Ready, Set, Read & Write with LeapReader

Thanks to LeapFrog for sponsoring a LeapReader “Ready, Set, Read & Write” Party for my daughter’s Kindergarten class.

Recently, I got an opportunity to bring a whole set of LeapReader products into my daughter’s Kindergarten class.  These kids are just learning how to recognize letters and put letter sounds together to form words.  They are really in the first stages of the reading development process.  That’s why I thought that this party would be perfect for them!

Sophie was too excited to have her daddy in school!  She was also excited to show off these new things to all of her new friends.

Rather than interrupt the normal routine of the classroom, Sophie’s teacher offered to let me run a station with the LeapReader products.  That way, the kids could get a chance to try out the stuff in a smaller group setting.  It also gave me a chance to actually use my teaching background to help out Sophie’s class.  Maybe Sophie wasn’t the only one excited that day!!

Since it is early in the year, the students are focused more on individual letter sounds than on word families.  The LeapReader Flash Card set let me pull out just one or two beginning word sounds and help the kids with adding some endings.  By just touching the letters, they got to hear the whole word!

Next we worked on writing those letters.  Some of the kids already knew what to do and getting them to slow down to listen to the directions got a little tough at times.  That’s one other thing they are learning with the LeapReader, isn’t it?  Slowing down and following directions is an important life skill and one that they definitely needed to learn with this device.

The last thing we did at my station was to listen to a story.  One really important part of reading is to be able to recall what you read.  My 2nd grader still struggles with this at times!  With this LeapReader story, I could let the LeapReader tell the story and then choose a game to ask them questions about what they read.  All they had to do was to touch the picture that answered the question and they got instant feedback!  Easy, right?

The only problem I saw is that the LeapReader isn’t quite loud enough for a noisy Kindergarten classroom.  The kids had to learn to quiet down and listen very closely.  This is not a bad lesson, but it would definitely be better suited to a smaller breakout session outside of the classroom in a quieter spot.  At the end of the day, though, the kids all had a great time learning to read, write, and listen with the LeapReader.

How have you worked with your little ones to learn how to read and write?  Would the LeapReader be a great tool to help you out?  Would you love to see something like this in your child’s classroom?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

I received free LeapFrog products in order to host this LeapReader classroom party.  All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.