How do I make my five year old love learning to read and spell?

Question

My kid is just now learning to read and spell, he's very inteligent, he remembers every thing he sees and he has a huge amount of reasoning power, but when it comes to sitting still and learning he goes into this laid back don't want to try mood. He seems slow on picking up reading and spelling am I being too impatient with this boy or should I be pushing harder. And does anyone know any good learning sites where I can take him online?

Answer 1

i am a lecturer in English and i also used to teach 6 graders. i have a five year old who loves to read . i do these few tricks to encourage him to read. you can try them too. firstly, i bought a box of alphabet cards. its alphabets written on cards. i show him his class books and tell him to spell out the words.once he has spelled out the words using the letters, i show him his text books and tell him to finds the words and read. secondly, reading does not has to take place at home. sometimes we read on the balcony and sometimes in the back yard.so, he finds it relaxing. thirdly, i buy books that he is interested in.he loves dinosaurs so, i buy a lot of dinosaur books. you can try these tricks.

Answer 2

WELL THERES ACTUALLY THOSE READiN GAMES[.EX LEAP FROG.]THAT YOU CAN BUY THAT HAVE LiKE CARTOON CHARACTERS ON THEM && HAVE DiFFERENT SUBJECTS MY BROTHER HAS ONE LiKE THE iNCREDiBLES BUT PUSHiN HiM HARDER i DUNNO HE`LL GET THERE SiNCE HE iS STILL YOUNG && BARELY STARTiN

Answer 3

Read, read, and read to him.  Be SEEN reading, too!  Be enthusiastic about the pleasures involved.  Refer to his stories in conversation to show how reading is connected to culture and what's happening.

Answer 4

The best way I found to get my daughter interesting in reading was to read to her. Every day. For at least 20 minutes a day. We go to the library together and I let her pick the books we read so i know that they are stories she'll be interested in. When I read to her I slowly move my finger under the line i am reading so she gets an idea of sentence structure and punctuation. After reading a story, we discuss it for a few minutes (ie, what would you have done? Wasn't that silly? Why do you think they did what they did? etc). In this way she is participating in every step of our reading time together.

Also, your son is at the age where he should be learning what sounds letters make. Sometimes I pretend not to know how to pronounce a small word when we are reading together (like bat or man) and I sound out the word letter by letter which shows her that the letters we use to spell words have  sounds that are attached to them.

I wish you the best of luck.... good reading skills now will help build a strong learning foundation!

Answer 5

Read, read read, read, read to him! The studies show that children who have been read to at an early age are twice as likely to develop a love for reading.

Reading aloud is one of the most important things you can do for your child. Not only do daily read-aloud sessions stimulate brain development and help foster a lifelong love of reading and learning, but they're a great way for a parent and child to spend time together, especially at the end of a hectic day. That's why reading aloud is part of so many families' bedtime rituals.

Go to this link to help you make reading fun for him.

http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/refca...

Good luck.

P.S. I'm not as sure about the spelling. I have my Masters in Education but spelling is still a thorn in my side. However, I adore reading. I think Internet and software games are the best bet for spelling.

Answer 6

at five yrs old they are still in the play mode and let him be in that mode for awhile.  He will be learning how to spell and read in kindergarden

Answer 7

Please don't push him! far too many children are completely turned off learning by parents and teachers who try to make them do something before they are developmentally ready for it!

Read exciting books to him and with him. Take him to fun places and point out the words in the environment and tell him what they say. Play with him and let him be 5!

Answer 8

Buy a cheap magnetic board (or use the frig) and some magnetic letters (you can find them at any dollar store). make it into a game, but teach basic phonic skills. Start with "at" and use different letters to make word families (bat, cat, sat). Then read books to your child and point out those words he knows. Be sure to use inflection in your voice and keep the stories short and entertaining.

Answer 9

1) begin with sandpaper letters (you can buy them at a learning store or make them yourself).  Have him trace the letters and say the sounds NOT the names.  Do groups of 5-7 letter sounds, not all 26.  (best group to start with is mcoadgs)

2) after he's got the letter sounds for the 1st group down, have him sort popcicle sticks that have the letters written on them.

3) get moveable alphabets from a learning store, consonants all one color and vowels all another).  have him put together the letters and sound them out (i.e: cod, mad, dog, dogs, sog, dad, mom, cad, sad, etc)  Make it a game to see how many 3 letter words he can make vs. you, let him win.

4) do rhyming games, not always sitting down.  When in the car, in the tub, etc...a good song is "Down by the Bay" then make up stuff that rhymes.

5) Give him time, at 5 he's just beginning to get ready.  This is going to sound strange, but if he hasn't lost any teeth yet he is not ready.  The moment he starts loosing teeth is probably when he will begin having a little bit more of an interest in the subject.

Answer 10

put yourself in his shoes. Do things he likes to do. if he has any older siblings or even u and ur husband can have some sort of spelling bee with him with really easy words and then make them harder and harder.

or when ur in the car ask him to read signs. and ask him to imagine himself as a charecter. like superman or batman

good rite?

Answer 11

Children at this age have very short attention spans.  Teach him about ten minutes at a time and then do something fun or let him take a break. My children's first grade teacher used to let them do freeze dance right in the middle of the day to let them get up and wiggle around before going back to learning. He is totally normal for a boy this age. I bought my kids jump start software and they loved it. They have it for all of the grades.

Answer 12

i think you should imagine you were him. For example...if he likes spiderman....Ask him to speel our spiderman

get him spiderman books to read

you knwo what I mean =]

Answer 13

Make everything you do with him relevant to his life and incorporate it into things he's already doing.  It's almost too much for a five year old to sit down and do work but, for example, if he's playing with cars bring him some paper and a pencil and tell him that you are going to make street signs together.  Or make up something silly to do whenever you see a certain letter -- like for an "s" wiggle around and say "s, s, /s/, /s/" (/s/ means saying the sound that "s" makes"

Also, any type of tactile experience will make it more interesting.  Put a little bit of sand in a pan and have him write letters or words in it.  Put shaving cream on the counter and do the same thing.  

The main thing is to "sneak" it in.  Apply it to his everyday life instead of sitting him down and saying "It's time to practice reading/spelling/etc".

As for websites I don't know of any for sure but maybe pbs kids would have something.  The have wonderful programs and I imagine their site would be good too.

Answer 14

I totally understand and I have a four year old who can read, so maybe I can help!

First love him.  Never stop loving him, if you find yourself getting frustrated, stop.  Learning has got to be fun at this age, to set the foundation for all the rest of learning.

Second look for the first letter of his name in everything, soup cans, cereal boxes, store fronts, signs, cars, everywhere.  Then put the wrong sound at the front of words (they find this so hilarious my three and four year olds will hurt themselves laughing saying things like,"By bike by bereal. " [I like my cereal]

Next do things in bleeps and burps, five minutes on, run around, five minutes on, do jumping jacks, five minutes on, play catch.  

Once you've built an attention span set him a goal and a reward.  (I used to say things like, if you read this page you can have as many mm's as you can count.) http://www.abeka.com/

this site has an amazing book called "Fun with Pets" that is amazing for teaching a child to read, by the time they're done it they've got the foundation [and you have the foundation to teach them the rest of reading using any book.]  [In one story called Tell God Ben, God is mentioned so this might bother some.  I'm just happy he can read.]

Dr. Seuss is so much fun.  (If you haven't already read them to death!)  

There are also "Reader rabbit, preschool, grade one and grade two" computer games that are great for letter sounds and more, but if your going to use them for teaching be sure to sit with your little one.  If they figure out how to cheat and smart ones will, it's easier to cheat than to answer properly, so sit with them and make sure they're getting what they're looking at. (My mother in law gave my kids Easter colouring books and my kids were convinced that all the rabbits were "Reader Rabbit" it was sooooo cute.)

I wouldn't start spelling until he can read and write but as soon as he can.  You can start by getting him to spell the word, say it out loud, and write it.  Give him five to ten words a week starting with simple words and sight words like "the" and any little word that you might want him to learn to read.  Have a spelling test at the end of the week and don't forget to reward him.  Stickers go a long way in little kids books. So a sticker will do!

More power to ya!  Good luck!

Answer 15

My girls love to read because I spent the first years of their lives reading to them and reading for myself. As for the spelling, we have had to start spelling backwards because they know that P O O L - means I am going swimming and they are not - so I have to spell L O O P. They haven't figured that one out yet, but it is just a matter of time.

Answer 16

He is too young to push.  Just find ways to make learning fun.  Sing with him.  Find fun books and make going to the library enjoyable by taking a friend and seeing who can find the most books about dinosaurs or trains.  Anyone who has read my responses on Yahoo!Answers knows that I love starfall.com and other online sites that are terrific for preschool learning.  I have listed a few below.

Answer 17

Get some cool, fun learning games on the computer, Kids usually love working on computers. maybe get prizes every time he gets something right, so he knows he doing a good thing. I wouldn't consider being impatient with a 5 year old. Keep telling him he can do or that he was doing really good. Give him encouragement, don't make him feel like you think he's stupid by yelling at him.

Answer 18

Get him books that he'll really like to read, my nephew is 6 and he loves the captain underpants series - maybe he'll like thoes?

To help my nephew with spelling and reading, the two of us drew comic books together. he loves to draw, and he'd have to write out all the dialogue.

Answer 19

Reading isnt something that everyone likes you either take to it or you don't. If your son doesnt their isnt anyway that you can get him to love reading but you can make him at least tolerate it..by giving him access to books that stimulate his imagination.

Im a reader always have bin started from as early as 3 by age 5 i was reading or should i say devouring enid blyton (popular english author) books on my own. However I probably wouldnt have started so early if my sis hadnt started reading The lion the witch and the wardrobe from me and then got fedup when it got to the best part...curious as to how it would end..i read the entire thing on my own..which is probably one of the reasons why i am still addicted to  fantasy novels.

my point is find something that stimulates him..he'll read it...and reading alot...improves spelling..however..dont feel dissapointed if he dpoesnt take to it...some of us just arnt meant to be readers...he may be a math head...or a sports junkie!

Just let him do what he loves the most

Answer 20

well, the best way is to help him in his phonic sounds first once he know how to use it he will enjoy reading and spelling... try getting books with big and colorful pictures for him to read... let him spell words that's easy first...

Answer 21

Somehow try to make the learning fun.

Answer 22

Leave him alone!!

Just stop, now.  You have gotten yourself and your boy into a terrible fix.  Do NOT "push him harder".

You cannot "make" him.  What did you do that he doesn't want to "try" now??  

I never had this problem with my son, because I MADE IT FUN.  

For the next month, completely back off.  At once, completely.  

After a month of DOING NOTHING (no matter how much you are champing at the bit and you are desperate to get going), you can just say casually, Oh, look at this word, it has the same sound as your first name!!!  Wow!!  Then mouth the sound and show him the letter.  That's it for the day.  

You have to slow down now because your child has a terrible attitude.

You can be sneaky, however.  I always believe in sneaky when I have messed up.  (I flashcarded my 5 yr old in all the basic sight words--she had a stack of 150 words which I had her read on the way to school--she finally sighed and told me reading is boring.  I was horrified.  So I completely dropped it, that day.  Then I went into sneak mode.  I went to the library and checked out 25 of the most awesome picture books you ever did see.  I spread them out on the floor between the doorway and the bed.  She couldn't get to the bed without tripping over the books.  And the pictures--talk about beguiling.  She sat down, fascinated.  Every night.  For a   month. And she could read the text at the bottom of each book becuase she knew all the basic sight words.  I said nothing, I just let her discover the words by herself.   At the end of which she told me, out of the blue, you know mom, reading is fun.")  

That is the goal, to get back your son's pure innocent delight in reading.  You have gotten seriously off track.  

Get the tape, Sounds Like Fun from a Discovery Toys vendor.  Go online and find one.  Blast that CD all the time, everywhere.  It teaches phonics to music.  After a few weeks of that, say, hey, I know what that letter is that goes with that sound!!!  Act like it's the greatest thing since mashed potatoes.  Hold up the letter aA and DANCE when it says apple, apple, ah ah ah.  Then do it for bB and for cC and then quit.  Just tantalize your boy.  Do that a few days.    Then gradually add a couple of letters, and keep on rockin'.  Eventually you will get all the letter sounds, but you had FUN DOING IT.

If your boy already knows the letter sounds, just do it anyway, nothing is lost.  

Then do phonics in the bathtub.  Get some spongy letters and while he's in the tub say, OOOH, let's spell your name with the spongy letters.  I don't care if he already knows how to spell his name, that is your lead in.  So you get him going on his name.  Then you sneak in a few other words, it is all about sneaky.  Sound them out,  have a blast as you and he slap those letters all around him in that tub.  

Get shaving cream and write some words he knows, just a couple, in the shaving cream, and then let him slather that shaving cream all around.  

The idea is to associate reading and word with fun.  You will progress so fast you won't know what happened as long as he is having fun, genuine fun, doing all this.  

If you can't make it fun, don't bother.  You will truly do more harm than good if you are trying to "force" anything.  Oh, also, slap some words on the wall, like "up" put high up, and "down" put down low on the wall and "read your wall" at night, very casually, starting in a few months.  To read your wall, you say each letter as you ideally point to it, and then you run your hand under the entire word as you say the word.  

Your son has to see the fun first.  There are 300 Dolch sight words you are after your son to learn.  You do that in a sneaky way.  Use your wall, and casually read your wall, oh, 4 or 5 times a week.  Not every day.  Do not turn this into a grim time.  Just fun.  I had a big arrow with a sign, "Your shoes go here" and that's where John put his shoes.  I had, "John climbs the mountain" and a stick figure climbing a curve on an old sheet of paper taped to the wall.  Looked so trashy.  And very effective.  CAsual, fun, and your son will enjoy himself.

Now, if there is dyslexia in the family, that's another story.  Sometimes when kids don't wanna, it is because it is hard for some reason.  Make sure there is nothing preventing him from learning.

Good luck.

Oh, I see in one answer that some poor innocent thinks there are people who love to read and others who don't.  Yeah, right.  My soccer playing musician son is NOT  a natural reader in that it isn't what he turns to.  He  discovered computer games (he's in 7th grade) last year and only wants to play.  However, at night, when the lights go down, guess what?  He's reading in bed.  When he eats supper, he sits with a book. (I know, I know, don't       tell me about lost conversational skills).  He's got his habits established.  He reads, and he's not a natural like his big sister (or his big mother!).   My older son who is a natural mathematician didn't want to read fiction when he was 5.  Well, that wasn't going to work for me.  So I hooked him with Encyclopedia Brown stories.  The ones with the main character who is a whiz kid who figures out the solution, and lyou have to read in the back as to how he knew  who the bad guy was.  Very gripping for 1st graders who don't like fiction.  Then we advanced to Alfred Hitchcock's 3 Investigators series (my son said Hardy Boys were too scary!).  By the time I was thru with this son, he was sneaking his sisters' Babysitters Club books.  He was still a mathematician, but now a fiction-reading one.  You just don't accept that they won't, you find the way to accomplish what you want.  I am relentless, I confess, but I will get my way because I will be smart and manipulative and sneaky, all in the name of getting my kids to do more recreational reading at home.  

Of course it has paid off.  My 15 yr old got an 800 on the critical reading part of the SAT last month.  All my kids are excellent readers, so by definition high-scoring students.  There is nothing more important that getting ;your kids to love to read.

Oh, one more tip when your son is a little older, tell him at night that he can "sleep or read" and make sure you have a tall stack of books on his current reading level on the desk in his room when you tell him that.  It is ALL about habits developed young and maintained all throughout childhood.

By the way, reading to your child is important.  I decided to skip that little step and "beat the system" with my poor daughter, the one with the flashcards.  She did have the worst time!  But I did coax her into reading, and once that got going, she wouldn't stop.    So you know, if you do other things right, you really don't have to read to your child.  But I finally got it, and did read to the child after her, my son John.  I found I actually enjoyed doing it.

Answer 23

MAKE IT FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love spelling, i may be just a kid but to me spelling is my best subject! I learned by having fun. make it like a song or something. like m.a.r.y. h.a.d. a. l.i.t.t.l.e. l.a.m.b  but pick an easy song. sound the words out and then just have fun wit it. also, pick a fun book that you read to him alot that he seems to enjoy and have him sound out the words and have fun.