Ed Emberly's Trucks and Trains

We saw this one in passing at the library and grabbed it. Can I just tell you it.is.awesome!  I am the worst artist in the world. Like my stick people even stink!!  This book has helped me draw in a way that people can tell what I am drawing without me labeling my picture. ;).

After we {I mean me...} drew some trains and trucks, James drew a railroad truck {a truck with a railroad instead of a bed} and I totally knew what he drew without him telling me. This is rare my friends, he takes after Daddy and I. ;)

He told me he wants the one that helps you draw people next time. Can't wait. These are totally fun y'all.

James age: 3 years 11 months

Cool Cars and Trucks

Are your kiddos really into Legos?  James is obsessed. Mostly he just plays with Duplos but he can't wait til we buy him the real thing.   I'm trying to broaden his reading horizons a bit and found this beauty at the local library{just about every Legos book was checked out, y'all!}.

James loved this book and tried to make all sorts of new things out of his Duplos after reading it. I can't wait til we have real Legos and can build some of these fun cars and trucks.  

This is definitely a super cool book for little ones. 

James' age:  3 years 11 months 

Trains & Cars

I know you were probably totally shocked when you saw the title of this post, right. ;). Another lucky find at the library. They were definitely the books de jour when we brought them home. These are cute and easy. About one line of text per page. Good stuff for a little guy.

Y'all seriously the library is great because we only have the oops for a few weeks and then get new ones. Usually by *new* I mean a favorite that we are rediscovering. {I wish we had a toy library. Or I just need to get better at rotating toys so they seem new!}

James' age:  3 years 10 months

Learning to Read

I have had some people ask me recently how to help their preschooler learn how to read.  Although I used to be a Reading Specialist as well as 1st & 2nd grade teacher, I don't feel like I'm am expert (especially in preschool reading).  But here are a few things that I do know.

1.  Read to your child, every day if possible.  This is #1 on the list for a reason.  All research points to this as being super important in children learning to read.  From personal experience this has taught James tons.  Not only does it teach your child how a book works, book language, but also increases their vocabulary.  {This is awesome to do as part of your bedtime ritual!}

2.  Look for book topics that interest your child.  As you know my child loves to read books about trains, cars, and construction vehicles.  It doesn't always have to be the most high quality literature.  Just get books in your little ones hands.

3.  Reread their favorites over and over again.  This will help them memorize some books, which is the beginning of reading.  I seriously have memorized so many books because I had to read them every.single.day for months on end!  I know that it's not fun for us grown ups, but children thrive with routine.

4.  Let them "read".  I have written read in quotes because some of the beginning stages of reading are memorizing books and approximating text.  Your child will likely memorize his or her favorite book and that is amazing!  Another thing is to let them tell the story based on the pictures.  Using the pictures is a natural progression to learning to read. Sometimes you may find your child sitting on his or her own looking at the pictures rereading the book.  Encourage that!

5.  Have fun!  Learning to read should be fun.  If this is not a fun time for your family and most especially your little one, he or she will not want to engage in reading.  Don't pressure them, just follow their lead.

6.  Educational TV.  Seriously y'all PBS has some awesome, awesome shows to help little ones learn how to read.  Super Why and Word World are two of our favorite shows and I think that Super Why really helped James to learn his letters.  We all know our kiddos are most likely going to be watching tv {I mean momma has to shower sometime , right!}  so it might as well be teaching them something!

I hope that this helps.  The bottom line is reading to your child is important, but it should be a fun time of the day.  Don't worry about having your child read before they get to kindergarten.  It's your job to give them a foundation, but the teacher will teach them how to read.  {and have lots of books at just the right level!}

I Spy! & Toyland Express

Do y'all remember these books from when you were little?  They were the best and apparently they still are. James, Daddy, and I all enjoy these ones.

It all started when we found Toyland Expess at the library. It's part of the Do You See What I See series. Truly amazing for a train loving little boy. We literally had the librarian searching the library for it one day because James was determined the get it and we knew it was there somewhere.

Every night at bedtime we read James a book or two. Then we leave him with a lamp on and one of these books. He's out in a few minutes but man he enjoys looking at all the little details.

James' age:  3 years 10 months

I'm Dirty!

I always saw the I Stink! book when I was a teacher, but I'll be honest I stunk at knowing good books for little boys. Recently at the library, I saw this one and thought James might like it. He sure does we read it 4 times in 6 hours!

This is a cute book about a backhoe loader. I think big boys would appreciate the humor lots, too. James mostly likes it since he's majorly into construction vehicles. He told Daddy tonight he wants to be a backhoe loader.

Age:  3 years 10 months

Demolition

We have another book by Sally Sutton {Road Work} that James really enjoys.  So when I saw this in the new release section at the library, I thought we'd give it a try.  Good thing that we did.  He really seems to enjoy this one as well.

This book is all about tearing down a building and then building a green space in the area.  It is a fun book because it has a really nice flow to it.  So any musical people out there would probably enjoy it as well.  Truly though I think that James just loves reading about construction vehicles.

James age:  3 years 8 months

Trucks

This is another one of those books that we found just browsing the books in the library.  I have known about Gail Gibbons and her great books for a long time....  I had just never thought about checking any out.

This one is a hit!  I love that it has about a sentence on each page and then all of the trucks are labeled.  Can I just tell you how great these books are for teaching mommas who played with dolls not trucks as a child?!??!  Seriously y'all I almost consider a book like this a research book for moms.  ;)  I also love how there are some pictures that show a sequence of events that are great for getting mom and kiddo to talk about the trucks.  {You better believe that if I am trying to rush bedtime James will literally turn back the page and say, "Talk, Mom!"}

Another classic that I highly encourage you to look into if you have a transportation lover on your hands.  

James's age:  3 years 7 months

Trains (non-fiction)

A few weeks ago at the library, I randomly saw this book.  I asked James if he would like it and he said, "YES!"  This book has quickly become one of his very favorite books.  I think that this might be one of the first non-fiction books that we have checked out from the library.  {If you know anything about me, you know I am not a huge NF fan....but I know that boys especially little ones do in fact love NF!}

This one has turned out to be perfect for his age because it is short and sweet.  A lot of the book discussed things that he already knows like what different train cars are called, but I think that makes it fun.

I highly recommend this one if you have a little one who likes trains.

James' age:  3 years 7 months

James' Halloween Favorites (3.5 YO)

I just looked back to see if I had done a Halloween post before.  Sure enough I did one exactly one year ago today... {Spooky, huh!}  In any case, this was the first book on that post, but it is seriously his favorite! Halloween book.  So I would say this book is a great investment.

This is another book from my old classroom library (from when I taught 1st grade).  James really liked this story this year.  He is super into pumpkins and pumpkin patches so he's loved reading it.  He also really likes mice {we can thank Tom & Jerry for that!} so this was a perfect fit.

This might be the only Halloween book that I bought specifically for James in our Halloween collection.  It is a fun little rhyme that I remember doing when I was a little girl.  This is another one that often makes it into the rotation.

Hope y'all enjoy the Halloween books for little ones.  Fun news:  this was my 100th post!  Kinda crazy!!  And FYI...  there might be more books about what James and baby like in the coming months. If memory serves, after James was born I did not do much reading for a while.  So it looks like my reading frenzy that I have been on is about to take a little break.  But I do have a little something up my sleeve...

James age:  3 years 7 months

One Tractor, A Counting Book

We picked this book out at the local library a few weeks ago.  It sat on James' bedroom floor for about a week before I picked it up and read it to him one night at bedtime.  Well let's just say that was a very sad week...  after the first night this was always the first book asked for at bedtime!

James loved every page of this book!  What's not to love:  tractors, cranes, pirates, a fire spewing dragon, boats...  It's every little boys dream {or at least mine ;)}.

I'll tell you what I loved: predictable, patterned sort of text, rhyming, a few pages without words that were good for talking about the book.  I loved it because it was only about four sentences per page and because it was fun and rhyming {I think this is why} James very easily memorized a few of the pages.  What a great confidence booster!  There was also so much to talk about that each reading we talked about different things.

I'd say this is a great book for any kiddo interested in boyish sorts of stuff.  ;)

James' age:  3 years 3 months

Trucktown series

About a month ago, James found this book at the library (he literally walked over to me while I was looking for a different book and handed it to me....  I guess the boy knows what he likes!)  This book quickly became his favorite.book {of the week ;)}.  We had to read this book literally every.single.night until it was time to go back to the library.

I was very excited because it is a series so there would be more Trucktown books that we could get from the library.  And yes we did.  :)  Here is the newest favorite.book.of.the.week:

Y'all these are seriously cute book if you have a little boy (or girl) who loves trucks!  The Truckery Rhymes is essentially Mother Goose made with the Trucktown trucks as the characters.

James has been reading some of these books!  What?!?!? This kid seriously shocks me all the time.  And by reading I mean memorizing certain words/pictures and telling me what it said.  After all the first step in learning to read is memorizing text.  YES, this is considered reading!  I am proud of my little man.  But mostly just happy that there are good books out there he likes to read!

So please, please, please give these ones a try!

James' age:  3 years 1 month

Lift the Flap Books

Lately James loves lift the flap sort of books. This makes perfect sense for an active little man. We like to look at the pictures and lift up all of the different flaps. Here are two of his current favorites.

1.

This is a really fun one that I think will last us a long time because it teaches numbers, colors,etc. We are not quite at that stage yet, but I always talk with him about the color, animals, and numbers. I found this one at Target.

2.I bought this one a few months ago thinking that he was not quite ready for it because it is actually a slide and find. I thought that the slides seemed a little hard for him. James has recently fallen in LOVE with cars so this one is perfect for him! We are working hard to help him realize that truck are trucks not cars... ha!