language development

Christmas Storybooks For Pre-Schoolers #1

November 29, 2012 by TheBoyAndMe 5 Comments

Earlier this year I was sent a large selection of books from Little Tiger Press to review and I have to say that they remain The Boy's favourite storybooks for bedtimes and sofa-snuggle sessions. I think the reason that he is so taken with them (and that we enjoy reading them with him) so much is down to the innocent stories, invariable featuring animals brought to life with personalities and names (they remind me slightly of the Brambly Hedge books of my own childhood), and the beautiful illustrations.

I've been sent some of their Christmas books for The Boy and us to enjoy, and I want to share them with you. Not because this is a review and I have to, but because I truly believe they are delightful books which your own littlies will love.

In "I've Seen Santa!" (by David Bedford & Tim Warnes) it is Christmas Eve and Little Bear is greatly looking forward to seeing Santa, but is so concerned that he might forget about him that he decides to stay up after Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear have gone to bed to check he comes. Throughout the course of the night (before Santa arrives) he catches both Daddy and Mummy Bear checking that everything is ok because they too are worried. Will Little Bear get to see Santa?

This book is available in both a normal paperback, and a paperback with a story CD read by Lesley Sharp and Jason Isaacs, who read the story beautifully. We've got a few story CDs and the Little Tiger Press ones are some of the best because of the way that they read the story through twice, allowing for the child to follow it page by page on the second reading.

This picture book and CD set has an RRP of £7.99 but is on offer with Amazon for £5.99 at the moment.

The Best Christmas Ever!
Millicent Mouse is looking forward to Christmas greatly, and with only one day left to prepare she busies herself making apple-nut pie and hot honey punch, and gathering ivy and berries to decorate her home. While she is out in the crunchy snow, she discovers a great many animals who need her help and kindness, which she willingly gives. That night she goes to bed without anything prepared for the next day, but the contentment of knowing she's helped her friends. Will they repay the kindness?

"The Best Christmas Ever!" (by Marni McGee & Gavin Scott) is a heart-warming tale of friendship and selflessness which helps to illustrate to children one of the important aspects of Christmas: giving without expectation of reward. RRP £5.99, Amazon has it for £4.49.

"Dear Santa" (by Kathryn White & Polona Lovsin) tells the story of Little Bear (a different one to the one above!) who, while playing in the snow, finds a letter addressed to Santa. Distressed that someone might not receive their Christmas presents if the letter doesn't get to Santa, Little Bear sets off with Rabbit to deliver the letter by hand (or paw, rather). Along the way they meet a host of helpful friends who help them in their adventure, but once lost in a snow blizzard who can rescue them?

In this hardback book there is also a letter-writing kit so that pre-schoolers can write (or draw) their own letter to Santa, which is a lovely touch and makes this book feel that much more special. RRP of £7.99, available from Amazon.

The Very Snowy Christmas
Big Mouse and Little Mouse are busy on Christmas Eve making food for the next day's festivities and decorating their home. Little Mouse is eager to find some beries and eventually, after straying a bit further from home than normal, finds some but is alarmed when 'the sky starts falling down' around him. He rushes home through the 'sky' which has settled onto the ground to ask Big Mouse what to do, but his journey home is full of new discoveries which he needs some reassurance about.

"The Very Snowy Christmas" (by Diana Hendry & Jane Chapman) introduces snow to young children in a way which many can identify with. This is also a picture book and CD set read by Lesley Sharp and Jason Isaacs, and is available from Amazon for £7.19 (RRP £7.99)

Santa's Special Letter

This one is my favourite book out of the five for the interactive qualities throughout. "Santa's Special Letter' (by Josephine Collins & Gail Yerrill) tells of Father Christmas' final preparations in getting the presents ready for all the chilldren (and creatures) of the world and loading up his sleigh. When he starts to check them off against his list, he discovers that he has missed a letter and hasn't got the present ready. His helpers, including Pip the Mouse, help him to find the red and yellow letter so that he can make that elusive present. Will he have it ready in time?

One of the best features of a book for pre-schoolers is encouraging interaction with the book and interest in reading on to discover the story. In "Santa's Special Letter" there are red and yellow envelopes scattered throughout the pages, each containing a letter to be read, and plenty of flaps to lift and a beautiful final pop-up to enjoy. Top marks for this book! RRP £8.99 with an Amazon price of £5.39. Bargain, buy it now!

Little Tiger Press has a whole heap of Christmas picture books which you can enjoy with your children, if you don't fancy one of those I've highlighted, please explore the others in the range; there's bound to be one for your family!

I was sent these books for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

—

I CAN: Why Oracy Is Important

November 21, 2012 by TheBoyAndMe 2 Comments

Before you can write you need to be able to read, and before you can read you need to be able to speak.

Developing oracy in young children is essential: it helps them communicate with the world, express their emotions, desires and intentions, and encourages social interaction.

"Mummy, I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Actually mummy, that's a hexagon not an octagon."

The Boy talks. A LOT! And yes I'm aware that I sound like every other mum out there who's proud of their child and wants to 'show off', but that's not my intention. I talk a lot, and I have always chatted to The Boy no matter what we're doing. It shows because he chatters away nineteen to the dozen, and is quite confident to start a conversation with someone and explain his thoughts. I put a lot of this down to the parent-facing pushchair that we used to use and the fact that his baby car-seat was next to me on the front seat. We were able to communicate all the time.

Last week I spent time in the nursery unit in school, and it was an eye-opener for me to see 'elective mute' children, among other children who had difficulty articulating the most basic of needs and thoughts. It made me realise that just because The Boy has difficulty pronouncing 'l' or 'r' correctly, it doesn't mean that he has difficulty with his speech. My time there compounded the research conducted which shows that in some areas of the UK, over half the children starting school don't have the skills they need to learn, make friends and succeed.

I was sent a fantastic activity set a few weeks ago called 'Chatting With Children' by I CAN (The Children's Communication Charity). The pack contains a parent guide to the enclosed games designed for 3-5 year olds to support speech, language and communication development. The guide describes why oracy is so important, and that there are specific key skills needed for learning to talk:

listening and attention ('Concentrate on what I'm saying' has been a common phrase in this house, to Mr. TBaM as well as The Boy!);
understanding what is said;
learning and using new words (The Boy is very good at rolling words around in his mouth until he pronounces them correctly);
speaking in sentences;
talking socially (modelled language from the adults in their life).

The games are on a set of cards (about the size of a paperback) and can therefore be used at home or out and about. The set allows for games to be dipped in and out of, as required, but they are designed to be used every day and a six-week programme has been included. I really like the programme (and cards) because it is split into an activity for each area of Oracy skills, one for each week with a theme assigned like food, animals or clothes.

oracy skills

This set of cards above are some of the activities suggested for the week on 'Animals' and include: 'Name The Animal' (applying information to previous knowledge), 'Guessing Game' (listening to information and drawing conclusions), 'Let's Draw' (learning positional language), 'Story Relay' (linking sentences to make stories), and 'Secret Action Signal' (encouraging eye contact).

I think this is an excellent set of cards to help prompte Oracy with young children. Even though The Boy talks for Britain, we still love having a go at the games and it has helped him to develop deeper Oracy skills; essential to help him when he starts school next year.

The I CAN Chatting With Children pack is available directly from I CAN for £7.99.

I was sent this product for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Peppa Pig Fun Phonics (Review)

March 26, 2012 by TheBoyAndMe 11 Comments

When I was a child I adored Miss Piggy from The Muppets. Thirty years later and The Boy is just as enthusiastic about one of her relatives; Peppa Pig. He absolutely adores the antics of Peppa, George and everyone else in the family, and having visited Peppa Pig World twice last year, it served to feed his obsession.

He has another interest lately, letters. He's really fascinated by the alphabet and the letters all around him. This voyage of discovery of (numbers as well as) letters is amazing to see in action, he's spotting letters and numbers all around him: on traffic lights, street signs, posters, you name it, he sees them. He knows the letters in his name, can arrange them and write his own name.

Recently, I was asked if I The Boy would like to try the Inspiration Works Peppa Pig Fun Phonics, I jumped at the chance; it would fit the bill for two of his current obsessions!

As you can see from the picture, there are 26 letter keys and an alphabet, repeat and music button. The alphabet lights up the letters in turn and recites the 'phonics', the music button plays a tune. Of these three buttons the repeat button is the most useful. At the top of the console there is a pointer to change the activity being played to one of eight options:

letters names and sounds (makes the sound associated with the picture for each button)
phonics (says the letter sound)
picture identification ("find the umbrella")
initial letters ("find the first letter of the word …")
phonics finder ("find the letter that says 'f' as in fish")
spelling (press the buttons for the letters in identified word)
follow-me (buttons light up and must be pressed in certain time limit)
sounds (the sounds of the object associated with each letter)

I like this console, there's a lot of fun, educational activities in it and The Boy is having great fun looking for the letters. He's obviously quite young to be able to identify all letters of the alphabet but he's enjoying finding the letters of his own name, and finding 'm' and 'd' for mummy and daddy. He really likes the picture identification, sounds and the letter names functions. He keeps trying to have a go on the follow-me function but it's quite fast for his young reflexes at the moment. Having the pictures next to the letters makes some of the harder levels a lot easier for pre-schoolers to use.

And so to the one negative for me: the phonics. This is where, as a primary school teacher who has co-ordinated the teaching of Literacy previously, I have a problem.

My concern about this is that it doesn't actually use the correct phonics. Letter sounds nowadays are pronounced differently as to when I was a child, there is a bigger focus on the actual sound of the letters as taken as a snapshot of them in the context of a word. Anyone with a child in Reception or above knows what I'm talking about.

For example, we're used to the letter sounds: ah, buh, cuh, duh, eh, fuh, guh, etc. but that's not right, they aren't the correct phonics. Imagine the short 'b' sound as a ball bouncing quickly. Likewise it's not 'fuh' but 'ffff' as in 'fizz'. That 'uh' sound on letters is called a 'schwa', and quite frankly saying any letter with it is not going to help your child in the future when they learn to blend sounds to read.

And this, for me, is where this otherwise brilliant resource lets itself down. I'll continue to use it with The Boy but I'll be focusing on the picture identification, initial letters and follow-me games, as I desperately try and get him to pronounce the phonics correctly in preparation for school in a year or so.

Peppa Pig Fun Phonics is made by Inspiration Works and available from Amazon

I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.