reading "green eggs and ham" again...

Let this be the official day that marks Bryan's independent reading. 

Ever since he turned 5, he's been found sitting in a corner each day... at several intervals of the day with a book. It's usually Tintin or a Berenstain Bear. I have long stopped reading to the kids. Now it's a rare time when Mommy actually reads a book with them, and it's usually when Daddy's not home. Yet, I haven't had plenty opportunities to slack this month either, since there will always be a couple of nights when Alan's not around each week. In fact, I think his successor probably sees more of him over the past couple of months than the kids and I do! 

Anyway, as the story goes... Tonight was yet another one of those Daddy's-out-nights. So guess who did the reading tonight? Me? Lucky me... it was Bryan! Finally and thankfully, Mommy can now skive, officially! 

I told Bryan I was only keen on reading Dr Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. Then Bryan told me he could do it. In fact, he's done it before in preschool during daycare. Apparently, he's been reading it to another girl. Trying to woo one with poetry already? Not eliminating that possibility there... haha! Even his sister vouched for him! "Yeah, Mommy. He's reading to Miranda!"

So in a whole sitting, he finished the entire book. "Am I not fantastic, Mom? See, I told you I could read it all by myself!"

Yes, I'm mightily proud of him, taking even more pride in his effort to finish all 62 pages at one shot! Ok... I won't call him a lazy bum anymore. 

By the way, I did realise some interesting cues he draws from reading... I mean the non-verbal communications, e.g. When he saw a couple of horizontal lines coming out of the character's mouth in the drawings, he told me, "Oh, he's shouting a bit here." So he raised his volume and pretended he was shouting out loud while reading. Next, he saw some words printed all in upper case. And he told me again, "Oh, there he goes again. Shouting!"

Pretty interesting what he picks up from the non-verbal signs. Guess comic books are brilliant for such things. Yep, more Tintin it will certainly be... I think it's also high time to re-introduce The Electric Company dvds. 

Yep... think most moms are right on this one... just leave the child alone and sooner or later, he'll pick up reading! Ok, more later for our case. Still loads better than "never", I guess. And really... phew! Because we'll be heading back to Singapore (where kids are already reading by 3 or 4 years of age) in a couple of months! Oops... in fact I need to fret about Kristin! Now I've found the new object of my obsession! Here we go again... 

what do you read when your kids won't eat?

In my conversation with some of the blogger-moms here over the week, I came to realisation that I never once read anything pertaining to fussy eaters. What have I been thinking? How on earth do I still have fussy eaters to serve at each meal? No surprises there, of course. 

The truth of the matter is I did try, though I wasn't consulting any parenting books on that topic. 

Instead, I have books like "Good Enough to Eat. A kid's guide to food and nutrition." and Annabel Karmel's "Mom and Me Cookbook. Have fun in the kitchen!" I thought, instead of Mommy doing the reading, I should involve my kids in some literature that celebrates the goodness of food. 

It worked for Bryan, however, not so well with Kristin. 

Since these two books, we've come a long way: From studying the human anatomy of the digestive system to counting jelly beans on the table. With time, Bryan has changed from a plain-rice-only eater to an everything-goes boy. But Kristin... she still needs to be coaxed to pick up her spoon. Sometimes, it can really become crazy that she'd rather cry in the bathroom for 5 minutes and then return to the table willingly to start her meal, rather than a "Yes, Mommy, I'll give it a try." Strange thing is she likes to make a scene. Maybe she needs a little drama before she starts a meal. But no thanks, nope... I will not let my kids eat in front of the telly. 

Coincidentally, another mommy-friend sent me this link to an article titled "6 Food Mistakes Parents Make" in NY Times.  Clearly, we are comrades in the same struggle... everyday, three times a day! 

What do you do/read when your children won't eat? 

for beginning readers only...

Our Scholastic orders just came in and more book supplies arrived at the Yeo's yesterday! 

This one was "hot" from the oven and the children loved it! 

Ok... don't know much about Kristin. Cos she was doing all kinds of somersaults from one corner of the sofa to the other, while Bryan and I were happily reading to each other. 

The one we got is "Very Short Fairy Tales". I like it a lot. Mary Ann Hoberman takes you a little further from the usual fairy tales, gives the stories a little more "what if's" and the result is creatively awesome! Haha... I probably enjoyed the read more than my kids - ok confession time: So, I buy books for myself, not for my children! 

So for boys and girls who love poetry and rhyme, 

this is a book we cannot miss at bedtime! 

By the way, the illustrations are wacky and refreshing too. 

dr seuss to the rescue!

I know we are way behind the pace of Singapore kindergarten education. Most kids are already reading pretty fluently at Bryan's age. This video is his humble start with Dr Seuss. 

Daddy was wonderfully impressed by Bryan's clear diction. In Daddy's words, "He even read 'had' with a dropped jaw." 

daily devotions...

We've been busy with these books for the past few days.

I am stunned by what Bryan has to say to each daily devotion.

On the story of Creation, he stopped me and counted, "1-2-3-4-5-6-7..., errm, and on the 8th day God rested." Well, not very accurate there, but the point is he remembered there were 7 days. And that God rested. It was great fun that we could take the opportunity to talk about the Sabbath.

And because he's a budding reader, he enjoys studying the colourful pages filled with informations on our Almighty.

reading "green eggs and ham"

Apparently, Bryan's been doing Dr Seuss for this week in class. Somehow, I didn't get the schedule for this week until I read the notice board outside his classroom yesterday.

So gotta strike while the iron's hot, this was what I offered him last night while waiting for his dad to come home, Green Eggs and Ham!



Again, it was me on left, and him on right. He's happy that it's a balanced division of work:



I could tell from the smirk on his face that he was secretly happy that this time only Mommy was on:



Now, he wasn't too happy. "Mommy, it's not funny, you know." I had to remind him he didn't have to read at the last go.



"Mommy, it's unfair. You still don't get anything!"
"Life isn't always fair."
"No, I don't want to read anymore!"
But after having a peek at the next two pages, he decided to "resign" to his fate:



"Haha, now you see, life isn't always fair, Mommy!"

Really, I wasn't lying when I said he's a lazy bum. He's discouraged by the number of words he has to read on each page. Looks like it will still be mainly picture books for a long period of time!

jack and the beanstalk

Bryan's been into colouring these days. I have no idea why this sudden interest. His colouring skills are, fortunately, straightening out, alot.

e.g. This was what he presented to me at the pick-up today.

When Bryan came home yesterday, he had this sudden urge to complete this page. He even told me he would stop watching TV after the Kipper disc and finish up his work. Why the rush? Because he wanted to have it ready by today for Daniel Lucas' birthday. He was planning to give it away as a gift!

Ok, I know the theme isn't quite appropriate. It's an Easter colouring page. But hey, we're celebrating birth, right? :)

When Bryan finally presented his final product for my approval - think praises, that's what he was soliciting at the end of the day, I decided it was TIME to hand him this book I picked up at the Frankfurter Bookfair 1.5 years ago. Yep, 1.5 years ago! There are many more that aren't age-appropriate at the moment. I could have given it to him then, but he wouldn't have done justice to the book. The book certainly did not deserve the ill treatment of a preschooler, who could neither colour nor read. It would have ended up in shreds.

So Jack and the Beanstalk it is:

He felt proud to be handed this book. Because I said to him solemnly as if it was some family heirloom, "It's time. Now you will receive this wonderful book from me."

But we didn't get to the colouring immediately. He wanted to read the book!

"Ok, let's read it together. "

"No, it's too difficult. "

"Well, I take the left page. You do the right. "

"Hmm, ok. "

I eventually persuaded him to read the book with me,

He was reading... reading the most amazing things, at least they are to me. Because prior to this event, I was only expecting him to read nothing more than 1-syllable words and those sight words he knows.

e.g. "woman, mother, magic, giant, some, window, castle"... were some of the words I didn't expect him to know.

While he didn't at first get the word "tip-toed", he cried it out when I covered up the second part of the word. I think when he reads now, he's beginning to associate the words with his spoken vocabulary. Finally... phew! And all this while, he's had me on, thinking he couldn't read!

Lazy bum!

an emerging reader?

Just a couple of weeks back, I was still lamenting how little Bryan could read on his own, or rather how much I had to read to him. Alan and I made our recent discovery that our son is probably not the independent sort.

At 4.5 years, he can sleep on his own, but he'd rather not to. So we stick him and Kristin in the same bedroom for now.
Bryan can get dressed all by himself, yet he still gets an earful from me each morning, with threats of a TV-ban for the whole week if he continues to dawdle and fritter away the precious morning hours and get us all late for school.
He can self-feed, most definitely or he'll starve in school. However, Mommy has to scoop his food in a spoon before he can shove it down his throat on his own.
He'll feign exhaustion when he has to put on his shoes or coat at the end of the day when I pick him up in school.
He can shower, but he'd rather let you do it for him.
The list goes on. Bottom line is he's a lazy bum! That's the same with reading too. Why should I read when my parents read for me, anyway?

Tonight something got to him. He read me all the readers he could lay his hands on. Some twenty of them all in one shot! I think it's time Mommy takes a backseat when it comes to reading...

Reading 101

This was my featured photo in my Shutterfly Studio today:



Gosh, this photo was taken like, ermm, 4 years ago in March, when he was about 7 months old.
Yep, reading should start young :)

But of course, Bryan being Bryan, he was probably more captivated by the colourful photos.



Gee, it must have been a busy day for him: So much literature!

results...

I couldn't wait for the night to come. So when Bryan came home, I decided to spring the test on him. Bearing in mind that it's his first assessment ever, I walked him through the task: Got him to read all the words in one column and went through the pictures with him to ensure that the pictures were perceived correctly. Then, I began to realise my mistake. I think he's got a little confused now with hat-hay, bat-bay...

I would say he did about 80% correctly on his own for today.

The next step is to start breaking down the words further to letters. Remember, I'm using the analytical method. So each word will get split even smaller each time. For a start, he has to copy the words by sticking letters.

test

A little learning assessment awaits Bryan tonight. If the mood for learning is right, he'll have to match the words to the pictures correctly.

I'm a little excited as to how he'll perform in the assessment.

Teaching word recognition to a young child sure involves alot of reviews. Hmmm, a recursive curriculum perhaps? I wonder how much he still remembers from the word families "-at" and "-ool".

This is the first time I'm doing assessment tasks with him. Previously, all the exercises were devised to help him search and recognise the correct word.

a reading review...

As usual, we were doing some review on what Bryan had learnt so far.
Basically the fat-cat-sat-on-the-mat-stuff and he surprised me today with another word family, the "-an" family!

He was reading off "can, ban, man, ran, pan, tan, fan" all by himself when he got too tired with the word search on "-at" family I presented him. It certainly does look like he's ready for new challenges.

We've also been working on recognising the months on a calendar.
This was what his teacher wrote last Friday:
During circle time today the children were observing the display of months and discussing which month was their birthday. Bryan told us that December is Jesus' birthday.

I'm really pleased that he remembers little personal details, especially this one! I pray that he'll have a personal relationship with our Lord one day, soon.

the fat cat sat on the mat, the finale...

This is Day 5 of "The Fat Cat sat on the Mat".

Bryan completed the whole reader with me, reading about 80% of it all by himself! The other 20% he insisted on parroting me.

Wow! I was impressed!

Ok, on some occasions, I think his memory served as a great aid to his reading as I've read the book to him before. But really, I've not read the book to him more than 5 times, I guess. So it wouldn't be right to say that he read it out of his memory. Also, I think Bryan's a natural when it comes to rhyming. So, when he got "room", he got "broom" too, not forgetting "wish", "dish", "fish". And because we talk so much nonsense day in day out, and he orders and commands his sister what she ought and ought not to do, "So get off the mat!" wasn't much of a challenge to him. When he got "get", he immediately completed it with "off".

Anyway, I'm definitely rejoicing over my a-little-less-than-a-week-of-"hard"-work... We are now one baby step closer to literacy! :D

yay, he's reading alright!

We just had lunch with Daddy in the city.

While waiting to be served, Bryan read to his Daddy his silly sentences again. Boy, was Daddy proud of him!

But we were quite disappointed to hear that Bryan didn't want to learn how to read. He said he would once he became a big boy. And for now, he preferred to be read to...

What a lazy baby!!! Actually my secret agenda of teaching literacy is to have him read on his own in the morning when he wakes up, lest he comes bothering me in my bed! Hey, I'm cranky too when I don't get my sleep, ok?

bravo, Bryan!

As of "The fat cat sat on the mat" Day 4, Bryan is finally reading! Reading actual words and understanding them, and not picture reading. Yeah, tried and tested! Really!

Guess what just happened? He was peering into my screen to read my previous post and he saw what he could recognise. To make things easier, I printed out a copy of the silly sentences he made. And the most amazing thing happened! He read all of them! Every single word! Awesome! I know he definitely understood what he read coz he was laughing his head off.

Well, to many moms, this is probably no surprise for a 4 year-old. Many kids that I know have already started reading as early as three, or maybe even younger. But it is the utmost gratification for me after an intense lesson of two days. Now this makes the quasi-homeschooling that I do fun!

"Mom, remember to tell Daddy what I did today, ok?" Oh no, you're gonna to read to him!

the fat cat sat on the mat again...

Last night, I was totally convinced that my son was an under-achiever.

I gave him a stack of self-made cards with words of the sentence "the fat cat sat on the mat" jumbled up and told him to read each individual words and then arrange them into a sentence.

He had no problems with word recognition. He was reading each card alright. But when it came to forming a sentence, it was "the fat cat sat on mat the", until Alan could sense my frustration at dinner table. (Yeah, at dinner table, coz otherwise Bryan will not be interested in food. Don't get me started on starving them for a few meals. My children are just not interested in food. They can starve and be cranky and crazy, and still they won't eat unless they are sat down at the table with Daddy and Mommy saying "Eat! Eat!" every other second. Why don't they like food??? Anyway, that's another grouse altogether.)

Alan pointed out that it could be too boring for him to just form one sentence. So I thought, ok I would throw in the other words like"bat, hat, rat" and see what Bryan would do with them. Still not much progress.

After dinner, I wrote some silly sentences on the board and got Bryan to match each sentence. And indeed, he showed keen interest in silly sentences. Still, he had to check with me a hundred times before he completed a sentence. And after 15 minutes, he said he's too tired and his arms were all aching from arranging the cards! What???!!! What an under-achiever, I thought again. Sigh!

During lunch today, we did the word cards again. Yeah, it's "The fat cat sat on the mat" on Day 3. This time I didn't have any spare moment to check and baby him through the sentence making steps, so I just told him to make one silly sentence to make me laugh. What came out of that motivating factor laughter?

"The fat bat sat on the rat."
"The fat rat sat on the cat."
"The fat bat sat on the hat."
"The fat cat sat on the rat."
"The fat mat sat on the hat."
"The fat hat sat on the bat."
"The fat cat sat on the hat."
"The fat rat sat on the bat." etc

Now not so much an under-achiever today. Yay! Of course, I had to pretend that his silly sentences were cracking me up. He was certainly proud that he could make Mommy laugh with all his silly sentences.

the fat cat sat on the mat...

Yesterday was a good day for me.

I managed to quickly cook dinner while the kids napped. By the time Bryan woke up from his nap, I was able to have some fun with him.

We have had this chart on our main door for a very long time. It finally served its purpose yesterday afternoon, when I told Bryan to sit in front of it and learn the first 4 words in the "-at" family column, while I cleaned up the kitchen.

It didn't take him long. After 5 minutes, "I'm done, Mommy! What's next?"

He's been resisting his afternoon nap ever since we came back from Singapore. So whenever I say he doesn't have to go back to his bed anymore, he loves it! In fact, he loves it whenever he has to do some "work" for Mom so much that when Daddy was back yesterday evening, he proudly informed his Dad that he was doing some "work" for Mom.

Anyway, next it was word-recognition exercise for him.

I wrote a series of "cat", "bat", "hat" and "mat" on the easel and got him to circle, t-cross, cross out and then strike out the words, one group at a time. Pretty well, and all this while I was still clearing the cooking utensils in the kitchen.

Next, it was word cards.

Got Bryan to read out the words, while prompting him not to forget the accompanying actions. The actions were a lot of fun for him. e.g. scratching moves for "cat", flapping arms for "bat", hands over the head for "hat" and lastly, he had to sit down on a "mat".

Finally I showed him the card "at", hoping he would transfer some of his knowledge to reading the word on his own. Well, not so much. He needed some clues.

The last thing we did before dinner was for him to complete reading the whole column of the "-at" family chart. And he did! Applause! So I did manage to get him to transfer his new "-at" knowledge after all. Oh... yes! I also got him to read "the fat cat sat on the mat" out loud and immediately he remembered we had a book in that title.

After dinner, we had a short revision on those words using Magna-Doodle board. Then we started reading "The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat" together. It was fun and an accomplished lesson plan! Homeschooling this way, I like it. But this is not always the reality.

Reality is: Mommy is always tired, Bryan is being silly or cranky, or Kristin is disturbing us!

But it was definitely seizing the moment to get him to learn a few more words.

Oh... did I mention I was in the gym yesterday? Yeah, that's where the energy came from. I think I need to camp out in the gym to feel fit mentally to teach again.

Next on my lesson plan is the "-ish" family. Not very many words - "fish", "dish", "wish", "swish". But I can certainly read Dr Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish with him after that.

I do have many ideas in my head... but really can't summon energy to realise them. Where is Brand's Chicken Essence and Youmeishu???