Saturday, July 30, 2011

The 'Sw' Blend.

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Write the blend 'Sw' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Words for the 'Sw' blend:

Swallow, Swamp, Swarm, Sway
Sweet, Sweat, Swept
Swim, Swine, Swift.

Reading for the 'Sw' blend:

Sweety, the sweet Swallow.

Sweetie was a sweet little Swallow
Who loved to swing all day.

She loved to see the fish swim,
She liked sound of the swine.

She loved the swamps,
She liked the insect swarms.

She loved to see the branch sway,
She liked the feel of the swift wind.

She loved to sweat in the sun,
She liked the sweet light of the moon.

Sweetie was a sweet little swallow,
Who let her heart swept away.

Click here to view the phonics program from the beginning.

Take Care.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit.


This is one of the most famous stories of the Panchatantra. Once upon a time, there lived a cruel lion by the name of Bhasuraka, in a dense forest. He was very powerful, ferocious and arrogant. He used to kill the animals of the forest to gratify his hunger. This action of the lion became the cause of worry for the animals of the forest. They were worried that after sometime none of them would be left alive. They discussed this problem among themselves and came upon the decision to hold a meeting with the lion. They wanted to arrive on a friendly settlement with the lion and to put an end to the problem.

One day, as per the plan, all the animals of the forest gathered under a big tree. They invited the King Lion to attend the meeting. In the meeting, the representative of the animals said, "Your Majesty, it is our happiness, that we got you as our king. We are all the more happy that you are attending this meeting”. The King lion thanked them and replied, “What is the matter? Why we have gathered here?”

All the animals started looking at each other. They were recollecting enough courage to start the topic. One of the animals stood up and said, "Sir, its natural that have to kill us for your food. But, killing more than what is required is not a good approach. If you go on killing the animals without any purpose, very soon a day will come, when there will be no animal left in the forest.” The king lion roared, “So what do you want?”

One of the animals replied, “Your Majesty, we have already discussed the problem among ourselves and have come upon a solution. We have decided to send one animal daily to your den. You can kill and eat it, the way you like. This will also save you from the trouble of hunting.” The lion replied, “Fine. I agree to this proposal, but make sure that the animal must reach to me in time, otherwise, I'll kill all the animals of the jungle." The animals agreed to this proposal.

From that day onwards, daily an animal was sent to the lion to become his food. The lion was very happy to have his food right before him without taking any pains of hunting. So, everyday it was the turn of one of the animals. Once, it was the turn of a rabbit to go to the lion’s den. The rabbit was old and wise. He was unwilling to go, but the other animals forced him to go. The rabbit thought of a plan which would save his life and the lives of other animals of the forest. He took his own sweet time to go to the Lion and reached the lion’s den a little late than the usual time.

The Lion was getting impatient on not seeing any animal by the time. The Lion got extremely furious when he saw a small rabbit for his meal. He swore to kill all the animals. The rabbit with folded hands hesitatingly explained, “Your Majesty. I am not to be blamed for that. Actually, six rabbits were sent to make your meal, but five of them were killed and devoured by another lion. He also claimed to be the king of the forest. I have somehow escaped to reach here safely."

The king lion howled in great anger and said, “Impossible, there cannot be another king of this forest. Tell me. Who is he? I’ll kill him. Take me to the place, where you saw him.” The intelligent rabbit agreed and took the Lion towards a deep well, filled with water. When they reached near the well, the rabbit said,” This is the place where he lives. He might be hiding inside.”

The Lion looked into the well and saw his own reflection. He thought it was the other Lion. The Lion was furious and started growling. Naturally the image in the water, the other Lion, was also equally angry. In order to kill the other Lion, he jumped into the well. The Lion darted his head against the rocks and drowned in the deep well.

The wise rabbit, with a sigh of relief went back to other animals and narrated the whole story. All the animals got happy and praised the rabbit for his wit. Thus, the jubilant rabbit saved all the animals from the proud Lion and they all lived cheerfully thereafter.

Moral: Intelligence is superior to physical strength.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The 'St' Blend.

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Write the blend 'St' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

Words for the 'St' blend:

Statue, Stadium, Stage, Stars, Stairs, Stared,

Steady

Still, Stiff, Stinky.

Stone, Stockings, Stopped, Stomach, Stood

Style.

Reading for the 'St' blend:


Stony, the stone statue.

Stony was a stone statue,
Who stood steady all day.

Sometimes, he stood in the stadium,
Sometimes, he stood on stage.

Somedays, Stony stared at the stars,
Somedays, Stony stopped by the stairs.

Standing still and stiff all day,
Would give poor Stony a stomach ache!

Although Stony loved stinky stockings,
He loved to live in Style.

Stony was a stone statue,
Who wanted to be a part Stonehenge someday!

Take care.

Click here, to follow the phonics program from the beginning.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Powerful Rabbit!


There was a rabbit who enjoyed playing tricks on other animals.

One day as he was walking in the woods, near the sea he came across a huge elephant pulling out and eating leaves from a tree.
“How are you, Mr Elephant?” he called out. “ My, how much you eat!”
“That’s because I’m so big,” replied the elephant. “ Small animals like you don’t need much food, but large and powerful animals like me need a lot!”
“Large you certainly are!” said the rabbit, “but powerful…?”
“You don’t think I’m powerful?” asked the elephant, sounding surprised, and also a little annoyed.
“I’m sure you are" said the rabbit. "But are you more powerful than me?”
The elephant thought he had not heard right.
“Powerful? You?”
“Yes, me.”
The elephant doubled up with laughter.
“You’re laughing because you don’t know how strong I am,” said the rabbit. “If you let me tie a rope around your middle, I’ll drag you into the sea.”
“Drag me into the sea?!” laughed the elephant. “Hoo-hooo – hoooo!!
Well, go ahead! Tie a rope around me and let me sea how far you can pull me!”
The rabbit tied a thick rope around the elephant’s body.
“When you feel a tug on the rope, be ready to pull,” he said, “or you’ll be dragged into the sea before you know what’s happening!”
“Please don’t pull too hard,” mocked the elephant.
The rabbit ran to the seashore with the other end of the rope.
He saw a whale swimming some distance away, and called out to it. When the whale drew near he said, “Mr Whale you’re so big but are you strong?”
“I’m the strongest animal on earth!” bellowed the whale.
“I’ll show you how wrong you are,” said the rabbit.” Let me tie this rope around your middle.”
“And then?”
“I’ll drag you ashore.”
The whale doubled up with laughter.
“All right, go ahead,” he giggled.” Tie your rope around me and pull me out!”
The rabbit tied the rope securely around the whale’s middle. Then he ran ashore and rushing into the woods, hid behind a tree and shouted,
“PULL!”
The elephant, intending to throw the rabbit high into the sky to frighten him, wrapped his trunk around the rope and gave a mighty heave upwards. The whale countered with a tug that almost brought the elephant to his knees. The two animals, hidden from each other’s sight
by the trees in between, marveled at the strength of the rabbit. They pulled and heaved and exerted their strength to the utmost, but neither could get the better of the other. Finally the rope broke and the two animals fled in opposite directions.

From then on whenever the elephant saw the rabbit, he would quickly hide himself or run away, to the great amusement of the rabbit.

Adapted from a West African Folktale.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The earth is breaking up! ( Jakata tales )

A hare resting under a banyan tree had a premonition of doom. “What would happen to me if the earth were to break up?” he wondered! Suddenly, there was a ‘thud’ followed by a rumbling sound. “It’s happened,” thought the hare, “the earth’s breaking up!” He jumped up and ran. “Why are you running?” asked a hare who crossed his path. “The earth’s breaking up!” shouted the hare. “You’d better run too.” The second hare ran so fast he overtook the first. “The earth’s breaking up, the earth’s breaking up!” he shouted to other hares he passed. Soon thousands of hares were scampering through the forest.

Other animals got caught in the panic. The word spread from mouth to mouth, and soon everyone heard about the earth breaking up! It was not long before the whole jungle was on the move. Reptiles, insects, birds and four-footed animals fled in wild disorder, and their cries of terror filled the air.

A lion standing on a hillock, saw the animals coming and wondered what was going on. He hastened down and positioning himself in front of the horde, and called for it to stop. His commanding presence stemmed the rising tide of panic among the animals. “The earth is breaking up!” shrieked a parrot, alighting on a rock near him. “I heard it from the monkeys."

The monkeys said they had heard it from the tigers, who said their informants were the elephants, who gave the buffaloes as their source. When the hares were finally implicated they pointed one to another until the one who had started it all was identified. “What makes you think the earth is breaking up?” the lion asked him. “I heard it cracking with my own ears”, squeaked the hare, trembling in fear.

The lion investigated the sound the hare had heard and found that it had been caused by a large coconut falling from a tree. It had landed on a pile of rocks, causing a minor landslide. “Go back to your homes,” said the lion to the animals who had been running away, and who were now looking very foolish. “The earth’s safe. And next time, check a rumour before acting on it."

Friday, July 8, 2011

The 'Sp' blend.

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Write the blend 'sp' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

The 'Sp' family of words:

space span spare spark spank spat.

speak spear, speed speck speech spell spend spent.

spike spill spin spine spire spirit.

spoil spoke sponge spoon sport spout.

spur spy.

The 'Sp' blend:

Spacy, the space spoon.

Spacy, a spoon in space,
Took part in a special race,
Got ready on a sparkling day
And was sporty all the way.

But in a spoilt temper,
He had a spat with the spear,
He spanked the sponge,
And threw sparks all along.
He spied the spout,
And spilled water from his mouth.

But Spacy, the spoon in space,
Was not a spoil sport.
In the end, he spoke in a manner,
That pleased the spanner,
He fixed the spear,
He sparkled the sponge.

This is how Spacy, the spoon, ended his day.

Take care.

To follow the phonics program from the beginning, click here.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Look before you leap : A Panchtantra story.

Look before you leap : A Panchtantra story.

Once a fox was roaming around in the dark. Unfortunately, he fell into a well. He tried his best to come out, but all in vain. He had no other alternative, but to remain there till the next morning.

The next day, a goat came that way. She peeped into the well and saw the fox there. The goat asked "What are you doing there, Mr. Fox?

The sly fox replied, "I came to drink water. It is the best water I have ever tasted. Come and see for yourself."

Without thinking even for a while, the goat jumped into the well, quenched her thirst and looked for a way to get out. But just like the fox, she also found herself helpless to come out.

Then the fox said, "I have an idea. You stand on your hind legs. I'll climb on your head and get out. Then I shall help you come out too".

The goat was not clever enough to understand the shrewdness of the fox and did as the fox said and helped him get out of the well.

After getting out of the well, the sly fox walked away. While walking away, the he said, "Had you been intelligent enough, you would never have got in the well without seeing how to get out".

Thats why it's said, look before you leap!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The 'Sn' blend

Consonant clusters or blends are two or three consonants that appear together in a word with each consonant retaining its sound when blended.

Write the blend 'sn' set of words on individual cards. Underline the blend in every word. Explain your child that the set of two letters that needed to be spelt together or blended and help him in reading the first few words. Once he is comfortable reading individual words and recognizes the reading pattern, encourage him to read the story under your supervision.

The 'Sn' family of words:

Snack, Snap, Snake, Snail, Snare, Snag, Snarl, Snatch

Sneak, Sneeze

Sniff, Snip

Snob, Snoop, Snore, Snout, Snow

Snug, Snuggle

Story for the 'Sn' blend

Snobby, the Snobbish Snail.

The Snobbish snail had a snack,
The Snobbish snail had load on it's back.

The Snobbish Snail stopped to sneeze,
And the Snobbish Snail took a sniff.

The Snobbish Snail snuggled in it's shell,
The Snobbish Snail snored in a well.

The Snobbish Snail had no snout,
The Snobbish Snail could sneak about!

The Snobbish Snail saw the silly snake,
The Snobbish Snail sobbed all fake.

What a Snobbish Snail was silly Snobby!

Take care.