70 Tips to help you teach your child to read

70 Tips to help you teach your child to readI’ve had a few moms asking me some tips on teaching their child(ren) to read, so I thought I’d share ideas here.

These tips not only help homeschooling families in their journey, but they can also be used to help your child if he/she is enrolled in public school.

For the sake of readability, I use “he” to refer to a child, regardless their gender.

When to Start

Tip #1

Wait for your child to be ready to learn to read. Some are ready at three or four years of age, others only well later. How will you know when he’s ready?

  1. He will start picking up sounds, letters and words by asking questions.
  2. He will “read” books by pointing to a word and asking what it says.
  3. He will show interest.
  4. He will be motivated to start learning to read.

Basic facts about letters

Tip #2

Once your child is ready to learn to read, first teach him the basic facts about letters and the alphabet.

  1. Print out an Alphabet Sheet to refer to whenever you talk about the alphabet and its letters.
  2. Teach him that there are 26 letters in the alphabet. (Count the letters on the Alphabet Sheet while pointing to each letter).
  3. Every letter has a different shape, they do not look the same.
  4. Every letter has a different sound. We need to know the sound each letter makes to work out what each letter in a word is saying.
  5. Every letter has a different name. B is called “bee”. And we use these names to recite the alphabet, or spell a word.
  6. You can give each letter a nickname to remember it better, for example “Betty Bee” for the letter B.

Start teaching one letter at a time, don’t rush it

Tip #3

Once your child is ready to learn to read, teach him one letter at a time, and don’t rush it! Linger on each letter for as long as is necessary for him to know it.

Tip #4

Your child does not have to learn the letters of the alphabet in alphabetical order to start off with. If they learn letters like t, a, m, and s, they can already start reading simple words, and these quick payoffs are very encouraging to a child and keep them motivated!

Tip #5

Learning about letters should be fun, there are lots of games and methods you can utilize to help your child remember the name and sound of each letter.

Tip #6

When learning about the letters of the alphabet, using clay to form letters gives the child a wonderful opportunity to not only literally see the letter, but also feel it, which forms a better mental picture about the letter in his mind, and that will help him recognize and remember letters better.

Tip #7

Letting your child shape a letter out of clay as well as a model of something that can resemble the letter (like a bee (insect) for the letter “b”), helps establish a picture of the letter in his mind, and he can recall it better later on.

Tip #8

When learning about letters, tracing the letter in sand or rice or shaving cream is not only fun, but it gives the child a memory for the letter. You can also let him trace the letter with his finger on a printed paper. Textured paper will be even better!

Tip #9

When learning about letters, pouring river sand or salt in the shape of the letter is also a fun activity!

Tip #10

Learning to read doesn’t have to be limited to books – you can point out letters and words in everyday objects like signboards, magazines, posters and newspapers. You can also point out the differences in Typeface (fonts).

Tip #11

The more senses you can incorporate when teaching your child to read, the better he will remember and the quicker he will learn.

Tip #12

Kids learn best through play! When teaching your child about letters, play games like “I spy – …with my little eye something beginning with … (the letter he’s learning)”, and let him guess what it could be. If it is a little too difficult, start describing the object bit by bit, one clue at a time. Then switch roles.

Tip #13

When teaching your child about letters, let the child select a magnetic, wooden or plastic letter from a drawstring bag without peeking, or let him close his eyes and hand him a letter. Let him hold it and feel its shape. See if he can identify the letter.

Tip #14

When teaching your child about letters, read stories about words that start with the letter or the sound it makes. (Like Letterland Readers – Annie Apple etc.)

Tip #15

You can let your child colour a picture that represents the letter (e.g. a picture of a bee with writing underneath it that says “Betty Bee”), and put it up on the wall for the child to see every day. (Point out that Betty’s name starts with the letter B).

Tip #16

When teaching your child about letters, say a word to him (auditory) and let him tell you the letter it starts with.

Tip #17

Play “I’m thinking of a wild animal that starts with the letter … (the letter he’s learning)”. If it is a little too difficult, start describing the animal bit by bit, one clue at a time, until he gets it. Then switch roles.

Tip #18

Use role-play. Let your child act as Betty Bee (or Sammy Snake, or whatever letter he’s learning), and let him say “I’m Betty Bee, and I buzz, but when I’m tired I go ‘buh-buh-buh’” (while he “flies” about to demonstrate).

Tip #19

Do a fun craft to make *Betty Bee or *Sammy Snake (crafts are fun, keep it that way – don’t expect perfection).

Tip #20

Let your child find pictures of things that start with the letter you’re teaching in magazines, cut and paste (or you can pre-cut and let him paste, depending on his age) together in a Notebook.

Tip #21

Read stories about *Betty Bee and let him hunt for all the words that start with the letter *B or the sound it makes on the page.

Tip #22

Trace the letter on the child’s hand and/or back and let him tell you what it is. Just remember, not all children like being touched and some might be sensitive – first get his permission for you to touch his hand and/or back. Then switch – let him trace on your back for you to guess.

Tip #23

Let your child think of his favourite food starting with … (the letter he’s learning).

Learn the Alphabet in sequence

Tip #24

After your child has learned about the different letters in the alphabet, teach him the Alphabet in sequence. Always keep a printed Alphabet Sheet at hand to refer to when necessary. Let him slowly say the name of the letters in forward order (A-Z), then in backward order (Z-A) until it becomes easy.

Tip #25

When teaching your child the Alphabet in sequence, after you’re sure he can identify each letter easily, call out a letter, let him point to it, and let him say what letter comes before and after the one you called out. Do this until he can easily and quickly find any letter.

Tip #26

Spend time (and be patient) on identifying letters and memorizing the Alphabet sequence forwards and backwards. This will give your child a solid foundation to start putting letters together to make words!

Vowels and Consonants

Tip #27

Once your child can identify each letter of the alphabet with ease, teach the difference between Vowels and Consonants. Tell him that words have to have consonants as well as vowels to be a true word, much like a sandwich has to have a filling to be a sandwich!

Tip #28

One way to teach the difference between Vowels and Consonants is to get a hold of wooden or plastic letters the child can paint. Let him help to paint the vowels red, and all the consonants except “y” yellow. Because “y” is sometimes used as a consonant and other times used as a vowel, paint it half red and half yellow.

Sight-words (high-frequency words) and other

Tip #29

Since when we read we use sight-reading and don’t sound out the words but see a word and know what it says, you may want to introduce words on cards (much like flashcards) to the child to learn to identify them by sight at this stage. They do not have to know how to sound out words letter by letter to learn to identify a word. Phonics CAN come later. Doing it this way will give your child more speed and fluency in his reading.

You can use a Primer Reader (like the McGuffey Eclectic Primer) to use as guideline as to which (and how many) words to present at a time (using one page at a time).

  • Show your child a word, and tell him what it says.
  • Work through the words about three times.
  • Shuffle the words and present them to your child one at a time. See if he can identify them. (You’ll be amazed how much they remember!).
  • After he knows all the words, let him read the page the words appear on in the Primer Reader.

Tip #30

Sight words must be memorized in order for your child to become a fluent reader. There are a few popular lists of sight words that individual researchers have found beneficial, including the Dolch Sight Words List and the Fry Sight Words List. Work on a few words at a time when you feel your child is ready.

Tip #31

Sight Words don’t have to be reinforced using flashcards. You can create a lot of games, for example Snakes and Ladders or Word Bingo, using the sight words the child is learning.

In Snakes and Ladders, for each move he makes, he can read the Sight Word printed in the block (or he can read only the one he lands on). Keep learning fun! (Visit sightwords.com to create a custom printable Snakes and Ladders board game with your child’s sight words for the week, or find some printables for a Word Bingo game).

Tip #32

Use Sight Words (and other words your child is learning) to make a deck of cards to play “Snap” with, or shuffle them and make pairs to play the memory game “Pairs”, or “Go Fish”. Just remember to start with a few words at a time, and never present more than 12 words at a time!

Tip #33

To teach sight words, you can also incorporate the use of predictable or patterned text, where a page/book have sentences repeated except for one word, which is replaced by a picture. The sight word is included in the text, and the sentence is completed by “reading” the picture.

Tip #34

Only about 90% of words in the English language obey rules and fit into a pattern. Other (tricky) words like “eight”, “some”, “water”, “said” etc. will have to be learned as Sight Words (high-frequency words).

Word Forming

Tip #35

After your child has mastered letter names and sounds, and also the alphabet sequence, guide him to start forming words.

Use magnetic or wooden letters, let him arrange them in sequence on the table before him (alphabetical order), and start him on building three-letter words.

One way to play this game is to pick out the letters of the three-letter word and place them together in front of the child, then point to each letter and sound it out (you can let him sound it out with you). Then tell him what the word says (c-a-t -> cat).

You can introduce word families here already by replacing the first letter of the word with another – only place the letter you don’t use back in its place – and repeat the process of sounding out the letter and saying the word (cat becomes fat, then hat, then rat, then mat, etc.)

Tip #36

Another way to guide your child in Word Forming is to use picture cards that have the word printed on as well, and let the child pick out the letters from the alphabet to build (copy) the word and sound out the letters as he builds them. Then let him say (read) the completed word.

Tip #37

When your child is learning to form words, a third way to help him is to say a word to him and let him decipher the sounds and pick the (magnetic/wooden) letters to build the word himself (without seeing the word). For example, you say “cat”, he selects the letters c, a and t to build it on the table.

Tip #38

Another variation of the Word Forming game is to spell out a word to your child, one letter at a time, let him find the letter and place it before him. Repeat until the word is complete. Let him read the word.

Tip #39

Yet another variation of the Word Forming game is to spell out a word to your child, let him say what the word spelled, then let him find the letters and build the word.

Tip #40

If your child is not very curious as to the meaning of the words he is reading (only trying to apply the principles you’re teaching), make a point of discussing it (the meaning of the word) with him so he can form a mental picture of the word. In this way you will also help his speech and language development (which include his comprehension of texts he reads).

Word Families (words that rhyme)

Teaching children word families is a phonemic awareness technique that helps children see patterns in reading.

Tip #41

Using three-letter words, teach your child that words have patterns, and by simply exchanging the first letter of a word for another, he can quickly learn to read many new words.

e.g. c-at becomes f-at, then h-at, then r-at, then m-at; or b-it becomes s-it, then f-it, then z-it.

Tip #42

Once your child understands substitution of letters, introduce blends (double-consonant combinations – Two letters that are together in words, and both letter sounds can be heard), and replace the first letter of a three-letter word with the blend.
e.g. c-at becomes fl-at; b-it becomes sp-it

Spend time on each blend as is necessary for your child to grasp the concept. Don’t rush his learning to read, or it may become a (hated) “chore”.

Tip #43

You can make your own fun game to teach your child about Word Families.

You will need a wooden block (or over-sized die and stickers), a permanent marker, and pictures of a word family.

Write the beginning letter of 6 words in a word family on each side of the wooden block.

Print (or write) a label card with the rhyme of the word family (e.g. at), leaving a space in the front.
Let your child “roll” the wooden block, place it in front of the printed card to spell the word, and then select the picture that goes with the word (e.g. if the wooden block landed on “c”, the word will spell c-at, and he selects the picture of a cat).

* To extend this game, you can also have little minifigures of the words (e.g. a little cat, or mat etc.). This will help him remember the letter better.

Digraphs

Tip #44

You can now introduce Digraphs: Two letters that make a new sound (sh, th, wh, ch, ck). Spend some time teaching these, until your child remembers them. Put up a poster (or such) so your child can see what the digraph looks like, and teach him the sound it makes. Gather some objects that have a specific digraph in the word (e.g. duck, sock, rock, truck), and put them in a draw-string bag. Take out one at a time, and let your child say its name and note the digraph in the word. Let him think of other items that also have the digraph he’s learning in its name.

Tip #45

An added activity to bring digraphs home to your child is by using his three-letter words and substituting the first or last letter with a digraph.

Tip #46

Teaching digraphs, let your child make his own word-and-picture matching cards: Cut an A4 page (cardstock) in 8 even pieces, so he’ll have 4 pairs. Read a word containing a digraph to him, write it down so he can copy it onto one of the cards, and let him illustrate the word on another card. When he’s done, let him match the word and picture pairs.

Tip #47

Make a board game to learn digraphs. Visit Anna at The Measured Mom to see how.

Glued or Welded Sounds

Tip #48

After digraphs, introduce Glued or Welded Sounds – blends consisting of 3 letters, and come at the end of a word (all, ell, ill, ull, ank, ink, onk, unk, ang, ing, ong, ung). They are parts of a word that have their own phonetic sound where the consonants and vowels involved cannot be individually identified.

Tip #49

A fun way to make kids understand Glued or Welded sounds, is to let them tap the word parts. For example, let him tap the word “hang” – tap one tap (with one finger) for the /h/ sound, then one tap with three fingers for the /ang/ sound.

Syllables (Word Chunks)

Tip #50

To teach your child to read longer words, teach him to break up the word in syllables. Let him place his hand firmly under his chin, and say a longer word such as Chim-pan-zee. Repeat, and let him count how many times his chin comes down. That will be the number of syllables in the word.

Tip #51

Think of syllables as single, unbroken sounds of a spoken word. Every syllable must contain at least one vowel, as it is the opening and closing of the mouth to say the vowel sound that makes a syllable. The number of vowel sounds determine the number of syllables in a word, not the number of vowels!

Tip #52

Breaking words into syllables is an important part of phonological awareness (the awareness of sounds within words). Kids need phonological awareness before they learn to read.

Tip #53

Breaking longer words up into syllables will help your child understand how letters are put together into units and then built up into words.

Tip #54

Use insulation tape or masking tape to make a numbered ladder on the floor (or draw one with chalk on the cement). Let the child stand at the starting position (before number 1). Hold up a picture card, and let the child jump once for each syllable. He can then see on which number he is standing, which will be the number of syllables in the word.

Tip #55

To teach syllables, put number-cards (1, 2, 3 and 4) as headers on the floor or table. Hand a picture/word card to your child (or let him pick one from the deck), break the word into syllables, and select the proper header to classify the word under.

Tip #56

Use different coloured counters (like stackable blocks or such) to let your child count a counter for each syllable. Provide some picture cards.

Tip #57

Teaching syllables, have your child start with words of high interest to him (his name, the names of his family members, pets, and friends). Then move on to other words that are relevant to him, such as naming his favourite foods or animals.

Tip #58

Robot-Talk: Let your child pretend to be a robot and speak “robot”, counting the syllables as he does.

Tip #59

Write a long word on a strip of paper/cardboard, and cut it up (in syllables, e.g. di-no-saur). Shuffle the pieces and get the child to read each one, and then put the word together again in the right order. For an alternate exercise, let the child copy the word in syllables, cut up the paper/cardstock strip, and let you sound out the different parts and put the word together in the right order.

Exposure to reading and other tips

Tip #60

A fun way to expose your child daily to words and reading is to leave him/her notes everywhere. Not only will their curiosity be triggered and their reading skills enhanced, but your relationship will also be strengthened.

Tip #61

Encourage your child to read the menu in restaurants and allow him to order and pay for his own food. This will encourage his reading, and he will experience a sense of achievement. (*Teach him to check his change!)

Tip #62

Learning to read/spell doesn’t have to be kept indoors! Let your child jump on a trampoline and sound out the letters of a word, one sound for each jump. This method works well with longer, more tricky words like “because” or “Tuesday”. And he can work off that extra cropped-up energy while he’s at it!

Tip #63

Let your child act out an action, while he says what he is doing. E.g. jumping on the trampoline (or jumping over some obstacles), let him repeat the word j-jump, “I am j-j-j-jumping (or r-r-r-running, while he runs).

Tip #64

Learning to read should be fun! One way you can make it fun is to let your child test you (and other family members) on the words he has learned. He can write down a word list, give each “student” a test sheet, read the word from his word list (dictate), and have you write it down. Let him check for mistakes – he will enjoy telling you you’ve got it wrong (maybe making some deliberate mistakes…!)

Tip #65

As he learns a new word, you may want to write it down (clearly, using lowercase letters) on an index card, and keep it in a shoebox (or such), that can be his word bank. You can use these cards for review every now and then.

Tip #66

There is no “magic formula” for teaching your child how to read – every child learns differently!

Read Aloud & Language and communication development

Tip #67

All the while, while your child is learning to read himself, make a point of reading out loud to him, for at least an hour a day. It doesn’t have to be an hour session, but can be broken into 15-minute sessions, or whatever suits your family. Regardless their age.

Tip #68

When reading to your child, also explain to him the technical issues of a book: The book has to be the right-side-up to be read, the pages turn one at a time in the same fashion, we read from left to right (you can point to the words while reading, so he picks up on direction), etc.

Tip #69

Make reading part of your child’s bedtime routine from day one. This is a particularly comforting routine, especially if it’s a favourite story that’s associated with bedtime.

Tip #70

Reading books together (and alone) is a huge help to develop language in children.
 
 

These tips only provide valuable ideas to guide your child in his growth as a reader. Be patient, and don’t take the “child” out of “childhood”.

Encouraging your child to read when he can already read himself, is another obstacle some parents/tutors may face. More on this in a separate article.
 
 
 
 

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