The Reading Game beginning reading review

The Reading Game is sort of a strange name for a product to help your child learn to read. At least, I think it is anyway. *smile* Having your child learn to read is such a stressful, proud, and anxious time. I wanted to my kids to learn to read quickly, easily and...I wanted them to read well.

At my children's elementary school, reading is a skill no longer put off until first grade. Kindergarteners are put into reading classes and expected to show great progress by the end of the year. That was hard for me to adjust to as a parent. I know my kids, their skills, and their potential. But, boy did I feel pressure to make sure they were moving along the reading curriculum.

Check out The Reading Game Here

My son was what I would consider a reluctant reader. He could read all the letters, knew all their sounds and could even sound out many CVC words. It just seemed that he saw very little reason to PRACTICE reading and was perfectly fine and not worrying about reading. Hey, imagine that! A 5 year old boy who was more interested in dirt, bikes, bugs, swimming, snowboarding and jumping around than he was about reading.

So, I went searching for something that would make reading more interesting. I'm not found of shallow 'learning toys'. I like products have death, require some thinking and effort and produce real results.

The Reading Game was just what we needed at our house!

What's included:
The first thing I worry about when purchasing something without seeing it in person is the quality of the product and what's included. The box size for The Reading Game is about 9 x 6 1/2 inches. The right size to store on a book shelf.

The cards included are the same size as playing cards and the same hefty weight as good playing cards. (No flimsy paper cards here.) There are 6 decks of cards and they are color coded to match the 6 reading books.

Each reading book is about 5 x 8 1/2 inches. I like that each story was 32 pages. It was long enough to get some good reading practice in, but not too long that my son would lose interest.

I appreciated that the illustrations were in black and white. I feel that having pages like this does not distract from the words on the page and makes the reading concentration easier.

However, the illustrations were cute and went along with the story well. We enjoyed looking at them after completing the page.

How did it work?

What you do is play 'memory' with the cards. You say all the words out loud each time you make a match. You say all the words for your child if they don't know the words or aren't used to reading them out loud themselves.

My son loved the cards and he love playing memory. We started mixing more than one deck together to make it harder and a longer game.

He loved the story books and happily read them multiple times. He read to me, his sister, the pets, the stuffed animals and even cornered Dad once.

I liked to use the books to teach 'book knowledge'.

• this is the cover
• this is the author's name
• this is title
• this is the title page

This was exactly what we needed to jump-start his interest in reading again.
After using The Reading Game we moved on to other beginning reading books.

Will The Reading Game work at your house?

I don't know for sure, if it will work for you and your children. Here's my thoughts about how to determine if it might be a good fit and worth a try.

Considerations:

I'd like to point out, if it's not obvious already, that this game is not a phonics based game. It's not quite a site word game either. It contains both words that could be sounded out and words that are considered sight words. The idea of the game is to not replace a whole phonics program. It is rather, a way to jump-start enthusiasm for reading by quickly memorizing some words that will let the child read a few books really quickly.

The Reading Game is good for:

• Children who like to play games
• Parents who have the time to sit and work with their children
• Children who have some reading skills under their belt

The Reading Game is probably not right for:

• Children who are not used to sitting and playing games
• Children who are already reading (they will likely be bored by the game). However, my daughter could read and enjoyed playing the game with her brother.
• Parents who only want strict phonics programs in their home
• Children who need a lot of color in their products (the pages are illustrated in black and white)

We've really enjoyed this game in our home. I feel it met the right need at the right time. I encourage you to give it a try! The Reading Game is a quality product and produces a wonderful result if you work with it.

Check Out The Reading Game Here

The next best games to play after learning how to read are games that focus on sentence building.

Learning Resources Reading Rods Sentence Building Kit

Educational Insights Sentence-Building Dominoes

Have you used The Reading Game at your house?

Summer Reading Fun

Just because the weather is nicer doesn't mean it's time to put away the books! Summer is a great time to sneak in some more reading for your children.

photo credit: Evelyn Giggles

Here are four ways I'm able to get in some more reading time.

Idea Number 1 - We keep books in the car. The children are more likely to read together anytime we have to wait or drive a bit longer than normal. They read out lout to each other and share the pictures.

Idea Number 2 - We always join the library summer reading program. I let the children pick out as many books as they want. We don't keep them until they are due. Instead they'll read through them quickly and we can go get more.

Idea Number 3 - On a super hot day, we put up the tent in the living room. They love to go camping and take a stack of books with them.

Idea Number 4 - Even a rainy day is an opportunity for a good book. A favorite pass-time is to have a picnic on the porch with a stack of picture books.

Let's see what our friends have to say about summer reading.

Money Saving Mom features frugal ways to keep kids reading

Now that school assignments are over, its time to focus on finding material that your child is interested in reading. My experience has been that even students who claim they don’t like to read, like to read something. Which is why providing a wide range of material to select from is so important.

April's Homemaking shares What I'm Reading

When summer arrives, the less structured days free up time for more reading.  Whether in the garden or on the beach, or in a favorite sitting spot, you will often find me with my nose in a book.  In order to be more frugal, as well as not overfill my bookcases, I have been using a great tool at our library. 

Do-It-Yourself Summer Reading Program | metromoms.net
metromoms.net

“Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read.” ~Marilyn Jager Adams. As soon as summer rolls around, ...

6 Lists of Great Picture Books For Kids - Women Living Well
womenlivingwell.org

My sister Jen is back to share with us her favorite picture books! She writes: I love picture books and am so excited to share my family's favorites with you. I began collecting picture books when I worked at the local library ...

How do you sneak in more reading at your house?