Making Reading Relevant

We've worked on readers. We've done the whole "See Spot run" thing. It was a bit, shall we say, Yawn! In the end, though, Maddie especially enjoys stories in which she is the hero. And, so, being the sneaky Mom that I am, I've started making our own stories! Lately, we've been reading about us... The Patterson Family!


I have to remember to use all words that Maddie can spell out. We haven't done the weird phonics, yet, so silent "B"s and "ph" sounds are out. With the practice we've had, though, Maddie can read the story above.

My trick, though, is to leave the top of the page blank. Then, as she reads each sentence correctly, I draw in part of the story. She gets really excited to see what the story will look like at the end. Check out the cute jumper I'm wearing at the campground! Blue really brings out the colour in my cheeks.



No matter what, though, there is always a Mommy cat and her kittens in the drawing. It has nothing to do with the story, but if that's what it takes, then I'll do it!