Reading, Broken down

Many people believe they need an educational background or degree to teach their child to read.

That's not true.

Today's post, I am going to break down the process that most schools use to teach reading.

Most schools teach synthetic phonics, in which letters and their sounds are used to blend and make words. Many of you would be familiar with the phrase, "sound it out." If you had the word mat, for example, you would break down the letters to sounds: mmmm…..aaaaahh….tt. Mat. Did you sound it out?

If your child is already in preschool or some type of early learning program, you may have noticed that their letter of the week is not taught in order. We know that it is important for each letter and letter sound to be learned, and many programs find what letters and letter sounds are easier to teach before moving to a more difficult letter or sound. If you want to work alongside the program your child is in, feel free to ask the teacher about upcoming learning schedules so you can be ahead of the game or right alongside the learning process. My son's preschool class typically gives us a learning schedule for the following week on Friday.

So, starting with the beginning of teaching reading....this is your process:

1. Teach the letters of the alphabet

I know this sounds like a "duh" moment, but when I say teach, I don't mean teach them off one letter or toy set. I mean make sure they know the letters in capitals, lowercase, and in different type of fonts. Printed, typed, however it can be seen is how you teach. You would be surprised how many kids can be hung up on recognizing a letter with serifs, or when handwritten. They need to recognize it in many forms.

2. Linking sounds to letters

While teaching their letters, introduce the sounds alongside. Letters are just lines, but when given the purpose of sound in words, it adds more meaning. The phonics song is great to teach along with letter identification.

3. Teach the sounds alongside the letters CORRECTLY

It is harder to unteach than to actually teach something new. This is really important when you are helping your child to learn the sounds. Just remember not to add an uh to the end of the consonant sounds – so say mmm not muh, lll not luh, etc. Mmm-ah-t is correct while muh-ah-tuh...isn't.

3. Introduce blends

Some sounds are represented by more than one letter such as sh in ship, ch in chat, th in thin, qu in quick and ng in sing. Use rhyming words and related words to go over the blends to reinforce understanding. Chat, Chap, Chop, Chow, etc.

4. Learn everywhere

Find examples everywhere around you. The more they do it, the more they will understand and retain it. Find them in books, signs, toys, etc. Practice is important and it reinforces what you taught them.

5. Put it together

Say the sounds c-a-t to read cat, sh-o-p to read shop and s-t-r-ee-t to read street. Be encouraging and help sounding it out if needed when your child is working on a word. Once they get it, have them read it again a few times so they see how it works.

6. Sight words

There are lots of words that simply don't work by sounding them out. For example, the word said. Try sounding it out by letter, not easy huh? Sight words or high frequency words are words we recognize immediately without having to actually "read" it. He, she, said, go, went, not, yes, etc. These are taught by flash cards, games, and repetition. Typically, you will see them as spelling words.

7. Reading books

Ready to read books, BOB books, and printable early readers are great for your beginner reader. They are reduced down to a sentence or even a couple words per page. You can read the book first as you touch each word and then give your child a chance, or even a page at a time. Not only does it work on their word recognition, it works on memory and helps with comprehension. If your child spends the whole time sounding out each word, they could finish a whole book without actually understanding what they read. As they progress, your books can advance along with them.

8. Picture books

Pictures are great for sharing and talking about a story (which is really important too!) but don’t encourage your child to use pictures to guess the words that they don’t already know.

9. MORE BOOKS!

Utilize your local library, online libraries, local book trades, or whatever you can. If you are like my family, You could spend a small fortune in just buying books for your children. If you still want to buy books, many buy, sell, trades have people parting with dozens of books their children have outgrown and you can get for a steal! Once I bought over 200 books that were worth hundreds of dollars new for only $15!

10. Praise and reward

Always remember, not only is this rewarding for you, it should also be for your child. Too many times we can get hung up on teaching that we forget about praising them for their progress. Brag about your kids in front of them and celebrate their achievement.

Just think about how much children are expected to read in school, if they can't or are behind in reading, how will that affect their education? Directions, questions, etc. are misunderstood. Spelling tests and writing exercises are difficult or way below level.

I'm not saying you have to spend hours a day with your child. Set aside 5-10 minutes a day to work with your child. If they can handle more, keep going. Don't look back later and wish you had given your child a better chance of success.

Questions? Comments? Let me know.