Learn to Read 5-6

Learn to Read – Step 5

A child who learns to read following a natural order will develop strong predictive reading skills. As they learn to read their senses will be enhanced. Parents who read to their children and encourage a strong interest in books will develop in their child a love of books. As they learn to read, they will be interested in what the text says and begin to anticipate the story and the thoughts that the story contains. When they begin to learn to read stories alone they will use these enhanced senses to read a variety of texts The next step will help your child learn to read whole words.

Learn to Read – Picture Matching and Sight Words

Learn to Read - Match Pictures
Learn to Read – Match Pictures

One of the first steps when learning to read is matching pictures. There are plenty of card games such as memory games which will enable you to teach your child to recognise images that are identical. Some memory games also provide cards, where the images might have slight differences. Start with easy images which have obvious differences and gradually progress to images with minor differences. Another aid  is sticker books, which enable children to unpeel a sticker and stick it on the shape that is identical. Ask are they the same or different?

Image of a Goat
Goat – Same or Different

As your child begins to learn to read, If you have Photoshop skills you could subtly change an image to make it different in order to train your child to look closely. Alternatively ask them to help you to sort family photos so that you only have one of each photo. They could label the photos and learn to read the labels.

The next step when they learn to read, is to be able to find two words that look exactly the same. You could write the family’s names on cards and ask them to find two of each name. You could create labels for the pictures in their favourite books.

Label common objects around the house. To test your child’s ability to learn to read the words, see if they will help you put the labels back in the right places. Once your child begins to  read whole words, teach the most used words in the English language. Match two the same first, then see if they can learn to read the individual words.

First Words to Learn to Read

Another reading aid is a post box made out of cardboard. You might be able to cover a tall dried milk cardboard package to make it look like a post box. Cut a slit for when your child begins to learn to read sight words, to enable them to post the words in the box that they can read. Count the words regularly to motivate your child to be able to learn to read more words. This is just one of the reading ideas found in ‘Practice Reading and Speaking’. Preview the contents here. The book also contains a list of first words to learn to read. These are the most used words in the English language. Children are tested on their ability to read these sight words in their first year at school. The most used words in the English language make up about half of the words that appear in writing.

Learn to Read – Step 6

Learn to Read – Learn the Alphabet and Start to learn Phonics

Learn to read - n is for nest
nnn…..est

When you learn to read and write, you begin the process of opening up information that is available all around us. Whether it is reading books, being able to write a shopping list, learning a new skill or writing the lyrics of a song. By helping your child learn to read you are preparing them first for school, then for work. Thorough teaching of phonics translates to fluent reading and writing skills. Early literacy skills support life skills. Children who learn to read early tend to gain an adult reading age early and are better prepared for testing throughout their school life.

Teach alphabet letter and sound recognition. Repeat the alphabet often. Teach the child to say the alphabet using the sounds as well as the alphabet names of the letters. When your child begins to read, you will need to test their knowledge regularly to enable you to re-enforce the letter sounds and alphabet names that they don’t know. Teach them to match the capital letter with the lower case letter. Play ‘I spy’ using the letter sounds. If the child has an alphabet poster and is allowed to colour only the letters that they have committed to memory it will prompt them to want to fill the whole chart. A child who is motivated to monitor their own progress as they learn to read, is more likely to memorise all of the sounds of the letters in the alphabet. You will also have a record of what they know.

There are a lot of facts to teach so using an appropriate reading programme that allows you to monitor progress helps.  As your child begins to learn to read you can keep track of what to teach, when to teach it and how to teach it. You will also be given a means of monitoring progress and keeping track of what is left to learn. This website will give you a chance to buy an efficient reading course that concentrates on the assimilation of the facts. As your child begins to learn to read, this book will help you to recognise what you need to concentrate on most at each stage and gives you tips on teaching and memory. Preview this eBook here.  Buy this reading and phonics course here.

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