Using Video Effectively For Phonics

Munchkin loves Phonics videos.  He loves any videos.  And he will sit and watch the phonics videos we have with pure enjoyment.  But it wasn't crossing over to lessons.  There was just too much going on and too much time watching for him to narrow his focus back to one letter and remember that segment of video.  So this year I'm trying something different.  I took the 4 phonics videos we have and found more on youtube by HaveFunTeaching and I edited them down.  Well, I didn't have to edit the ones from youtube because they are single letter videos.

Now Munchkin watches about 15 minutes of bouncy happy video that is about just the letter we are working on at the time.  We start with some video, then break for desk work, then watch a bit more, and then do the Starfall segment for that letter.  During the videos I prompt him to make the sounds.  For letter B, over the past two weeks, this has lead to a verbal explosion.  I can now point to the letter B, upper or lower, and ask him what it is and he will tell me "buh".  Every once in a while, he will say "be" but since we are working on phonics I'm more than thrilled with "buh".

Today we did this while walking through a store.  He would laugh and say it, then give me a bump.  He was finding it to be an absolute blast!  Then we got home and twice he started chanting "b, b, b, b," in the rhythm from the videos.  Two times, two different videos!

Another bonus is that starting with a segment of video puts him in a good mood for doing the deskwork, even when he doesn't want to.  And the knowledge that there is another segment of video waiting motivates him to focus and do the work.  As for Starfall, well that doesn't need any motivation or bribing.  He would happily play on Starfall all day long.

I think the best thing though is that he likes doing it this way so much that he doesn't fuss at all when it's time to sit down and work.  He just grabs his stuff and heads to the table.  All in all we can get up to 45 minutes of work with absolute minimum fuss.  Ever once in while, when something is hard, I'll break up the desk work with a repeat segment of video.  So far the hardest thing for him has been finding the B/b in different sentences or puzzles.  And he's not to fond of me to asking him to point out the B/b in stores either.  But he's getting there.  And even better, he's interested and wanting to do it which is doing tons for his learning.