Phonics and Reading

How to let our kids enjoy their childhood

2011-06-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

Recently many parents have written to the new education minister complaining that primary schools are too stressful for children, and that kids cannot have a happy childhood under the current system.

I remember that when I was in primary one, we started by learning A, B, C. Now kids are expected to know how to read very well in English before they enter P1 : What to expect in primary one

Honestly, I do not believe that anything will be done to change our education system.

However, I believe that our kids can still enjoy their childhood and at the same time do well in our education system.

I have 2 children, my boy is in P1, and my girl is in P2, both are studying in a neighbourhood primary school. We actually do not feel stressful under the current system. My kids still have quite a lot of time to play every day, after completing their homework. I do not need to make them spend many hours doing assessment books every day. They do not have any tuition or enrichment classes. I am happy with their results in school.

The most important factor that allows my kids to enjoy their childhood is this: they were taught to read well in English by the time they turned five. They can read and understand long English novels like Charlotte's Web before the age of 7. Thanks to effective methods, I only spend fewer than 30 minutes a day teaching them, starting when they're 4 years old. They spend most of their time playing freely.

Both my kids can also read long Chinese novels confidently by P1 :

Reading long Chinese novels by 7 years old

Now in primary school, they only need to spend very little time learning English and Chinese. My kids already know how to spell the words in their spelling list without the need to practise writing them, thanks to their good foundation in phonics. They spend fewer than 15 minutes every day writing the Chinese words for their Ting Xie. They spend more time learning Maths, but I mostly ask them to do Maths assessments only during weekends.

I believe that we can make education very enjoyable for children, and it all depends on the parents, not the teachers in schools. Parents have to understand what is the most effective method to teach children. Between the ages of 3 to 6, instead of forcing kids to do tons of assessment books or practice writing many words eveyday, we should focus on teaching kids to read independently, in both English and Chinese. This can be easily done without sacrificing their childhood.

Quote from an expert:

The 'acquisition of a normal language,' he writes, 'is guaranteed for children up to the age of six, is steadily compromised from then until shortly after puberty, and is rare thereafter'.

When kids are able to read confidently, learning becomes very easy for them.

In fact, my boy has shown me that learning can be very fun and enjoyable. With the ability to read independently since 5 years old, he can spend a few hours a day reading Children's Encyclopedia like these :

He also borrows non-fiction books from his school library :

My boy is of average ability, his attention span used to be less than 5 minutes when he was about 4 years old, and he required more than 20 repetitions in order to remember new words. Now he regularly amazes me by telling me many facts from the books. He learns all these knowledge because of his own interest and initiatives, all I have done is to leave many books around for him. I have never forced him to read Children's Encylopedia. He likes to talk about what he has learned from the books to me, and he is always so enthusiastic. This shows that learning can be very interesting for kids, so long as we do not confine their learning to only school textbooks and assessment books.

I know that my boy's general knowledge is probably not going to translate into perfect grades in school, because what he likes to learn is outside of the MOE syllabus. However, I am willing to continue to nurture his love for acquiring knowledge, instead of making him do many assessment books in order to get perfect grades.

Besides the ability to read, the development of fine motor skills is the next most important skill which is essential for good handwriting.

Instead of making my kids practise writing everyday before 6 years old, I let them play with toys like Lego, ZOOB, K'NEX, LAQ, etc. All these construction toys are excellent for developing fine motor skills and creativity. These toys also train my boy to focus for longer periods of time, and improve his problem solving skills.

Here is a model of a fruit juice blender built by my boy using K'NEX. He learned about how gears work.

My boy also enjoys playing with LAQ :

My boy also likes Origami, another excellent hobby for developing fine motor skills and improving attention span.

His handwriting used to be quite bad when he was 4 to 5 years old, now that he is in P1, his handwriting is quite neat. I did not have to make him practice writing everyday, instead, he spends lots of time playing with the above toys on his own.

My older girl enjoys beading, playing with air-dry clay, sewing, and paper crafts. We used to let her pick up small red beans when she was about 18 months old. She has been writing her own stories since before she turned 5 years old.

Unlike other kids who spend most of their childhood attending enrichment classes and doing assessment books, my kids will remember that they spent most of their childhood playing with toys and reading books that they love.

Finally, if we want our children to really enjoy their childhood, parents must learn to manage their expectations. We should not punish our kids if they do not do well academically, instead, we should always praise and reward our kids for their efforts.

How to encourage a child to write

2010-12-12T22:50:00.000-08:00

Here are two compositions written by my girl when she was in primary one.

Click on the image to read :

My girl started to write just before she turned 5 years old, take a look at the cute little stories that she wrote :

Written by Chloe

She enjoys writing, and she often writes short stories on her own initiative. I have never consciously taught her how to write. I have never asked her to practice writing the same words many times.

Here is what I have done :

1. I taught both my kids to read very well. They read long novels like Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc, when they were 5 years old. I started by teaching them phonics when they were about 3 years old :

How to teach phonics

At the same time, I taught them sight words using the Ladybird Peter and Jane series:

Key words with Ladybird

2. After my kids have completed the Ladybird Peter and Jane series, both of them continued to read many wonderful children's classics like these :

Picture books from my home library

Importance of reading books

Since they read regularly, they have no problem with sentence structures. They naturally know what sounds right, since they have been reading so many good books. If parents just let kids read whatever they like, they will read only books like Beast Quest, Rainbow Magic Fairies, etc. Kids can read hundreds of such books and still cannot write well.

I give my kids the freedom to read whatever they like. But everyday, I ask them to read out loud from a good book of my choice. I choose wonderful books written by the great authors like E.B. White, Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis,Roald Dahl, A. A. Milne, L. Frank Baum, etc, so that my kids can learn the best writing style.

3. Phonics is essential for writing. My kids are strong in phonics, and they are able to spell many words using phonics techniques. There is no need for them to practice writing a word many times.

4. I have lots of pencils and pieces of paper around, so my kids can draw and write whenever they feel like it.

5. I give my kids the freedom to write whatever they want. I give my kids ideas like writing letters, cards, shopping lists, packing lists, recipes, and even the rules of games. Later, they begin to write little stories on their own, whenever they feel inspired. My girl likes to draw and write recipes like these :

6. I did not make my kids practice the same words many times a day. Instead, they spend most of their time playing with toys like Lego, ZOOB, Knex, etc. My girl likes to make jewelry using tiny beads, and my boy likes origami. All these toys and hobbies are excellent for developing fine motor skills. Once a child's fine motor skills are well developed, he will naturally write well. By the age of 6, both my kids are writing very neatly.

7. I did not ask my kids to do assessment books before the age of 6. The best way to learn to write, is not by doing assessment books. In fact, if a child is trained to do assessment books since 4 years old, then he will only be trained to write the model answers. He will slowly lose the ability to write imaginatively.

8. I try to let my kids experience different things, like riding a pony, swinging on the flying trapeze, taking a longtail boat to an uninhabited island, feeding fish on a natural beach, walking in the snow, baking cupcakes, etc. I believe that children write best, when they write about their real life experiences.

9. Allow lots of time for free play and daydreaming. If a child spends all his time doing tons of assessment books and attending enrichment classes, then he will have no time to think creatively, and he will lose this ability as he grows older.

Quote from Daydreaming: Critical to the creative process :

"daydreaming is actually an important element of the creative process, allowing the brain to remix ideas, explore counterfactuals and turn the spotlight of attention inwards. "

How to motivate your child to read

2010-07-25T04:45:00.001-07:00

Most parents recognize the importance of reading books. But we all face the challenge of how to motivate our kids to read on their own.

Both my kids are able to read long English chapter books by their 5th birthday, and they enjoy reading books. I believe that all kids can develop a love for reading, if parents use effective methods.

1. The very first step is to make sure that your kids can read very fluently. All kids like to do things that are very easy to them. If a child struggles when he reads, because there are many words that he does not know how to read, then he will hate reading.

I taught my kids phonics and sight words using the Peter and Jane series at the same. The results are amazing. Read these pages :

How to teach phonics

Key Words with Ladybird

I started teaching them at about 3 years old, both of them finish reading Peter and Jane books 11 and 12 before 5 years old. At that time they were able to read a page of about 200 words in 3 to 5 mins.

2. Even after your child has completed Peter and Jane book 11 or 12, you should continue to spend time reading together with your child every day.

The Children's Reading Foundation in USA advises all parents to spend 20 minutes everyday :

"Just 20 minutes a day reading aloud with young children strengthens relationships, encourages listening and language skills, promotes attention and curiosity, and establishes a strong reading foundation. These skills are essential for success in school and in life."

(Source)

Also read this page about the benefits of reading with your kids :

The Power of Reading Aloud

In my case, since both my kids can read very well, I ask them to read out loud to me everyday. Both of them have finished reading many English chapter books (each of a few hundred pages), and they read every word out loud to me. In this way, I can make sure that they are reading every word correctly, since there are many words in English that are not phonetic. I can also make sure that they really understand what they are reading, by discussing or acting out the story with them. My 6 year old boy's attention span has also improved a lot by reading out loud to me everyday.

Nowadays, after they have read the first chapter, they are eager to find out what happens next, so they will finish reading the entire book on their own. My P1 girl will pick up thick novels like the BFG by Roald Dahl, and finish reading over 1 or 2 days, reading silently on her own. My 6 year old boy likes to read children's encyclopedia on his own.

3. It is important to find books that kids are interested in. For example, my younger boy likes non-fiction books, while my girl likes fantasy and humorous story books.

You may have heard other people suggesting that you just bring your kids to the library. The fact is that there are hundreds of books in the library, and many books are very boring. It is not easy to find a really good book that can truly captivate a child. Parents should can do research to find the best books. One good resource is www.amazon.com. A book that has many 5 star reviews is definitely worth reading. I have found many wonderful books at amazon.com, then I either borrow from the library, or buy them from amazon.

4. If a child is not willing to read on his own, my advise is to give him books that are below his reading level. For example, if a child is reading Peter and Jane level 6, then give him books that are equivalent to level 3 or 4. Kids will find these books very easy to read and are more motivated to read them.

5. Also, note that a 5 year old child may be able to finish reading Peter and Jane book 11, but his level of understanding is still that of a 5 year old. He may not be able to understand books that have complex plots. So he should still read books suitable for 5 year old kids. Give him books with lots of text, and lots of beautiful pictures, these will help him understand that story. All the books in this page can be understood by kids age 4 to 6 years old :

Picture books from my home library

If you find that your child is able to understand books that have more complicated plots, then you can give her books meant for older kids :

The importance of reading books

6. Parents should show interest in reading books too ! I actually have not read many of the children's classics that my kids are reading. So whenever I received a book (from amazon) or borrowed a book from the library, I will read the book first. My hubby reads the children's books too. Then we often discuss about interesting parts of the book in front of the kids. This is an excellent way to get them interested in the book.

If parents only turn on the TV or sit in front of the computer, then kids will also prefer to do the same, instead of reading books.

7. I limit TV to 1 hour a day. My kids do not have any handheld electronic games. They can use the computer only for a short time during the weekends. A child who spends hours playing PSP will have no interest in reading books. Even when you take away the PSP, he will still be thinking about it.
My kids have lots of toys like Lego, ZOOB, Geotrax, etc, these are good toys that can help develop their creativity and fine motor skills, and they don't get addicted to these toys. So when they are bored with the toys, they will read books.

8. Surround kids with books at home ! I have over 500 children's books at home. My kids like to read the same books over and over again, so it is really a good investment.

9. Reward your child for reading ! When my kids were younger, I gave some small rewards everyday, like watching their favourite DVD (we only have Leapfrog and Little Einstein DVDs which are very educational) for 30 mins after they have read, or a small piece of sweet, or a trip downstairs to the playground. They each get a bigger reward when they complete a book of a few hundred pages, like stickers, or an outing (which I have already planned to go, but on condition that they must finish reading) .

After many months, reading has become a routine to them, so they don't need any daily rewards anymore. But I still give them a small reward when they finish reading a long English novel, because they have made me very happy.

Children's books about hardship and survival

2010-07-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

I always believe that reading is not only about learning grammar and vocabulary so as to get high marks in exams. More importantly, children can learn about good morals and values, life experiences and a wide variety of knowledge by reading good books.

Many children in Singapore are not motivated to study, because they have never experienced hunger before. They take it for granted that their parents will always be around to take care of them. I want my kids to read children's books about hardship and survival, so that they learn to be grateful for what they have.

I just finished reading this wonderful book :

The House of Sixty Fathers

Meindert Dejong (Author) Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

I highly recommend this book for all kids above the age of 9, and for all adults. For younger kids, it is best for parents to read it with them.

The story is about a young Chinese boy Tien Pao who was separated from his parents during the Japanese invasion of China. With only his pig for company, Tien Pao had to fight for his own survival. He faced starvation and had to eat leaves to survive. He witnessed other young children who were so hungry that they ate mud. Tien Pao rescued an American airman from the Japanese, and he was lucky to be brought to the barracks where sixty American soldiers took care of him, becoming his sixty fathers. But Tien Pao longed to be united with his father and mother.

Tien Pao is one of the strongest characters in all the children's books that I have read. I admired him for the fact that even though he knew that he would have a life of poverty and hunger with his parents, he still wanted to return to them instead of living in comfort with his sixy American fathers. Children learn about the value of the family, and that no amount of money can replace the love of their parents. I also liked that the fact that no matter how hungry Tien Pao was, he never thought of eating his little pig which he regarded as his real friend. In fact, he fought hard to keep his pig from being eaten by other hungry people.

Many of our grandparents and relatives in China may have encountered the same hardship as Tien Pao and the Chinese people in the book. So this book is excellent for teaching our children about what our forefathers had suffered.

I also like the writing style of the author, Meindert DeJong. His style is very simple and straightforward. His work clearly shows that substance is much more important than style.

Here is a very good review of the book :

Meindert DeJong is one of the great authors at writing interesting, emotionally involved stories for younger readers, using the kind of uncomplicated sentence structures that have universal appeal while also serving as a superb introduction to fine literature. (Source)

Here is another good book about hardship and courage :

The Courage of Sarah Noble

Alice Dalgliesh (Author) Leonard Weisgard (Illustrator)

This book is recommended for all kids above 4 years old.

In 1707, 8 year old Sarah Noble and her father traveled through the wilderness to build a new home for their family. Although Sarah had a few brothers and sisters, she was the only one who volunteered to travel with her father to cook for him. They had to survive in the wilderness, living in a cave while Sarah's father built the home. When the new home was completed, Sarah's father had to travel back to fetch Sarah's mother and siblings. Sarah had to stay with a native Indian family while waiting for her father to return. She developed a love for the native Indians who took care of her.

This Newbery honor book is based on a true story. The writing is beautiful, but very easy for young children to understand. Although this story was written a few hundred years ago, I find that it is still relevant in the multi-racial society of Singapore today. The book teaches children that we must respect people of different races and live in harmony. The book also teaches children to help their parents through difficult times.

Other good books about hardship :

The Little House on the Prairie (also all other books in the series)

Laura Ingalls Wilder (Author) Garth Williams (Illustrator)

The Adventures of Pinocchio

Carlo Collodi (Author) Roberto Innocenti (Illustrator)

Read my blog about other good books that teach important lessons :

The importance of reading books

All the books are available in the National Library.

Here is a guide of how to teach your child to read and be well prepared for primary one.

What to expect in Primary One

2010-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

When I was in primary one many years ago, the teacher only started to teach A, B, Cs. Many of my classmates did not go to kindergarten.

Kindergarten is still not compulsory now. But children are expected to know so much more before entering primary school.

My girl studies in a neighbourhood primary school in Jurong West. The school is using the Stellar program, which means that they use story books to teach English. Kids are not allowed to bring the story books back home. I asked the teacher and she showed me the story books in the classroom. The books are very simple, only one sentence of 5 to 6 words a page.

However, the school's English workbooks are not easy. The following photo shows a page from the workbook. A primary one child is expected to be able to read and understand a passage like this as early as February.
The child is expected to know how to answer these questions :

The following photo shows a question from the Maths workbook. Kids are expected to read and understand questions like this by March.

It takes a lot of time for kids to learn how to read this well. In order to read at this level, I believe that kids have to start learning the language no later than 3 years old. In fact, most parents start to send their kids to pre-schools from as young as 18 months old.

It is entirely possible to teach a child to read very well at home. In fact, no enrichment classes and pre-schools can promise this type of standards. Parents are the best teachers !

The following is a guide.

One to two years old :
First Step - Teaching A B C
It is very important for the child to know all the 26 phonics letter sounds very well. Do not rush the child, give him enough time to learn. My boy was only learning the 26 letters before he turned 3 years 3 months old.
At the same time, develop a love of books :
Wonderful books for kids from birth to 3 years old

Three to Four years old :
The child can start to learn phonics :
How to teach phonics
When the child knows how to join 3 letters to form a word, you must start teaching sight words using the Key Words (Peter and Jane) series :
Key Words with Ladybird

Five to Six years old :
Both my kids completed the Peter and Jane book 11 and 12 before they turned 5 years old. By then they are able to read long English novels. The child must continue to read out loud everyday, even after completing the Peter and Jane series. Parents should continue to choose good books that interest the kids :

Reading confidently at a very young age
Developing a love for reading
The importance of reading books

Note that every child progresses at a different pace, here is a guide :

If a child can complete the Peter and Jane book 6a and 6b before entering primary one, he is already very well prepared.

Teaching a child to read very well at a very young age, is not only about preparing for primary school. You are teaching the child the most valuable skill that will be essential for lifelong learning.

Picture books from my home library

2010-03-29T01:40:00.001-07:00

We have a home library of a few hundred children's books. Here is a list of wonderful picture books that we have. All the following books have pictures on every page. The reading level refers to the Ladybird Peter and Jane series. For example, reading level 4 means that if the child is able to read Peter and Jane book 4 fluently, then he should be able to read the book, with a little help from parents.

Kids may be able to finish Peter and Jane level 12 before the age of 6, but parents should still make sure that they read as many picture books are possible. I have heard of kids who are able to read Roald Dahl books, as in they are able to pronounce the words, but they are not able to understand what they are reading.

I read the following in the internet :
No matter if they are reading above grade level when they are between the ages of 5-9, their books should always contain some pictures to help them develop their comprehension. He may be able to read at 5, but the development of visual perception probably isn't at the same level. Pictures will continue to help develop this very important skill. (Source)

My kids have read all these books and they really enjoyed reading the books. In fact, the following books are suitable for all ages. Parents will enjoy reading them too ! All the following books are available from the National Library. (http://www.nlb.gov.sg/) I bought almost all the books from www.amazon.com, many of these books are not available in local bookshops.

Title : The story of Ferdinand
Author : Munro Leaf
Reading level : 4
Amazon Review :
Ferdinand is a little bull who much prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree-- just smelling the flowers--to jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. This cow is no coward--he simply has his pacifist priorities clear. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow, until the day he meets with the wrong end of a bee. In a show of bovine irony, the one day Ferdinand is most definitely not sitting quietly under the cork tree (due to a frightful sting), is the selfsame day that five men come to choose the "biggest, fastest, roughest bull" for the bullfights in Madrid.
Ferdinand's day in the arena gives readers not only an education in the historical tradition of bullfighting, but also a lesson in nonviolent tranquility. Robert Lawson's black-and-white drawings are evocative and detailed, with especially sweet renditions of Ferdinand, the serene bull hero. The Story of Ferdinand closes with one of the happiest endings in the history of happy endings--readers of all ages will drift off to a peaceful sleep, dreaming of sweet-smelling flowers and contented cows.

Title : The Empty Pot
Author : Demi
Reading Level : 4
Amazon Review:
Ping is a Chinese boy with an emerald green thumb; he can make anything grow "as if by magic." One day the Emperor announces that he needs a successor, someone who can carry on after he is gone with the ruling of the kingdom and the growing of the flowers. He gives each child one seed, and the one who grows the best flower will take over after him. Competition is fierce, and Ping is heartbroken that nothing comes up, despite his careful tending. On the day of the competition, he is the only child with an empty pot; all the others brings lush plants. But the Emperor has tricked everyone by distributing cooked seeds, unable to grow; and Ping, with his empty pot, is the only honest gardener--and the winner. Extraordinarily delicate Oriental landscapes in round frames show Chinese architecture, foliage, native birds and clothing in a delightful way. And the story contains an important lesson on the worth of individual strength and honesty.

Title : The Giving Tree
Author : Shel Silverstein
Reading Level : 5
Amazon Review:
In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple line drawings, a tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs. When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump so he can craft a boat out of her trunk. He unthinkingly does it. At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a pathetic solitary stump, poignantly cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. + T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really." When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services, and he sits on it. "And the tree was happy." While the message of this book is unclear (Take and take and take? Give and give and give? Complete self-sacrifice is good? Complete self-sacrifice is infinitely sad?), Silverstein has perhaps deliberately left the book open to interpretation.

My kids absolutely love this book !
Title : Lafcadio The Lion Who Shot Back
Author : Shel Silverstein
Reading Level : 10
Amazon Review :
First published in 1963, the late Shel Silverstein's children's book debut Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, will resonate with young readers much as it did 40 years ago. The affable narrator Uncle Shelby's story begins: "Once there was a young lion and his name was--well, I don't really know what his name was because he lived in the jungle with a lot of other lions and if he did have a name it certainly wasn't a name like Joe or Ernie or anything like that." That all changes, however, when a circus man discovers the lion's skills as a marksman (the lion took a gun from a hunter he ate) and names him Lafcadio the Great. When the circus man takes Lafcadio to New York City, the story takes on a certain Crocodile Dundee quality--the lion eats the menu at a fancy restaurant, demands marshmallows (he likes the sound of them), and is captivated by the hotel elevator. As Lafcadio becomes more civilized and rich and famous, however, he becomes more unhappy. In the end, to entertain the increasingly despondent star, the circus man takes Lafcadio hunting in Africa where he encounters his old lion friends on the other end of his gun. Is Lafcadio now a man or is he a lion? He decides he is neither and wanders alone into the valley. In typical Silverstein style, this exuberantly-silly-yet-poignant fable, illustrated with simple, expressive line drawings, asks more questions than it answers. The glee the author derives from wordplay and the sound of language is positively contagious. This read-aloud classic belongs on every child's bookshelf.

Title : Love you Forever
Author : Robert Munsch
Reading Level : 6
Amazon Review :
The mother sings to her sleeping baby: "I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be." She still sings the same song when her baby has turned into a fractious 2-year-old, a slovenly 9-year-old, and then a raucous teen. So far so ordinary--but this is one persistent lady. When her son grows up and leaves home, she takes to driving across town with a ladder on the car roof, climbing through her grown son's window, and rocking the sleeping man in the same way. Then, inevitably, the day comes when she's too old and sick to hold him, and the roles are at last reversed. Each stage is illustrated by one of Sheila McGraw's comic and yet poignant pastels.

Title : The Paper Bag Princess
Author : Robert Munsch
Reading Level : 5
Amazon Review:
Elizabeth, a beautiful princess, lives in a castle and wears fancy clothes. Just when she is about to marry Prince Ronald, a dragon smashes her castle, burns her clothes with his fiery breath, and prince-naps her dear Ronald. Undaunted and presumably unclad, she dons a large paper bag and sets off to find the dragon and her cherished prince. Once she's tracked down the rascally reptile, she flatters him into performing all sorts of dragonly stunts that eventually exhaust him, allowing her to rescue Prince Ronald. But what does Prince Not-So-Charming say when he sees her? "You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess." (At least he has the courtesy not to mention that the princess's crown resembles a dying sea anemone.) In any case, let's just say that Princess Elizabeth and Prince Ronald do not, under any circumstances, live happily ever after. Canadian author Robert Munsch celebrates feisty females everywhere with this popular favorite, and Michael Martchenko's scratchy, comical, pen-and-ink drawings capture the tongue-in-cheek quality of this read-aloud crowd pleaser.

Title : The Art Lesson
Author : Tomie dePaola
Reading Level : 5
Amazon Review:
This is a charming exercise in autobiography (one of several) by the great author-illustrator Tomie dePaola. "Tommy" is consumed with a passion for drawing. Although encouraged by his family, who treat his pictures with respect and decorate their houses and workplaces with them, he encounters misunderstanding and frustration at school. Finally, an art teacher gives him a chance to do his own thing. The Art Lesson is filled with many full-page illustrations in dePaola's inimitably warm, soothing style. It's also packed with the right lessons on individuality and perseverance, especially for children who are already showing a single-minded interest or special talents that put them ahead of their peers.

Title : The knight and the dragon
Author : Tomie dePaola
Reading Level : 4
Amazon Review:
What happens when a sheepish knight and a not-so-fierce dragon fight for the very first time? Well, it's no ordinary battle since the knight has to go to the castle library to learn about dragon-fighting and the dragon must dig through his ancestor's things to find out how to fight a knight! Spontaneity of line and feeling are backed by zesty colors and a jovial, tongue-in-cheek tone to which children can relate.

Title : The complete adventures of Curious George
Author : H.A. Rey
Reading Level : 5
Book Summary from Common Sense Media:
What happens when you take a curious monkey out of the jungle and set him loose in the big city? When the monkey is Curious George, the answer is chaos ... and a whole lot of fun! It's one adventure after another until he is arrives happily at the zoo.

Title : Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Author : Judi Barrett
Reading Level : 10
Amazon Review :
The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast lunch and dinner.
But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers.
Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagued by damaging floods and storms of huge food. the town was a mess and the people feared for their lives.
Something had to be done, and in a hurry.

Title : The cat in the hat
Author : Dr. Suess
Reading Level : 4
Amazon Review:
He may be an old standby, but he never lets us down. When in doubt, turn to the story of the cat that transformed a dull, rainy afternoon into a magical and just-messy-enough adventure. There's another, hidden adventure, too: this book really will help children learn to read. With his simple and often single-vowel vocabulary, the good Doctor knew what he was doing: hear it, learn it, read it--laughing all the way. The Cat in the Hat is a must for any child's library.

Title : Green Eggs and Ham
Author : Dr. Suess
Reading Level : 4
Amazon Review:
Sam-I-am is as persistent as a telemarketer, changing as many variables as possible in the hopes of convincing the nameless skeptic that green eggs and ham are a delicacy to be savored. He tries every manner of presentation with this "nouveau cuisine"--in a house, with a mouse, in a box, with a fox, with a goat, on a boat--to no avail. Then finally, finally the doubter caves under the tremendous pressure exerted by the tireless Sam-I-am. And guess what? Well, you probably know what happens, but even after reading Green Eggs and Ham the thousandth time, the climactic realization that green eggs and ham are "so good, so good, you see" is still a rush. As usual, kids will love Dr. Seuss's wacky rhymes and whimsical illustrations--and this time, they might even be so moved as to finally take a taste of their broccoli.

Title : Percy Park Keeper : A classic treasury
Author : Nick Butterworth
Reading Level : 6
Amazon Review :
Percy the Park Keeper loves to spend time with his animal friends, and his work in the park keeps him very busy. Wherever Percy is, his animal friends are never far away. The animals often need Percy's help, and he is always there to lend a hand. Read about what happened when a chilly fox needed warming up, or when a dirty badger was offered a bath. Find out how Percy helped an unhappy hedgehog hold a balloon, or a squirrel find her lost acorns. And laugh along as the animals take charge when Percy isn't feeling well—with very surprising results! A treasure trove of endearing tales.
Note : This book is not available for sale anywhere. I borrowed this book from the library.

Title : Jenny Goes to Sea
Author : Esther Averill
Reading Level : 10
Amazon Review:
In Jenny Goes to Sea, Greenwich Village-based black cat Jenny Linsky travels around the world on the good ship Sea Queen with her master, Captain Tinker, and her adopted brothers, tiger cat Edward, and black-and-white cat, Checkers. Once on board, they meet the adventurous ship's cat, Jack Tar.
Leaving New York's harbor, they travel to Africa and Asia, and return through the Panama Canal. At each port they meet a colorful local cat who shows them around. Jenny and her pals have their fortunes told by an Abyssinian cat in Zanzibar, dance the sailor's hornpipe in Singapore with Bobo the Burmese, another ship's cat who was left behind, and float with Siamese cat Dara in a sampan boat on a Bangkok river on a most wonderful adventure.
Note : There are a few other books in this series

Title : Mercy Watson to the Rescue
Author : Kate DiCamillo
Reading Level : 5
Amazon Review :
Mercy Watson, a disarmingly charming pig adopted by a loving human family, makes her debut in this new series of chapter books for beginning readers. After the Watsons tuck Mercy into bed with a sweet song and a kiss, she feels warm inside, as if she has just eaten hot toast with a great deal of butter on it. However, afraid of the dark, she snuggles into bed with the couple. Moments later, all three are rudely awakened from their lovely dreams with a BOOM! as their bed falls into a hole that has opened in the floor beneath them. In hot pursuit of buttered toast, the porcine wonder inadvertently gets help and saves the day. Along the way, she causes great, humorous distress to the next-door Lincoln sisters. Van Dusen's bright gouache illustrations have a jovial exaggerated style and capture the sometimes frantic action and silliness of Mercy's heroic escapade.
Note : There are a few other books in this series

Title : The Cobble Street Cousins Series (6 books)
Author: Cynthia Rylant
Reading Level : 10
Amazon Review :
Nine-year-old cousins Lily, Rosie, and Tess are roommates in their aunt's home while their parents tour with a ballet company for a year. In A Little Shopping, the girls build a dollhouse replica of their aunt's flower shop to surprise her. In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen tells how the cousins decide to form a cookie company and meet a number of people in the community during their brief business adventure. Subplots involve playing cupid between their aunt and a customer and putting on a theatrical show for newfound friends. These titles fill the gap between easy readers and beginning chapter books. Halperin's soft pencil drawings scattered throughout add detail and just the right touch of fun to the stories. Sweet and refreshing, these books beg for a plate of freshly baked cookies and a comfortable reading chair.

Title : Flat Stanley, his original adventure !
Author : Jeff Brown
Reading Level : 7
Amazon Review :
Poor Stanley. He's a perfectly normal boy until one morning he wakes up flat. After his parents peel the incriminating bulletin board off of him, Stanley must adjust to life as a pancake. He is a boy who takes this kind of thing in stride, though, and soon he's enjoying the advantages of squashedness. Sliding under closed doors is fun, and it's gratifying to be of use to his mother when she drops her ring through a narrow metal grating. Expensive plane fare to California? No problem. Svelte Stanley folds comfortably into a brown paper envelope. There's even room left over in there for an egg-salad sandwich. But Stanley's true moment of glory comes when a gang of thieves begins stealing paintings from the Famous Museum of Art. The case seems hopeless--until our two-dimensional hero saves the day. Here is one boy who doesn't let his profile-challenged body stop him from living life fully--that is, until his brother finds a way to help him become well rounded again. Jeff Brown's matter-of-fact tone and Tomi Ungerer's witty and engaging drawings tickle the funny bone, making this 1964 classic a perennial favorite.

My boy loves this book very much ! This is not exactly a picture book, it is actually a chapter book. There is at least one full page of picture after every 2 to 3 pages of text. This is a wonderful book and must be read by all children.

Title : Three Tales of My Father's Dragon
Author : Ruth Stiles Gannett
Reading Level : 10
Amazon Review :
My Father's Dragon--a favorite of young readers since the 1940s and a Newbery honor book--captures the nonsensical logic of childhood in an amusingly deadpan fashion. The story begins when Elmer Elevator (the narrator's father as a boy) runs away with an old alley cat to rescue a flying baby dragon being exploited on a faraway island. With the help of two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, chewing gum, and a fine-toothed comb, Elmer disarms the fiercest of beasts on Wild Island. The quirky, comical adventure ends with a heroic denouement: the freeing of the dragon. Abundant black-and-white lithographs by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author's stepmother) add an evocative, lighthearted mood to an already enchanting story. Author Ruth Stiles Gannett's stand-alone sequel, Elmer and the Dragon, and her third volume, The Dragons of Blueland both received starred reviews in School Library Journal and are as fresh and original as her first.

Title : Dinosaur Trouble
Author : Dick King Smith
Reading Level : 10

Amazon Review :
Nosy, a newly hatched pterodactyl, emerges from his shell peppering his mother with questions. From her answers he quickly learns a number of big words about himself: nidifugous, pterodactyl, pulchritudinous, and nomenclature. And that’s just in the first four pages. His utter faith in his mother’s wisdom falters when he spies a young apatosaurus by the river, whom his mother dismisses as a second-class creature. (At the same time, the apatosaurus mother calls the pterodactyls much inferior to us.) Nosy seeks out the dino anyway, and the two eventually unite their families. Together they devise a plan to end the Tyrannosaurus rex’s reign of terror and have more success than anticipated. Much of the book’s humor relies on wordplay and the juxtaposition of the clever mothers next to their dim-witted husbands. Frequent black-and-white cartoon illustrations, both inset and full page, enliven the text and add a light comic tone. Complex vocabulary and sentence structure make this book a good fit for advanced young readers or as a read-aloud.

Title : Winnie-the-pooh
Author : A.A. Milne

Reading Level : 10
A wonderful classic that should be read by every child. This is technically a chapter book, not a picture book, but there are pictures on almost every page.

Other good books in my home library :
Title : The Poky Little Puppy
Author : Janette Sebring Lowrey
Reading Level : 5

Title : We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Author : Michael Rosen
Reading Level : 4

Title : The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
Author : Don Wood
Reading Level : 4

Title : THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
Author : Eric Carle
Reading Level : 4

Title : WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Author : Maurice Sendak
Reading Level : 4

Title : Little Polar Bear (around 6 books in this series)
Author : Hans De Beer
Reading Level : 7

Title : Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, Ottoline goes to school
Author : Chris Riddell
Reading Level : 8

Title: Westlandia
Author : Paul Fleischman
Reading Level : 12

Title: The librarian who measured the earth
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Reading Level : 12

Sharing something that I read :
Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute. (Source)

The importance of reading books

2010-03-03T16:55:00.000-08:00

My daughter, who is 7 years old now, only started to learn phonics and reading when she was 3 years 8 months old. Before that, I was too busy to teach her to read.

She learned phonics for about 11 months, after that, she was still not able to read fluently. Then she read the Peter and Jane series books 8a, 9a, 10a, 11a, 12a and 12b over the next few months. By the time she finished book 12b, she was reading very fluently.

Just before her 5th birthday, she started to read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.
Charlotte's Web was my English literature textbook when I was in Sec 1 in Raffles Girls' Secondary School. I was amazed that my girl could read Charlotte's Web at 5 years old. There were some difficult words that she did not know, but she could read most of the words without any help.

Charlotte's Web is a masterpiece, widely regarded as the best book written for children. It is also the all time best selling children's book (before Harry Potter). The book teaches the importance of friendship, and about life and death. My favourite quote from the book :

"'Why did you do all this for me?" he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'"

The following are some of the wonderful children's classics that she has read. All the books are original and unabridged, except for Gulliver.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl (Author)
My girl found this book very funny, she was giggling very often as she read the book. She learned about the consequences of bad behaviour, and the importance of good behaviour. I like the part of the book that describes poverty and hunger. Charlie's family is so poor that they can only afford to eat cabbage soup every day. Most children in Singapore never experience hunger, and I think they should read books like this so that they know how lucky they are.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum (Author)
W.W. Denslow (Illustrator)
My girl was captivated by the exciting adventures in the book. She read the entire book silently on her own. I bought her the original version of the book, with wonderful illustrations by W.W. Denslow. The book teaches the importance of friendship, as Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion helped each other through dangers and hardships. It is also wildly imaginative, filled with interesting and fascinating characters.

The Little House on the Prairie
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Author)
Garth Williams (Illustrator)
The book was about a 5 year old girl Laura, who traveled with her family and settled on the prairie, about 130 years ago. At first I was not sure whether my girl will like the book, since some of the chapters are not easy to read. For example, one chapter describes in detail how the father built the little log house, entirely by hand. Another chapter describes how the entire family were infected by malaria and almost died. But my girl identified herself with Laura, who was the same age as her. She was also attracted to the lovely illustrations by Garth Williams. She told me that she liked the book very much. The book teaches about how to survive in the wilderness, how to endure hardships, and about a family sticking together.

The Adventures of Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi (Author)
Roberto Innocenti (Illustrator)
I first saw this book in the library. I was so impressed by the magnificent illustrations, that I immediately ordered a copy from www.amazon.com. This edition features a translation of the full, unabridged text. The original Pinocchio is very different from Disney's version. The story is very dark, and some of the events are frightening for young children. My girl, who just turned 6 years old when she read this book, is matured enough, and she enjoyed reading the book very much. She learned about the terrible consequences of bad behaviour, and more importantly, that a good child should love and take care of his/her parents when they are old and sick, like what Pinocchio finally learned to do at the end of the book. As a parent, I learned that when a child would not change his bad behaviour no matter how hard we tried, then the best way for him to learn is to let him suffer the consequences.

The Trumpet of the Swan
E. B. White (Author)
Fred Marcellino (Illustrator)
This is another masterpiece written by E.B. White, author of Charlotte's Web. I think that every parent and child should read this book. The story is about a trumpeter swan, Louis. He does not have a voice. Louis learned to read and write with the help of a boy, and also learned to play beautiful music with a trumpet stolen by his father. He worked very hard to repay his father's debt, and in the end, he saved up enough money for his father to pay back the trumpet. His wonderful music also helped him to win the love of beautiful swan.
My girl likes this book better than Charlotte's Web. It is deeply moving, and at the same time very funny. She learned that children should work very hard for a better future, and to repay their parents' kindness.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice Through the looking glass

Lewis Carroll (Author)

Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)
The original books are difficult for a 6 year old child to understand. So I found this edition, with the unabridged text, and very lovely illustrations to help my girl understand better. Though the original text is difficult to read, she happily read every page. Each page is filled with absurd encounters and funny characters, this book can truly fire a child's imagination.

The Happy Prince
The Selfish Giant
Oscar Wilde (Author)
I have always loved the story of The Happy Prince. But I only read the abridged version when I was a child. I bought the original text written by Oscar Wilde for my girl. I found myself reading the short story over and over again, and each time I was deeply moved. Oscar Wilde's writing is incredibly beautiful, and easy for a child to understand. The story teaches my girl about compassion for the poor, self sacrifice, and friendship. Every child should read the original version of this book.
Every child should also read The Selfish Giant, also written by Oscar Wilde. The story teaches the important value of generosity and sharing.

The Boxcar Children
Gertrude Chandler Warner (Author)
When I first borrowed this book from the library, my girl finished reading within a couple of hours. The next day, she read the book from the beginning again.
The story is about 4 sibling who have recently lost their parents and on the run from their grandfather whom they have never met. It is a very rare children's book that shows how children can survive on their own without adults. It teaches about how to be resourceful, responsibility, and how siblings should love and take care of each other.

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver
Jonathan Swift (Author)
Martin Jenkins (Editor)
Chris Riddell (Illustrator)
Gulliver's Travels is a classic of English Literature, it is required reading for many high school students in USA. The book is considered one of the best examples of satire ever written. Swift's sharp observations about the corruption of people and their institutions still ring true today, almost three hundred years after the book was first published.
Children may not completely understand the human satire, but they will be absolutely fascinated by the fantastic voyages of Gulliver.
The version that I bought is a very good adaption that is true to the original story, yet it is more easily understood by young children. Every page of the book contains excellent illustrations by Chris Riddell. My girl enjoyed reading the book. I actually asked her to stop after she completed the first 2 voyages, because I thought that the last 2 voyages may be too difficult for her to understand. However, she insisted on completing the whole book, and I am surprised at her level of understanding. Though my girl read and enjoyed this book at 6 years old, it is probably more suitable to children 12 years old and above.

Swift powerfully exploits his imaginative resources to ask unsettling questions about politics, science and human nature. It may not be suitable for kids, but it is literature of the very highest order. (Source:Gulliver's Travels)

Matilda
Roald Dahl (Author)
Matilda is about an extraordinarily gifted young girl who has idiot parents. When she goes to school, she encounters a beastly head mistress who terrorizes both students and teachers. Children can be inspired by Matilda's courage to stand up to bullies, and that extremely intelligent children like her should also be nice and compassionate towards others.

Weslandia
Paul Fleischman (Author)
Kevin Hawkes (Illustrator)
My girl likes this book very much, and she has read this book many times. She loves to examine the beautiful illustrations. It is about a boy, Wesley, who creates a whole new civilization in his backyard. The book not only explains what is a civilization, it also teaches children about individuality.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis (Author)
Four siblings walk through a wardrobe and discover a fantasy world called Narnia. They experience compassion, bravery, generosity, greed and betrayal, sacrifice, martyrdom, suffering and redemption on their way to maturity before ascending to their rightful places in Narnian history.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

Hugh Lofting(Author)

A brilliant story about a doctor who could understand the languages of animals.

Quote from the afterword in the book :

"The message that Hugh Lofting conveyed throughout his work was one of respect for life and the rights of all who share the common destiny of our world."

The mouse and the motorcycle

Beverly Cleary (Author)

A lonely boy befriends a talking mouse who falls in love with his toy motorcycle. Children learn about the meaning of friendship, forgiveness, and helping each other.

The Velveteen Rabbit

Margery Williams (Author)

The book tells the story of a toy rabbit who wishes to become real. It is a classic tale of love, friendship and learning to be yourself

Mrs Piggle Wiggle

Betty MacDonald (Author)

Amazon review:

"Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has been wildly popular with children and adults for over 50 years. Children adore her because she understands them--and because her upside-down house is always filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies, and her backyard with buried treasure. Grownups love her because her magical common sense solutions to children's problems succeed when their own cajoling and yelling don't. For the child who refuses to bathe, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle recommends letting her be. Wait until the dirt on her body has accumulated to half an inch, then scatter radish seeds on her arms and head. When the plants start sprouting, the nonbather is guaranteed to change her mind about that bath."

Mary Poppins

Dr. P. L. Travers (Author), Mary Shepard (Illustrator)

I enjoyed reading Mary Poppins as much as my girl. Mary Poppins is a nanny who makes ordinary events extraordinary. I learned how children should be treated, firmly and strictly, but still allowing them to enjoy their childhood. My girl learned that bad behaviour can get a child into trouble, and she really enjoyed reading the magical adventures of the children in the book.

Prince Caspian

C. S. Lewis (Author), Pauline Baynes (Illustrator)

This book, together with The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe, are part of the Chronicles of Narnia.

As a very busy full time working mommy, it is really wonderful to listen to my girl read all these classics to me everyday. I have not read many of these books before, and I find myself learning so much along with my girl. Reading is not only about learning grammar, vocabulary and comprehension. More importantly, we learn about good morals and values, life experiences and a wide variety of knowledge.

Many experts advise parents to read to their kids. But I find that it is so much better to teach a child to read as early as possible, and then ask her to read out loud instead. My girl has a deep understanding of the story, and she is able to remember many details of the books that even I have forgotten.

Wonderful books for kids from birth to 3 years old

2010-03-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a very good article :

How to get children interested in reading ?

In order to make a child love reading, the key is to find books that he/she loves.

I do not believe in making my kids sit still and listen to me before the age of 3. So I bought books that they can touch and play with.

My kids used to love this book very much : Kipper's Balloon by Mick Inkpen
Every day, they made me read it over and over again to them. I must have read it a few hundred times to them.

It has very simple words, and very cute pictures.

Most importantly, the book has wonderful pop-ups. Lift this flap:

and you see this !
My kids went crazy whenever they came to this page :
They love lollipops!

I do not expect children below the age of 3 to be interested in words. So nice pictures and amazing pop-ups play a very important part. I want my kids to think that books are equivalent to fun ! And Kipper's Balloon succeeded in making them think that way.

Sadly Kipper's Balloon cannot be found in local bookstores, or in www.amazon.com anymore, only used copies are available.

But there are many more interesting books out there that your child will love, try to look for them ! I have many other pop-up books for my kids.

Here's another series of books that my kids love :

The child can push or pull something on every page, very good for their itchy fingers.

I have often heard of mommies complaining that their young children cannot sit still to listen to a book, and that the kids keep trying to grab the book and turn the pages. It is perfectly normal for kids to behave this way. These books are designed for young kids to touch ! They can push and pull the flaps on every page.

These books use opposites to teach words, and the pushing and pulling of the flaps help the child to remember the words better.

This is an amazing pop up book : Picture Pops Dinosaur
A complete Stegasaurus popping up from the pages, and folds back neatly into the book. Every page of the book has a pop up dinosaur.

My boy used to love trucks and he loved this book:
Picture Pops Machines
My boy also likes these pop-up books very much :
Pop-up Jungle IQ
Pop-up Ocean IQ

My kids like the Poppy Cat series very much.
Every page has a different texture, and the baby is encouraged to touch. Like this page, the cats' paw prints are actually sticky. On other pages, the baby can touch the cat's furry tummy.

Here's another book they like.
They can turn the wheels to change the picture. Great for babies to develop their fine motor skills too.

My kids used to fight for this book : Wanda's Washing Machine

There is actually a pop up washing machine inside. The kids can take out the pieces of "clothes", throw into the washing machine and pretend to wash.

When my kids were babies, they knew that they had something to do on every page, and they were allowed to use their itchy fingers to touch the book. So they learned from a very young age to listen to me read every page, before they can touch it. They love some of the books so much, they made me read to them over and over again, sometimes up to 10 times in one night !

Some of the above books may not be available any more. But parents can look out for other books with similar features.

Developing a love for reading

2010-02-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

My boy, now 5 years 5 months old, is reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum, the original and unabridged version. He reads a few pages out loud to me everyday.

I help him to understand the book better, by acting out the story. We used soft toys to represent the different characters, as shown in this photo:

The kangaroo played the cowardly lion, the monkey played the scarecrow, the rabbit played Dorothy, and the dog played Toto. My boy played the Tin Woodman. The photo shows the exciting scene when Dorothy and her friends were being chased by the scary monster, played by the little bear. When they reached a very deep gulf, the Tin Woodman chopped down a tree (the bolster), so that Dorothy and the others can cross the gulf. When the monster followed them across the tree, the Tin Woodman chopped away the end of tree, and the tree crashed into the gulf carrying the monsters with it.
My boy really enjoyed moving the toys around to act out the story, and he is very excited when he played the Tin Woodman. The best thing was that he started to imagine alternative plots to act out with the toys.

Here are the 2 pages from the book that describes the exciting adventure :

When Dorothy and her friends reached the Emerald City, they were required to put on spectacles with green glasses :

My boy did not understand why they must put on the spectacles, so I made our own spectacles to help him understand that everything appears green when he looks through the green plastic film. My boy had a lot of fun helping me make the spectacles :
After making and trying on the spectacles, he kept asking me to let him read the book ! He is fascinated by the book and cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Before the Wizard of Oz, he finished reading the original Winnie-the-pooh by A.A. Milne :

When he just turned 5 years old, he has read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl :

My boy is of average learning ability. He has a short attention span and cannot sit still. I am very happy that he is able to read very fluently now at 5 years 5 months old. He is able to read a page from the books above in less than 5 minutes.

He has never attended any English enrichment classes. I started to teach him phonics at home since he was 3 years 3 months old. I designed a grouping and matching game for him to learn phonics :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

He thought he was playing games all along, and did not realize that he was learning.

Since English is not completely phonetic, it is very important to teach sight words. I use the Ladybird Peter and Jane series.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-words-with-ladybird.html

I taught him to read one or two pages a day from the Peter and Jane series. He reads every word out loud. Many experts will tell you to read as many books to your child as possible. But the fact is that the more effective way to learn to read, is to ask your child to read out loud to you.

He finished reading book 11a at 4 years 9 months old, after which I let him read other interesting books :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/09/books-they-love.html

The fact is that I am a full time working mommy, and I can only afford to spend very little time teaching him to read every day after I return from work :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-do-i-manage-to-find-time-to-teach.html

By teaching phonics and sight words at the same time, the results are amazing. I believe that children of all abilities can learn to read any English book before the age of 6, if we use the correct methods to teach them. There is also no need to spend many hours a day teaching them.

Phonics is helpful not only for reading, it is also very helpful for spelling. My boy, now in K2, has spelling every week. He does not need to practice writing the words at all. He is able to spell the words correctly by listening to the sounds. Thanks to phonics, spelling is very easy for him.

I strongly believe that kids can learn to read very well at home, without the need to attend expensive enrichment classes. I have only spent less than $200 on the resources like the Leapfrog DVDs and the Peter and Jane books. These resources were also used to teach my 7 year old girl to read.

I know that many parents are not confident to teach phonics. The fact is that any adult who knows how to read English books and write in English, actually already knows the foundation of phonics. All we need are resources to teach phonics to kids. I never learned phonics when I was a child. I learned about phonics by watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory DVDs with my kids. www.starfall.com is an excellent free website for learning phonics. Phonics is very easy for adults who already know English.

First Step - Teaching A B C

2009-10-30T19:21:00.001-07:00

Before the age of 2, my kids were not exposed to any TV or DVDs.

Instead I used the following resources to teach them.

My kids like these ABC books very much. I tried to read to them as often as I could. When teaching letters, I also went around the house looking for objects starting with that letter, an activity which my kids enjoyed very much.

Both my kids also love this book very much :
Black and White Rabbit's ABC

It is available from www.amazon.com. They made me read it hundreds of times to them !

I also had these puzzles to make learning ABCs fun for them.

I bought the above from local bookshops like Popular and Times.

My cousin bought this puzzle from London for us.

It is important to place more emphasis on lower case letters, because most of what we read are in lower case :

After the age of 2, I let my kids watch the Letter Factory DVD. It worked wonders. Both my kids know all the phonics letter sounds very well by watching this DVD.

I bought it from www.amazon.com. It is also available at the National Library. The Leapfrog DVDs are not sold in local stores.

You can read the 700+ customer reviews about the DVD here :

Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD

The Talking Words Factory DVD teaches how to join letters to form words, it is also very good :

Leapfrog Talking Words Factory DVD

Reading Confidently at a very young age

2009-09-08T19:05:00.001-07:00

My son, who is almost 5 years old, is now reading "My Father's Dragon" by Ruth Stiles Gannet. This is a wonderful book about a boy who travels to an island to save to baby dragon which has been enslaved by other wild animals.
It is very easy to read, and every page is filled with exciting events to keep the young reader fascinated.

Everyday, he reads a few pages from the book out loud to me. He is reading fluently and very confidently. He can read about 300 words in less than 10 minutes. On every page, there are usually only 2 or 3 words which he needs help with. Due to his strong foundation in phonics, He is able to figure out how to read certain words even though he has never seen them before.

Before reading My Father's Dragon, he has finished reading 3 books by Roald Dahl:
These are all wonderful books which he has enjoyed reading very much. Here is a page from the Minpins by Roald Dahl :

I am surprised that he is able to read those books before the age of 5. All thanks to the Ladybird Key Word (Peter and Jane) series, as well as phonics ! Check out my methods here :

How to teach phonics

Key Words with Ladybird

He has never attended any enrichment classes to learn phonics and reading. I have single-handedly taught him to read at home. It may seem that I have spent many hours a day teaching him. But the fact is that I am a full time working mommy, I can only afford to spend 15 minutes or less teaching each child (my girl and my boy) :

How do I manage to find the time to teach ?

My son is an average learner who needs many repetitions to learn something new. He also has a very short attention span and cannot sit still. I am amazed that he can finish reading Ladybird book 11a, and go on to read the books above, all before the age of 5. It proves that if we use the correct methods, and teach the child consistently, any child can read very well before he/she enters primary school !

How do I manage to find the time to teach ?

2009-06-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

My boy, now 4 years 9 months old, is reading from book 11a, Mystery on the Island, from the Ladybird Key Words (Peter and Jane) series. He is reading very fluently, he can read a page shown in the photo in less than 5 minutes.

I have also started to let him read The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl. He can now spell more than 100 commonly used words correctly, checkout this page : Spelling.

My 6 year old girl has read Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She is now reading the Little House on the prairie.

It may seem like I have spent many hours a day teaching my kids to read. But the fact is that I am a full time working mommy. I return home at about 7:30pm everday. I can only afford to spend 15 minutes or less teaching each child (my girl and my boy).

Here's my advise :

1. Stay focus. Teach one most important skill : reading in English. Once the child can read fluently, he can read any book and the world is at his fingertips. From the age of 3 to 6, acquiring the ability to read very well should be top priority. In primary schools, the child needs to be able to read well in order to do maths and science. I only teach the kids maths once a week during the weekend, and I am very happy with their progress. For Chinese, I send them to Berries Chinese enrichment class since they were 4 years old.

2. Use the most effective methods

The best resources are :

a. Leapfrog DVDs : Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, Code Word Caper. Children can easily understand the basics of phonics simply by watching these DVDs every day. Both my kids learn all the 26 letter sounds simply by watching the Letter Factory DVD, I don't need to do anything at all.

b. Effective use of words cards. Click here: How to teach phonics to read about my methods.

My boy thinks that he is playing games while he is learning phonics. By giving him the cards to "play", I make sure that he is paying attention and really applying what he has learnt before.

c. Ladybird Key Word Reading Scheme (Peter and Jane)

I only teach my boy to read one page from the Peter and Jane series everyday. After about one year, he is reading very well.

d. www.starfall.com : excellent and free website to learn phonics and reading. I just turn on the computer and let my kids play with the website on their own.

4. Learn consistently. 15 minutes a day, everyday for more than 1 year can work wonders on any child.

5. Start early. I think that 3 years old is a good age to start to learn to read books. Between 18 months and 3 years old, the child should focus on learning on the 26 letters and their phonics sounds.

6. Don't do housework during weekdays. I am fortunate to have a good maid, so I don't have to do any housework when I return home from work. For mommies with no maid, try to get your hubby to help out, if not then invest in automatic machines (floor vacuuming and washing robots, dishwashers, clothes dryer, etc). Otherwise leave all housework till weekend. Remember that your priority is spending quality time with your kids. It is important that your child reads consistently everyday.

Spelling

2009-05-27T06:05:00.001-07:00

I started to teach my boy phonics and reading since Jan 2008, but I have never made him memorize the spelling of any words. I also did not make him practice writing any words. Since he is only 4 years 8 months old now, I thought I will let him practice writing words when he is older.

I bought this book last year, but I forgot about it and did not use it all. According to this book, there are 128 common words which children must know before entering P1.

Yesterday I saw the book on the shelf, and decided to test my boy to see whether he can read them. He could read all the 128 words. Next I asked him to spell the words without looking at them. He can spell all these words with ticks shown in the photos below.

I am surprised that he knows how to spell so many words correctly ! He has a very strong foundation in phonics, and I think that really helps him to spell phonetic words. He has been reading the Ladybird Key Word series everyday, and he has read the common words hundreds of times already, so he can spell many non-phonetic sight words too.

Phonics and reading consistently really make spelling very easy !

Make Learning Phonics and Reading Interesting

2009-05-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Phonics and reading are equally important. Once the child understands the basics of phonics, we should start to teach them to read a good systematic graded reader like the Ladybird key word reading scheme, or other good readers. As the child reads, we should encourage them to ask questions, and try to answer their questions as much as possible.

When I teach phonics, I always explain the meaning of the words to the child. Either by using real objects, or demonstrating the real actions. For example, when I taught the word "dip", I let my boy dip a real chocolate stick into milk. When I taught the word "smash", I let my boy smash a real biscuit. He liked that activities very much, and after that he always remember the meaning of the words.

My girl, who is one year older than my boy, attended Montessori phonics class. All they did in class were worksheets. The teacher did not make much of an effort to explain the meaning of the words. Nothing as fun as what we did at home.

After my girl completed that the 11 month phonics course, I let her read the Ladybird key word series (Peter and Jane). She started from book 8 and completed book 12 before the age of 5. After that she has read these books :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-books-for-confident-readers.html

http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-they-are-reading-now.html

She can read very fluently, and her level of understanding is excellent.

My advise is to setup a routine, let your child read at least a few pages a day. The best is to read one of the wonderful children's classics. But great books are usually boring, if the child rejects the book, try more "fun" books like the Rainbow Fairy series

For me, I don't really care whether the child finds a book boring. If I think the book is good, I will make my girl read it. The fact is that when she enters primary/secondary school, there will be a lot more "boring" textbooks which she needs to study. She will have to study that no matter how boring it is. The period around 5 and 6 years old is a good time to develop the discipline to learn something "serious and boring", about 15 minutes a day will do no harm. Fortunately, my girl loves the books she has read, and my boy also enjoys reading the Ladybird Key Word series(or Peter and Jane series).

The key to writing well, is to read widely. My girl started to write in sentences at 5 years old, and she has been writing cute little stories on her own initiative, without being taught at all.

Some suggestions to all parents about how to make reading books more interesting.

When I make my girl read children's classics, I try my best to make it more interesting for her, by including special activities. For example, when reading the Little House on the Prairie, we actually made a real log house together ! Quite similar to the one built by the father in the book. The picture shows the little log house we made together.

Most of the time I took the easy way, which is showing the movie based on the book. I let my girl watch the Charlie and the Chocolate movie which she likes very much. Then as she read the book, she could relate to the scenes in the movie.

When she was reading the Wizard of Oz, I also tried showing her the old movie starring Judy Garland. When I was playing the DVD on the TV, I called her to watch. She actually refused to watch the movie(which is very good with lovely song and dance sequences), because she was so engrossed in the book ! She said that the book is much more interesting than the movie, which is very true. At that moment I was pleasantly surprised, that a book can actually triumph over a movie.

How to teach phonics

2009-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

The child must already know all the letter sounds very well before he can start on the following. Here are some good resources :
http://www.starfall.com/
Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD
Leapfrog Talking Words Factory DVD

The following describes how I am teaching my boy phonics at home.

1. Arrange the at, an, ap, at in a row.

2. Teach the child how to read each of the 2 letter words. Then mix up the words :

I say a word "at", then ask my boy to pick up the correct word for me. I continue to say one word at a time until he picks up all the cards.

2. Then give the child one word, for example, "cat". Teach him to read the word, c - at, cat. Read this web page Make a word : AT to learn how to teach.

3. Then ask him to put the word "cat" in the same column as "at", as shown in this photo.

4. Then give him another word, for example, "fan". Teach him to read f - an, fan. Read this web page Make a Word : AN to learn how to teach.

5. Then ask him to put in the same column as "an".

6. As the child becomes more confident, give him a word, and let him put in the correct position without helping him.

7. You can mix up the words. Then say a word, like "can" and ask him to pick up the correct word. Continue until he picks up all the words. In this way, you can make sure that he is really paying attention and learning.

You should start with fewer words at the beginning. Try to make it fun when teaching. For example, when teaching the word "jam", show the child a can of jam. When teaching the word "run", ask the child to run together with you. When teaching the word "fin", you can take a real fish out of the fridge, and let the child touch the fin.

Remember that the aim is to let your child understand the technique. You should not make him memorize the words. If he understands the technique of how to join letter sounds together to form a word, he will be able to read any word, even if he has never seen that word before.

You don't have to wait for your child to master 3 letter words with the vowel 'a', before you go on. So long as he understands the technique, you can carry on to other words. Then when you finish all the 3 letter words, go back and revise words with the vowel 'a' again.

I have included a list of words which you can print out to teach your child. You can copy and paste into Microsoft Word, adjust to the largest font size, then cut out the individual words into word cards.

I want to emphasize that these are not "flash" cards. I don't "flash" the cards at my boy. These cards are meant to be given to him to play with. He learns how to put them in the correct category. After he arranges all the words correctly, I will mix them up. Then I will say a word, and ask him to pick out the correct word.

In fact, the words are printed on normal A4 size paper. So far they have survived my boy's rough handling. He blows at them, his drops saliva on them, he steps on them. But so long as he has fun while learning, I am OK.

Click on the following links to print out the words to teach your child.

Stage 1

Stage 2

"th", "sh", "ch", "wh"

"bl", "cl", "gl", "fl", "pl"

"br", "cr", "gr", "fr", "pr", "tr"

"sl", "st", "sp", "sm", "sn", "sw", "sk", "str", "spr", "scr"

Stage 3

Long Vowels ("oa","ea","ai","ie","ee","oe")
Silent "e"

I will be adding more materials soon.

Remember that there are many english words which do not follow the phonics rules. For example, "a" sounds different in "can" and "car". "c" often sounds like "s" as in "certain". "ea" sounds different in "beat" and "fear". There are many exceptions. Learning phonics alone is not enough. Your child also needs to learn many sight words. But knowing phonics will make it at least 50% easier to learn to read.

When you are teaching phonics, you should also start on a graded reader. Read this page for more details :

Key Words with Ladybird

These books are available at any Popular bookshop, Kinokuniya(Ngee Ann city) or Pageone(Vivocity). You can start when you completed stage 1 (all 3 letter words), or earlier, depending on how well your child is progressing.

All phonics classes only start to teach 3 letter words when the child is 4 years or older. Before that, the classes only teach the 26 letter sounds. The child can learn these at home easily.

There are many kids who can master the 26 letter sounds by 2 years old. But no phonics classes will teach them how to put letters together to form words at that age. If parents can teach them at home, they can be reading very well before they reach 4 years old !

Do not flash the cards !

2009-05-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

I think some of those who read my blog has mistaken that I am using the flash card method.

The fact is that I never "flash" cards to my kids.

Here's the page in my blog which describes the method that I used to teach phonics.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

The first photo may lead people to jump into conclusion that I am using flash cards. I explained my method from steps 1 to 7. The cards are given to my boy so that he can put it under the correct position, for example "cat" under "at", and "can" under "an". This is very different from "flashing" the cards, because when you flash the cards, the child has nothing to do. He is a passive learner. The problem with flashing cards is that you can flash a hundred times, the child may just be thinking of something else and not learning.

But when I give the card to my boy, he becomes an active learner. He looks at the card and think, where should he put it ? He has to think and remember what he has learnt before, and then apply it correctly.

Step 7 is actually most important. I mixed up the cards. Then I say a word, and ask my boy to pick up the correct card. This really makes him pay attention and think so that he can pick up the correct card.

I am sharing my method because I think it has worked wonderfully well with my boy, who has a very short attention span and cannot sit still. When learning phonics with me, his itchy fingers always have something to do.

I encourage other parents to develop their own methods to suit their own child.

It is very important that you do not flash the cards at your child ! Give him the card, let him play with it , think about it, put it in the correct position himself. In this way he is actively using his brain and learning !

Books about dinosaurs (intermediate readers)

2009-05-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Jerome is crazy about dinosaurs and he really likes these exciting dinosaur books. He is able to recognize different dinosaurs based on their characteristics and he remembers their names.

Pop Up Dino IQ
Dinosaurs seem to come alive with this pop up book.

Picture Pops Dinosaurs
This is an amazing pop up book. A complete Stegasaurus popping up from the pages, and folds back neatly into the book. Every page of the book has a pop up dinosaur.

How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends
We have 4 books in this series which uses dinosaurs to teach children about good behaviour.

Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs
Excellent books about Harry and his imaginary dinosaurs. Great for kids who are crazy about dinosaurs.

Big Book of Dinosaurs
A big book with nice pictures and lots of facts about dinosaurs.

Video of Jerome reading from the book

2009-02-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

Jerome reading the last paragraph on this page in the Ladybird Key Word book 9a. He is now able to read a new page on his own without any help. He is now 4 years 5 months old.

Great books for confident readers

2009-02-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Quote from 100 books every child should read :

We get ourselves all hot and bothered about the teaching of reading, about synthetic phonics and the like, and we forget that none of it is much use unless children want to read in the first place. The motivation must come first, horse before cart. We all know that unless a child is motivated to learn, then there will be apathy or resistance in the learning process. They are much more likely to want to deal with the difficulties of learning to read if they know it is these words that give them access to all these wonderful stories. If we really want our children to become readers for life, we would do well to remember that horses are much more fun than carts anyway.

Here are some of the books my daughter Chloe has read on her own. She is 6 years old this year. She enjoys reading these books very much.

Charlotte's Web
Quote from 100 books every child should read :
White's 1952 masterpiece describes the friendship between a lonely pig and a talented spider. This poignant tale teaches lessons about love, death and differing life expectancies.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Quote from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/Charlie-Chocolate-Factory.html :
Poor Charlie Bucket is practically starving to death, but his luck changes for the better when he wins a lifetime supply of candy--and a chance to visit Willy Wonka's fabulous, top-secret chocolate factory. This charming, irreverent tale, one of Roald Dahl's best, has captivated children for more than thirty years.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Quote from
http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/authorsillustrato/a/baumoz.htm

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a cultural icon in the United States. Dorothy and Toto, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, the Wicked Witch of the West, and the Wizard of Oz have all become part of the American vocabulary. Dorothy's heartfelt statement, "There is no place like home," still reverberates today.

For many people, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of their favorite children's books even though they have never read it. They really feel they must have read it because they have seen the classic 1939 Judy Garland movie and are so familiar with the story. I fit into that category until I became interested in learning about the book and its 100+ years of popularity. That's right. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in the 1900, and 2000 was its centennial year.

Little House on the Prairie
Quote from
http://classic-american-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_of_little_house_on_the_prairie

A Remarkable Story for Both Historians and the Lovers of Fable
Laura lived in a remarkable period of American history. The way, in which American’s are taught American history, makes it easy to forget what a short amount of time the pioneers moved through or that the cowboys who had an equally short journey lived at the same time. Yet, Little House on the Prairie captures the intersection of these to iconic figures in American history.

For those who read the first book in the series and those who intend to read the rest of the series, something becomes obvious when one reads this book. Laura Ingalls Wilder was an unusual person who lived in remarkable times. Despite the huge changes during her lifetime, Laura understood the almost mythic appeal of her childhood and was able to capture it for generations to come.

Her ability to capture the thought patterns of a child and yet convey complex details of pioneer life makes her books fascinating. Historians can sift through her books and learn a great deal about exactly how pioneers lived. While those who love legends and fairy tales can lose themselves in that mythic moment when the long line of Indians parading past the Ingall’s home “slowly pulled itself over the western edge of the world. And nothing [is] left but silence and emptiness.”

Written by Chloe

2009-02-02T02:08:00.000-08:00

Since Chloe is able to read very well, she naturally knows how to write. I do not need to spend time teaching her how to write. She loves to write cute little stories, entirely on her own initiative, without any help from me. She has been writing before her 5 years old birthday.

Here is a little story she wrote for the "Junior creative writing" at her K2 class. She wrote it without any help from her teacher or from me. Although it is not perfect, I am very happy to read it.

The following are some of the little essays she wrote at 5 years old.

This one describes one of her dreams.

She likes to write "little books" like this one.

I don't even know when she did this one about pregnant mothers. The drawings are so funny !

Signs of a young shopaholic?

Chloe wrote this book just before she turned 5 years old. I think it is really cute. Click on the photos to see the words clearly.

Books For a Beginning Reader

2008-12-15T03:31:00.000-08:00

Quote from Hooray for Dr Seuss :
Children may not know his real name, but they know what they like. And what they like is Dr. Seuss. The story of Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel, is an interesting one. The impact he had on books for children is an enduring one. On March 2, school children across United States and beyond celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, with skits, birthday cakes, and reading from his books.

...

It was his publisher who first involved Geisel in creating entertaining children's books with a limited vocabulary for beginning readers. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report about illiteracy among school children. Among the factors cited by the report was the fact that children were bored by the books that were available at the beginning reader level. His publisher sent Geisel a list of 400 words and challenged him to come up with a book that would use about 250 of the words. Geisel used 236 of the words for The Cat in the Hat, and it was an instant success.

Both Chloe and Jerome enjoy reading these books very much.

Key Words with Ladybird

2008-12-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

There are many words that cannot be read using phonics, these words are known as "sight words". For example, "one" and "two" are sight words. You should not try to use the phonics sounds to read these words, just point and teach the child to read the whole word.

The best books to teach kids to read sight words are the Ladybird Key Word series, or the Peter and Jane series.

Read here to learn about how these books work :
Key Words with Peter and Jane

Quote from Old Style Ladybird Books are word perfect
"The Peter and Jane stories of the 1960s taught millions of children to read before falling victim to more progressive methods in schools.

Now the Ladybird series may hold a lesson for today's generation after a study found that children need to master only 100 words before they can move on to books. "

You can find the books at all major bookstores in Singapore, like Popular, Kinokuniya, etc. Each book costs less than S$5.00.

Note :
Before starting on this series, it is best to make sure that your child knows all the phonics sounds of the letters very well, and know how to read 3 letter words using phonics. The best age to start to read the books is about 3 to 4 years old. I do not advise parents to use the books for kids below the age of 3, before the kids may not be ready to read words yet. Of course, there may be exceptions, some kids may be able to read 3 letter words very well at 2 years old, then it is fine to start them earlier on these Peter and Jane books.

Also note that these books are designed to let the child read out loud. Do not read these books over and over again to your child. Read my explanation below.

The first page of book 1a is very simple.

Then the child learns more words.

The new words are listed at the bottom of the page. Before you start a new page, point to the new words and teach your child how to read them. Teach him to read the word by blending the phonics sounds of the letters. If the word is not phonetic, meaning it is a sight word, just tell him how to read it.

Then start from the top of the page. Ask the child to put his finger under each word of the sentence. Let him try to read each word by himself. If he cannot remember how to read it, give him a few seconds to think before reading it for him.

Most young children need many repetitions before they can remember how to read a word. If the child has a very strong foundation in phonics, it will be very much easier for him to learn.

The same words are repeated throughout the "a" book. The "b" book uses the exact same words as the "a" book, but in a different story. After reading book 1a and 1b, your child would have read each word more than 20 times. So there is no need to make sure that your child knows all the words on one page very well before going on to the new page.

Book 1a and 1b use only 16 words :
Peter
Jane
and
here is
the dog
likes
I
a shop
toy
in
has
ball
tree

However, if your child cannot remember more than 50% of the words after reading book 1a and 1b, then it is better to start from the beginning of book 1a again and let him have more practice.

My boy cannot remember the words shop and toy after he finished book 1a and 1b. I let him continue to book 2a, because the words are repeated throughout the other books in the series. Here's a page from book 2a.

Here's a page from book 7a. My boy likes to examine the pictures and ask a lot of questions. I give him enough time, answer all his questions, before drawing his attention back to the words.

Here is a page from book 3c. The "c" series books contain exercises for the child to revise and practice writing the words. My boy was reading book 3a and 3b before 4 years old. At that time he still could not write well, so I did not let him do the "c" series.

By the time the child completes books 10 or 11, he will be able to read any English chapter books. Here is a page from book 11a:

Here are a few points to remember :
1. Give your child lots of encouragement. Praise him and tell him that he is doing very well. Give him some reward when he progresses from one level to the next level.

2. A child may require more than 10 repetitions before he can remember how to read a word. It is normal. Be patient. You may try other methods, like writing the words on small pieces of paper. Say a word and ask him to pick it up. Then you can make sure that he is paying attention.

3. If the child cannot sit still, it is not necessary to make him read more than one page a day. Then he knows that he only needs to spend a very short time reading, and he is more likely to finish reading the page before running off to play.

4. Explain the meaning of the words when reading. Let the child look at the pictures for as long as he likes. Encourage him to ask questions.

5. Before reading a new page, go back to the previous pages and read all the "new" words at the bottom of the pages. These words are not "new" anymore, but it is good to revise the words with your child every day.

6. Every child is different. After my girl completed her Montessori phonics course, she jumped to book 8a, and she read 8a - 9a - 10a - 11a - 12a. She did not need to read the "b" series. My boy, however, must read the "b" books before he can remember the words. You can use the books in a way that is suitable for your child. The "c" series books let the child have more practice reading the words. If your child still cannot remember some words after reading the "b" book, then let him read the "c" book for more practice.

7. Some mommies asked me how the Ladybird series compare to the Rigby series. My kids are reading the Rigby series in their PCF kindergarten/nursery. My personal opinion is that the Ladybird key word series are better. My kids progress very much faster using the Ladybird series. Click here to read other comments about the Rigby series in an internet forum.

Remember to make reading fun for your child. Your aim is to instill a love for reading in your child.

Updated on 7 Feb 2010 :
This is a guide for the Ladybird series :

Note that the above is a guide only. Both my kids completed levels 11 and 12 before they turned 5 years old. Every child is different, we should let the child progress in his own pace.

Silent "e"

2008-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Checkout these resources:
Leapfrog Code Word Caper DVD

silent-e movie from starfall.com

base case fade made bake cake
fake lake make rake take wake
sale male game came name same
fame cane tape date fate gate
mate rate cave save wave

side hide ride wide like hike
file pile mile time lime bite
kite rise wise line mine fine
nine wipe pipe

bone cone home dome hole
mole hope rope poke woke
vote note nose rose

cute mute duke fume dune tune
cube fuse tube

Long vowels

2008-09-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some resources to learn about long vowels.

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/letters/vowels1.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml

oa
boat coat foam
goal goat load loan
moan oat road soap

ea
eat beat beach bead
beak bean clean cream
meat neat read

ai
aid aim brain chain
rain main gain pain
stain tail sail train
vain nail pail

ie
lie tie pie die

ee
bee see beef deep
deer feed feel keep
meet need seed seen
week

oe
foe doe hoe toe

"sl", "st", "sp", "sm", "sn", "sw", "sk", "str", "spr", "scr"

2008-08-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

sl
slim slot slog slip sleep slow

st
step stop stem stab star sty

sp
spit spat spin spot spy

sm
smack small smash smell smog

sn
snap snip snob snow snug

sw
swim swam swum swop sweep sweet

sk
skin skip skim skid sky

str
strap street string strum strip

spr
spray spring sprint sprig

scr
scrub scrap scram

"br", "cr", "dr", "fr", "gr", "pr", "tr"

2008-08-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

br
brag bran brat brim bring

cr
crab crop cram crap cry

dr
drop drum drip drag dry

fr
frog from free fry

gr
grip grab gram grid grit grow grin

pr
prim prom prop pram pry

tr
tram trap trip trim try

"bl", "cl", "gl", "fl", "pl"

2008-08-25T02:27:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

bl
blot blow blue blur blab blush

cl
clan clap clip clue clot club clad

gl
glad glass glue glow

fl
flag flat flip flow fly flush flash

pl
plot plum plus play

"th", "sh", "ch", "wh"

2008-08-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

Show your child these webpages to teach them how to read th, ch, sh, wh.

How to read "th"

How to read "ch"

How to read "sh"

How to read "wh"

this that them thin then than
bath both path with

chip chin chat chop
such much inch rich itch

shop shot shin ship
fish cash dish rash wash

what when whip why which

3 Letter Words ( u )

2008-08-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

ub
tub rub

ud
bud mud

ug
bug hug

um
gum hum

un
gun bun sun fun run

up
pup cup

ut
cut hut

us
bus

3 Letter Words ( e )

2008-08-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

en
ten men hen

et
pet met wet let get

ed
bed red

eg
leg

3 Letter Words ( o )

2008-08-21T03:34:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

ot
hot pot cot dot got lot not rot

op
cop hop pop top

ob
bob job mob sob

od
pod nod rod

og
fog jog log dog

or
for

on

3 Letter Words ( i )

2008-08-21T03:01:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

it
bit fit hit kit pit sit

in
bin fin pin tin win

ig
big dig jig rig

ip
dip hip lip sip tip zip

id
bid did hid lid mid rid

ib
bib nib rib

im
him dim rim

is
his

ix
fix mix

3 Letter Words ( a )

2008-08-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Instructions:
Copy the following and paste into Microsoft Word. Adjust to the biggest font size. Print out then cut out each of the words.

at
cat sat bat fat
pat mat rat hat

an
can fan ran ban
man van pan

ap
cap tap gap map

am
jam ham

ag
bag lag nag rag
sag tag

ad
bad dad had mad
pad sad

ab
cab jab tab

as
gas has

ax
fax tax max wax