The Bear Can Read Koala Box for May | Review

We are onto our second The Bear Can Read Koala Box, which Robin excitedly opened up, straight from the mail. It’s really lovely to see her so excited about learning and reading, and I feel having this as a subscription is playing a good part in that. This month has been quite hectic for us, but taking the time to read each and every day is something we never miss out on, so I was pretty excited to have some new books to read as well. Koala is specifically Robin’s reading level.

The May box had a foucs on OW, EAR, and OI, which are all sounds Robin has been practicing in school this month – a huge bonus to the box as she takes what she learns at school and practices them at home. When I first learned that The Bear Can Read would be following England’s curriculum, I didn’t realize just how in-line it would end up being with what she is literally learning, that week, in school. Just like last month, this box came with three books, a sticker sheet, reading chart, three sounds flash cards, one challenging word flash card, two flash cards for practicing sounds and pencil gripping, a pencil, an eraser, a tiny teddy, a book mark, and eight worksheets.

We spread out the worksheets and books from this box throughout the month, working through the different sounds. They have both a practice sheet, where the sounds are introduced to the child, then a sheet that reinforces the use of the sound. This system seems to work really well, as the second sheet is more challenging and better for reinforcement. Robin particularly loves circling words with the sound that are in the bear’s soup, thinking it’s very funny that a bear eats words. Two of the other sheets in this pack were actually coloring sheets – asking children to draw their favorite things in a bunch of categories and to dress up bears for the appropriate weather. The favorites sheet was my personal favorite, as Robin loved telling me her favorite food was Lasagna the food and her favorite animal was also Lasagna. Lasagna the hamster – her own pet that she got for her birthday this year.

The flash cards have been quite useful, as a way of quickly practicing the sounds she struggles with – and she has been doing so well with site words, which have really helped her reading. The three books all have to do with the target sounds this month – we really loved the Lost Nest book about owls who have lost their nest, and Attack of the Snails was a simple book about growing a garden. Our third book, Oi, Ear, and Ow is very interesting, as it’s not really a story book and more of a book that showcases specifically these sounds. This book also had questions to ask your child as you read, which makes the whole task more of a conversation.

As for the bonus little items, Robin loved her bee eraser and triangle pencil, which is very easy to grip. Her handwriting has been very messy lately, so this helped a bit! The tiny teddy, which has a loop like a key chain, was sadly really fragile for a child to have. Within a day, it’s arms had fallen off and Robin was pretty upset about it, which is a shame. We currently aren’t using the reading chart, as Robin has a reading journal she uses with school and the chart feels quite redundant, but she loves the bee stickers!

We are still really impressed with this kit and feel that it makes reading just so much more fun. If you have a child who could use a bit of extra support when it comes to reading, you should check out That Bear Can Read and see the various different sets depending on your child’s age and reading level.

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