Reading... When and How? (Full Version)

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neetchym -> Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 1:29:24 PM)

Does any one have any advise on how to teach a child to read. Do you start with spelling, or with word recognition? I read to him a lot already and he has pretty much memorized his favorite books, and can repeat them word for word, but he can't actually read them. I don't want to be pushy, but I want to prepare him in any way that I can. I'm just looking for extra pointers from an experienced mom.[sm=icon_smile_fish.gif]

Jen



Homegrownkids -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 2:19:37 PM)

Does he know letter sounds? With my children, we learned the letter sounds and then started to blend 3 letter words together. I use the blocks that have the letters on them and make words for them to sound out.



cindybode -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 4:13:08 PM)

Yep, start with letter sounds first, and then put them together.

A fun way to do that is to make letters on big squares of cardboard and scatter them on the floor, then tell him to jump to the letter that sounds like ___.



joannepir -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 5:16:16 PM)

That's what we did. I taught all the consonents first and when they learned them, started on the vowels. You have to teach the child to "hear" the sounds. After that, they automatically start reading and are really excited about it! I also used "BOB Books." They are repetitive and reinforce the sounds.



creationtalk -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 8:05:27 PM)

start with the letter sounds, then go to letter blends. My son learned the sounds quickly, but had a hard time learning to blend the sounds together. Also, many combinations of letters do not sound like the letters alone, so have to be taught as well...example: dog can be sounded out as individual letters "d" "o" "g", but the ow combination as in cow has it's own sound. it is not "c" "o" "w" it is "c" "ow"

We did not separate spelling and reading. They were pretty much combined as we practiced, since the rules that enable reading also help with spelling.



truthrevealed -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 8:21:12 PM)

I learned to read, at 2 years old using "sight words." It was VERY effective as well for my oldest son who was also reading at age two. You can go to any target or wal-mart etc. and purchase a box of sight words. I would start off teaching three words at a time, made a game out of it until he caught on very quickly and more words continued to be added.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 8:23:29 PM)

I had three children that learned to read while in my care. The first one taught himself at age 6. The second learned with some help at nearly nine years old. The third demanded to be taught how to read at age four, and sure enough, she learned. (with only Bob Books to teach her!).

Each child is different. Phonics is important, though. But I would not push a child who was not ready, and make reading into an unhappy thing.



Jenny-Fair -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 8:24:52 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: truthrevealed

I learned to read, at 2 years old using "sight words." It was VERY effective as well for my oldest son who was also reading at age two. You can go to any target or wal-mart etc. and purchase a box of sight words. I would start off teaching three words at a time, made a game out of it until he caught on very quickly and more words continued to be added.

I would not recommend sight words. The children do not learn how to decode words that they have not been taught. Phonics is a much more thorough method.



bzirk -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 8:44:10 PM)

Definitely teach phonics.

The kids who read well without being taught phonics are kids who naturally reason out the sounds of letters and catch the phonics even if no one ever explains it to them. Most kids don't process quite well enough to be very good readers without phonics instruction, and that's been very well documented. In fact, there is a classic treatise on the subject of American schools moving from more of an emphasis on phonics to what is called whole language and how this negatively impacted the reading levels of kids in America. The book is called Why Johnny Can't Read by Rudolf Flesch. 25 years later he wrote a follow up, Why Johnny Still Can't Read. This book showed how little or nothing had changed and kids were struggling due to the maniacal focus on whole language learning.

BTW, no really fine phonics program is void of sight words. We all know the English language has more than its share of words that don't really fit a rule. But despite that, phonics rules do come in handy, and most of us have to have them very clearly taught. Yes, I'm saying most people don't do well at catching the underlying structure of words, and that's why whole language doesn't work so well as a method.



PatricksPeaches -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/23/2008 9:39:58 PM)

I agree about teaching phonics. If a child is taught the sounds of letters it will make sounding out whole words easier. So if a child comes across a word they do not know they can use letter sounds to figure it out on their own. I think that would give them a better sense of accomplishment than just "knowing" the word.



truthrevealed -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/24/2008 1:52:19 PM)

Hmmm, both my children learned to read and had no problem using sight words. Phonics was taught in kidergarten sure enough, but by that time they already knew how to read and were teaching other children but WHATEVER is most effective for your child......
ETA: I forgot that this is a homeschool folder. I spoke to my aunt(public school teacher for over 35 years who advised my mother to teach me sight words and herself taught me as well)and she said both phonics and sight words can be taught because young children can learn sights words by memory but phonics will be taught by the time they are school age anyway. Guess that doesn't apply if you homeschool.



bzirk -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/24/2008 2:32:53 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: truthrevealed

Hmmm, both my children learned to read and had no problem using sight words. Phonics was taught in kidergarten sure enough, but by that time they already knew how to read and were teaching other children but WHATEVER is most effective for your child......
ETA: I forgot that this is a homeschool folder. I spoke to my aunt(public school teacher for over 35 years who advised my mother to teach me sight words and herself taught me as well)and she said both phonics and sight words can be taught because young children can learn sights words by memory but phonics will be taught by the time they are school age anyway. Guess that doesn't apply if you homeschool.

It's hard to say since all homeschools are not the same, and that's true to an extent for traditional schools as well. It does seem that public schools favor whole language with a smattering of phonics, and most homeschools seem to favor phonics while also teaching sight words. In fact, it would be absurd to teach reading without teaching some sight words since our language is not 100% phonetic. However reading is taught there should be a building of skills, and it's my experience that public schools do not teach this way as much as homeschools. It seems more like scattershot, but the word school uses is immersion.



zoebob -> RE: Reading... When and How? (6/24/2008 3:36:19 PM)

The only one I taught to read was ds. We used the dltk website to learn his letters. He made letter people, we read the little letter books and he found the featured letter, and learned their sounds and how to write them. Then we started on Hooked on Phonics (which does use a few sight words) and he did great with that.



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