Teaching the alphabet doesn’t have to be boring. Although I find our preschooler does love repition, I find just singing the alphabet over and over again isn’t ideal for either of us! That’s why I was excited to check out S is for Smiling Sunrise by WordsBright!
S is for Smiling Sunrise is the debut book for WordsBright. It is a book written by a father sharing sing-along alphabet rhymes he wrote for his daughter. It is a hardback book with brightly colored and illustrated pages. Each letter has its own page with the corresponding rhyme. What I find unique is this isn’t just an alphabet book. There is also an mp3 song version of the book available as well as a Teacher’s Guide.
I have been using the S is for Smiling Sunrise and resources mostly with our preschooler (age 5), though our daughter (age 7) likes to also jump in and read to her little brother as well as sing the songs. I have been reading the book 3-4 times per week and work on focusing on one letter at a time as suggested in the guide. He insists I read the whole book each time, though, which is often the case with playing the songs as well. So I will read it all the way through one time and then go to the page with the letter on which we’re focusing.
Although I think just reading the books and listening to the songs would help reinforce learning the alphabet, I definitely find the guide to be helpful. It focuses on concepts, asking questions, talking about vocabulary, and even suggests complementing activities. I have found the book, in general, has been great at extending our vocabulary. Sometimes the picture itself can be deceiving. Chaz would try to guess what the word is but would realize it doesn’t start with that sound, so he got to learn some new words just based on the main word for the letter!
S is for Smiling Sunrise definitely isn’t your “typical alphabet book.” There isn’t the “A is for Apple.” It uses a rather broad vocabulary, and has helped expand not only our preschooler’s vocabulary, but some of his ideas as well! Using the guide has definitely helped in this area to really reinforce what we are learning.
Overall, we have really been enjoying S is for Smiling Sunrise. I initially found I stumbled over some of the words in the rhymes as they didn’t flow how I expected, but reading them over again as well as listening to the songs definitely helped. Chaz really likes the pictures and the music, and I love that he’s learning new words in addition to reinforcing his learning of the alphabet. I think S is for Smiling Sunrise is a good book not only for preschoolers, but for Kindergarten and early readers as well!
For more information be sure to connect with the S is for Smiling Sunrise author Vick Wadhwa on Facebook.
Many members from the Schoolhouse Review Crew had the chance to review S is for Smiling Sunrise by WordsBright. See what they thought in their reviews by clicking on the banner below!
this is great for little obne and diabled kid
theses books are nice for kids
I love this. what an awesome book especially for the car, for a long trip 🙂
I think making the word or letter with an example is a better way to teach the alphabet the letter must relate to the kiss
To the kids