What's in our Reading Box?

This past year for our family has been the year of reading!

I made a reading box for my 5 year old son, soon to be 6, to support lessons from the curriculum we choose. This was a concise combination of printable flashcards, manipulatives, and play dough, that could compactly fit in a box. I’ve been reflecting on what’s been working and what’s not lately, as I’m sure many of us have this time of year! I thought I’d round up the wooden resources and share what has been working for us through our journey so far. 

First resource…..Our ten frame! This two sided ten frame has been the perfect tool to support hands on learning. We have letter tiles that fit into the grooves to build CVC words, or spell various words we might be working on. We put play dough into the grooves to help build phonemic awareness too! The other side that is the tray, is perfect for placing some letter flash cards inside and work on blending. 

Little painted mushrooms, felt bugs, felt balls, wooden checkers, anything that went with our theme and was fun for my son! We just used the manipulative to start at one letter flashcard and move it to the next letter flashcard as we blended the sounds together. 

 Last but not least! The letter cookies! We used these to help with our vowel practice. The size difference from the other mini tiles alone, help make a visual difference right away to spot the vowel. We used it for matching to flash cards too!

So that’s it! We keep the contents concise and only focus on what we are currently working on. It helps maintain things from getting overwhelming.

What favorite hands on resources do you use for reading?

I’d love to know, it’s always fun adding new little things and resources to the box to keep it new and interesting.