Lil' Letter Caper

 

I strongly believe play is the most important learning a three year old can be doing. That said, I have a kid who is endlessly curious about letters and writing (and books obviously). Claire quickly learned all the sounds in our alphabet over the summer (short sounds for the vowels) and now I’ve introduced the letter names. I didn't follow any formal program -- I just wrote a few letters on the board before breakfast and pointed to them while speaking their sounds. That's it! Our phonics approach seems to be working because we were goofing around with some stick-on letters and I found this:

Reading...or listening as it may be!

Claire is devouring books lately, and while I adore reading to her I was happily surprised by the selection of audio books for the young child at our local library.

We've been listening to a fantastic recording of Winnie the Pooh narrated by Judi Dench featuring Stephen Fry as Pooh. There are a bunch of other well known British actors involved in the reading and it is so well put together, the actor reading for Christopher Robin has the sweetest voice and Eeyore, and his eternal misery is captured perfectly.

Since I've only seen the cartoon version of this tale myself (Disney?) I've been cracking up at the witty language...why was this all taken out?! We've been having great car rides listening along to the adventures of Christopher Robin and his "Edward Bear." I can't wait to see what else we dig up in the the coming weeks.

I've also been checking out read-a-long stories. I set Claire up at the kitchen table in the evenings and she is happily occupied for half and hour "reading" along with the narrator of various stories. Clifford is a big hit...it's short and sweet and Claire knows just where the repeat button is. Would you like me to recite "Clifford Takes a Trip?" Heehee! I remember cramming into the library audio booth at Elmont's public library on hot summer days sharing a headset with Michael Ponticello and listening to a bunch of stories. What fun!

I just wish some of the publishers would re-record many of the classics onto CD...the old magnetic tapes are worn out and there's nothing to replace them. The children's librarian shares the same sentiment...we might have to start a campaign! Move aside LeapFrog! We want our stories read by humans - not machines!

Because I've been told I'm not allowed to write posts without photos of Claire - here's a picture of her in our own hundred acre wood.

Wordless Storybooks

Because I love a good story and one told strictly though pictures intrigues me, this is what we're checking out from the library tomorrow:
There are quite a few other wordless picture books out there (Goodnight Gorilla is a Claire favorite) but this article on ohdeedoh had a number of titles new to me. I'll post Claire's version of the events in the book, I can't wait to listen to her tell the story.

Have I mentioned how great the online reservation system is at our local library? It's my personal netflix for books, I LOVE it!

Peaceful Mornings

I'm listening to Claire "read" to our cat, Ray. At least I think that's what is going on judging by the animal sounds (Dear Zoo, again?) . For the past few mornings Ray has woken Claire up and all I hear from the living room is "HII-EEE Ray Ray!" She's enjoying her time with the kitty and I'm enjoying some time roaming around the Internet and organizing some digital photos, here's one of Claire posing with favorite species, ROAR!

Books!

Since I left teaching 2 years ago to stay home with Claire the thing I miss most is being next door to the school's library. The computer lab was a prime piece of real estate - air conditioned, great software and nearby BOOKS! The books! I LOVE books! I nearly made it through the entire YA bookshelf in my time at Hilltop. In addition to having something to discuss with my pre-teen students, I often found the writing geared towards young adults more intelligent and challenging then the latest "bestseller."



I especially love beautifully illustrated books. Right now I'm drooling from afar since Claire likes the same three books over and over again. She's at the age where she's anticipating what is happening on each page and likes to see the same pictures over and over again. "Yook Mommy - lion rar!" I'm trying to live in the moment and enjoy each and every reading of "Dear Zoo," but really, I can't wait until we can dive into a new book everyday. I've mixed things up this week with "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" but it's the old favorites that Claire continuously grabs off the shelf.




Claire is way too young for this book below - I could see paper scraps strewn throughout my house, but isn't it so clever and beautiful?


These pics are all from the NY Times "Best Illustrated of 2009" list, check out their article to see the others. It's a really diverse lineup this year although I was surprised no collage type books made the cut. I'll resume my "Claire-centric" posts tomorrow, I just had to share these!

Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009

By THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Every year since 1952, the Book Review has asked a panel of judges to select 10 books from among the several thousand children’s books published that year. The judges this time around were Adam Gopnik, who writes regularly for The New Yorker and is the author of two novels for children, “The King in the Window” and the forthcoming “Steps Across the Water”; Jillian Tamaki, a teacher at the School of Visual Arts and the recipient of a Society of Illustrators gold medal; and Lisa Von Drasek, the children’s librarian of the Bank Street College of Education.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow...or not

I'm hoping the sun will shine again one day this month - I looked at the forecast and once again clouds and scattered t-storms are predicted for the next 10 days. Yesterday there was a thunderstorm that produced some amazing hail and thunder which shook the house. Claire kept saying "WOW!" and I scrambled around trying to locate some matches and flashlights just in case. A swift breeze seems to leave us without power here and with our well pump and stove running on electricity it's a bit of an inconvenience. Thankfully, the storm blew by quickly and left us with power. C'mon sun! We want to enjoy reading in the hammock again!

Caught Ya!

Dan stealing kisses in an attempt to distract Claire from her reading:

Our First Day of Storytime!

Eric Carle...you write the best stories. We love your colorful collage work. We especially love how our local librarian reads to all the children and uses puppets and songs!

What a great morning for the first day of story time at the library. Today we read:



We came home with a bunch of new books too! I'll have to add them to our Library widget over on the right so everyone can keep up with our reading adventures!

Daddy Kisses

Claire is just beginning to get the idea that there is more to books then potential chew toys. We've been snuggling with her at night reading before bed and during they day when she seems interested (and not too squirmy). Claire seems to appreciate the pictures and especially the textures in her books, maybe one day soon we'll move onto those awesome popup books I bought ages ago while pregnant!

You might have noticed the new widget featuring some of the books we're reading on the right side of the blog. I snagged the code from www.librarything.com, a cool site where you can share books with friends and even review them - sort of like a flixster for the written word! Sign up and look for us (k7rlgina).

Here's a video of Claire "reading" on her own and a sweet photo of Dan snuggling with Claire during tonight's bedtime story - take note of the title.