Comprehension

Every kid is in different reading levels. Is your child sight-reading? Great! If not, no worries just keep practicing. 

Just because the child is reading does not mean they are understanding the words or phrases such as idioms and may still have some trouble with consonants.  This week I found a website that helps out for both and much more. 

This week's website is ABCYa https://www.abcya.com/games/category/language-arts. I was iffy about this website because it covers different material and grade levels. 

This website has many activities for beginner readers that are all about the same as other websites:

• digital books (with audio and highlighted words)
• sight word practice
• Capital and lower case activities

I did notice that for 3rd grade it has an activity game about idioms called Hold the Phone! Which is fantastic because there are many books where idioms are used and the kids are not ready. By learning the meanings of idiom they can understand a book and not get overwhelmed. 

This game is interesting because it is as in the image of a phone. It asks the user to use emojis to match the phrase. (see image below)

After doing the first activity it gives the user what the idiom means. The following activity gives the user a chance to use the idiom in a sentence. 

Another activity that I found is a consonant blend.

It allows the parents or teachers to choose which suffix the student needs to practice on.  This is very helpful for students because many have trouble with consonants. 

 Check out this activity and let us know if you know all these idioms or not. 

Here is another book made in book creator. 

https://read.bookcreator.com/Win48wdeTSh6QKeXNAIoIZNpU9o1/WBi1LGu5S-2kz98H6Cpt2g

Digital library

University students have a library database but what about the little kids? Should they have a library database with appropriate books?  Let me know what you think down below in the comment section. 

This week I found a new website called Story Place: The Children's Digital Learning Library https://www.storyplace.org/activity-library.  There are several things that I like about this website. 

For starters, the books can be read either in English or Spanish. The switch of language is very simple, just a quick selection of the language, and the book automatically downloads. 

Another thing that I believe is great for the kids is that the visuals change with what is being read. There is still a switch of the page with a b

ig arrow as an indicator. Within the page, the character and any other visual changes as if it were a GIF but without the repetition. Along with this, there are sound effects. Which will keep the child interested and even try to repeat the audio.  

In the image above the frog hops over the lilypads to add the orange color to the rainbow. Also in this image, the user can hear the waterfall.

These books also come with different activities such as a video clip, printout/ digital activities and suggestions for a new book. 

The suggestions for a new book is a great add on that would benefit parents. With so many books out there today, I think this will facilitate. If the child or parent prefers books about monkeys it will give you the options. The best part of this is that it takes you to a library database.  On this page, parents can see if the book is in the library near them. How helpful is that?  Parents can also find e-books for their kids, which is very beneficial during this pandemic. 

But this website does not end here. 

Covid-19 has been here for a few months and many things have gone viral. We know that kids still need be part of something. This is why I was amazed by this website.  This website provides virtual storytime.  Even though it is not the same as being in the library it is fascinating to know that librarians are still reaching out to read books to them. 

 Once again I leave you with another kid's book. Enjoy.

https://read.bookcreator.com/Win48wdeTSh6QKeXNAIoIZNpU9o1/mAl0RqNjRUqMwCC_NdWhVQ

Expanding vocabulary

Many of us our told that the more we read the better for us. It helps with our comprehension and we can expand our vocabulary. Which is why it is important for kids to read. There are other benefits such as reducing stress and much more. Some kids do have trouble learning to read or pronouncing but as long as they are being guided and corrected it will be okay. 

Starfall website https://www.starfall.com/h/index-kindergarten.php  really amazed me because it gives you an option to finish of the book.  The image changes whenever you click on a new descriptive word. This makes it easier for the student to learn because not only is he hearing the word but he is seeing what it means. They hear, see, and intent to read the word which helps them expand there vocabulary. 

In the image below we can see the interactive story with multiple words around the bunny to describe the bunny. In this case the rabbit is old and the image changes to white hair and glasses.

In the following image we can see that the child choose the rabbit to be pretty. The rabbit now has lipstick, flowers and pink hair. 

In the next image the story continues with the old rabbit and it needs an action word. 

The best thing is that the child can listen and see the highlighted word to follow the instructions. Which is important when expanding their vocabulary.  At the same time this is an activity that the kid can do without a teacher or parent giving them instructions. Which helps when mom or dad is finishing up dinner and want to keep kids distracted in a educational way.

Here is another book for kids to read. This time there is only an English version. 

https://read.bookcreator.com/Win48wdeTSh6QKeXNAIoIZNpU9o1/5lW1nuGbQD2ddsl-aCdeVg

Sounding out

Pecans, how do YOU pronounce it?

Go ahead. Try to pronounce it. Do you say "PEE-kahn" or "puh-KAHN"?  Leave your pronunciation down below in the comments. I am not sure if there is a correct way of saying it. The main point is to show you that we all pronounce things differently. We try to sound out words according to what we hear from our parents and teachers. Sometimes our accents can be really thick and we have trouble. 

I wanted to share with you a website that I found Lost Aliens https://www.starfall.com/h/index.php?mg=m . This website is for Pre-K students to third grade. Although this website teaches students other subjects, I wanted to point out the reading part. I will divide this website into two different blogs to be able to share my findings with you.

The first part of this website that I enjoyed is a game that helps the student sound out words. It takes it letter by letter. Stretching out the word, at the same time it shows the image of the object. In the picture below, the word is ham. The letter turns red as it is being sounded out. /h/ /a/ /m/ and the little cart with the image of ham passes by.

In the second image shown down below the lever and a button appear. If you press the lever it changes to a completely new word. If you press the red button it just changes the first letter of the word.  It is a very motivating game that helps the child to sound out the letters. 

This website has sections where they use the same book to complete different activities; such as pronunciation and sight-reading. There is another game where the same words from the books are being repeated. This seems very helpful since kids can lose interest and need fun activities. The following game is a bit different (see image below).

This website also has a "Read to me" library. Sadly, this is only in English and it highlights the sentence instead of word by word. 

This website can still be very beneficial for teachers and parents to show the student. There is more to this website but I will leave it for my next blog Expanding Vocabulary coming this Sunday, Nov 15. 

 

Making reading fun!

Reading can be very stressful for some people, now imagine the little kids who do not have any interest or find reading very difficult. Teachers and parents should work together as a team to encourage and motivate the child to read. Most times a child needs additional reading time one on one or in a small group to practice their reading and sound pronunciation. 

I found a website that would be very helpful for teachers, parents and students. It is   Book Creater (https://bookcreator.com/features/). This is a page where we can create books online, share with others and even print. This website takes at home reading to another level. Children and parents can create books together this benefits the child to use their imagination and express themselves verbally, increases thee vocabulary, spend quality time and encourages them to read their own book. Depending on their level parents or teachers would ensure to work on the words that the child having trouble.  If a child is learning to read the repetition of sight words would be best. On the other hand if the child is having trouble sounding out certain words or letters a list can be made and be used as references to create a book that contains a few of those hard letters or words. 

Although reading and creating books has it's positive I should also remind you about the few negatives. Kids get stressed out easily especially when they are having trouble reading. It is important that we keep the practice of the number of words to 2-3 at the most. These 2-3 words should be repited at least one week. I have found that some kids, especially the older, get really tired of reading the same books which would probably benefit the creation of more than one book with the same practice words. Children also have their off days or times during the day, which it makes it hard for them to learn. Make sure the child to be well rested and motivated to learn, there might be a time where we may have to stop and resume at another time of the day. 

This website, when done on a computer, has the option to "Read to Me" and it also highlights the word, which is very beneficial to keep up with the reading and practice sight-reading. I have published two books (links down below) one in English the second one in Spanish. Some schools offer bilingual classes in elementary schools. The Spanish "Read to Me" has to be switched manually. The instructions are down below.

Step 1.

                            Step 2:

 

                            Step 3:

Stay tuned for 4 more blogs in the next few weeks. 

English

https://read.bookcreator.com/Win48wdeTSh6QKeXNAIoIZNpU9o1/fBf_9-nZQV6NYeElkENHuQ

Spanish

https://read.bookcreator.com/Win48wdeTSh6QKeXNAIoIZNpU9o1/pehuy-DbRHmHOEqk5dr1TQ