“You cannot write for children. They’re much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.”
Maurice Sendak, 1928 – 2012
I was saddened to hear of Maurice Sendak’s passing. I love “Where the Wild Things Are” and so does my oldest. The youngest has yet to want to sit and listen to the whole book but begins to enjoy snippets between play moments. I love the darkness and playfulness of this book.
I have been reading little readers with Daisy as she begins to enjoys some independence as a reader. However, some of these books quite simply bore me to tears. I have been searching for something a little bit more entertaining. The Sounds Like Reading Series is something that I hoped would fit the bill. It is always a risk as a teacher and book selector, that something I might find funny, flops with the children. The first book in this series was a hit with Daisy.
The Sounds Like Reading Series uses rhyme, repetition, phonics and illustration to help children learn to read. The first book in the series is called; The Bug in the Jug wants a Hug.
The first page has an explanation of the book for educators and parents. It describes how the sentences gradually become more challenging and the reader is asked to find “discovery words” that sound alike, by a cute little mouse.
Daisy loved meeting the challenges this wee mouse set for her.
Each double page has three rhyming words on the left side with corresponding pictures. These pictures are then used in the sentence on the opposite page.
Our Process:
- I read each rhyming word to Daisy, splitting the onset and rime “r” “id” and then reading the whole word “rid”.
- I read the sentence while finger-pointing under each word
- Then we discussed the picture, laughed and pointed out other words or information not mentioned in the sentence.
- Daisy then read the sentence while I finger pointed. She was able to read the bold rhyming words but was often hesitant with the non-bold words. Some of these are sight words and difficult to “sound out”. When this happened I said the word and we carried on. At this point, we are not actively learning sight words, simply reading them as they come up. The emphasis is on enjoying the book and reading rather than learning each word. Sight words is something we will tackle at a later date.
We both really enjoyed this book and Daisy was eager to share reading expertise with her Papa. As a teacher, I could see these as ideal home readers. Parents are likely to enjoy reading them as much as the students!