Helping Your Child Learn to Read
Start Early
One of the best things you can do to help your child learn to read is to share stories with them.
And you can't start too early. Babies who are read to grow into children who are excited about learning to read.
Books and stories should be a part of your child's world from the time they are small. It is fun to snuggle up and read books, sing songs or teach your baby a nursery rhyme.
A good time to try is before bed or nap time, as she is winding down and getting drowsy. She will begin to associate books with the relaxed, cozy feelings she gets when she is cuddled up with you. She will be curious to learn to read later on. It will not be so much of a chore.
Just having books in your child's environment is helpful. Have them at his level where he can grab one and play with it, just like any other toy. Once you see him take an interest, sit and show him how it works.
Hopefully as a parent, you enjoy curling up with a good book or leafing through the newspaper. Kids copy what they see and that is an excellent example to set for them.
Before children can learn to read, they need to learn the alphabet. The alphabet song is the easiest way to teach them.
If you sing the alphabet song the usual way, you will notice that the letters "lmnop" kind of glob together and it almost sounds like one letter sound. Make sure to slow it down. Really enunciate each letter.
Another thing you can do is to sing it to a different tune. This is fun to do and it really amuses the kids. Sing it to the tune of Mary had a Little Lamb or Row, Row, Row Your Boat for example.
This one is sung to the tune of Frere Jacques
Or sing it using letter sounds instead of letter names, like this:
Board books are durable and perfect for little hands to hold on to.
Preschoolers are Pre Readers
At around to ages of three to five, kids are really starting to learn what letters are for and what books are all about. They are getting closer to school age. They are getting excited about learning how to read all by themselves.
Here are a few ideas you can use to encourage learning at this age:
- read to your child every day
- talk about the pictures in the books
- let them tell you the story using the pictures
- play with letter magnets on the fridge
- let them circle letters they recognize in the newspaper
- make greeting cards together
- play with Scrabble tiles
- make a photo album of people they know and lable who's who
- jazz up storytime by using puppets or stuffed animals to tell the story
- play board games
- go for walks and read any signs you come across
- Learn to Read with phonics
A free website to teach children to read with phonics. For preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Exciting phonics games and online interactive books.
Grades One and Two
Now is the time they are working on learning to read on their own.
It is important to remember that all children learn to read in their own time. It is no different than learning how to walk and talk. All kids are different, and that's ok.
Practice reading with your child at home, every night. Keep these practice sessions relaxed. Snuggle up and read together so your child will be relaxed enough to retain what he has learned. No one learns well under stress.
Keep on reading to your child, even if he can read on his own. Everyone likes to hear a good story.
This is the way to create a love of reading that will last a lifetime.
