School Sparks Blog

Exciting news at School Sparks

Renee — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:58 GMT

I am so excited to announce that I created a workbook that contains a massive collection of worksheets (over 450 total worksheets) covering all the basic school readiness skills. The workbook also includes a suggested daily schedule that outlines how to effectively work with your child in less than one hour a day, plus countless tips and activity suggestions for accelerating your child’s skill development in fun and engaging ways. The workbook is designed to help any child begin preschool or kindergarten prepared to succeed!

Since I started creating worksheets in March 2011, I have received a steady stream of emails from wonderful parents and teachers who loved the worksheets available on the website but were getting frustrated with having to print them one page at a time on their home computer. I loved the idea of offering the worksheets in a more easy-to-access manner. So this winter I began putting together a workbook that parents and teachers could purchase for far less than the cost of printing the worksheets at home. Thanks to the wonderfully supportive printing press I used and some fantastic shipping discounts, the workbook is only $28 and includes FREE shipping!

Please head over to the website to learn more about this workbook. While I hope the picture I have on the website does the workbook justice, I just have to share that the workbook is the size of a thick phone book and just as heavy!

Thank you all for your wonderful support of School Sparks and I hope you enjoy the workbook as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you.

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Tips for spicing up story time for your child

Renee — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:21 GMT

A few weeks ago, I devoted an entire blog to the importance of reading to children. A few people e-mailed me after reading that blog post with a very valid comment and question, something along the lines of “I’d love to read more with my child, but he just doesn’t seem that engaged when I read to him. Do you have any tips for making reading more exciting?”

Through my years in the classroom, where I routinely read aloud books that needed to simultaneously captivate the attention of the 20+ children in my classroom, I found a few simple ways to make the important activity of reading more fun my little listeners.

Explore the book before you begin
Look at the cover of the book with your child and ask him to guess what the story will be about. Glance at a few pictures on the beginning pages to give your child the opportunity to speculate on the characters and possible setting in the story. Do the pictures give the reader any clue about what might happen in the story? Does the title of the book help you guess what the story may be about? Making guesses prompts a child to pay careful attention as the story is read so he can find out if his guesses were correct.

Guess the ending
When reading a new story to your child, stop before the last page or two and ask your child to guess how the story will end. To make it more fun, you can guess as well. Then, of course, read the book to see how the author ended the story. Then talk about the ending. Was the ending happy, sad or hopeful? Was it surprising? Your child will be sure to stay engaged until the very last page if he is curious whether his prediction was correct.

Make up a new ending
Ask your child to think of several different ways the story could end. You might give him suggested types of endings for him to think about such as silly, scary, how he hopes it ends, mystery ending, or surprise ending to name a few. After reading the actual ending of the book, talk about how your child’s version is similar or different from the author’s ending. Does your child like his version better?

Use different voices
Nothing delights a child more than to see an adult act in silly or unexpected ways. And story telling or reading is a terrific opportunity to be a little creative. Add some voices to the characters in the story. The sillier you sound, the more entertained your child will be.

Give your child a part to read or say
Often there are phrases or words that are repeated in a story. Point to your child at the appropriate time and ask him to chime in. If you are adding silly voices as you take on the roles of different characters, perhaps your child will use a silly voice also. When reading a story becomes interactive, it becomes more fun.

Read several versions of the same story
Many folk tales like “Three Billy Goats Gruff” or “Goldilocks,” for example, have been retold by several authors and illustrators. (Your local librarian can help you locate different versions of the same story.) It is a lot of fun to read the same tale several times using different versions of the story. Your child can act as a detective and be on the lookout for similarities and differences between the books. Then discuss his reactions to the different versions. Which story was his favorite and why? Which illustrations did he like the best?

Change the middle
After reading a story one or more times, ask your child to think about “helping the author” by changing something in the middle of the story that will affect the outcome of the story. Perhaps your child will change the action in the story or change one of the character’s reactions or behaviors in the story. Your child might elect to add some new characters or take some out of the story. Suggest to your child that he change the setting of the story or the time of year or climate in the story. Retelling a story in a winter setting, for instance, can be lots of fun when the original story was set in a warm climate or in the summertime. Encourage your child to get creative and even silly.

Add a craft
Crafts are a hands-on way to bring a story to life. For example, in the book, Corduroy by Don Freeman, a teddy bear loses his button and his owner sews a new one on his overalls. Your child might enjoy practicing sewing large buttons with an oversized needle and yarn. Or, perhaps your child would enjoy drawing and creating stick puppets that represent the characters in the story. He can use those figures when he retells the story. Drawing a picture of his favorite character or action in the story can also bring a book to life. Let your child know ahead of time that you and he will think of a fun activity or craft to do based on the story so he will pay attention to the entire story to determine what part of the story he wants to highlight in his craft.

Follow-up conversation and questions
I always enjoy hearing how children feel and think about stories that they hear. Sometimes they pick up small details that I didn’t notice or respond in a way that surprises me. Follow-up conversations always make a book reading activity richer.

With a little forethought, story time can go from boring to engaging! Enjoy introducing your child to the joy of books and instilling in him a lifelong love of reading.

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More Dolch sight words to add to your repertoire

Renee — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:50 GMT

During the past few months, I added Dolch sight words flashcards on the lists from pre-primer (preschool) through third grade. If your child is already comfortable with all of those words, there is no doubt that he is comfortably and confidently reading many “beginning reader” books. This is an exciting milestone - I know first-hand how satisfying it is to see the look of pride and accomplishment on a child’s face as he learns to read and gains confidence in his abilities.

The only remaining Dolch sight words are on a list of 95 nouns which children come across frequently as they read increasingly challenging material. To continue to nurture your child’s reading ability and confidence, I am (of course!) adding Dolch noun sight words flashcards to the website. This week I will add the first half of the list and next week I will add the remaining half of the list.

I can hear you wondering how you will help your child learn 95 new words - it seems like a lot. But if your child has already mastered the 220 words on the pre-primer through third grade lists, then he is familiar with the process of learning new sight words and should be able to learn these new words relatively quickly.

Also, when you look through the entire list of nouns you will notice that some of the words are actually not very challenging at all and may be words your child already knows. For example, words like bed, bell, cat, dog, egg, hill, man, men, leg, pig, sun, and top can be easily decoded or sounded out by many beginning readers. And some words, while more challenging, (such as cake, coat, corn, day, farm, feet, fire, fish, game, hand, home, name, nest, rain, ring, seed, snow, song, stick, street, thing, time, tree, and way) still follow basic phonics rules and can also be sounded out.

I suggest that you begin introducing the words on the Dolch noun list by identifying the words that your child can already read with ease. Cut the flashcards apart and in small doses (or until he seems to be getting tired), show your child the flashcards. Those that he reads easily can be put in the “Words I Know” pile. Be sure to let your child count the cards to see how many words he knows on sight. Then begin introducing the unknown sight words words as you did with the other sight words.

Activities to reinforce the Dolch Nouns Sight Words

Show your child some sight words that name objects in your home, such as ball, bed, chair or table, to name a few. Give him the flashcards and some tape and ask him to label the items.
Direct your child to write 5 - 10 sight words on a piece of construction paper, or write the words he chooses for him in bold, clear letters. Then ask him to search through magazines to find the corresponding pictures and cut and paste those pictures next to the appropriate word.
Carefully select a group of sight words that relate to each other, such as mother, father, boy, girl, baby (family members) or chair, table, house, home, window (things relating to a house), for example. Then add a few additional words that do not belong. Ask your child to read the flashcards and group together those that have something in common.

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Should kids be using the computer?

Renee — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:54 GMT

We are definitely in the technological era. Just look at the toys for little ones and you’ll get an idea of how early children are introduced to technology. Toy versions of computers are easy to find and it’s not uncommon for little ones to be seen moving their finger and pointing to images on an iPad screen.

So the question that begs to be asked is: “What technology is appropriate for children?” As a former teacher and grandparent to four children under the age of six, I have a few thoughts to share. Of course, though, each parent should ultimately decide what, if any, technology they want to share with their children.

Guidance for using the computer with your child

I believe that children can benefit from structured experiences with the computer. For example, there are many quality education sites that are age-appropriate for children as young as three or four and parents can easily explore these with their child.

Sit next to your child or let him sit on your lap. This will let him know that you are fully engaged in the activity with him. It will also help you to know what your child is seeing on the screen and how he is responding. Also, a young child may struggle to properly operate the mouse. If you are sitting with your child, you can move the mouse for him when he points to activities on the screen that are interesting to him or to his answer if there is a worksheet or activity already on the screen.
Give your child choices about the activities he wants to do. Most educational websites, www.schoolsparks.com included, offer a variety of activities from letter recognition to counting to visual discrimination. Your child may simply be in the mood to play with the keyboard and practice naming letters as he randomly types them. Or there may be an educational matching or visual discrimination game he wants to try. When first sitting down at the computer with your child, present him with two or three options or ask him what activity he would like to try. When children get to choose, they are more likely to stay attentive and enjoy the activity.
Constantly monitor the difficulty of the activity. The appealing graphics on the screen can entice a young child and draw him to an activity that is well beyond his skill level. Then, once the novelty of the colorful graphics has worn off, your child will likely feel frustrated. To avoid feelings of frustration or confusion, help your child find appropriate games that will challenge him a little, teach him a little, and entertain him a lot. If your child selects a letter recognition game, for example, that flashes the letters too quickly on the screen, consider creating your own letter recognition game instead. You can open a blank word processing document, set a clear font (such as Comic sans) to size 40, and type letters on the screen as he calls out the name of the letter and the sound each letter makes. In this way, you are still spending time together on the computer but with a more appropriate activity. Or, if the visual discrimination matching game he is playing is too challenging, consider navigating around the website to select a beginning-level worksheet instead of an intermediate or advanced-level worksheet.
Monitor the amount of time spent. We all know how easy it is to get lost on the computer. As with all things (and to quote my very wise grandmother), “everything in moderation.” It is generally difficult to keep track of the time spent on the computer because everyone is having fun. But if you agree that limits are important, try setting a timer to help you stay aware of the time. Make the timer part of your “computer time” routine so your child understands that the bell means time is up. Or the bell might signal the last game, so that your child could finish any activity or game he started. This also works well because children can be allowed equal amounts of time in a fair, less arbitrary way. And then the “bell” is the bad guy signaling the end of computer time instead of you.

The computer should supplement - not substitute - other activities

Children will inevitably become adept at controlling a mouse and punching keys on the computer keyboard. In fact, some children may learn to send e-mails long before they can handwrite and mail a letter. However, they will still need to be able to correctly and comfortably use a pencil and scissors and will need opportunities to develop these important fine motor skills.

For all of the benefits it provides, a computer is not designed to help children develop these critical fine motor skills and cannot take the place of time spent at a desk working with materials such as crayons, scissors, pencils, beads, and laces. For this reason, strive to balance computer time with real-life activities that highlight for your child the usefulness of certain important skills. For instance, show your child how you write items on a shopping list before you go to the grocery. Or ask your child to write a thank you note (or draw a thank you picture) to show his appreciation for a gift. Your child will learn that some things are done better by hand than with computers.

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Image used under Creative Commons from Jean in TX.

Oink, moo, cluck: Welcome to the farm

Renee — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:22 GMT

Children typically love animals, so I always enjoy tapping into this interest by introducing farm animals and animal names. A majority of children only see farm animals on a visit to a farm or at a fair, which makes these animals all the more intriguing. For this reason, worksheets are an ideal (and convenient!) way to teach children about the variety of animals that live on a farm.

Start by showing your child the two animal name writing worksheets to introduce him to the name of each animal and the way that name is spelled. Point to each picture then to each word and read the word to your child. Then ask him to point to each letter and name it. To review the formation of each letter, your child may benefit from first using the pointer finger of his writing hand to pretend he is tracing over each letter. When he is comfortable with the formation of each letter, ensure he has the correct pencil grip and encourage him to begin tracing over each animal’s name. If necessary, you can refer to the tracing letters worksheets to help your child practice writing the letters.

The next set of worksheets are designed to encourage a discussion with your child about the role each animal plays on the farm. Let your child know how each animal provides either food or wool or is valuable in another way on a farm. For example, a pig provides meat, a chicken provides eggs, a rooster tells everyone when to wake up, and a horse is a working animal that helps a farmer do chores and travel around the farm. Direct your child to point to each picture on the page and say the animal’s name. Then, ask your child to go back to each picture and decide if the animal would live on a farm. He can use a pencil to draw a circle around the farm animals and draw an X over the animals that do not live on a farm.

The final two worksheets require your child to match the name of each animal to the appropriate picture. These cut and paste pages provide fun reading opportunities. Many of these animal names can be sounded out correctly and your child may be able to read them comfortably. For example, the words pig and cow follow all phonetic rules and have only a few letters to be sounded out.

If your child is not yet reading or just beginning to read, point to the initial letter in the word and ask your child to say the sound that the letter makes. Once your child identifies the beginning sound of the word, he will very likely be able to guess the animal name. Identifying the initial letter sound in an unknown word while looking at picture clues is a very effective strategy for beginning readers. In the classroom, I always encouraged my young students to use this strategy because it helped them succeed and gain confidence in their reading abilities.

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The importance of story time

Renee — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:20 GMT

I love reading stories to young children. Whether I am reading to a classroom of little ones or cuddling with a child on my lap, reading a story is a wonderful experience. There is a tremendous amount of rich children’s literature available, so it is very easy to find a story that will capture your interest as well as any child’s.

While the pure enjoyment of sharing a story is enough to keep me reading to young children, there are many other benefits to this wonderful activity.

Increase a child’s attention span

Young children can be restless and wiggle and squirm after just a few minutes of trying to sit in the same place. One of the best ways I know to help children learn to sit quietly for a longer period of time is with an entertaining book. To begin with, hearing a story can be an interactive event. Children need to sit quietly while they listen, but there may be times when they can share an idea or respond to what is being read. Also, adults can easily tailor the length of the book to the child’s ability to sit. As he learns to listen and pay attention, the stories can get longer and more complicated.

Enhance visual discrimination skills

As children look at the illustrations in a picture book, they can learn to pay attention to details in the pictures. Do the pictures provide clues to what is happening or going to happen in the story? Do the pictures add interesting details and information that the words don’t tell the listener? Which picture is his favorite and why? Ask your child to answer those questions. As he looks at the pictures and begins noticing details, he will actually be honing important visual discrimination skills that are needed for every sort of academic activity. By examining illustrations in stories, your child will be preparing his “eyes” to recognize letter and number formations and notice slight differences between similar letters and numbers.

Practice auditory processing

Auditory processing is the ability to accurately process and understand spoken language. This skill is essential for comfort in a classroom and with peers, as children must be able to understand a teacher’s directions as well as communicate clearly and accurately with friends. As you read the story and when you finish the story, ask your child questions about what you just read. Some questions may be direct, such as “What made the monkey happy at the end of the story? Other questions may be inferred from information heard in the story, such as “How do you think the big brother was feeling at the baseball field?” When you discuss the story with your child after you finish reading, your child will understand that it is important to listen to the words and think about what the words mean. In addition, discussions often open doors for sharing ideas about topics. It is also an opportunity for a parent to hear their child’s reactions to situations in stories and share their own opinions and reactions with their child, as well. Listening to stories and reacting to what is heard will help children hone important auditory processing skills.

Reinforce word recognition

As children watch an adult read a story, they can practice following the words that are being said. A parent can casually point to words as he reads and his child can casually observe this. With repeated exposure to words in this way, children can begin to remember some frequently seen words. When a child does this, he is beginning to read! Without pressure or concerns about reading correctly, a child can naturally begin to learn how specific, frequently written, words look, such as the, and, it, my and is. Story books with just one or two sentences per page printed in a large, clear font are especially good for promoting word recognition. Also, when a child hears a story repeatedly, he can begin to memorize the words and remember what they look like as he points to the words and follows along with the reader.

Examine social situations and behaviors

Stories can broaden a child’s environment and expose him to new situations. When young children listen to a story, they have the opportunity to identify feelings and behaviors in others in a very non-threatening way. Stories can teach appropriate and desired behavior by describing characters’ positive behaviors. Children can recognize how a behavior affected other characters in the story and witness how others responded. When children listen to a story and recognize consequences for behavior, they can learn how to behave themselves without having to experience the consequence directly.

In addition, children can learn about feelings by hearing or guessing how characters in a book felt. After reading a story, a discussion about the characters’ behaviors, feelings and responses can allow children to explore their own feelings and become sensitive to the feelings of others. Ask your child how he believes the character in the story is feeling and why. Then ask him how he thinks he would feel in the same situation. Ask him if he has experienced anything that is similar to what took place in the story. Discussions about emotions and behaviors can be very informative for parents and very helpful for children.

Instill a love of books

Finally, when a parent routinely reads to his child, the child learns that reading is wonderful. It is entertaining and informative. Stories become the basis for sharing time and ideas with someone you love. Children can intuitively understand that when his parents makes reading stories a priority, reading is important.

If you’re looking for some new books to add to your personal library or to check out from your local library, you might enjoy my list of Top 10 Children’s Picture Books or my “runner-up” list of more great children’s picture books.

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Image used under Creative Commons from San Jose Library.

It’s time for more digraphs!

Renee — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:11 GMT

Learning to recognize digraphs in printed words is such an important skill as children begin to read. Since each digraph contains two or more letters but only makes one sound, it is important that children be able to identify them and apply the correct sound, rather than try to sound them out by combining the individual sounds made by the two or more letters in the digraph.

These new digraph worksheets introduce the digraphs nk, ck and ng. These digraphs are particularly challenging for young children because it is easiest for children to identify sounds in the starting position of the word and these digraphs are only found in the middle or ending positions in words.

Please note that the sound made by the digraph nk is very similar to the sound of the word ink, as opposed to being made up of the individual sounds n and k. To illustrate this point, notice the position of your tongue as you say aloud the words ink and pin. When saying the word pin, your tongue touches the roof of your mouth, whereas your tongue does not touch the roof of your mouth when saying aloud the word ink. For example, when applying the correct sound to the digraph nk, the word pink will be pronounced correctly and will not sound like pin-k.

Beginning with the first worksheet, identify each picture on the page, pointing to the illustration as you say its name. That way you can be sure your child is correctly labeling the picture. For example, on the ck digraph worksheet, the vehicle should be called a truck (not a van). Also, on the ng worksheet, the arrow specifically points to the wing on the bird, so be sure your child knows it is a picture of a wing, and not simply a picture of a bird. And on the nk worksheet, the steaming cup should be labeled a drink and the arrow is pointing to a pinky, not just to the hand.

When your child is comfortable with the name of each picture, ask him to point to the letters in the center of the worksheet, say its sound and then point to one picture and name it. If he hears the correct sound in the middle or at the end of the word, he can trace over the dotted line and connect the picture to the letters in the middle of the page. If he does not hear the correct sound, direct him to simply move on to the next picture and repeat the process.

The last two worksheets give your child another chance to practice identifying the nk, ck and ng digraphs. These worksheets will be a bit more challenging than the beginning-level digraph worksheets introduced last week because your child will need to listen to the middle and ending sounds of each word to match each picture with the correct digraph, whereas the beginning-level digraph worksheets introduced last week primarily required your child to listen to only the beginning sound of each word.

After your child completes these worksheets, he might enjoy being a digraph detective and looking for these digraphs as you read to him. When your child spies a word with a digraph that he recognizes, label a piece of paper with that digraph and then write the word your child spied on the paper. In this way, as you read to your child each day, you can create lists of words that contain specific digraphs and keep these lists handy to review and add to. Your child may also enjoy cutting and pasting pictures that go along with the words on the lists.

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How to make the most of your parent/teacher conference

Renee — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:04 GMT

As the school year comes to a close for many families, numerous parents have emailed me asking for guidance on how to approach their upcoming end-of-the-year parent/teacher conference. Having taught for many years and been on the “teacher” side of the conference, as well as having raised three children and been on the “parent” side of the conference, I have a few tips to share for getting the most out of your parent/teacher conference.

Clear your schedule

Parents are often very busy, juggling demands from work and home. I found that parents who tried to fit the conference in “on the run” were often too distracted to actually relax and listen to the information they were receiving. Also, arriving even a few minutes late to a conference creates tension that has a negative impact on the conversation as it reduces the already short conference time and places added pressure on your child’s teacher to stay on schedule.

The easiest way to handle this potential problem is to plan to arrive at your child’s conference 15 minutes early. This way, even if you have been busy and did not have a chance to prepare for the conference, the time you spend waiting for your child’s teacher will allow you to focus on your child, think clearly about any concerns you may have, and prepare to really listen to what your child’s teacher has to share with you.

Prepare the teacher

Often parents have a certain concern or are curious about a specific aspect of their child’s development. The parent/teacher conference is the perfect time to address these issues. But to get the most accurate information, it is important to give your child’s teacher a “heads-up” about any issue or concern you have. This will give the teacher the opportunity to collect data (some of your child’s work, perhaps, or the viewpoint of other adults who interact with your child) before she meets with you. Also, the teacher can adjust the time she spends on other information she intends to share so that there is adequate time dedicated to your concerns.

A few days or weeks before your scheduled conference, consider sending your child’s teacher a brief email or a note that outlines your concern and expresses your desire to discuss this issue with the teacher at your child’s upcoming conference.

Stop and listen

A parent/teacher conference is about sharing information between the parent and the teacher, and this involves talking on the part of both parties. However, most teachers take pride in being well-prepared for conferences and have organized their thoughts and the comments in a certain order. For this reason, it is important to give the teacher a chance to share with you all of the information that he or she believes is relevant without being interrupted.

Consider bringing a pencil and pad of paper with you to the conference. This will allow you to easily record the most important parts of the information your child’s teacher is sharing. You will also have a convenient place to jot down any questions or concerns you have about the information you are hearing. When your child’s teacher pauses before changing topics, you can quickly ask a question you flagged or, at the end of the conference, you can scan your notes and see if anything stands out to you as an unresolved issue or an area where you need more clarification. Generally, teachers leave time after sharing their comments for a response from the parents, so you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts then.

Schedule a follow-up discussion if needed

Often concerns about a child need and deserve more time than the conference slot allows. However, attempting to lengthen the conference through numerous questions can be unproductive, as your child’s teacher will likely be eager to meet with the next family or go home after a long day of conferences.

If you or your child’s teacher raises a concern, take a moment at the end of the conference to begin formulating a strategy or plan for helping your child resolve the issue at hand. Ask the teacher how he or she is approaching the concern and ask what you can do to help, as well. Then schedule another time to meet to solidify the plan (if necessary), to check on your child’s progress and to assess the helping strategies. Typically these follow-up conversations can happen over the telephone or via email. In this way, the teacher will be able to give your concern the appropriate attention it deserves at a time when he is not distracted by the next set of parents coming in for their conference.

What can you share with other parents?

What have you done to get the most out of your parent/teacher conferences? What has your child’s teacher been most receptive to, and what did not work as well? Do you look forward to parent/teacher conferences or would you rather just get a written summary from your child’s teacher? I would love to hear from you, so please consider commenting, below.

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Images used under Creative Commons from Jose Kevo

Let’s have fun with digraphs

Renee — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:56 GMT

The word digraph refers to a pair of letters that make a single sound. Just as children learn the sounds made by consonants and vowels when they stand alone, children can also learn the single sound that two letters make when standing together. The easiest digraphs for children to hear and recognize are sh, ch, and th, so the first digraph worksheets I am adding to the website introduce these three consonant digraphs. Other consonant pairs that make one sound include kn, wh, ck, ng, nk, and mb. There are also digraphs that include vowels (such as er, es and ar, to name a few), but those are considered advanced digraphs.

When introducing the first three digraph worksheets (those that feature the sh, ch and th digraphs), begin by pointing to every picture and saying its name aloud. For these worksheets, the name of the picture must be correct. For example, the chicken cannot be called a hen on the ch digraph page. As with other sound identification worksheets, say the word slowly and deliberately so that your child can clearly hear the sound in question, but avoid distorting the word by segmenting or separating the individual sounds. Next, ask your child to point to each picture and repeat the name. As your child is saying aloud each word, make sure he is clearly saying the digraph. If he has some difficulty, you may want to repeat the digraph sound in isolation (for example, just say aloud the sound made by the digraph sh) and then repeat the name of the picture so that he can listen to the correct sound as he completes the worksheet. Finally, if he hears the digraph sound in a picture, instruct him to draw a line from the digraph in the middle circle to the corresponding picture that contains the digraph.

When learning to identify the sh, ch and th digraphs, it is easiest for children to listen for these sounds when they start a word. With practice, though, they will also become adept at hearing these sounds in the ending position of words.

I find children have the greatest success learning digraphs when they are introduced to just one digraph at a time. This will allow your child to focus on that specific sound so that he can isolate it and identify it with ease. When he seems comfortable, move on to a new digraph worksheet.

Lastly, when your child is familiar with all three digraphs (sh, ch and th), you can introduce the remaining two beginning-level worksheets that will challenge your child to identify all three digraphs on a single worksheet.

Please keep in mind that hearing individual sounds in words can be challenging for young children and the ability to isolate and identify these specific sounds requires practice and growth. Often very young children are simply not ready to tackle this task and as they get older their “ear” becomes more attuned to sounds in words. In my experience, once children reach age four or five, they are typically capable of identifying at least the beginning-level digraphs, although each child certainly develops on his own schedule.

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Easy-to-read sentences make reading fun

Renee — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:22 GMT

If your child is beginning to learn the Third grade Dolch sight words flashcards, he is likely beginning to read with some fluency and increased confidence. To foster his interest and continue to bolster his confidence, I have created corresponding lists of sentences that use the Third grade Dolch sight words as well as sight words from the previous lists that your child likely already knows.

These sentences provide a wonderful opportunity to point out to your child or review basic punctuation, including periods, commas, and question marks. Remind your child that the period means “stop,” the comma means “pause,” and the question mark means that his voice gets a bit higher on the last word. When your child first starts reading the sight word sentences on each page, instead of beginning with the first sentence, ask him to name a punctuation mark and find a sentence with that specific mark. Then let him read the sentence to demonstrate how to read with the proper attention to the punctuation.

Because most (if not all) of the words in these sentences will be familiar to your child, ask him to try to read the sentences with inflection and a conversational tone to his voice. When he reads a question, for example, ask him to read the sentence as if he is actually asking you this question. To make the activity more realistic and fun, you can provide a hypothetical answer each time he reads aloud a question from the list of sight word sentences.

To make reading these sight word sentences even more fun and interesting for your child, try cutting the sentences into separate strips. Place the strips in an envelope and let your child close his eyes and pick a sentence. If he reads the sentence smoothly, he can keep the strip. Or he can paste each strip he reads on a colorful piece of construction paper and challenge himself to fill several sheets of paper with sentence strips.

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