When we decided to homeschool last year, I looked at about a zillion homeschool reading programs for my daughter.  As a former first grade teacher, I was PICKY with a capital P!  I knew I wanted something just like the curriculum I used when I taught.  So when I couldn’t find what I was looking for, that is exactly what I decided to do.  I asked permission from Pathways to Reading, since I had attended their week-long training back when I first started teaching, to purchase their curriculum and use it one-on-one with my daughter.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for this decision.  My daughter grew so much as a reader this past year!!  Pathways to Reading has chosen to adapt their curriculum for homeschoolers!  Long story short, I have gotten to be part of the development of this adapted curriculum and it is AMAZING!

The BEST Homeschool Reading Curriculum for Kindergarten:

Pathways to Reading Homeschool is a foundational reading program for homeschoolers adapted from Pathways to Reading, a curriculum used in schools and clinical settings for the last 20 years.

• Includes explicit and systematic instruction in all 5 reading pillars as identified by the National Reading Panel:
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Reading Comprehension

• Emphasizes advanced phonemic awareness to aid in orthographic mapping (the process of creating a sight vocabulary where words are automatically recognized)
• Rooted in the science of reading
• Evidence-based with multiple research studies associated with school curriculum that show statically significant positive outcomes
• Parent training, ongoing support, and supplemental videos to aid instruction

Orton-Gillingham Homeschool Curriculum

Pathways to Reading Homeschool adheres to the principles of Orton-Gillingham instruction, is multi-sensory and explicit in its approach towards phonemic awareness and phonics.  In addition, however, Pathways to Reading Homeschool offers advanced phonemic awareness to help students with reading difficulties, especially those with dyslexia.

Check it out now:

The more we learn about how our brains learn to read, the more apparent it is that phonological and phonemic awareness play a HUGE part in that process!  A longitudinal study published in 2014 revealed that phonological awareness training in kindergarten resulted in better reading comprehension in 9th grade (Kilpatrick, 2015)!

What are phonemic awareness activities?

From multiple studies, including studying brain imaging while reading, researchers have disproven the age-old myth that reading is a visual process. Yes, we must learn to associate letter sounds (phonemes) with their visual representations (graphemes) in order to become proficient readers.  But this does not account for the aspect of automaticity required in proficient readers.  Through orthographic mapping, which is “the process our brains use to store printed words in long-term memory”.  Multiple studies have shown that “students with better phonological awareness skills are more proficient at the process of orthographic mapping than those with weaker phonological awareness skills” (Kilpatrick, 2015).

So, what does this mean for us as parents?  This means that we must be intentional about introducing phonological awareness activities to our preschoolers and kindergarteners because it makes a HUGE difference in their long-term reading success!  This also means that we must ensure that they are receiving explicit phonemic awareness and phonics instruction once they are in school.

Phonological Awareness Activities for Preschoolers

I’ve put together these task cards of phonological awareness activities to do with your preschooler or kindergartener.  I am offering these for FREE for the next week or two!

I printed these cards (front and back) on bold-colored cardstock, cut them, and then hole-punched them and added a binder clip!  Throw the cards in your car or set them beside the bed and work through the activities together with your child, a minute or two at a time.  Each activity progresses and is based on the phonological development of children (recognizing rhymes is an easier task than segmenting the sounds in a word, for example).

In order to access the printable, please enter your first name and email into the fields below and you will be immediately directed to the printable.  By signing up, you are agreeing to be added to one of both of my email lists.  If you have any issues downloading the activities, feel free to email me at icanteachmychild@gmail.com.

Pssst….I also have to let you in on a little secret.  I am currently working with Terry Clinefelter of Pathways to Reading (a phonemic awareness and phonics curriculum I used when I taught in the classroom that is absolutely AMAZING).  We are working tirelessly to adapt the curriculum to make it accessible and usable for homeschoolers and I could not be more EXCITED!!!  Pathways to Reading Homeschool will be an invaluable resource for so many families!  Our Basic Foundational Reading curriculum (Kindergarten equivalent) will be available in August 2021 and then first and second grade levels will be available in 2022!  Be sure to check the box for Pathways to Reading to be notified of product availability and be added to our email list!!!

Enter Your Email to Access the Download:

Be sure to check out our phonemic awareness activities too!  

We recently organized a Zoom book club for my first grade daughter and a few of her friends.  Obviously with our girls being only first graders, the moms read the book aloud to each of our daughters throughout the week.  We chose  The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo as our first book club book.

We read the book over a course of about 5 weeks or so and met each Tuesday on Zoom (due to the pandemic) for a little activity and to discuss the books.  We dropped off all the materials for the activity on the porches of each friend prior to the Zoom meeting.

This book club turned out to be so much fun, even though they aren’t currently meeting in person.  We will definitely be continuing for future books.  But here were some of the activities that the girls enjoyed doing while reading The Tale of Despereaux.  

To kick off our book club, I had a friend make these adorable cookies.  A mouse for Despereaux and an Eiffel Tower since the book is set in France.

Activities to go along with the book The Tale of Despereaux

“Stained Glass” Window

Materials:

Cheap 5×7 picture frames
Hot Glue and hot glue gun
Black hot glue OR black craft glue
Assorted colors of Sharpie markers

During the first part of the book, Despereaux is attracted to the light and he is especially attracted to the beautiful, colorful light coming from the stained glass windows in the castle.  For this activity, I bought cheap 5×7 picture frames at the Dollar Tree and then hot glued the glass to the frame.  I then used black hot glue to make a stained glass design on the glass and the girls used Sharpies to color in each window compartment, but would probably just use the black craft glue next time as it would be easier to work with.  I thought the end result turned out to be so beautiful!!

Mouse Box

Materials:

Small brown craft boxes from Dollar Tree
Various sizes of foam/felt/paper hearts to make Mouse Face and ears
Googly Eyes
Yarn for whiskers and tail

We made this craft a few days before Valentine’s Day, hence the hearts used in the mouse (that can also double as a bunny…lol).  You just need a few different sizes of hearts in various colors.  You can use precut foam or felt hearts or just cut your own.  We cut a small piece of yarn for the whiskers but they were still too thick so we pulled apart the individual strands from the yarn piece and that worked perfectly.

Despereaux in the Dungeon Maze

Materials:

Paper Plate
2 Small Magnets
Wooden Dowel Rod
Picture of a Mouse
Printable Maze or

This idea is originally inspired by The Stem Laboratory.  You can find step-by-step directions here and even a printable maze to print and glue onto your paper plate.  Please note:  the link leads to the maze only.  You will have to print your own picture of a mouse.

Paint Your Own Pottery:  Despereaux, Princess Pea, and the Castle

Materials:

Unfinished Pottery, Paint, and Paintbrushes from local store

One of the other moms generously planned this activity and it was the PERFECT culmination for our book club!  She purchased each of these unglazed pottery pieces from a local paint-your-own-pottery business.  The kit included the paint and the brushes and then we just had to take the painted pottery back to the store to be fired and glazed.  They turned out SO cute and will be a fun memory of our book club that the girls can keep in their rooms!

One thing we didn’t get to do was make soup!  Soup (or a lack thereof) was such a big part of the story and I wished we could have incorporated my potato soup recipe somehow!

For our next book club, we have chosen the book Clementine so stay tuned for some fun activities!

As parents, we all know that reading should be an important part of our child’s daily routine. Not only is it a great way to bond with our children (of any age), studies have shown that 20 minutes of reading a day has significant long term benefits for children that include:

• expanded vocabulary
• increased brain development 
• higher test scores
• broadened worldview
• lower levels of stress, depression, and dementia later in life (University of Liverpool study)
• instilling a life-long love for reading and learning

With the advent of technology, children are reading for pleasure far less than earlier generations. Reading is one of my absolute favorite hobbies, so I have a hard time stomaching this unfortunate trend. But all hope is not lost…reading “old-fashioned” books can still be tons of fun!

We are here to share some new and engaging ways to encourage reading in your home, whether you read aloud to your child or whether he/she is reading independently. By implementing some of these suggestions, your children will be begging to read instead of dreading reading time!

5 Ways to Make Reading More Enjoyable for Your Child

1. Take your books outside.

Don’t make reading just an indoor activity, take a blanket and a stack of books and head outside. One of my favorite places to read is the hammock on our deck. A change of scenery can make a world of difference in our motivation to read!

2. Host a kids book club.

One of my friends hosted a book club for her second grade daughter and a few of her friends this summer and I thought this idea was absolutely genius. I think this would be especially helpful as kids get older and are reading chapter books!

Coordinate with a handful of your child’s friends and their parents on a schedule that works for you, whether it is monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. If you are looking for books to get started, talk to the librarian at your child’s school or your local public library for book suggestions. I also love looking at Goodreads for book reviews.

Planning a book club for my boys is on my list of things I want to do this winter when outdoor activities slow down!!!

3. Read in the dark.

There is something fun and mysterious about reading once the house is quiet and the lights are off. Whisper to your child that they can get out the flashlight once the lights are out!

4. Play dress up or act out the book.

Young children will find this activity super fun but don’t be surprised when older kids want to join in on the fun as well. Are you reading a book about a princess? Break out the princess dresses. Pirates? Add a patch to your eye. There are so many ways to make books engaging to kids!

One of my mentor teachers shared an idea with me that I used in my first grade classroom that the children LOVED. I got bundled up in my hat, coat and mittens to read the book Tacky the Penguin. Once I began reading the part about Tacky doing “splashy cannonballs”, I pulled out a spray bottle from behind my back that was filled with water and sprayed all the kids. I will never forget the squeals and laughter from that read-aloud…and I’m pretty certain they will remember that every time they read Tacky the Penguin.

5. Make it a family affair.

Not only do kids need to read themselves, they need to see YOU reading. Boys especially need to see their fathers reading. And kids need to be read aloud to, long after they are able to read to themselves. One of my favorite parts of the day with my boys (who are 7 and 9) is reading aloud to them right before bed. And anytime our nighttime routine is rushed and we have to skip the read-aloud, my 7-year old is nearly in tears with disappointment.

How do you make reading fun in your home???

If you are interested in learning about more tried-and-true strategies for teaching your child to read, check out my eBook I Can Teach My Child to Read.

My daughter has been busy practicing her kindergarten sight words!  Memorizing sight words is just one method to include in the teaching toolbox of a balanced literacy program.  Other aspects include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.  But because sight word recognition can be somewhat tedious, I wanted to make our sight word practice a little more festive (to go along with our other Christmas activities)!

Sight words, also known as “high-frequency words”, are the most common words a child will encounter when learning to read. Often times, these words do not follow basic phonics rules. Because of this, I recommend helping your child memorize sight words that cannot be decoded using the basic phonics rules (I call these “cheater” words because they don’t play fair). Several sight word lists can be found online, including the Dolch and Fry lists.

For this printable, I chose some sight words that my daughter has been working on. But I also included a blank option (both black & white and color) so that you can add your own words.  There are approximately 4 “ornaments” for every word in the word bank.

Sight Word Christmas Tree

Here’s what you will need for this activity:

• Dot Markers
• Our Sight Word Christmas Tree Printable

1. Gather your supplies.  Print out the Sight Word Christmas Tree printable if you haven’t already.

2.  Have your child read the sight word next to each color in the word bank and find all of the matching words, dotting them with the corresponding color!

All done!

Check out more Christmas activities here.

The Best Christmas Books for Kids:  Babies and Toddlers

Christmas in the Manger By Nola Buck

This sweet song book is sung to the tune of “The Isty Bitsy Spider” and is perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers!

Christmas Books for Kids:  Ages 4-7

The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell

This is my favorite of any of the gingerbread books because it is just so darn cute. The spunky Gingerbread Girl is determined to learn from the mistakes of her older brother. The rhyming chorus throughout the book begs to be recited over and over again.

My boys beg to read this book over and over again because it is funny. The ornery Gingerbread Girl reminds me a lot of Little Sister these days…so I’m sure she will love it just as much!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

This beloved Dr. Seuss classic is a favorite in our house as well.  When discussing the best Christmas books for kids, this one definitely has to be included!

“Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot . . . but the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville, did NOT!”

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell

This is a sweet story about a kind ox who welcomes each tiny creature needing a place to stay into the stable. And old dog, a stray cat, a small mouse, and a tired donkey are all given rest with Kind Ox. A baby is also welcomed in the stable…”a Little One who came for the world.”

It is relatively short with detailed illustrations…perfect for young children!

Christmas Books for ages 8-12

I refused to watch this movie for the first year after it came out. It looked so much different from the book and I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of the book. I gave in (kind of) as we showed it to all of our first graders while I was still teaching. The movie was okay–but I really love the book! I have such wonderful memories of my oldest brother reading this to us in the balcony of my parent’s house. Every year Santa would walk through our front door while we were reading this book and it is one of my favorite memories as a child. If you haven’t read this book–it is a classic! The illustrations are magical and the story is the dream of every young child!

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

What are your favorite Christmas books???

And check out our fun Christmas activities for kids!  

Originally published November 30, 2010

In the United States, we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11th every year. This is also the anniversary of the signing of the armistice, which ended the World War I hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany in 1918.

Unless a child has a family member or close friend currently serving in the military, it can be difficult to convey the importance of our veterans and active duty military. These individuals and their families sacrifice (or have sacrificed) immensely, some even paying the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.

I’ve compiled several picture books about Veteran’s Day that will help our children foster a deeper respect for these heroes in our communities! After reading some of these books, may we also consider the many others ways we (and our children) can honor our veterans!

Picture Books about Veterans Day

(Links to books are affiliate links)

1. The Poppy Lady by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh

This book chronicles the efforts of Moina Belle Michael, an American teacher and professor, to make a difference in the lives of servicemen in World War I. She is ultimately responsible for the poppy being the symbol of honor for fallen war heroes. The text of the book is  short and great for a read-aloud and there is also a prologue, author’s note, and appendix with additional information about Moina Belle Michael and her poppies.

2. The Wall by Eve Bunting

A boy and his father go to Washington, D.C. to try to find his grandfather’s name on the Vietnam Memorial wall. The boy’s grandfather died in Vietnam and the book explores the sadness and pride they felt at the memorial. This book is very sad but helps children understand the ultimate sacrifice paid by many of our military and how this impacts their family members and friends. The book also is a great introduction to the importance of memorials.

3. Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden

This heartwarming book helps us step into the shoes of a child whose parent is deployed. Natalie misses her dad when the leaves fall, at Thanksgiving, at Christmas, in the snow, at church, when she loses her first tooth, and during many of life’s small moments during the year her dad is deployed. Throughout the book, she tells herself to be brave just like her daddy would want her to be. Finally, at the end they are reunited and they tell each other how brave they each were! This book is an excellent way to discuss what life is like for families of active duty military. And reading this book definitely brought tears to my eyes!

4. H is for Honor by Devin Scillian

Sleeping Bear Press has published dozens of alphabet books based on various themes and H is for Honor is a book specifically for military families. This is a true alphabet book and each letter has a short poem that goes along with the word (D is for Drill Sergeant, L is for Letters, N is for Navy, R is for Reveille, U is for Uniform, etc.)  The poem makes for a great read aloud! If your reader is looking for more extensive information, there are at least a few paragraphs on each page that go into greater detail about each object represented by the letter of the alphabet.

5. Veterans:  Heroes in our Neighborhood by Valerie Pfundstein 

This sweet rhyming book is perfect for introducing Veterans Day to elementary students. This book does an excellent job of discussing why we set aside a day to honor these heroes. Veterans:  Heroes in our Neighborhood highlights many individuals in the community who served (or are serving) in the military (the butcher, barber, mailman) as well as those who have been affected by family members serving in the military. The book is positive and light-hearted but acknowledges the sacrifices that many in the military have made.

Other Veterans Day Books I have found but have not personally reviewed…

Hero Mom by Melinda Hardin

Hero Dad by Melinda Hardin

What is Veterans Day? by Elaine Landau

America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven

Granddad Bud:  A Veterans Day Story by Sharon Ferry

Find more ways children can honor veterans here.

It’s the final day of our 30 Days of Reading Fun for Beginning Readers series!!! Since today is a Monday, we are focusing on reading comprehension. This Roll and Retell Reading Comprehension Activity helps engage young readers in recalling details about a book.

There are several important ways to help a child comprehend what he/she has read. The first (and strongest, in my opinion) way is to help him/her make connections. This can be connections to their own experiences or connections to other books. Making mental images is another helpful strategy. Finally, asking questions requires a child to reflect critically on what he/she has just read. This strategy is our focus for this activity.

Once you read a fictional story, grab a die and let your child/student start answering questions about the story depending on the number that is rolled.

If your child/student rolls:

1:  What is the setting?
2:  Who are the characters?
3:  When does the story take place?
4:  What is the problem?
5:  How is the problem solved?
6:  What is your favorite part?

Get your copy of our Roll and Retell Reading Comprehension Activity here.

Find more reading comprehension activities here:

It’s Day 29 of our 30 Days of Reading Fun for Beginning Readers series! Today we played this Printable Rhyming Words Memory game over and over and over. My 5-year old daughter couldn’t get enough of this game (and she beat me several times)!

Identifying rhyming words is an important phonemic awareness skill for beginning readers. This activity uses verbal/picture rhyming only…there are no words included.

Enter your email address to access our Rhyming Words Memory Game. Print the document double-sided and cut out the individual cards for a super quick game! You could even laminate the cards to make them last longer!

Go here for your Printable Rhyming Words Memory Game.

(Enter your email address and it will be automatically emailed to you.  If you don’t receive an email, check your SPAM folder!)

Here is a list of the rhyming pairs included:

bee / tree
cake / snake
box / fox
cat / hat
dog / log
dragon / wagon
duck / truck
hen / pen

Find more activities for beginning readers here:

True Story:  The first word my oldest son ever “read” was “Sonic”. And by “read”, I mean associated the logo with the word (the very beginning of reading). I was super surprised, even as a teacher knowing the importance that environmental print plays in a child’s language development. I convinced myself that this phenomenon was due to the fact that he was obviously brilliant, meanwhile nonchalantly downplaying the role that my daily habit of buying a Dr. Pepper at Sonic might have played in this “phenomenon.” :)

In the book The Art of Teaching Reading, Lucy Calkins mentions that it could be helpful when introducing letters to start with either the first name of the child or the letter M…for McDonald’s. After all, nearly every child can easily identify those golden arches! For better or worse, environmental print plays an important role in our child’s reading development. Reading street signs and restaurant names can actually set the stage for reading sight words later on. That’s why this Environmental Print Bingo game is our activity for Day 25 of our 30 Days of Reading Fun for Beginning Readers series.

I chose several places nearby that we pass often to create this Environmental Print BINGO board. If you don’t have any of these businesses close by, you can always create your own BINGO board in less than 10 minutes! I saved each of the logos from each businesses Facebook page. You could also try this with cereal names, favorite snacks, and more!

Download our Environmental Print BINGO printable.

Find more activities for beginning readers here: