adding essential fatty acids to the diet – of boys especially – to help with many potential learning problems.  I always love to hear about natural helps!

I first found her after perusing the Homeschooling Boys site and Yahoo group.  I hope someone else might find her information useful!