How to help your child with Phonemic Awareness…

Direct teaching of specific sounds
Clapping games
Rhyming games
“What do you hear?” games
Stretching and shrinking

Listening to Sequences of Sounds
Activity 1
What you need
Objects that make interesting, distinctive sounds.
Examples:
Banging on wall/table/lap Snapping fingers
Blowing a whistle Crumbling paper
Blowing nose Drumming with fingers
Clapping Eating an apple
Clicking with tongue Noisy chewing
Pouring liquid Tearing paper
Rubbing hands together Stirring with a teaspoon
Slamming a book Hammering
Sharpening a pencil Coughing
Cutting with scissors Writing on blackboard

Activity 2
What do your do?
Ask the children to cover their eyes and listen to and identify the sound they hear
Once the children have caught on to the game, make two noises, one after the other.
Without peeking, the children are to guess the two sounds in sequence saying, “There are two sounds. First we heard a _______, and then we heard a _______.”
After the children can identify a sequence of two sounds, increase the number of sounds in sequence.

Activity 3 Counting Words in a Sentence
What You Need
5-7 objects-blocks, coins, fruit loops, M&M’s
What Do You Do
You say a sentence
Ask the child to repeat the sentence. As she says each word, show her how to move one object for each word to position the objects in a line.
Then ask her to count the objects. That is the number of words in this sentence.
Increase the number of words in the sentence as she understands the task.

The dog barks.
A cat scratches.
The brown dog sleeps

Activity 4 “Un-Compound” That Word
What You Do
You say a compound word.
Ask the child to repeat it.
Then ask the child to say what word remind if you omit one portion.
The child pronounces the word that is left.

Examples:
Cowboy Say it again without the boy cow
Outside Say it again without the out. side
Grasshopper Say it again without the grass. hopper
Jellyfish Say it again without the fish jelly
Zookeeper Say it again without the zoo. keeper
Rattlesnake Say it again without the snake rattle
Cupcake Say it again without the cake. cup
Dishwasher Say it again without the dish washer
Horsefly Say it again without the horse fly
Baseball Say it again without the base ball
Campground Say it again without the ground camp

Activity 5Hearing Rhyming Words
What You Do
Say each pair or words below and ask the child to repeat them and tell you if the words rhyme. They rhyme if all the sounds are the same except the beginning sound.
Start down the first column for the easiest pairs, followed by the middle, and then the right column
Do a few at a time - not all at once.

go/top tip/lip nose/rose
in/lap lamp/camp sock/soup
yes/my rest/test tie/by
mad/sad fox/box spoon/moon
cat/rat shoe/sit man/mop
rip/bag red/ran dress/mess
out/pig my/by round/pound
hit/sit fix/mix rain/train
him/but now/nap like/’lick
hop/mop sad/sheep inch/itch

Extracted from the Internet

Simple Strategies To Help Your Child Become a Better Reader:

*Read your child’s favorite book over and over
*Discuss new words; ask your child if he/she knows what words mean
*Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening
*Read from a variety of children’s books: fairy tales, song books, poems,
information books, biographies, autobiographies, mysteries
*Read many stories with rhyming words and repeated lines; invite your child to join in on these parts
*Invite your child to read with you every day; make it a daily routine
*For beginning readers point word by word as you read to help your child
learn that reading goes from left to right

Vowel Combination

Vowel Combination
Compiled by Sonal Vartak

A Vowel Combinations
ai/ay
Together, ai or ay make a /long a/ sound.
Example words: aim, rain, braid, paint, ray, say, stay, tail, twain, praise, stain, and main
Other a vowel combinations
• ay as in day, say, play, spray, and tray
• au as in fault, gaunt, fraud, launch, pause, and sauce
• aw as in saw, paw, claw, dawn, and crawl
• augh as in caught, taught, daughter, naughty, haughty, and slaughter
• wa /wô/ as in want, wash, swamp, squash, squat
• wa /wă/ as in wax, wag, swam, and quack
• all as in ball, tall, hall, and small
• ald as in bald, scald, and alder
• alk as in talk, walk, chalk, and stalk
• alm as in alms, calm, palm, and psalm
• alt as in halt, malt, and salt
E Vowel Combinations
ee and ea
Together, ee or ea make a /long e/ sound. Sometimes, ea together makes a /short e/ sound or a /long a/ sound instead.
Example words (ee): peek, see, queen, sleep, cheese, street, meet, and team
Example words (ea /long e/): eat, sea, each, leaf, peach, mean, team, ease, and please
Example words (ea /short e/): dead, head, spread, health, and meant
Example words (ea /long a/): break, great, steak, and yea
Other e vowel combinations
• eu/ew as in sleuth, deuce, few, new, and shrewd
• ei/ey/eigh /long a/ as in veil, beige, they, whey, eight, and weigh
• ei/ey/eigh /long e/ as in seize, key, money, valley
• ei/ey/eigh /long i/ as in heist, eye, geyser, height
I Vowel Combinations
• ie /long e/ as in brief, field, grieve, and piece
• ie/ye /long i/ as in die, tie, dye, and rye
• igh as in high, thigh, night, flight, and wright
• ign as in sign, align, assign, and benign
• ind as in bind, kind, mind, grind, and behind
O Vowel Combinations
• oo as in boo, food, smooth, and moose
• oo as in book, look, good, and stood
• oa /long o/ as in oat, loam, groan, loathe, and loaves
• oe /long o/ as in doe, and hoe
• oi/oy /y/ as in oil, coin, voice, boy, and ploy
• old/olk/olt /long o/ as in gold, scold, folk, yolk, bolt, and volt
• oll/ost /long o/ as in roll, knoll, scroll, ghost, most, and post
• oll/ost /short o/ as in doll, loll, cost, lost, and frost
• ou/ow as in out, round, bounce, how, down, and browse
• ou/ow /long o/ as in soul, poultry, own, glow, snow, and owe
• ou as in you, soup, group, and rouge
U Vowel Combinations
• ue /long u/ as in cue, due, hue, rue, sue, blue, clue, flue, glue, and true
• ui /long u/ as in suit, fruit, cruise, juice, and sluice

Lullaby for Baby Krishna

Written and composed by Madhu Dhandhania
तू मेरा नंदलाला, तू मेरा गोपाला,
चन्द्रसलोना राजदूलारा मेरा कृष्णआ प्यारा

घिर घिर आयी निंदिया रानी, तू क्यूँ चाँद को ताक़े?
दाऊ भी सो गए, बाबा भी सो गए, तू क्यूँ अब तक जागे?
बंद कर आँखें, निंदिया झांकें, सपने देखे राहें

निंदिया में सपने, सपनों में परियां, उनकी अनोखी बातें,
जल्दी से सोजा, सपनों में खोजा, मिलके पारी से आतें
पंख लगाना, उड कर जाना, कर बदल से बातें

मीठी मीठी निंदिया, मीठे मीठे सपने, तेरा जी बहलाते
परियां रानी, चंदा मामा, कितने खिलोने लाते
भूल न जाना, जल्दी आना, माँ तेरी राह निंहआरे

Which Parent Will I Be?

Which Parent Will I Be?
~Author Unknown~

"I got two A's," the small boy cried.
His voice was filled with glee.
His father very bluntly asked,
"Why didn't you get three?"

"Mom, I've got the dishes done,"
The girl called from the door.
Her mother very calmly said,
"Did you sweep the floor?"

"I've mowed the grass," the tall boy said,
"And put the mower away."
His father asked him, with a shrug,
"Did you clean off the clay?"

The children in the house next door
seem happy and content.
The same thing happened over there,
And this is how it went:

"I got two A's,"
the small boy cried,
His voice was filled with glee.
His father very proudly said,
"That's great, I'm glad you belong to me."

"Mom, I've got the dishes done,"
The girl called from the door.
Her mother smiled and softly said,
"Each day I love you more."

"I've mowed the grass," the tall boy said,
"And put the mower away."
His father answered with much joy,
"You've made my day happy."

Children deserve a little praise
For tasks they're asked to do.
If they're to lead a happy life,
So much depends on you

I Believe

I Believe
by Jane Daugherty

I believe in children's laughter, the sweet perfume of a newborn baby's skin and that every child is entitled to happiness, decent housing, health care, proper nutrition and good education.

I believe that out schools should be places of discovery and growth, not of danger, that teachers should be paid more than lawyers and that parenting should be a required course in every high school.

I believe that "quality time" is a phony notion that cannot substitute for substantial time spent with our children.

I believe that baseball and other children's games can be magical and should be wrestled from screaming, competitive coaches and returned to play.

I believe that childhood should be a time of sand castles and celebration and that the defense of innocence is as important as the defense of our borders.

And I believe that our most urgent mission should be putting the needs of our children first.

Memo from Your Child

Memo from Your Child~Author Unknown~

1. Don't spoil me. I know quit well that I ought not have all that I ask for, I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me, I prefer it. It makes me feel more secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits, I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am, It only makes me behave stupidly big.

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it.

6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins, it upsets my set of values.

7. Don't be upset when I say "I hate you", it's not you I hate, but your power to hinder.

8. Don't protect me from consequences, I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

9. Don't nag, if you do I will need to protect myself by appearing deaf.

10. Don't make rash promises, remember I feel badly let down when promises are broken.

11. Don't tax my honesty too much, I am easily frightened into telling lies.

12. Don't be inconsistent, that completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

13. Don't tell me my fears are silly, they are terribly real to me and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

14. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me to great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

15. Don't forget that I can't thrive without lots of love and understanding, but I don't need to tell you that, do I?