Teach your child to read
02 Nov | 6 Comments »
You want your child to read. I understand. Reading rocks! Who wouldn’t want their child to read!? (Please remember: Kids will read when they’re ready. Pushing them won’t help them or you.)
No, you can’t watch a video.
No, Sesame Street won’t do it either.
The most important thing you can do to teach your child to read is . . . . EASY.
Read to your child.
Around age 4 or 5, your child might show interest in reading a book. Please, please, please do not force reading. Really and truly, it will make them not want to read. If a child is not ready, relax. He or she will be ready one day. DO NOT WORRY. Seriously, they’ll be fine.
IF your child shows an interest, here are some fun activities to begin pre-reading development.
- Have them “read” to you a familiar story using the pictures to tell the story.
- Play with letters and make words. Start with letters.
I LOVE this interactive (aka kinesthetic) alphabet activity from Wikki Stix. Wikki Stix are reusable bendy sticky yarn-type things. The sticks can be bent to shape the letters, upper and lower case and the corresponding animal.
- Use letters to make common words like: their name, mom, dad.
Another fun interactive product we LOVE is this Lacing Alphabet from Learning Resources. (Do you notice that it’s also visual and kinesthetic? That’s how kids learn best – combining multiple learning styles.)
My early reader enjoys this Hooked On Phonics Touch Screen Learner. Even my seven year old enjoys playing with this game. (Which infuriates the four year old!)
(These are products I bought myself. None were give to me to promote.)
Pop quiz:
What is the most important thing you can do to help your child read?
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I am on your channel! I have just written two books — one for parents (Anytime Reading Readiness) and one for prek and k teachers (Before They Read) that hit this nail on the head. What children really need are three BIG ideas: great chats and conversations with adults that care, delicious experiences with books, and lots of play with the language. Recently numerous studies have been released that indicate that children who have an overly structured academic experience in preschool may know their letters and numbers a little early, BUT they are more anxious, less creative than their peers with less pressure. That’s powerful stuff!
Thanks so much for these great ideas! Great post. We’re just in the thick of this at our house.
Really GREAT ideas. And a good reminder not to push reading.
Great tips Melissa.
I have a shelf full of kids’ books in the living room, right at their level (I have two 4 yr olds, twins) and they’ll just randomly pick them off the shelf and ask us to read to them.
But my favorite is when they’re sitting by themselves looking through them and commenting and asking questions. One of them makes up the story out loud as he looks at the pictures. Imagination at work!
This is very helpful for parents with young children. Both my son and daughter are now in high school and college, but it was clear (early on) that both struggled with learning disabilities. I tried to find ways to make reading a window to unlock the wonders of the the world. On numerous camping trips, I would read to my son (who is now in high school) from books and magazines about stuff we both enjoyed doing together on a number of topics and history. Mostly golf, camping, biking, skiing and sailing. This summer he became certified at our local marina to sail alone and nothing warms my soul more now than catching him reading in his room. Just relaxing, feet up on the bed with a book or magazine cracked wide open…
I really enjoyed your website and being a reading teacher myself and current author I do agree that you should not push a child into reading. However, I have taught hundreds of children how to read at the age of four and have amazing success! I do assess each child when they enter the program to make sure they are ready for reading. My goal in teaching young children is a love and passion for reading.