Super Easy Laminated Reader for Your Preschooler

In my past life ( before thing one and two), I was a kindergarten teacher for 9 years. In college I was a pre k teacher. One thing I learned about the art of teaching reading is that little kids love to read about things that are very familiar to them and that they are egocentric. At the beginning of the school year I spent loads of time creating mini readers that included my students' photos and their names. In fact learning to read their classmates' names was always the first thing they learned to read, after their own name.

Using this logic, I made a reader for Emma. I filled it with photos from our family. I kept the text simple and repetitive. Memorizing text is a first step towards reading it. I want her to learn reading behaviors with this book...

~look at the picture to help you know what this page will be about

~start reading on the left and track to the right

~use your finger to keep track of the words

~begin to recognize sight words (I)

~recognize family words

I kept this book super simple, no need to have distracting embellishments all over the place, plus since I wanted to laminate it, I wanted to keep it flat. I did use Cosmo Cricket chipboard on the cover and it sticks and stays. This book has been read countless times by Emma and it was on display at with Purple Cows at CHA and none of the chip has fallen off! For more details on putting a book like this together for your lovelies, you can download the directions right HERE.

Any day now, Jo Ann craft stores will be carrying the newest Purple Cows laminator.