How To Teach Kids To Read
Follow these steps to teach a child to read. Helpful for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers that are teaching beginning readers. This post contains affiliate links.
Sometimes, usually between the ages of 5 and 6, most children begin to read. Watching a child transition from a nonreader to one who can both entertain and educate herself with a book is, for many parents, one of the milestones and miracles of family life.
Learning to read accurately, fluidly, with good comprehension and stamina is also a crucial set of skills for school success. Schools know this. That’s why in the best ones, the early years of primary education are devoted to teaching kids to read using scientifically proven methods to ensure that all kids are reading at grade level.
But in many schools, in all kinds of neighborhoods, there is a shockingly large chunk of kids — about one in three — who don’t master the skills they need to learn to read in a sophisticated way. Their road is a difficult one: although many will try to use their intelligence to cover the holes in their skill set, as the work gets harder and the reading grows more complex, these children will find they are unable to keep up.
Pre-Reading Behaviors
awareness of print on signs, labels, packaging, etc. Kids can know that a sign says “McDonald’s” before they can actually read the letters
sound manipulation games, think “Hannah Hannah banana, banana-fana, fo-fana, me-my-mo-mana, Hannah”
awareness of rhyme
concepts about print – Does the child know which way is up on a book? Do they have a sense that the pages turn one at a time and always in the same direction? As you read, point to the words so they can see you are reading from left to right.
sound discrimination – “Max is eating a muffin. Mmmmax…mmmmuffin…. those start with the same sound.”
When a child demonstrates these behaviors and abilities, they may be ready to learn to read. If not, work activities like these into your daily routine to help guide them in the right direction.
Continue reading aloud to the child. If children learn that reading is an enjoyable experience through read-aloud, they will be motivated to learn the skill themselves.
Learning Letters
Letters don’t have to be taught in alphabetical order. Think about it: If you taught the letters a, m, t, and s, the child can start to read a few simple words right away and that’s so exciting for them! Quick pay-offs like that keep kids motivated!
Mastering a single letter involves two different skills: Identifying the letter visually, and memorizing the sound associated with the letter. Then there are letters that make more than one sound… but more on that in a bit.
Using the senses and movement helps kids memorize letters. Build the letter with clay, draw the letter with your finger on the child’s back, associate a motion with the letter’s sound like jumping and making the sound of letter J.
One exposure is not enough. A lot of memorization has to happen to learn all the letters and sounds. Incorporate plenty of review and don’t rush it.
Blending Sounds
Moving from knowing single letters to reading words is all about blending the sounds together. Try this technique:
Using a 2 or 3-letter word, point to the letters and say each sound.
Then start back at the beginning of the word. Slide your finger slowly under the letters as you stretch the sounds and put them together.
Have the child try to do it, too.
Start Introducing Sight Words
Sight words are typically shorter words that come up very frequently in text and sometimes they don’t follow predictable spelling rules. Some examples are: look, yes, the, do. It’s better to know them by sight rather than trying to sound them out.
Sight word practice can include flash cards, hunting for the words in books, and using computer games.
One of my favorite ways to practice sight words is through the use of predictable or patterned text. These are books where each sentence is the same except for one word which can be inferred with the help of a picture. Kids get lots of practice with the sight words and are proud to be reading sentences.
Work With Word Families
You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck if you spend time on word families. Teach kids that if they can read the word “can,” then they can also read “man,” “pan,” and “fan.” 2-letter word families are perfect at this stage (-am, -at, -et, -en, -it, etc.)
Phonics Skills
We all know English is weird! Learning the individual letter sounds is just a foundation. I like to follow this sequence as I introduce other phonics patterns:
Blends: Two letters that are frequently together in words, both letter sounds can be heard. Examples are bl, tr, sk, dr, sm
Digraphs: Two letters that make a new sound (sh, th, wh, ch, ck)
Glued Sounds: These are a blend but are 3 letters and come at the end of a word (all, ell, ill, ull, ank, ink, onk, unk, ang, ing, ong, ung)
Making Meaning
“Making meaning” is a phrase that’s always thrown around in teaching workshops and books. It just means that as a child starts to read sentences and longer texts, they should be able to get some meaning out of it. They should have a sense of what is going on in the story or what the author wants them to know.
Making meaning should be woven in as soon as a child starts reading sentences. Help the child make meaning by:
asking questions about what they just read.
encouraging them to reread if they didn’t understand what the author was saying.
demonstrate your own reactions to the text
What’s the point in learning to read if you’re not enjoying a story, learning something new, or being exposed to a different way of seeing things