Homemade Reading books (Ages 2-5)

D (almost 3) will see a word and ask me what it says. He does this all day long. He wants to read. How can I help him read aside from our learning time during the week?

I-Bell is 5 and is writing. She's always asking me how to spell words. What can she do when I'm not able to sit with her and help her spell/write a word? How can I empower her so she can do more on her own?

This is how our first reading books came to be.

Learning to read through pictures.

 

I-Bell and D were huge contributors to putting this together. We used their interests and their ideas. They sat with me and I helped make their ideas come to life on the computer. They chose the pictures, I wrote the words. When they lost interest in creating the book, we stopped creating it. When they were interested in making it again we'd work on it again. I wanted this to be a book that they created.  

 

In the end, they each got their own binder and their own copy of this book.

D's first interest was trains. His Thomas trains, in particular. We also included The Polar Express. We have multiple pages of these in his and I-Bell's book. I catch D peeking at the bottom of his wooden trains to see the names now. I believe he is memorizing them, or learning them by sight. However, he knows what letter all of these trains start with by memory. ("I'm thinking of a train that starts with the letter ...") We play this all the time!

I-Bell wanted Super Heroes:)

Animals. Sort by category: Farm animals, Jungle animals, Zoo animals, etc.

Transportation 

They helped me think of all of these. We add more on our Microsoft Word Doc as they think of more.  I'm constantly jotting their ideas down in my phone so we can remember them when we get home. They are so excited about adding to their books!

Body Parts 

Craft Time 

Colors 

Weather. 

D and I-Bell already are in the process of creating a Tree section, a leaf classification section, plants, flowers and insect identification sections. I'm thinking Spring ... Bird classification/eggs. The possibilities are endless!

We got out a box of pictures and they chose the pics they wanted in their books. We did a scrap book at the end. 

After they chose their pictures, I'd write about them. I-Bell, 5, told me about each picture and I wrote what she told me. That way she can work on her reading. 

D's book was kept very simple.

 

I can't wait to see what they add to their books next!