Value Bookshop’s Reading Notes

KokoD is still not very strong in his Bahasa Malaysia numbers. It’s partly my fault for not revising and reinforcing the teaching. He will sometimes skip a number e.g. “satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, tujuh.” He hasn’t learned the spellings yet. And even though he can count till twelve, he doesn’t know the names of the numbers in isolation. For example if I ask him what is “enam”, he doesn’t know it is “6″.

So I decided to do some reinforcing today by playing 2 card games. First, I recycled a cereal box and cut out tiny squares to make the cards. On it I wrote numbers and the names of the numbers (in B.M.).

Game 1: Memory Game
Shuffle and then lay out the cards face down. Open two at a time. If they number matches the word, he gets to keep the cards. If not, turn them over and then try again.
Before I started the game, I had him write on a piece of paper:

1 - satu
2 - dua
3 - tiga… (until 10 - sepuluh).

After a few games, I could see that KokoD was getting better at remembering the names of the numbers. I could tell because he didn’t have to refer to his paper much after awhile.

Game 2: Snap!
You could say it is similar to the traditional card game Snap! I divided the cards into two piles - numbers & words.
I took one pile, he took the other pile. We would simultaneously open one card from our pile. If they matched, you have to put your hand on the cards and say “Snap!” The person who is fastest gets to keep the cards.
Of course KokoD would not stand a chance against me when playing this game. I understand that he is just learning and would not have that speed yet. So, I gave him win a few times. Have to give some encouragement right?

Well, as usual, these games are very versatile. You can use these games to teach other concepts e.g colors and shape. You can also use it to build vocabulary in any language. Just use a little imagination and I’m sure your kid will have lots of fun playing err… I mean learning

Technology is a wonderful thing if you use it properly. I like using online videos to supplement lessons I do at home with my children. Just the other day we were learning about reptiles and amphibians. I printed the reptile/amphibian fact file from learningpage.com (sign up as a member for free) and went through each animal one-by-one with my daughter. But pictures on paper sometimes can’t fully describe the animal. And this is where online videos come in. For example, here is a short national geographic documentary on the bullfrog. Just watching this video, we observed how and what it ate, what a great jumper it is and other features.

And this is what the bullfrog sounds like.

How is it different from this frog called the Spring Peeper?

We also learned about the frilled lizard. Look at it run!

Okay, so I think you get my point. Don’t forget about online videos to bring some life to your homeschooling lessons. Nothing like some good visual aids to help make your lessons more interesting.

When I attended Kindermusik classes with my kid a few years ago, the teacher would put up on the walls the words of the music we sang. I thought what a great idea! It’s a great way to make our children’s environment rich with literature. Colourful nursery rhyme posters on the wall will be visually stimulating for our children.
It is a great help for us parents as well. Just imagine having a few spare minutes in between chores or whatever; just sing to baby some nursery rhymes while pointing to the posters. It’s like a “hit and go” activity when you don’t have time to sit down for a good reading session together.
I like this idea too because it allows you to introduce nursery rhymes or action rhymes that you may not be familiar with. Sometimes you find an interesting rhyme someone has shared on the net. Put it up on the wall so you can refer to it as you sing or recite to your children.
My 2nd son who is learning to read often uses these posters to practice his reading. He is familiar with the rhyme and so feels confident when he reads the words.
AND if your DH is like mine (who is not very good with nursery rhymes), these posters will help him get it right

This site called Northumberland Grid for Learning is a great resource for free printable nursery rhyme posters. They also have sequence cards for a follow up activity.

For older kids, you can fill up the wall with their own work by having them color pages of nursery rhymes. DLTK can help you with the coloring pages. First-school.ws is another good resource.

These are some I have on my wall. My children all enjoy doing the one that goes:

“Pat your head
And rub your tummy.
Touch your toes….
And hug your mummy!”

I’m not sure if you’ve played with this before. I know I did when I was younger. I don’t even know what is it’s proper name. Let’s just call it an open-close paper thingy. Hahahah.

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY:
Find a partner and have them choose a question to answer. If the question is “what’s your name?”, spell their name out loud. Open and close the crafted paper once for each letter you say. Have them choose another question. Open and close the crafted paper accordingly again. Next, have them choose one of the colored circles. Open up the flap and read what’s written under it.

To make one, just print the ready made layout here. I have already done it for you.

The yellow squares at the corner is where you write the questions. What you write here is very flexible and depends on what lesson/skill you want to enforce. For example, I wanted to help my son learn how to spell his numbers, so I wrote different numbers in the boxes. I would choose a number and he would have to spell it out for me, opening and closing for each letter he said out loud. For children that cannot spell yet, they can count the number of times to open and close instead of spelling it out.

With my daughter, I wrote down different questions such as “who do you love?”, “what is your favorite color?” etc…. You could even write down names of nursery rhymes and choose which one you want them to sing. So you see, this paper craft can be adapted to what you want to teach.

Have your child color in the circles with different colors. If you want them to learn how to read, you can assign colors to the circles by writing down the color names and have them color accordingly.

The blue triangles end up being the instructions under the flaps. So, you can write an action you want them to do (jump like a frog, quack like a duck), write a compliment (you have lovely eyes, your smile lights up the world), throw in some admonishments (finish your food, sleep early tonight) or offer some treats (ice cream, chocolate).

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO FOLD:
This is one I made.

Turn the paper over so you have the blank side facing up. Fold diagonally (the left bottom corner to the right top corner). Open the paper up.

Now, fold diagonally again but the opposite direction (the bottom right corner towards the top left corner). Open the paper up and you should see lines that cross to make an “X”.

 Fold each corner to the center.

 It should look like this.

Turn it over.

Fold the corners to the middle. You should see the colored circles now.

Fold it horizontally in half (up-down), then open. Fold it vertically in half (left-right) now and open again.

Slip in your finger (index or middle finger) and your thumb under the flaps in the corners, and push upwards and to the middle. You should end up with this:

This paper craft also helps children’s finger coordination. My kids struggled a bit at first figuring out how to maneuver the paper craft open and close. Be patient and gently show them how to do it. Once they become experts, they will wear out the paper in no time. So, be ready to make a few. Oh, it also makes a great toy for car rides.

Use this funny video to introduce a lesson about animals. You can talk about where animals live, the sounds they make, what they eat and things they do. My children loved this video. I love the animation. See if your child can figure out what animal the singer is actually singing about.

BabyD has started his prewriting journey. He will often reach out for a pencil and make scribbles on paper. In fact, one of the first words he learned how to say is “paaaa-pa” (we know he is saying paper coz’ he will point to it). As much as I like to encourage his prewriting skills, I am also into damage control. Meaning, “don’t write on my table or books baby!” But babies are babies and they can’t help themselves. So, the next best thing is ……. MAGNA DOODLE!

Okay, it’s not exactly the real Magna Doodle. These are cheap magnetic writing boards that usually don’t last long coz’ they are flimsy. Anyway, it cost me RM5.90. This cheap fun has been good entertainment for my children during the loooong car ride back from the recent Chinese New Year holidays. I’ve also used it to do spelling exercises with my older girl. She would spell the words I asked for on the Magna Doodle and then turn it over for me to see. When she got it right, I would go “ding ding ding” (like a bell). If she got it wrong I would make a different sound. It added that little element of fun coz’ it was like a game show.

I absolutely love this thing. I think it’s one of the greatest thing ever invented. Now my baby can scribble all he wants without me worrying he might accidently draw out of the paper onto my desk. If he decides to pop the pencil in his mouth, I don’t freak out coz there’s no lead. No need to feel like I’m wasting paper.

Magna Doodle! It’s an excellent prewriting tool.