How do I start teaching my son how to read and recognise letters and sounds?

Question

My son starts school in september and I want to give him ahead start in learning his phonics and first words. I have made some flash cards with pictures and the phonic sounds but dont know really where to start-help please!!

Answer 1

My son had a alphabet wallpaper frieze in his room. From the earliest time, his bedtime routine was me saying the letter, and an object that the letter started with. A-apple, etc.  He quickly got the hang of it, and was streets ahead of his peers when he started school.

Answer 2

Put the word "up" way up on the wall in his bedroom.  Make it big so he can see it.

Put "down" down near the baseboards on the wall, right below the "up".

Read those 2 words casually every night while you sit on the floor and read him stories.  Just say, "Oh, let's read your wall."

Put a square of red paper on the front door, write "red" on it, and as you are leaving the house say, "Oh, look "red" and put your finger under each letter and say the letter, then run your hand under the whole word and say "red".  Then go on your way.  Do this 30-40 times and your son will be able to read "red" anywhere, without the red paper.

Do same for green, etc colors and then do for numerals.  Put "one" and a numeral "1" on an index card, put on your door, spell the word the same way, finger under each letter, say one, then go on your way.

It is all about repetition and making it fun.

When my son got a little older, I wrote "John is a good boy", well, he learned good boy in no time, because of course he felt so good to be a good boy!  Those positive emotions go a long way in teaching a kid to read!  

Find out the 300 basic Dolch sight words--they are listed on the Internet.  Teach them to your son by putting them on his wall and read your wall at night.  Don't put more than 7 words up at a time, then add to the original 7 after a couple of weeks.  DO NOT OVERWHELM, make it fun and very casual.  Just say, "Oh, look!" with excitement in your voice. So important to be excited.

I had "John climbs the mountain" (those are sight words) and an old piece of paper with a curve going up (the mountain) and a stick figure halfway up the mountain.  I taped this to his wall.  We would read that.

Do phonics in the bathtub with stick on letters.  Again, reading is a game, make it seem like a game.

And of course read to your child, your child will be motivated to learn to read, and it is a challenge to learn to read, but they will do it if they have been read to and know the wonder of books.

(I taught my older daughter to read using 300 flashcards. I must have been nuts.  She would sit in the car and on the drive to school I would flash card her.  

She finally said, You know mom reading is boring.  I panicked, stopped the cards (which she knew already), and got 25 kids' books with gorgeous pictures from the library.  I spread them out ON THE FLOOR and she couldn't get to bed without tripping over them.  So of course she was attracted.  I said not one word about anything.  She looked at the pictures, hten finally noticed the words at the bottom, most of which she could read, of course.    It took a month.  At the end, she remarked, you know mom, reading is fun.  

What a relief)

Answer 3

As an early childhood educator/Child Development Specialist Master Teacher in a College Child Development Center for the last 5 years I have always taught the children in my class their alphabet letters & sounds by associating the sound and letters with something he/she already knows.  If son/daughters name is for exsample "James" you would teach him "J" by saying by repeating the sound of "J" by saying Ja, Ja, Ja, "James" J is for James just like your name" and you can do that with all the letters, just "Q" & "X" you might have to be a little more creative, but point is to get him to recoginize the letters of his own name first since in preschool we usually teach our children to identify and sound out his/her own name and then we use the other children in the classroom names....Play with your child while teaching the letters/sounds....Just telling the letters & sounds gets boring to young children...

Children learn through play, and the best teacher for any child is his own parent!.....The earlier you start the better...You can start this process of teaching as soon as the child is born, just pointing out things and saying what they are called is a great start...Have Fun!!!

F.Y.I.....And if you are not aware of it, you can enroll your child/children in an child development program for infants & toddler age children if they are that age....Its never too early to get a headstart on your childs education!!!

Answer 4

My daughter could say the alphabet by time she was 3. I bought her an alphabet wooden puzzle. She had hours of fun just putting the letters in the right space. When we had mummy and daughter time I used to ask her where the A went and she used to find the space plus repeat the letter to me.

I also used flash cards and made up a song of her favourite things. Like A is for apple, B is for book and so on. Also my child had a wall chart with the alphabet on and at bedtime we used to play a game using that. Have fun whist you're teaching your son and I am sure he will pick it up very quickly.

Answer 5

Start by teaching him the alphabet song.  When he knows that, show him the alphabet letters as he sings, make him cut out alphabet letters, do activities with the letters....

Answer 6

My son is a year old.  I have flash cards and he can say a couple of letters and can make the "c", "z", "g", "b", and "a" sounds.  I also sing the alphabet as much as I can to him.  Also when I have something in my hand I will articulately say what it is.  Just use everyday things around the house to get him started.  I also write on paper using non-toxic writing utensiles and show circles, squares, and other basic shapes to my son.  I hope this works.  Good luck to you both!!!!

Answer 7

I may be oldfashioned-but when we used to speak to our children they knew what we were talking about. My daughter could read and spell when she was 4yrs old and started school when she was 4yrs 4mnths. By that time she could communicate and say what she wanted to say. I have no idear what phonic is and am ashamed to say that. I would assume your son is nearly 5, but please to do not take offence to my answer. I wish him all the luck in the world when he does start school. I do believe it was something 'back in those days' that we taught them early on in their lives. Things are different now, and that is sad. Good luck to you and your son. x

Answer 8

Sing various alphabet songs, play find the letter everywhere you go (example your at McDonalds say I see a D can you find one?) When you find the D ask what sound it makes. Start with the letters in the child's name this makes it more real for them.

Answer 9

Junk the flashcards.

If you aren't reading to him, START.  It's never too late.

Then, as you're reading to him, have him sit on your lap and use your finger to point out words and interact with him about the sounds and what those sounds come together to mean.  For example, how does the word "cat" sound?  Show me the letter that starts with the "kkkk" sound.  

Phonics are great, but without paying attention to the meaning behind the sounds, it's just sounds.  That is the biggest mistake a lot of parents make.  Reading isn't about "sounding out" a word... it's about getting the meaning across from the printed letters to the brain.  Phonics help, of course, but they are only a tool.

Answer 10

GET A PICTURE BOOK WITH THE ALPHABET AND READ HIM THE LETTERS KIDS CATCH ON FASTER IF THEY ARE HAVING FUN

Answer 11

Check out the book "Reading Magic" by Mem Fox

and the website http://www.starfall.com/

Answer 12

The people who told you to simply read to your son are right.  I completely agree with them.  Just reading is the most powerful thing you can do.  When entering school, kids who are read to regularly are so far ahead of kids who are not.  Other than that, if you are going to teach letters and sounds (and there is nothing wrong with that) be sure you are teaching the correct sounds.  Don't add the "uh" to the end of each sound.  B is not pronounced /buh/ it is just /b/.  Think about reading a word.  For the word "ball" you say "b-all" not "buh-all".  Another example would be m.  It does not make the /muh/ sound, just /m/ (think about the yummy noise you make while rubbing your stomach.)  You say "m-other" not "muh-other"

Just doing something with your son shows that you care.  Any efforts are better than no efforts.  So you're definately on the right track.  Keep it up!

Answer 13

Just to add to all the info - my sons both started reading at the age of about two and a half. I read to them regularly as soon as they were interested, and I made sure that they had plenty of attractive books to look at from the earliest age. We began the 'Ladybird' (see their website) key words reading scheme when they seemed ready and were keen to have a go, and in addition, flashcards and games. One of their favourite activities was keeping a scrapbook in which we stuck any thing that interested them, and l helped them label it.

Answer 14

Put the cards on the floor and he has to hit the correct one with a toy squeaky hammer when you say "ah, ah, ah" or "buh, buh, buh" and so on.

Answer 15

As a first grade teacher, I find my students who struggle the most and are below in all subject areas, are the students who are not read to on a regular basis. Just modeling the proper reading techniques (reading from left to right, turning the pages, associating pictures with words, etc) will help him learn to read. The flash cards are great  but try games. I actually learned to read when I was 5, from playing a Sesame Street phonics game with my mom (I didn't go to preschool). By kindergarten, I was reading like a pro and many of my classmates were not fluent readers until 1st grade or later. The reason why I read to well, is I loved to play that game with my mom. You can purchase educational games at any education supply store (or their website!)