it looks like my 6 year old niece is going to be living with us for awhile, and as a result of the not-so-ideal living situation she was in before, she is probably a little (or more, not exactly sure) behind in her reading/writing skills.

any specific books that you found that a kid that age really enjoyed, or learning systems that really helped? also, any techniques/tools that have helped in your experience (flashcards, etc.)

i'm very good at math and have taught kids math in the past so I can get her caught up on my own pretty easily, it's the reading/writing that's a bit more difficult.

i appreciate the feedback.

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as far as reading goes my son is in Kindergarten and they have sight words. Basically words they should know on sight with out sounding out. Also learning all the letter sounds. We used them on flash cards. Google Sight words and you will be able to find a list. There is a good free program I used with my son before school started http://www.starfall.com/ it helped prepare him for kindergarten. That backed with us reading every day for at least 30 minutes helped him. My son passed all his k, 1st, and 2nd grade sight words already so his teacher said just keep reading to him. So that's what we do.

Writing is repetition. At the start of school they had a different letter in their HW packet every day. So one day was A. They would have to write lower and uppercase A's, then a couple of A words. Once so this helped with reading too. Also they had to do name tracing and number tracing. So monday and wednesday they had a sheet with their name. They traced their name twice and on the last line they had to write it. On Tues and Thurs. they had to trace numbers 1-10, then 1-20, and so on. Right now they are doing 1-60. The first two months they were just focused on getting them comfortable holding a pencil and writing. Now its using the correct guidelines for each letter and word spacing.

like I put above check out http://www.starfall.com/ for phonics help

here is a site where you can make tracing sheets and print them out yourself http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

also see if there are any computer programs they kids use at school she can log into at home. My son has a math program and two reading programs on his ipad that are from school.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

that site where you print tracing work looks good. i will also peep that.

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I think just surrounding kids with stories an emphasizing that books are a great source of entertainment and ideas can work to get them interested. She might find out about popular stuff like the Rainbow Fairies and all that, which is fine, but you can guide her to other material if she's at all receptive.


>any specific books that you found that a kid that age really
>enjoyed, or learning systems that really helped? also, any
>techniques/tools that have helped in your experience
>(flashcards, etc.)

I grew up reading Cricket magazine and have subscribed to their family of magazines for the kids since the oldest was 2 or so. At 6 she's a perfect candidate for Ladybug magazine. (I just graduated my kids to Cricket within the past year; they're 8 and 10.) We've also gotten their excellent science magazines, Click (6-8), ASK (8-10) and Dig (archaeology specific, 10 and up).

http://www.cricketmag.com/Ladybug-Magazine-and-More?gclid=CLet1MrK-MQCFYEkgQod2qkAuw

At six and not reading well on her own yet, picture books remain a great option. Check over the list of Caldecott winners; a lot of those books are ageless.

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottwinners/caldecottmedal

I'll also recommend the popup books from Robert Sabuda and David Carter.
Sabuda's Beauty and the Beast is really an amazing piece of art, as well as a good retelling of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTQLGyaOAkc

I've found audiobooks in the car to be a great way to keep books on the brain even when we're not reading. For six year olds, the Magic Tree House stories, ABC Mysteries, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew.... my kids were actually able to digest more complex books earlier via audio than via reading or reading together, so at 6 they heard some stuff like The Incredible Journey, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, The Wind in the Willows. These days we've just finished up the audiobooks of the Chronicles of Narnia.

And then there's comics. There are a lot of great wordless ones - my girl has always loved Korgi (http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/korgi-book-1-sprouting-wings/546) - but there's also
Zita the Space Girl
Tiny Titans & most other titles from Baltazar/Franco (Superman Family Adventures, Aw Yeah Comics, anything Itty Bitty (Mask, Hellboy)
Supergirl: Adventures in the Eight Grade (maybe skews a *little* old for 6)
Roger Langridge's books: Snarked! is tremendous, esp. if she's at all familiar with Lewis Carroll, but his Muppet Show books are amazing and his newest one Abigail & the Snowman was great too
Bone again skews a little older, especially as the series progresses, but my daughter fell in love with it at 4.


Good luck!

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