Teaching your child to read???

I don't know how many people here can help with this, but I was wondering how I can go about teaching Caiden how to read? I am clueless on the best way to start? I know, he's now 5 and can't read. Sometimes though it seems like he can read with the things he comes up with? Thanks!

Re: Teaching your child to read???

i teach 1st grade and one thing i would work on first is making sure he knows all of his letter sounds. Once he does you can start blending the sounds together to make words. Start with simple words..c-a-t, b-u-g.... You can also get books on tape and have him follow along in the book.

Re: Teaching your child to read???

Incentives work. We weren't trying to teach DS how to read, but before age 3, he learned that if he could read the shows on the DVR list, he could pick out which shows he wanted to watch.... We would say "No, we don't have that show." But he knew... "YES! It's right there!"

He's very unusual, though. Even DD isn't following in his footsteps. She doesn't care about reading at this point (she likes being read to, however, especially by DS).

I would also make it a game. When you're driving, point to a stop sign and ask what it says. Ask about restaurant signs. Whatever DC is interested in. If he likes the movie Cars, ask him to point out his favorite characters from a list of names. If he likes colors, do the same thing with a list of colors.

Every DC is different, so what works for one may not work for another....

Re: Teaching your child to read???

I taught Kindergarten and this is how we taught the kids to read.

Always look at the cover first have him talk about what he sees and what he thinks the story will be about. This prepares him for the reading. Then take a "picture walk" through the book first so he can familiarize himself with the story. Ask him to tell you what is happening in each picture and as he is reading and remind him to use the pictures if he gets stuck.

Allow him to sound out words he gets stuck on. Say things like "this word has the same ending as mop but there is a b......how would we say it? b-o-p".

Ask questions after the story to see if he understood what he read. Tell him to show you where in the story as he answers your question. Also, it helps if you read the same book a few days in a row to him. Then let him read that same book to you. At first it may seem he is just memorizing and retelling but that is part of learning story structure and how to read.

Hope this helps.

Message edited 2/11/2009 3:19:30 PM.

Re: Teaching your child to read???

Another first grade teacher here...

In addition to learning letters & sounds & blending sounds, also teach your DC some "sight words." These are words kids know just by looking at them. Start with a word or two - like important names, words like "love" and "I" , etc. You can write them on cards and put them on the fridge, make them with magnetic letters & hunt for them in books.
(If you want a list of Kindergarten sight words, fm me for the link.)

Also, when you pick books to read with your child, start very easy ones with few words, one line of text per page, where the pictures match the words, with repeating text.(I see a cat. I see a dog. and so on.) You can even write your own books together to start.

HTH