Day 4- Building reading fluency

Isaac told me when it was time for school today by saying, "Mommy, I want to play a game. Come on, Mommy." The Mickey Mouse matching game has become the 'prize' for a job well done, so he had to do 'school work' first. Today we focused on reading fluency.

When you work with a child this young you should always start with pieces he/ she already knows and has memorized. (right Aunt Boo? Hop on Pop!) This gives the child validation as a reader and earns them some 'easy' praise. We started with Jesus Loves Me.



The words in red are the "sight words" I want Isaac to work on. As we sing/ read, Isaac is going to be placing these cards...



over the words in red. It's kind of a matching game, since Isaac loves those, but he also has to recognize the letters.

Here is Isaac completing the chart...



I did have him go back through and check his work to match the red words to the red cards. I praised him for reading the words in other places on the chart but pointed out that the colors did not match.

Here is the completed, and fixed, chart.



Here is Isaac "reading" the chart. I would have had him point to the words as he read them, but I didn't want him to fall off his chair. I followed his progress by watching his head. I could tell from his head movements that he knows that reading goes from left to right. At one point he is just singing, ("Little ones to Him belong") but you can tell when he comes back to the chart.

We went over it a few more times. I would sing the song and leave out the red words and he would have to say them. Then we swapped and he sang while I filled in the red words.



After he played that game for a while- 3 times to be exact, he wanted to play something else. So, we moved on to colors.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Jocelyn, he already knows his colors." And you would be correct. Isaac does recognize his colors. But I also want him to recognize his color words. So, I made this chart and used some of the extra paint samples.



There are 2 ways to complete this chart. Notice, I wrote the words in a color that was not recognized on the chart. No extra hints!



Way #1- match the color side of the paint swatch to the word



Way #2- turn to the back of the swatch and match the words. I could have Isaac try to solve it using the 1st way, then have him turn the swatch over to check his answers. (HE checks his answers, not me. He needs to learn self-evaluation)

He went straight to using the words to solve the chart. The video for this would not load so I might be over my limit per blog. I'll try to do it in another one. I did have him try it again using only the color side of the swatch. He only had to check the 'black' and 'blue'. Not too shabby!



Isaac and his completed work.

WHAT ABOUT THE TWINS?! Not to worry, they were working had too.



Abby focused on the color green. Yes, that is marker around her mouth. You should see her arms.

Andy focused on blue. No picture. Sorry. He can now audition for the Blue Man Group.

After all that hard work, I let Ike and Abby play Mickey Mouse matching while I worked with Andy and his phrases. He is the most stubborn little boy!

We used the picture cards (from Day 1) and I chose the "bike" card. He identified it as "bicycle". I said the phrase, "I see bicycle." I tapped out syllables to help him hear the rhythm of the phrase. He liked the rhythm, but refused to repeat it. He did clap along, so I know he was hearing it properly. By the end of it he finally said, "I bicycle."

*sigh* Good enough.