Beth used this idea with her own child, and it went so well for them that she has made it into a packaged curriculum. It emphasizes learning through play and lots of hands-on activities! Perfect for my reading-obsessed, very active kindergarten student. It retails at $10 for a full 12 week program, and comes as an instant download so you can get started immediately.
You use it for 15 minutes per day, 5 days a week.
Here's what we got (and so will you):
- 12 Week Lesson Plan (little prep with clearly labeled sheets!)
- Roll & Read Game / Flashcards
- Trace! Read! Stamp!
- Sight Word Coloring
- Word Search
- Peanuts to Elephant Game
- Matching Word Round-Up Game
- Sight Word Bingo (2 versions)
- Swat the Fly Game
- 8 Preschool Readers
I took an hour when I first received this and got the whole thing set up. I printed everything, all twelve weeks' worth. Then I got out my paper cutter and twelve zippered binder pockets:
I put each week of activities into a pocket, all printed, cut out, and ready to go. I took the "master schedule" and put half at the front, up to the first review week (week 6), and then the next one before week 7. Here's my binder, all set up:
After that, we just went a week at a time, following the activities as they showed on the schedule.
My sidekick is a fan of any game that allows him to throw things, so his favourite part by far was when we made dice from the words! He threw a die, and then had to call out the word that was on top when it landed.
He also LOVED that he got to play one of his other favourite games, whacking things with a fly swatter. We'd lay all the words out, call out a word, and he thwacked the right one.
I loved the fact that there was a reader at least every second week, so he could put his new skills to the test right away reading a "book". He was so proud of this accomplishment that he has been reading to every person who comes over, pretty much!
The only thing we had to modify was the Trace! Read! Stamp! pages. We couldn't find alphabet stamps anywhere, so I had him use letter magnets from our fridge to form the words instead.
This program has taken his reading to a whole new level, quickly and in a way that was effortless. I asked everyone in my family who participated in it with D to rate it and it got an average 9.5 out of ten. If you're looking for something inexpensive, easy, and fun to take your child through the first stages of reading, I suggest you head over and grab Reading the Easy Way. I hear that there's a second level coming out soon, so I'll be stalking the site until it's out!
Disclaimer: I received this product free so that I could test it out, tweak it if neccessary, and write the review. I was not requires to write a positive review and wouldn't have accepted it if I was!
