Reading Aloud To Your Children
One of the most important things in your child’s reading journey will the time that you spend reading aloud to them. It might not seem like it makes a big difference but you would be surprised how much they pick up from you reading to them. I’ve been reading to my kids since they were born but I didn’t realize how much they were actually learning from it. My son has such good fluency when he’s reading and I believe this is because he has been listening to other people read since he was born.
Sounding Our Words You See Everywhere
I started this when my kids were fairly young, maybe 2 or 3 years old, I would point out different letters and words to my children and I would tell them the sounds of the letters. This just carried on as they grew and I started reading the words to them instead of just saying the letter sounds. Now, my son reads everything he sees and is telling his sister everything he’s reading. Yes, I used a reading curriculum with my son starting in Grade 2, but before that, we focused on phonics and easy sight words and the letters all around us in the world really helped with that journey.
Read To You Books
The kids have had several reads with you tools now, LeapFrog Leap Pen, CD and book, and read-along books on the “book” app on their iPad. These types of resources have allowed my children to listen to stories and follow along with the narrator. They are able to see the words as they are hearing them which is super helpful when they are first learning to read. One of the best reasons for using these tools is that my kids are able to read books before they are at the reading level while I am busy.
Just Looking At Books
You might not even think of this as teaching your children to read but I personally think that teaching your children to love books is one of the most important parts of teaching them to read. From there youngest years I have always encouraged them to pick out books that interest them. I also encourage them to flip through picture books that they love even if they can’t read the book. This has helped them learn what books they are interested in looking at and what book grab their interest so when we start looking for a book for them to read I am confident they are choosing books they will want to push through the challenges of reading because they are truly interested in the book.
