Some children seem to grasp reading really quickly and need little encouragement to pick up a book and learn the words and phonetic sounds. However my son really struggled at first and in Reception there seemed to be a vast ocean between his reading ability and those of some of his class mates (mostly girls). It was hard not to compare them at first but soon his teacher helped me to see sense and realise that he would soon catch up and that as long as he was making progress that was great. 

She helped me understand that boys generally need to have fun when learning to read so she suggested he read to his teddy bears (with me being there of course). He was disinterested in reading to me so this really helped encourage him to read more regularly. It also got me thinking about how to have more fun with his reading and so we started playing the following games:

'Fun Pavement Sentences':

If the weather is good, get some chalk and write on the paving slabs outside your home. On each paving slab write a different word so that a variation of sentences can be made. 

For example: In the above photo, there is an option to start the sentence with 'My' or 'The'. Then the child can either choose 'cat' or 'dog' etc... therefore the children can compose different sentences/stories such as:

My dog hid in the tin.
The cat sat on the tin

etc.. etc..

Go with your child's ability however start with 3 letter CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words and high frequency words such as 'a, an, as, at, if, in, the, I etc..'. The children will soon grasp the knowledge of the phonetic sounds and grow in confidence!  

You can make the words trickier as the children progress.

My daughter just started Reception so we were doing this for fun at the end of the Summer. My son who is now in Year 3 still loved it!

Another variation of this is...

'Word Hop-Scotch':
Similar to 'hop scotch' you can write 10 'random' words in instead of numbers. Use a stone and throw it onto your 'word hop-scotch' and hop on your 'word hop-scotch' and instead of stepping on the paving slab your stone has landed on your child has to read that word when they pick their stone up.

CAT
BIG    HEN
HER
SAT    TIN
MUG
HIS   PAT
LEG

This game can also be played to help them with their spellings later on with different phonetic sounds to choose from to make up the word.

I.e.
For the word 'school'

L
O   OO
CH      K
S

I-Spy:
"I spy with my little eye some thing beginning with 'b' (phonical sound 'buh')" etc...

Practise their phonetic sounds by reading road names on your way to/back from school or nursery.

Next week, we will be enjoying the NURSERY RHYME Theme.
Here are some lyrics to some of the songs we will sing...

This is the way the lady rides
Trit trot, trit trot, trit trot
This is the way the gentleman rides
Canter, canter, canter
And this is the way the farmer rider
Gallopy, gallopy, gallopy
All the way into the ditch!
(don't forget the actions. x)

Hey diddle diddle
The cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the dish ran away with the spoon!

Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender’s green.
When you are King dilly dilly, I shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly dilly? Who told you so? ‘
Twas my own heart dilly dilly, that told me so.

Call up your friends, dilly dilly, 
Set them to work.
Some to the plough, dilly dilly,
Some to the fork.
Some to the hay, dilly dilly, 
Some to threash corn.
Whilst you and I dilly dilly, 
Keep ourselves warm.

Jack and Jill,
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Up Jack got and home did trot 
As far as he could caper 
He went to bed to mend his head 
With vinegar and brown paper. 

Happy singing and reading everyone!

Love

Tabby x

Next week we'll be enjoying the Tabby's Tunes' TRANSPORT Theme, driving our buses, zooming to the moon, toot tooting down the tracks, meeting Adam the Astronaut, PC Stevens, Mike the Fireman and Bert the Lollipop man and riding our bicycles.

Richmond Park however is just on our doorstep! You can hire bikes for adults and children, helmets, tag alongs, trailers and baby seats for littlies from parkcycle. Just by the Roehampton Gate. 

In the Summer I believe they are open week days and weekends however now that's it's Autumn it's probably best to check their website before going: www.parkcycle.co.uk although I'm sure they're still open at weekends.

There's so much to do in Richmond Park. In the Summer you can take picnics however there's still so much you can do in the Autumn like climb trees, throw pooh sticks in the stream, play hide and seek and keep a look out for the deer. You might even see the stags rutting at this time of year!

Happy cycling everyone! In the meantime, please see below some lyrics to some of the songs we'll sing next week.

Love 

Tabby x

Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do.
I’m half crazy
All for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marriage
‘Cos I can’t afford a carriage.
But you look sweet upon a seat
Of a bicycle made for two!

Zoom, zoom, zoom we’re going to the moon. 
Zoom Zoom Zoom we’ll be there very soon. 
5 4 3 2 1 Blast Off!!!

Then Tabby's verse:
Zoom, zoom, zoom to Earth we're going to go.
Zoom Zoom Zoom look out for a U. F.O.
5 4 3 2 1 Blast Off!!!

My Big Red Bus
My Big Red Bus
A little Morris Minor
And a Big Red Bus

My Big Red Bus
My Big Red Bus
A little Morris Minor
And a Big Red Bus


Ferrari, Ferrari.

A little Morris Minor
And a Big Red Bus!

There is a painted bus,
With twenty painted seats
It carries painted people
Along the painted streets
They pull the painted bell,
And the painted driver stops.
And they all get out together 
At the little painted shops.