All rights reserved.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced by

any means, including duplicating, photocopying, electronic, mechanical,
recording, the World Wide Web, e-mail, or otherwise, without written
permission from the publisher.
Copyright 2011 by All About Learning Press, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America

All About Learning Press, Inc.

2038 E. Anvil Lake Road
Eagle River, WI 54521
ISBN 978-1-935197-23-2
v. 1.0
Cover Design: David LaTulippe
Illustrations and Page Layout: Mike Eustis

Welcome to
In the Kitchen with
the Zigzag Zebra!
The Zigzag Zebra is in the kitchen cooking up a storm, and your child can
help! And while your child is helping Ziggy, he or she will be absorbing
critical pre-reading skills.
Youll see that the activities in this e-book focus on rhyming, identifying
the first sound of a word, oral blending, and clapping syllablesall
designed to reinforce phonological awareness.
Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and identify parts of words.
As your child plays these different language-based games, he is learning
to pay attention to various parts of the word (the ending sound, the
beginning sound, or the rhyme). Hes learning to take words apart and
put them back together again.
The ability to attend to the various sounds in words is extremely
important when it comes to reading. Research shows us that children
who have strong phonological awareness learn to read much more
easily, and their first attempts at learning to read are more successful.
This early advantage sticks with the child as he continues his school
career.
There are five important pre-reading skills that we teach in the
All About Reading program. Besides phonological awareness, these skills
include print awareness, letter knowledge, listening comprehension, and
motivation to read. These components are so important to your childs
future reading and spelling ability that we call them the Big Five Skills.
Teaching the Big Five Skills is the most important step you can take to
show your child how to understand and love the printed word.
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In the Kitchen with the Zigzag Zebra is a small sample of what you will
find in the All About Reading Pre-1 program. I hope you enjoy these
activities and that you catch a glimpse of what it is like to teach one of
our Big Five Skills to your child.
Enjoy this special time with your child!

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Whats on Ziggys Pancakes?

Ziggy loves pancakes! He loves to make pancakes, and he loves to eat
pancakes. He wants you to help him decide what to put on his pancakes
today. He has lots of favoritessome may even surprise you!
Lets play a rhyming game. I will tell you the name of one of Ziggys
favorite toppings. Then you have to say a word that rhymes with it. It can
be a real word, or it can be a nonsense word.
For instance, if I say spice, you could say nice or a silly word like plice.

You say:

Your childs possible rhyming responses:

Cream.

Ream, dream, beam.

Butter.

Sutter, putter, nutter.

Peaches.

Beaches, leaches, teaches.

Cheese.

Peas, keys, knees.

Honey.

Money, runny, sunny.

Bacon.

Taken, macon, pacon.

Plums.

Suns, puns, buns.

Peas.

Teas, cheese, bees.

Cherries.

Berries, fairies, marries.

Tomatoes.

Potatoes, fotatoes, bomatoes.

Pickles.

Sickles, tickles, mickles.

What do you think Ziggy should put on his pancakes today?

What would you put on your pancakes?
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7

Ziggy and I Play I Spy

Ziggy has lots of things in his kitchen. He thinks it would be fun to play
I Spy with you while his cake is baking in the oven.
Here he goes! Ziggy will look around his kitchen and tell you what he is
looking at, one sound at a time. Then you say the word back to him. Lets
try one...
I spy with my little zebra eye a f..ish. What am I looking at? Fish.
Right!
Lets play some more...
I spy with my little zebra eye...

You say:

Your child says:

s...alt
p...epper
t...ea

b...owl
ch...air

sh...elf

s...tove
z...ebra

salt
pepper
tea
bowl
chair
shelf
stove
zebra

Good job!

Mac n Cheese with Ziggy

Sometimes when Ziggy is cooking, he gets very busy. When he has to talk
and cook at the same time, sometimes he says the wrong word. He wants
to tell you about how he is cooking macaroni and cheese. Will you help him?
Ziggy will talk about what he is doing. If he says a word wrong, please help
him out by saying the correct word.

Ziggy says:
I am using a very big nettle.

Your child says:

Kettle.

I am stirring with a loon.

Spoon.

I like wearing my chefs mat.

Hat.

I like to add Cheddar sneeze.

Cheese.

My recipe has lots of toodles.

Noodles.

When its done, I will put it on a crate.

Plate.

It will be very pot.

Hot.

But it will taste very hood!

Good.

I will have my mac n cheese with silk.

Milk.

Do you think I should save room for dessert?

Oh, Ziggy got that one right!

.
Thanks for helping Ziggy!

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11
11

Whats for Dessert?

Ziggys favorite part of every meal is dessert, of course! He claps every
time he hears one of his favorites. Ill bet you like dessert, too.
Lets clap together as we think about how good our favorite desserts are.
Clap for each syllable in every word, okay? All right then...here we go:

You say:

You/Your child claps:

Ice Cream
Chocolate Cake
Peanut Butter Cookies
Brownies
Blueberry Pie

2 claps
3 or 4 claps, depending on pronounciation
6 claps
2 claps
4 claps

Fudge
Strawberry Jello
Candy Bars
Cherry Cobbler
Cream Puffs

1 clap
5 claps
3 claps
4 claps
2 claps

Custard
Apple Crisp
Pudding
Donuts
Cookie Bars

2 claps
3 claps
2 claps
2 claps
3 claps

Mmmm...that was good!

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13

Kitchen Clean-up Is Fun!

Sometimes Ziggy has to clean up the kitchen. This is not his favorite part
of cookingeating is! But when he has to clean up his messes, Ziggy has
fun saying silly sentences.
Lets join Ziggy saying his silly sentences! I will say the sentence for Ziggy,
so listen carefully:
Mmmonica mmmade mmmany mmmeatballs.
What does each word start with? Mmm.
Correct!
Lets try some more:

You say:

Your child says:

Fred finished five fried fish!

Fff.

Lucy liked licking lemons.

Lll.

Marshmallow marmalade made Mary miserable.

Mmm.

Nibbling noodles needs no napkins.

Nnn.

Strawberry stew sounds silly.

Sss.

Rita relishes raspberry rolls.

Rrr.

That was fun! Now clean-up is done!

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For the complete All About Reading Pre-1 program,

go to www.AllAboutReading.com