Learning to Read
It's
no secret that I love to read. Before I had
children, I had visions of snuggling up with babies, teens and
everything in between and sharing my love of books. Funny how most of
those idealized visions never materialize. You see, I have 3
boys. Busy, crazy, active, amazing boys and I love it. They
like books and like to read, but they would always choose something
active over something still, so I had to make learning to read a bit
more fun than looking at letters and practicing sounds.
So,
just in case we have more kids at some future point and I'm too old
to remember what I did well with the first 3, I thought I
should write a few parenting things down, since my blog is pretty
much our only journal now. Also, a few people here were
interested in how I got my boys to read fairly early, so I thought I
should make a record of it.
Before
I start with my explanation, you must know that I think
children really catch on when they are ready.
My boys are not "gifted" readers that plow through chapter
books at 4 or teach themselves to read at 2. I've known a few kids
like that and they are amazing. Also, all of my boys have learned
differently. #1 knew letters and sounds at a ridiculously young
age, #2 has great instincts and can hear the correct words when
he strings sounds together without any effort at all, and #3 was
so stubborn that he went from barely recognizing all his letters to
reading 3 and 4 letter words with short vowels in 3 months, plus
he really loves books. There is only so much you can do as a parent
but you can do something!
That
being said, I've always hoped my kids would be reading before
Kindergarten, for the sheer fact that if they can do that, it
seems they are immediately labeled as "smart," and that is
nice label to start life with, even if it's not always true. On the
other hand, my friend's daughter didn't read at all, not one word,
until 1st grade, but then reading just clicked for her and as a 3rd
grader she's her classes' highest performer and major book lover. So,
lots of times it really doesn't matter, but since I loved it so much
it was important to me. Plus, you hear of boys struggling with
reading more often than girls, so anything I could do to give my boys
a leg up was a good thing.
Also,
I'm not a teacher or expert, but I thought I'd share a few things
that were fun and worked for us so that I can remember too.
Books
These
are 2 of our favorites. One thing I like about them is that they are
easy for the kids to participate in. From the time they can talk,
once they are familiar with the book, I usually leave the last word
of the sentence out andlet them fill it in. As
they get older I leave out more and more. We have quite a few books
they can recite. It gives them confidence and they learn to look at
pictures and predict words. It's always been a fun game for us and
keeps them engaged in reading.
Alphabet
Floor Puzzles
We
have used this puzzle like crazy. We have lots but this is
my favoritebecause the letters are
formed correctly and are easy to read and the pictures are in the
background. We have used this to pieces with all of my kids. The ways
we used the puzzle:
*We
would do it together
*We'd
sing the ABCs as we pointed to the letter. We'd sing it faster and
faster and faster.
*We'd
jump from letter to letter while singing.
*We'd
point out the letters we knew.
*When
they were familiar with some letters, I'd put a piece of sugar
cereal on each letter, and if they knew the letter, they
could eat the cereal. If not, I'd eat it. I'd start with just a few
that I knew they knew then add one or two every time we did the
puzzle. I tried to teach the easiest, most familiar ones first.
*Pretty
soon, they knew all the letters, so we'd do the same thing
with sounds. It was a fun game that kept
their attention. It seemed like they looked forward to our puzzle
time.
*We
stopped when it wasn't fun or when interest was gone. One thing I
knew was that I never wanted reading to be a punishment or chore but
a fun way to interact with me and the world.
The
Letter Factory DVD
I'm not usually
a fan of TV learning, in fact it seems like an oxymoron, but this DVD
was awesome for teaching sounds. Once my
kids knew the letters, I let them watch this DVD for their TV time
and the sounds usually came lickety split.
My
first steps to reading books
I
think these books are painfully boring, but all my kids have really
liked them and they teach lower case letters really well. Capitals
seemed much easier than lowercase. You can get the whole set at the
library.
Spelling!
One
thing that has always worked well for us is using spelling to learn
to read. In the car or when trying to pass time, I'll give my kids
words to spell. In the beginning, I'll help them sound them out,
letter by letter (meaning I'll say the sound and they the letter),
but it's not long before they can do it on their own. I also like
using spelling to teach new concepts like the silent "e" or
the "y" that sounds like an "i." We actually
spell a lot before we try read.
Foam Bath Letters!
Foam Bath Letters!
We
used these a bunch too. I'd suggest buying at least 2 sets, so you
have 2 of each letter. We spent a lot of bathtub time spelling words
on the wall. I love places where my kids enjoy (or have to) chat with
me. This felt like a game to them too, so they were happy to play
"bath spelling" which often leads to "bath reading."
Lists!
I'm
always amazed at how quickly kids start stringing sounds together
once they have them down. We like to write our own lists to read and
start with a simple sound like, "at." Once they can do
that, we add a letter to the beginning of the sound (cat, bat, sat,
mat) then do another ending and do the same thing and presto! they
can read. Watching their face when they do it on their own for the
first time is magic. They are so proud.
Sight
Words.
There
are just some words you can't sound out, so we have to "remember"
those. These are tough and it's helpful when a preschool teacher or
kindergarten teacher has a list and reinforces it. If not, they are
easy to find online.
Beginning
Books
There
are so many series out there for beginning readers. We've almost
always gotten them from preschool or kindergarten teachers. If
my kids ever got frustrated with it, they would read a page, then I
would read a page. I never wanted reading to be a hassle for them or
force them to read books that were too far above their level. That's
just frustrating. I also didn't stop reading to them for pleasure
just because they could read.
After
this, I'm so glad my kiddos go to school! We try to supplement and
reinforce what they learn there. All 3 of them would still rather
play then read, so we have a plan each night:
Later
Bedtime
We
read scriptures together at 8, then they are all welcome to keep
their light on for 30 minutes and read on their own. If they are not
reading or looking at books, the light goes off. It's
their personal reading time. I read to
them at other times of the day. It's been a great way for our kids to
settle down and have some independent time and makes reading a real
privilege, not a chore.
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