Thursday, December 18, 2008
Preschoolers' Abilities Amaze Me!
Can I just tell you all how amazing it is to see kids who don't even start Kindergaten until next year reading! I had a couple of kids come to read for me who are using the See abc's program. One little girl came last week and she started the program last June. She is now all ready in the "Stories See What They Say" book. She read a couple of the "Very Short Stories" for me and even could use the expression that is written! Another little girl came this morning and she started the program the first of September with "ABC's See What They Say", then began the "ABC's See How to Chop and Blend" book on Oct. 23, and now she is all ready in "Phrases See What They Say". She read four of the phrases for me today and she is having fun trying to play with her voice and put expression in her reading. Some of the words she was able to read are, "which", "class", "teach", and "donuts"! Those words include digraphs (wh and ch), a consonant blend (cl), and short, long and silent vowels. Both of these little girls are so excited about what they can do and the things they can read. Their mothers tell me that they always beg to read and they don't want to stop! What a great way to spend time together.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
What's Inside The Gumfounded Books
Hey Everyone,
Let me begin by asking you if you know the rhyme "Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill. . ."? I'm pretty sure most of you answered yes to that question. Now let me ask you how old you were when you learned that rhyme? You probably answered three or four years old. It is amazing how that little rhyme has stuck in your head all of these years. It stuck because it rhymes and reads in rhythm. Because I teach concepts in my books that I want the reader to remember, I have written them in rhyme. Mother Goose and Dr. Suess definitely knew about the magic of rhyme back in their time.
The See ABC's program includes a set of three of the Gumfounded books. Each of these books teach about the environment. The first book is titled "Gumfounded". I explained what Gumfounded is about in my last email so I will move on to the second book.
The second book is titled "Bob Frog Sick of Smog". This book is super fun for the kids because Tia and Bob Frog try to clean up the sky by climbing a ladder and scrubbing it. Obviously this book teaches children how to keep the air clean.
The third book is titled "Is Bob Frog a Water Hog?". It teaches children how to conserve water. The illustrations are really fun and the message is a good one.
All three of the books have been imletterated to go with the program. It is a great way for the person learning to read to start getting their nose into books.
Spread the word that Tia and Bob Frog not only help teach children learn to read but they are out to save the planet!
Have a great day form the
"Thinkin' Green, Rhymin' Machine"!
Sherry
Let me begin by asking you if you know the rhyme "Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill. . ."? I'm pretty sure most of you answered yes to that question. Now let me ask you how old you were when you learned that rhyme? You probably answered three or four years old. It is amazing how that little rhyme has stuck in your head all of these years. It stuck because it rhymes and reads in rhythm. Because I teach concepts in my books that I want the reader to remember, I have written them in rhyme. Mother Goose and Dr. Suess definitely knew about the magic of rhyme back in their time.
The See ABC's program includes a set of three of the Gumfounded books. Each of these books teach about the environment. The first book is titled "Gumfounded". I explained what Gumfounded is about in my last email so I will move on to the second book.
The second book is titled "Bob Frog Sick of Smog". This book is super fun for the kids because Tia and Bob Frog try to clean up the sky by climbing a ladder and scrubbing it. Obviously this book teaches children how to keep the air clean.
The third book is titled "Is Bob Frog a Water Hog?". It teaches children how to conserve water. The illustrations are really fun and the message is a good one.
All three of the books have been imletterated to go with the program. It is a great way for the person learning to read to start getting their nose into books.
Spread the word that Tia and Bob Frog not only help teach children learn to read but they are out to save the planet!
Have a great day form the
"Thinkin' Green, Rhymin' Machine"!
Sherry
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The program grows!
Hello from Doreese
After writing my first book, "ABC's See What They Say" to teach the alphabet names and sounds, I thought I was through with writing books. But then I volunteered with first graders who could say the individual sounds of a word, but could not blend them together to make a word. So, I saw that there was a need for a blending book. I then wrote, "ABC's See How to Chop and Blend - a Recipe for Reading". I wanted them to be able to come up with letter sounds on their own, so I created my own fonts with picture clues, "costumes", on them that matched the clues they had all ready learned. For example, the letter 'o' has some of the octopus legs on it. Putting a word together is a 4-step process. The child uses their finger to sound out the word, following along the lines. Because it uses this tactile sense, children pick up on it really fast. Also, the visual given to show them how the sounds come together to make a word makes it easy for children to understand the process. In this book they are taught long vowels as well as short vowels. In Level Two, they learn how to read the consonant blends - words with two or three sounds at the beginning like: bread, crib, skate, etc. They learn a lot of skills in this book.
Next, I wanted to give children something fun to read that did not require any memorization of sight words (rule breakers). This builds their confidence in their reading abilities and helps them to develop a love of reading. So, I wrote "Prases See What They Say" with little short sentences of mostly one-syllable words. Then I wrote "Stories See What They Say" with 40 Very Short Stories and 20 Short Stories that have paragraphs in them including, "Little Red Hen", "Gingerbread Man" and "Three Little Pigs". I added a fun reading exercise in these books to help children read with expression.
Now came the time to deal with those sight words. What to do when 'a' and 'o' can make nine different sounds each? Because I had all ready been putting little "costumes" on the letters, I had the idea that the same way people can impersonate other people when they want to look and sound like them, the letters can imletterate other letters when they want to sound like them by wearing the costume that belongs to that letter. For example, when the letter 'a' wants to say the short 'o' sound, it will simply borrow the letter 'o's octopus costume, as in the words, "ball", or "car". (See the example on our website http://www.seeabcs.com/ ) Imletteration miraculously unlocks the mystery of why letters make sounds that don't belong to them in a way that makes sense to a four or five-year old. Once the child finishes the book "Imletteration", he/she will be able to read any book he/she wants to regardless of grade level!
After writing my first book, "ABC's See What They Say" to teach the alphabet names and sounds, I thought I was through with writing books. But then I volunteered with first graders who could say the individual sounds of a word, but could not blend them together to make a word. So, I saw that there was a need for a blending book. I then wrote, "ABC's See How to Chop and Blend - a Recipe for Reading". I wanted them to be able to come up with letter sounds on their own, so I created my own fonts with picture clues, "costumes", on them that matched the clues they had all ready learned. For example, the letter 'o' has some of the octopus legs on it. Putting a word together is a 4-step process. The child uses their finger to sound out the word, following along the lines. Because it uses this tactile sense, children pick up on it really fast. Also, the visual given to show them how the sounds come together to make a word makes it easy for children to understand the process. In this book they are taught long vowels as well as short vowels. In Level Two, they learn how to read the consonant blends - words with two or three sounds at the beginning like: bread, crib, skate, etc. They learn a lot of skills in this book.
Next, I wanted to give children something fun to read that did not require any memorization of sight words (rule breakers). This builds their confidence in their reading abilities and helps them to develop a love of reading. So, I wrote "Prases See What They Say" with little short sentences of mostly one-syllable words. Then I wrote "Stories See What They Say" with 40 Very Short Stories and 20 Short Stories that have paragraphs in them including, "Little Red Hen", "Gingerbread Man" and "Three Little Pigs". I added a fun reading exercise in these books to help children read with expression.
Now came the time to deal with those sight words. What to do when 'a' and 'o' can make nine different sounds each? Because I had all ready been putting little "costumes" on the letters, I had the idea that the same way people can impersonate other people when they want to look and sound like them, the letters can imletterate other letters when they want to sound like them by wearing the costume that belongs to that letter. For example, when the letter 'a' wants to say the short 'o' sound, it will simply borrow the letter 'o's octopus costume, as in the words, "ball", or "car". (See the example on our website http://www.seeabcs.com/ ) Imletteration miraculously unlocks the mystery of why letters make sounds that don't belong to them in a way that makes sense to a four or five-year old. Once the child finishes the book "Imletteration", he/she will be able to read any book he/she wants to regardless of grade level!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
How the See abc's reading method began
Sherry has told you how her lovable characters came to be and now I would like to tell you how the See abc's reading method began. When my youngest child, Joni, was in Kindergarten learning the shapes and sounds of the alphabet, she would bring home papers with the shape of the letter at the top of the page and a picture beginning with that letter below it. This worked well as long as the picture clue was there, but when I wrote the letter without the clue, she was left wondering which picture clue went to which letter shape. There are 26 different letter shapes and 26 different picture clues. That's a hard matching job for most kids. All five of my children learned this way.
Then one day while working with Joni, I realized that all of my children learned the letter 's' fast and never forgot it. How come? It was because for 's', all I had to tell them was, "It looks like a snake and it sounds like snake." So, every time they saw the letter 's', in their imagination they could see a snake; they didn't have to search for anything. I decided to try that concept with all of the letters and I made each letter shape become its own clue. For example with letter 'a', the circle of the 'a' is an apple and the line is a worm. The results were amazing. Joni learned every letter solid in only two days and had a blast doing it because now it was a fun game of pretend and imagination. Then she got out her paper and pencil and starting writing the letters and turning them into the pictures herself. So, her reading was reinforcing her writing and her writing was reinforcing her reading. That's when I knew I had something really powerful in my hands! So, I put my little alphabet into book form, "ABC's See What They Say". Sherry tried it with her son, and saw how great it worked with him and she wanted to help me market my book. She then wrote a fun alphabet song to go along with my book and a numbers book based on the same concept as the letter book. We then had our books professionally illustrated. They are designed so that they are very interactive, using three tactile steps in teaching each letter or number. Over the years, I have come to find out how crucial it is to use all three of these steps to have the best results.
And so, the See abc's method was born. As time went on, I expanded the program. I will share more about the other books soon.
Doreese
Then one day while working with Joni, I realized that all of my children learned the letter 's' fast and never forgot it. How come? It was because for 's', all I had to tell them was, "It looks like a snake and it sounds like snake." So, every time they saw the letter 's', in their imagination they could see a snake; they didn't have to search for anything. I decided to try that concept with all of the letters and I made each letter shape become its own clue. For example with letter 'a', the circle of the 'a' is an apple and the line is a worm. The results were amazing. Joni learned every letter solid in only two days and had a blast doing it because now it was a fun game of pretend and imagination. Then she got out her paper and pencil and starting writing the letters and turning them into the pictures herself. So, her reading was reinforcing her writing and her writing was reinforcing her reading. That's when I knew I had something really powerful in my hands! So, I put my little alphabet into book form, "ABC's See What They Say". Sherry tried it with her son, and saw how great it worked with him and she wanted to help me market my book. She then wrote a fun alphabet song to go along with my book and a numbers book based on the same concept as the letter book. We then had our books professionally illustrated. They are designed so that they are very interactive, using three tactile steps in teaching each letter or number. Over the years, I have come to find out how crucial it is to use all three of these steps to have the best results.
And so, the See abc's method was born. As time went on, I expanded the program. I will share more about the other books soon.
Doreese
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Introduction to Tia and Bob Frog
Goooood Mornin'!
It's a beautiful sunny day and I feel energized about Tia and Bob Frog this morning. Let me tell you how Tia and Bob Frog (the main See abc's charactors came about). Tia is my daughter and when she was three her grandmother gave her a stuffed frog which she named Bob. Bob and Tia were best friends, everywhere Tia went she had Bob Frog. I have taught pre-school to all of my children so it seemed appropriate that I incorporate Bob Frog into a teaching tool to help Tia learn her colors, shapes, numbers etc... Thus the Tia and Bob Frog series of books was born.
Gumfounded was my first book to get published. This book tells about Tia having a mishap with a gob of gum someone had spit out on the ground. The gum sticks to her shoe and as she runs to school the gum collects litter. Soon Tia is on a MOUNTAIN of litter which is all tangled in the gum on her shoes. Once she gets to school all of the children help her put the litter in its right recycle bins. It was illustrated delightfully by Kirk Werner. I have written two other environmental books which are now illustrated and imletterated.
It is a riot going to schools and presenting these books and teaching children how to respect our earth. Kids LOVE them!!! You know anything is fun to learn about if it is presented in a humorous way.
I better quit blogging now and get my house clean. It's a MESS! I'm watching some of my grandkids today so I'm sure it won't stay clean for long, but heck, at least I'll know I had it clean at one point of the day!
Take care and join Doreese and I again in a couple of days. Toodles! Sherry
It's a beautiful sunny day and I feel energized about Tia and Bob Frog this morning. Let me tell you how Tia and Bob Frog (the main See abc's charactors came about). Tia is my daughter and when she was three her grandmother gave her a stuffed frog which she named Bob. Bob and Tia were best friends, everywhere Tia went she had Bob Frog. I have taught pre-school to all of my children so it seemed appropriate that I incorporate Bob Frog into a teaching tool to help Tia learn her colors, shapes, numbers etc... Thus the Tia and Bob Frog series of books was born.
Gumfounded was my first book to get published. This book tells about Tia having a mishap with a gob of gum someone had spit out on the ground. The gum sticks to her shoe and as she runs to school the gum collects litter. Soon Tia is on a MOUNTAIN of litter which is all tangled in the gum on her shoes. Once she gets to school all of the children help her put the litter in its right recycle bins. It was illustrated delightfully by Kirk Werner. I have written two other environmental books which are now illustrated and imletterated.
It is a riot going to schools and presenting these books and teaching children how to respect our earth. Kids LOVE them!!! You know anything is fun to learn about if it is presented in a humorous way.
I better quit blogging now and get my house clean. It's a MESS! I'm watching some of my grandkids today so I'm sure it won't stay clean for long, but heck, at least I'll know I had it clean at one point of the day!
Take care and join Doreese and I again in a couple of days. Toodles! Sherry
Thursday, September 18, 2008
League of Utah Writers Roundup Conference
From Doreese: The writers conference was a lot of fun! Most of the authors there were still working on things. But even though I have completed my writing, there were still workshops that pertained to me. There was one on Public Relations and How to Talk to a Reporter.
The last class I went to was called "Awaken the Child Within" by Patricia Wiles. She said a couple of things that I thought were very thought provoking. She said, "Every day doors close for children, and it is our job as authors to open them", and "Entertainment is to children as rain is to flowers." Then she had us do an exercise that I am going to suggest that each of you do. Write down on a sheet of paper the following: Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and on up to 6th, leaving a few lines in between each. Then list three things you can think of that happened to you during each grade. Try to remember your teacher's name. I was surprised at how doing this helped awaken the child within me. It brought back memories, both good and bad. Doing this will help you be able to better relate to your children and understand how they may be feeling.
Pictures:
Center - James Dashner and Doreese / James is from Georgia. He has written a 4-book series and is now finishing up a 3-book series. I bought the first of his 3-book series. It is called: The 13th Reality - The Journal of Curious Letters. I got to eat dinner with him and take a workshop from him. He's a very personable man.
Bottom - Doreese, Janet Jensen and Carolyn Campbell / These are two great writer friends. Janet's first novel has recently been published, and Carolyn has published over 800 magazine articles. She is the magazine queen! She has also published 3 books.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A Combined Effort
Doreese:
Hi, my sister Sherry and I are excited to have this blog to let you know what is going on with literacy, taking care of our earth and points of interest about ourselves. I developed the See abc's reading method and Sherry developed the 123 book to go along with it, the alphabet song and the loveable characters of Tia and her best friend Bob Frog.
Since we are both working on the See abc's reading program, we are going to use this blog together. Hopefully that will add some punch to it by having two different personalities contributing.
Tomorrow, I am going to be attending the League of Utah Writers yearly "Roundup" conference in Ogden, Utah. I'm very excited to go. It is going to be Fri. evening and all day on Sat. I'll share some of the most exciting points with you when I get back.
Hi, my sister Sherry and I are excited to have this blog to let you know what is going on with literacy, taking care of our earth and points of interest about ourselves. I developed the See abc's reading method and Sherry developed the 123 book to go along with it, the alphabet song and the loveable characters of Tia and her best friend Bob Frog.
Since we are both working on the See abc's reading program, we are going to use this blog together. Hopefully that will add some punch to it by having two different personalities contributing.
Tomorrow, I am going to be attending the League of Utah Writers yearly "Roundup" conference in Ogden, Utah. I'm very excited to go. It is going to be Fri. evening and all day on Sat. I'll share some of the most exciting points with you when I get back.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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