Plus how to make advanced WINDOWS
Testimonials and Appreciations
The Reading Window
Att: Piper Martin
138 Twin Oaks Road
Louisa, Virginia 23093
pi23read@yahoo.com
Piper Martin
(540) 872-1999
Sherri Rosser (540) 872-1998
For your free twelve page copy of Dog and dog-cat, send an email to:
Dog and dog-cat is designed especially to be the first book that your child reads independently. The book makes fullest use of the Reading Window program for ensuring that reading becomes and remains an enjoyable experience filled with understanding.
After you print the book, it's best not to bind or staple pages together. For now, use it as a series of loose, numbered sheets.
Three-year-old Dylan using a Reading Window
To use the book most effectively to teach the child, you'll need a collection of reading-windows.
How to make and use reading-windows:
Find a cereal box or other lightweight scrap cardboard that may be cut up to create the windows. On the final page of Dog and dog-cat, use the dotted lines as a template to cut out cardboard windows that will fit around the words in the book.
Remember to keep these lessons as happy and exciting as you possibly can. Testing shows that children learn faster and remember better when they are happy. Attempt to begin each lesson when your child and you are both in a good, positive frame of mind.
Once you've assembled the cardboard reading windows, turn to the first page of Dog and dog-cat. Point at the picture of the dog and ask the child what it is. If the child tells you it's a dog, very enthusiastically reply that the child is correct. Do the same for the cat.
However, your child will more likely have trouble when encountering some of the more exotic animals like the zebra and elephant, or even the cow. The child may also have some level of difficulty with the words. Just remember to always help the child to understand without making them feel like a failure.
After awhile, place the appropriate size window over the picture of the dog and ask the child to tell you what is in the window. Remember to always respond with enthusiasm and a big smile when the child correctly identifies the animal.
Now, place the window over the word “dog,” and tell the child that this also means dog. Explain the difference between a picture and a word, but that both can refer to the same thing.
Ask the child to place the window over the picture of the dog, then the word “dog.” Do the same with the cat.
To keep things interesting, you may point to the picture of the dog and ask the child if it is a cat. Or, try cutting out the words and pictures on this page and let the child put the word with the appropriate picture. It's also fun to hide them all behind your back and show the child one picture or word at a time, asking them to identify it.
After thoroughly exhausting cat and dog, feel free to move on to other two-word pages. It is important to remember never to rush the child. Spend enough time on each word for the child to thoroughly understand the connection between the word and the picture.
If the child is much interested in other animals, use appropriate size windows on pages with those animals (elephants, cows, etc.). Please only use the two-word pages (every other page) in the early stages of the training.
As a reward when the child does well, let them color the animals to which they've correctly matched the appropriate words.
For further reading skills, after completing "Dog and dog-cat", click here for advanced reading-windows.
Using a Reading Window
The Reading Window program only uses the words “no” or “wrong” when those words appear in a book. So, if the child responds incorrectly, simply model the correct behavior by saying, “this is a dog,” etc. For instance, if child says “cat” when you point to dog, excitedly say, “that's a picture of a dog!” You should relate the picture or word to something familiar to the child. If you have a family dog named Fluffy, you could say something like, “I know it doesn't look like Fluffy, but there are all kinds of dogs.”
Remember, the letters “d,” “b,” and “p” are all different versions of the same symbol, and can be very confusing to a beginning reader. "G" and “g” can look very different depending on the font. Reassure your child that there are different ways of writing letters, just as there are different kinds of dogs and cats too. Just because a German Shepherd looks different than a Chihuahua doesn't mean that they aren't both dogs.
We want to hear from you! Please write to us with your success stories, innovative ideas, and any questions you may have. Email: pi23read@yahoo.com .
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