Our Philosophy On Reading

At Little Lamb, we believe the joy of reading can be implemented at an early age. Books are the gateway to the wonderful world around us! We try to foster this attitude in our little lambs by making story time an important part of our everyday schedule. By the time of preschool, many of the children are already able to identify many sight words and are excited about learning to read. What a joy it is to see such excitement for learning!

Here is a list of reading goals taught with the A Beka Curriculum:

1. Learn to recognize the short vowels and their sounds using vowel charts and miniature alphabet flashcards.
2. Learn to recognize the consonants and their sounds through alphabet flashcards and consonant chart.
3. Learn to blend. Blending the sounds of a consonant and a vowel is the first step to reading words.
4. Learn to sound one-vowel words. When there is one vowel in a word, that vowel usually says its short sound.
5. Learn the sounds of the long vowels. Learn to sound two-vowel words. When there are two vowels in a word, the first vowel says its long sound, and the second vowel is silent.
6. The A Beka Book phonics program contains 132 special sounds (often called phonics rules), such as those listed below:
   • bl in block ang in bang
   • ear in bear gl in glue
   • cr in crab ay in pray
   • alk in walk str in stream