"Get nice and fat for my stew!"

If you read my blog last week, you will remember that I decided to do a review of some great children's books for the next few weeks.  These books are kid-tested and family approved.

This week's book is The Wolf's Chicken Stew written by Keiko Kasza.  In this story, the wolf gets a terrible craving for chicken stew.  He searches for the perfect chicken for his stew, when he finds her, he decides to fatten her up a bit so that he would be able to have more stew.  Each night, he cooks some scrumptious food and delivers it secretly to the chicken's home.  After a time, when he decides the chicken should be nice and fat for his stew, he returns to the chicken's home to find a surprise awaiting him.

This is a great book for reading with expression.  The language is fun and though not a pattern book, the language makes it easy for the kids to memorize.  My son would "read" actually, recite from memory, this book.  This is great.  He was developing one to one correspondence, he knew that for every word on the page, a word needed to come from his mouth.  He was developing directionality and fluency.  All great early literacy concepts.  These concepts are not particular to these books that I am reviewing.  These are just some of the books that we enjoyed.  The important thing is to read with your child.  Help them to develop a love for language.  Rhyming words, help children to internalize spelling patterns which will help them in both reading and writing because reading and writing are inverse operations.  I am not advocating formal instruction for very young children, but rather help them to notice and become active with print.  Build their listening vocabularies by reading to them.  Through your modeling, children will come to school knowing that the text carries the message, they may have many early literacy concepts at least partially under control and so much more.  Happy reading!

I would love to use your photographs and write a story for you and your family to enjoy for years to come.  Send me your pictures, approximately 24 to 30, from any event that is special to you.  I will talk to you about the event to get some information from you and then I will write a story about that event using your pictures.  This is a fantastic way to get your child interested in print.  Kids will love seeing their name in print.  They will be motivated to read because the book is about the people they love.

   

You Never Know What You Might Find

You never know what you might find when you clean out the basement.  As I was straightening up our basement the other day, I ran across a box my son had labeled when he was about 12 years old.  The box read, "books I want my son or daughter to have" as I opened up the box I was reminded of some of the great books that we read together when he was small.  I thought that you might enjoy reviewing some of these titles and why we enjoyed them.

The wide-mouthed frog is such a fun book.  It is a pop-up book written by Keith Faulkner and illustrated by Jonathan Lambert.  The wide-mouthed frog hops along asking the different animals he encounters what they like to eat, until he meets a big green alligator and finds out that the alligator likes to eat wide-mouthed frogs.  The reader will then enjoy the frog's reaction.  My husband especially enjoyed reading this to my son.  He liked doing the voices of the different animals and he would tease him with the last page of the book opening and closing near my son's face.  My son would laugh and run from my husband as he chased him with the book.

This predictable pop-up is just one of the many books we enjoyed together as a family.  Reading is a wonderful way for families to enjoy spending time together.  As a reading specialist, I know how important it is for a child's academic success.  As a mom, I know how important it is for a family's togetherness.

I think I would like to spend the next few weeks reviewing some of these books that I found stored away.  I thought that you may find the list helpful for Christmas shopping.

I also thought I would share some of the very rudimentary books I made for my son to help him learn to read.  These books were for my son to read.  The wide-mouthed frog and other picture books were read to my son helping him to develop a love for reading, to enjoy language and develop a sense of story and many other reasons.  The little books I made were to help him develop some concept of print.  Each page I wrote, it was either necessary for me to give him the pattern or give him a way to get to the words on the page.  Some were sight words, when he was first learning, he could use picture clues, first letter and prediction.  My goal was to make it easy and help him to feel successful.  I also wanted to scaffold him to the next level.

It is obvious that my son gets his art talent from me.  The great thing about this book is the last sentence he wrote.  He had already learned that stories often slightly change their pattern at the end.  He even chose the correct verb form because he was so immersed in language.

It is probably not necessary to do all of this to teach your child to read.  I did it because I enjoyed it.  I would carry little blank books with me and if we were waiting for our order in a restaurant or sitting waiting in a doctor's office I would make him a little book.  Making your own books is probably not necessary.  Although, it is important to immerse your child in language.  So, keep reading!!!

Don't forget Kim's Custom Books when you want to create that special book of memories for your family.

Thanks,
Kim