If you haven't heard of the Leap Frog DVD series, I highly recommend that you look into it. Seriously. They are worth every cent in terms of how much your child will love them. and how much they learn.There are five that I know of:
1. Letter Factory
2. Talking Words Factory
3. Code Word Caper
4. Learn to Read
5. Math Circus
All very much a necessity, in my opinion, when teaching your child to read.
Their way of presenting the "how to" of reading is captivating. Great characters, catchy songs to help you learn the rules of reading, and word-picture associations that have stuck in my daughter's head...helping them to master phonetics.
For instance have you ever heard: "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking"??
I hadn't! But it's true. Take the word READ. Two vowels "walking" together. The first one does the talking...meaning together they say the "E" sound.
Pretty catchy, eh? The dvd is full of learning tools like this. In the form of song, which kids retain like nothing else.
That said, I was tripping all over myself this morning, as Selah and I sat down to practice reading. because there are a TON of exceptions to these rules.
Take the "ou" sound for instance. I've been saying it says the "OW" sound. Like it the word "spout" and "about" and "mouse". Sounded logical to me.
Until I read the following sentence: "yOU shOUld go arOUnd in a circle." Huh. Blew that rule to... pieces, now didn't it?
And then there's the rule: The silent E at the end of a word makes the vowel says its name. Like in "cute"... "kite" ... "bake"...and "tote".
Of course, then there's words like "come" and "done" and "above" and a plethora of other words I won't take the time to write out. Again...rule? What rule?!
And don't even get me started about these words:
Right and Gnat. where the g just decides to go mute.
One. goes against every rule. The silent e is not making the o say it's name. In fact, the O is rebelling all together and stealing the w's sound.
Said. is in a class by itself. You can't just assume that it rhymes with "aid" because of its spelling. Nor can you assume that it follows the rule of "two vowels walking."
Nope. The a and the i got together and sang their own song. to the tune of the letter "e".
Or the fact that "read" can be read in two different ways. Yet have the same spelling.
And would someone please tell me why cow and low do not, in fact, rhyme?!
And I've just decided that the letter "C" is having an identity crisis. Is it a K (closet, cat, comet)? an S (celery, circus, cent) ? a SH (precious, ocean, special)?
Make up your stinkin' mind, Letter C. I'm trying to teach here. and you're driving me crazy.
Whoever established the English language should be shot. For there is no rhyme (try to explain that word phonetically!) or reason to the way our words are spelled/read. I mean just look at the word "phonetically" for petesake!
Well, I'm off to teach reading. once. more.
If you listen carefully, you may just be able to hear it. Shhh. Can you? That's me. Beating my head against a wall. Holding an "I can read" pre-K book in my hand.
