New Look, New Video, New Youtube!

A lot has happened since our last post. We have been really busy revamping our site and making an instructional reading workshop video.

First of all, Sherry's daughter and her husband have redesigned our entire website. Hasn't she done a great job! We hope you enjoy it. Our website is: www.seeabcs.com We've added a couple of videos to it. One of them is a clip from when the TV show "Studio 5" featured it. It is on our "Testimonials" page. Then, Sherry and I, with the help of the "Bridgerland Applied Technology College" made an instructional reading workshop video. We are teaching a group of mothers and their children how to use our reading program. So, you can go to our home page and see everything that is in our program and how to use it. I'm really excited about this because now you can know right away what our program does. You can see how multiple senses (visual, auditory and tactile) help your child learn quickly and easily. You even get to hear a little of the alphabet song. And, most exciting, you will see how Imletteration eliminates the need to memorize sight words (rule breakers). You will learn an entire reading system in only a half hour! Plus hear what moms are saying about it. Watch it and see what the fun reward for finishing the program is. Hint: It is the Gumfounded books.

And surprise! We have our very first youtube video. It is a segment of our instructional video. It is the section about Imletteration and a couple of moms with their kids who used the program. If you want to skip ahead and go directly to this part and see what Imletteration is, you can just click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3TjasMO3Kg If you want to email this link to someone and ask them to pass it on, that would be great with us! We would appreciate any positive comments.

Doreese

Reading Time Is Playing Time

This is my 2 1/2-year old granddaughter. She enjoys "playing" with the letters too in "ABC's See What They Say". She can do all three of the tactile steps just fine. Now, her attention span? Well, that's a lot different than her 4-year old sister's. Sometimes she can do several letters and sometimes just two. But, that's okay. Just always start where you leave off the next time you "play" with the book. She really loves singing the song, "Learning Is So Fun", which is helping her learn the letter names, and which picture clue they go with.

My 1-year old grandson will sit on my lap while I go through the entire book - just talking about the pictures and "chopping" off the beginning sound (which with him, we just do 2 times, instead of 3). I take his little hand and chop with him. He really likes to do that.

Enjoy playing with both "ABC's See What They Say", and "123 What Do You See?"

Doreese

On Cloud Nine!

Hi everyone,

I have been teaching my little 4-year old granddaughter her alphabet names and sounds over the past several months. Four days ago I started her in "ABC's See How to Chop and Blend" and we worked on the exercise to stretch out each sound. Then today, I taught her how to blend sounds together to make a word. She had no problem at all! She read five words! It is the most thrilling moment for me when going through the teaching reading process. Up til now it's all been fun and games learning letter sounds and their fun picture clues. But when they realize that blending those sounds together makes a word and that they just read it, it is one of the most powerful moments in all of their learning life! All of the sudden, the written word comes to life! And that is why I am on cloud nine.

And my granddaughter was bursting with excitement when she realized what she could do. She won't go to Kindergarten next year, but the year after that.

I would love to hear your cloud nine stories. Please share them with us.

Doreese

A New Twist on Story Time

We all know we are suppose to read aloud to our children every day. But sometimes you may want to do more than just read through the book. Ask thought-provoking questions to get your children's minds and imaginations working. You could ask them to predict what they think will happen next. Also, after reading the story, ask questions about things that took place in the story and what certain character's names were. This will help their memory skills. If they can't think of the answer, go ahead and tell it to them before they become frustrated. This is to be a fun time.

Using books this way makes them become interactive, almost like playing a game. In fact, you could call it that. You could say, "With this book, let's play, 'Guess who does what?'" When kids know they will have an active role at reading time, you might be surprised at how much better they pay attention! This activity isn't just for new books. You can do it with old favorites. Your children will probably know exactly what is going to happen and that is just fine. They will feel all the smarter when it turns our just as they predicted!

Doreese

Quote Of The Day

Have you ever gone for a brisk morning walk or an early morning bike ride? Maybe you have pushed your baby in her stroller to the park on a sunny afternoon. Could it be that you got the kids on the bus and sent them on there way to school then turned on the T.V. to your favorite morning show and watched it while walking on your treadmill? It is so refreshing to our bodies to exercise them.

Let me share a quote by Sir Richard Steele with you, he said, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." I LOVE that!!! Just as exercise fine tunes our bodies, reading fine tunes our minds. Both build and strengthen us in their own ways. Reading will not only teach you and keep you well informed, it will better your concentration and memory. Let's make sure we read for at least a few minutes every day to help keep our mind in shape!

Hugs!
Sherry

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.

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