Learning to Read, Part 2

Alright, you’ve gone through the check list on my Is Your Child Ready to Read post and you think your child is ready. Yay! Well, here are a few things you need to help you start teaching your child the skills he or she needs to begin reading.

1. Sight Word Flash Cards- In the teacher world, sight words are known as Dolch Sight Words– a list of 220 words children need to recognize to become fluent readers. Many of these words cannot be sounded out and therefore must be learned by sight. You can buy flash cards of these sight words or you can make your own using this Dolch Sight Word list. Starting with the pre-primer list, have your child learn 3-5 words at a time. We practice ours at the breakfast table, I tape them on her mirror, and we practice them again at bedtime. When you’re just doing 3-5 words, it takes just a few minutes a day, but seeing those words over and over gets your child to learn those words by sight.

2. Beginning Reader Books- These books are known as “readers” to teachers. When teaching a child how to read, you’ll need to start with “readers”- very basic books that introduce one letter sound at a time. You can still use the hardback children’s books that fill your childs’ bookshelves, but keep those to bedtime or story time and not for teaching reading. Also leave on the shelf the leveled readers that are like this Dora Leveled Reader. Your child can add those books after he or she has successfully learned to read a set of “readers”. My favorite readers are BOB Books. These books guide your child through each stage of reading by slowly introducing new words and sounds. Chloe loves her BOB books.Another “reader” set that I like are the “Now I’m Reading” books. Of course, my favorite books to teach children how to read are Rigby books, the books I used in my first grade classroom. These books can usually only be ordered through the school and they are VERY expensive. In writing this, I did find Rigby books on eBay, so you might want to check that out.

3. Motivation Chart– I found our sets of BOB books at Costco for $10 per set and they each came with a set of stickers. We made a sticker chart and after she masters a book in the set, we add another sticker to her chart. This has been a great way to motivate her to keep trying and learning! Also be sure to offer lots of praise because learning to read can seem like a daunting task to your little one! They will need constant motivation and encouragement, but in the end, seeing your child learn to read is so rewarding!

This list suggests a few ways you can help your child get started reading. There are so many more resources out there and some of them are great! I’d love to answer any questions so please leave a comment and I’ll try my best to help!

Happy Reading!