Helping your child learn to read
When a child struggles with reading, it can really hold them back. Their confidence takes a hit, and they might start feeling like they're not as good as other kids. Discover some fun ways to teach reading with Gail Smith and help your child become a better reader!
Recent surveys have claimed that one in three children are struggling to read. Without the gift of reading, life for a child begins to shut down and their connection to all that happens at school is limited. Confidence declines rapidly and personal self worth suffers as well. A child who cannot read is very much a disadvantaged child.
There are many way you can help your child to read. There are many styles of teaching reading and as the parent you can make quite a difference to your child’s ability to read.
Consider the following:
Be a reader yourself. Model the fact that you enjoy reading and it is important in your life.
Place books, journal articles all around the house. Make it visible that reading is a way of life. Make it a print rich home. There are some tools in technology that can help.
Read to your child each day. Most parents enjoy reading at bedtime as it is such a warm and inviting time to be around your child. Ask question when reading a book. Listen to their answers and talk about the interesting words.
Read segments out of the newspaper and ask your child to cut out letters and words. This can be a fun activity.
Have a word a day or a week that you learn and use together as a family.
Play scrabble with your child or other word games that are available. There are many resources in this area.
Invite your child to read to you. Sometimes a family can have a book they are reading together. Each night at dinner perhaps each child reads a little.
Label in your young child’s room all the objects you can see. This could be bed, table, lamp etc. have fun with your child learning all the words. Play games to memorize high frequency words.
There are some excellent phonetic charts that you can get in various educational stores. Display these around the house and refer to them from time to time.
For younger children use songs and nursery rhymes to build phonetic awareness.
Play word games in the car or at home.
Letter magnets are fun with younger children.
There are some tools in technology that can help where children are regularly rewarded for completing activities.
Make it fun but keep up the fun regularly. The school is working hard using their initiatives and skill to formally teach reading. Your job is to support their work and tap into the teacher to see if they have any recommendations to specifically support your child.
“Once you can read you are liberated from ignorance and can breathe in new life at each read.”
On the very important subject of learning to read while at home.
There is no escaping the fact that there is one particular age group of students that will feel the disadvantage of not being in a school environment for a while. That age group are the children starting school and are in their foundational years. This is especially the first two to three years of school.
Learning to read in ISO
Here I refer particularly to the disadvantage of not learning reading in a school setting. The child, at those early ages, is like a sponge and the total stimulus provided by the classroom and teacher sets them off on an amazing discovery of reading. It is like a light bulb goes off in their brain and suddenly you see a massive acceleration in learning. There is no question that reading is the key to so much learning that follows in those early years.
Parents cannot be providing the stimulus that is on offer in a classroom. Therefore, don’t feel guilty that you are in any way responsible for what your young child is missing out on.
However, given the nature of our limited year with the pandemic, we make the best of what we have and help the child in the most effective way possible. Keep in mind that this is a level playing field for all children who should be happily ensconced in school across the five days. Education will need to make adjustments to their teaching and learning to compensate for the deficit of learning in those early years.
Here are some suggestions to give your child opportunities to get on the gravy train of reading. But beware! Make it an enjoyable experience and one where your child feels successful and not anxious that they are displeasing you. Such a reaction will shut down the child when it comes to learning. Throughout the process, it should be seen as an adventure to discover words etc.
Read daily to your child. Choose suitable books that are age-appropriate.
Allow your child to mimic words. At some point, they may learn the story off by heart. Let them tell the story and this is also a legitimate way to learn to read.
Label their bedroom and kitchen etc. with simple words depicting the room. For example, write words like bed, fridge, seat etc. Don’t make this too complicated.
Recite poetry and sing songs regularly. The rhythm and pattern of simple poems and songs helps the reading process.
Point our words in the street such as Stop and GO.
Write simple sentences for your child and read them out together. Sometimes putting words on cardboard can be a fun word game.
When they draw a picture together you can write what it is under the image. Ensure all attempts at writing are visibly displayed around the house.
Obtain audiobooks where the child can follow the prompts and sound to turn pages. These can be found in libraries and online.
If the child attempts to read something that is difficult, simply guide them and praise their efforts at having a go.
Simple words that sound out with phonetics can be introduced as well. Remember nothing is a test or trial. It is all about experimenting with words and being positive.
Learning to read is complex but also needs your simple input with providing the stimulus around the house. Leave plenty of paper and pencils around as experimentation with writing words is a legitimate way of learning to read. You role is not to correct their writing but talk about it and copy below the correct version.
Keep the conversation going with children. Allow them to talk a lot and experiment with new words. Reading, writing and speaking are strongly linked together in the learning process. One feeds off the other.
There are many online reading programs to be used. Take care not to spend too much time on them as they can defeat the purpose if they totally consume the child. Remember, literacy is all around us and children can learn to read with so much stimulus that you offer on a daily basis.
“We should teach our children to dream with their eyes open.”