Handmade Readers

We have been making our own readers!  This is what we do;

First I write the same sentence about 10 times on card stock using words from Logan's Word Wall.  This gives he and Felicity 5 sentences each for their readers.  Next I cut apart the sentences into single words.  The first task for the kids is to sort their words.  Logan reads them as he goes, but Felicity just sorts by sight of course.

Next the kids glue the words in order, one sentence on each page.  Logan does this task independently but I help Felicity to make sure the words are in order.

This particular reader was titled I Sat and each page read "I sat on a".  I let the kids go through my stash of magazine clippings, finding things they wanted to sit on.  I made sure none of the items started with a vowel.  They chose one item for each page and glued it next to their partial sentence, completing it in picture form.  It was fun to see the items they picked to add to their book.

Once completed, each of them took a turn reading their book to us on the "Author's Stool", which made them very proud.  I make Logan point to each word in his readers as he reads it to us.  I do that to make sure he's actually looking at the words and reading them instead of just spouting it out memorized.

I had wanted to purchase a reader set but now I'm glad I didn't.  Our handmade reader set is growing as Logan's Word Wall grows and the nice part about making our own is that the words in his readers directly reflect the words he is learning through his curriculum.  Well, that's the best part.  It's also nice that they're free and making them reinforces the words and the idea of sentence structure.

And yes, my kids often do school in their pajamas.  We don't run our heater, which leaves the house at about 52 degrees during morning school time.  Bunny sleepers keep them warmer than anything else.  Wouldn't you love to color, craft, create, and read in pajamas?