Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

I wanted to ask any early elementary education specialists on here--what should I do to help my child get ready to read?

DS is 3. He loves books, and we read to him a lot. He knows some of his alphabet letters, though definitely not all. Lately, he keeps saying he wants to be a big boy so he can read to himself. He "reads" books to his stuffed animals, but he really has them memorized.

Now, I'm not planning to start drilling him or expecting him to learn read at such a young age, but what are some things we can do to help it along, besides continuing reading and pointing out letters to him? Without pushing him out of his comfort zone necessarily.

TIA!

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

You can start teaching him reading strategies, like looking at picture cues. Expose him to books that have a simple picture and then a sentence on the bottom of the page that correlates with the picture.

You can have a chart up in his room with colors and the words for them as well as a mini word wall. The word wall could have basic sight words and other words you discover through reading or talking.

Ex----The brown dog.

Your child may pick up on the sight words rather quickly ...like "the". Then by using the picture cue figure out the sentence says "the brown dog" because the rest of the book should be repetitive language. The brown dog, the white cat, the red bird etc It will be empowering.

Of course eric carle books Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear also reinforce this strategy.

Once your child knows letter sounds you could have him identify the beginning sound of a word and the ending sound of the word to try to decode the word in context.

The "b" row "n" dog. (he would be using the picture cue and then the initial and ending letter sounds)

Message edited 1/28/2011 1:32:45 PM.

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

Thanks for the suggestions! He is very familiar with brown bear, so that might be a good thing to start with--we could always make our own pictures if I don't see anything.

He has been pointing at words in books at times and asking me what each word is--sometimes he points at every word on the page and wants me to go through each one. I think he really wants to learn to do this on his own--too bad I can't say the same for the potty, but what can you do!

This sounds like fun though. I know his daycare has a lot of pictures with words on the walls also.

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

I posted this response on another thread regarding reading. Hope it helps.
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First, read, read, read, and read some more with your child. The more you read the more they will pick up on. In particular, try choosing a single book and sticking with it for 5 days. On the first day have him look at the cover and describe what he sees and what he thinks the story might be about. Then take a "picture walk" through the book. Look at each page together and have him "tell the story" through the pictures. Then read the story.

As you read the actual story use your finger to point under each word as you say it. After you have read it once through go back and read it again and ask questions along the way. "How do you think the little boy feels" or "What do you think he might do next". Questioning will really help him to think about the story.

At the end of the week have him "read" the story to you. You will be amazed at how much he will be able to recall and "read". Yes, it's partly a memorization of the story from hearing it so many times but this is an important pre-reading skill. As he "reads" encourage him to follow along with his finger. If he gets stuck and isn't sure what happens next encourage him to look at the pictures. The pictures help to tell the story and an important pre-reading skill is being able to refer to the pictures to help you get through a given story.

When choosing books to read for the week look for books that have good pictures that flow with the story, look for books with a repetitive phrase or idea. Some good ones are "The 3 Little Pigs", "The Gingerbread Man", "Caps for Sale", etc.

If you really want to get into it with him you can even start a Reading Journal. Get a notebook, explain that this will be his reading journal where he can keep all his ideas, and let him decorate it with stickers and pictures so it feels special. Then after you read a book you can have him draw his favorite part or you can write down in the back of the notebook every book he reads and give him a star so he feels proud and is encouraged to read more. There are so many skills and things you can work on. For more ideas check out the teaching section in the bookstore, pick up a teaching book on reading and try out some of the ideas.

Most importantly, keep it fun. It shouldn't feel like "work". Choose books he enjoys and make it special, fun time.........not working time. Reading is an enjoyable activity and the more enjoyable you make it for them the more they will read. Good luck!!

Edit - Forgot to add, if he doesn't already know how also show him how to hold a book properly and how to turn the pages. Also explain how we read from left to right. It seems obvious but to a little person who can't read yet it's important to show them all the basic skills of being able to read.

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

Great advice from my colleagues

You also might check out
www.starfall.com. Great resource for learning letters and sounds.

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

Posted by Michmouse

Great advice from my colleagues

You also might check out
www.starfall.com. Great resource for learning letters and sounds.

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

I LOVE this thread. I do a lot of this with DS and always have and its nice to know I've been doing it right, but, there are some great suggestions here to freshen things up. Thank you to OP and thank you to the people who responded!

Re: Teachers-Reading Preparation Question

Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions!

He definitely memorizes a lot of the stories we read now, or enough of the story line, but I did not realize this is a pre-reading skill. And definitely agree, I don't want to make this into dreary work, just want to see if we can tap into his interest.

Thanks again! These are a lot of great ideas.