okay small work books under 50 pages do you use more than one? DD seems to do great on the first half of the book then on the second half she gets mad and frustrated. Her big frustration is matching the sounds. Example: picture of a cat and it sounds like (two pictures) of a bird and a cart. She doesn't seem to be getting that cat and cart both have the same beginning sound. She will get it if I write the word out then she knows to match up the letters. This is preschool work but still I hate seeing her frustrated.
Perhaps it's the workbook that's confusing her? I'd write out the words and teach her by hand. We have some workbooks that have been great and some that haven't. Generally speaking, my oldest loves workbooks (haven't done any with the youngest yet). He hated all of the workbooks from walmart, though. Not sure what's different about them, but he hated all of them. I have tons I'm saving for the younger son, but if he doesn't like them, I'm getting rid of them. Have you tried the preschool version of Explode the Code? (Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for... the Code)
I have not tried explode the code yet. DD is only 3 1/2 and loves her workbooks, which she calls her homework. I'm going to try some work book pages online as well. As I stated she does great with the first half of the work book, does great if you write out the objects just not so great if she has to figure them out. She's a great letter matcher..lol.
I've found the many workbooks are confusing for my boys. So I let them do the pages they can do and enjoy doing, and we skip the rest. However, I only buy the workbooks to have something on hand for days that I don't feel well enough to teach, or breaks when they really want school but I have other things I must do.
We have lots of workbooks. DS loves them! I too hate seeing ds frustrated. Have you tried asking her the question in a different way? Like which word has the same beginning as cat?
save the second halves for another day when she does not mind doing them, work only on the first half of the books because she is young enough to do this.