I'm trying to teach my five-year-old to read. Have a few questions.?

Question

I've bought him several of the Random House Step Into Reading books, level 1, and we tried working our way through a book about the movie Cars. Should I be having him sound out every word in the book, should I be reading it to him, should he only be sounding out random words so that sentences kind of flow and he's getting some idea of the story? Help.

Also, I got a School Zone Grades K-1 workbook called Reading Readiness, and we're working our way through that, too.

He does pretty good, he knows phonics, can sound out words and stuff, but it's VERY slow going, and words like "easy" or "chicken" throw him off because of the letter combinations that don't have the same sounds as the individual letters.

Any advice? I don't want to push so hard he just doesn't like it at all, but I know that with other books I've tried to get him to read, if I read through it even once to him, he has this amazing memory and can recite the book word for word, and I want him to READ it.

Answer 1

BUY STORY TIME THEATER AT WALLMART, OR ZELLERS.  YOUR CHILD WILL LOVE IT

Answer 2

Audio books may be nice, where there is a CD or cassette to read along with the stories.  Your child would have samples of  different reading styles and pronunciations while following the words in the book.

Answer 3

Be CASUAL.

He will get it.  Don't rush.  If he is sounding out words, yay.

Just put those basic sight words on the wall of his bedroom and "read his wall" at night.  Put up way up high and down way down low.  I put "John climbs the mountain" and my son as a stick figure climbing a stick figure mountain, on my wall.  We just casually read the wall at night.

Put signs up "Your shoes go here" with a big arrow where the shoes should go.  Then read that at night casually.

It's all about casual and repetition.  Just praise and casual.  Oh, look, what could that be?  Then tell him.  He doesn't have to know the words before you tell him.  He already sounds out.  He can do that some, and you can tell him.  It DOESN'T MATTER.  Eventually he will memorize the word and then phonics will recede and will only come out when he encounters a new word.  

Just read the book to him, putting your finger under each word.  Be casual.  It doesn't matter that you tell him and he doesn't use his phonics.  He will use his phonics at other times.  There are 300 Dolch sight words (you can get the list on the Itnernet) which if you label your kid's bedroom wall with  A FEW AT A TIME of these words, he will graudally learn them all over time.  Just Oh, let's read the wall a couple of times a week or whenever (remember, be casual) and he will absorb the words and know them after 30 times.  but if you get tense and upset, he will turn from reading.  And for goodness sakes, no flashcards.  Unless you put a few in a bundle with hot colors of twine holding them together and leave in lyour car and you do it as fun--make sure the words have the object that they are the word for, I wouldn't do this with words like Where or want etc.  Just for nouns.

Answer 4

I thank it is better to start out with sight words words they should know just by seeing them Like( It, I, A,Like,Look,Go,on,you,no,can,in,the) you get the point My sons school gave me a list to work with my son when I per registered hi for kindergarten and these word and more where on it the school has him knowing 30 or more by the end and in 1st grade its 100 or more.be patient read to him let him sound out easy words at first.

Answer 5

Do not worry too much.  It might be a good comprimise to trade off reading every other page.  Try having him pronounce words on flashcards, say the meaning, and you can mix them up.  Just find interesting stories, and read aloud at night.  It should be fun story time, and not just work.

Answer 6

There's a lot that goes into learning to read besides just sounding out words.  If your child is sounding out words that slowly, he's not going to be understanding what he reads so he's missing half the goal of reading.

Reading to your child a lot definitely helps.  It's a normal stage of literacy development for your son to be memorizing the story and retelling later without actually reading it.  This is a good sign!  It means your son is interested in books.

Before you read a book with your son, read the title and have him try to predict what it is going to be about.  Take a "picture walk" - this is where you go through and look at the pages and then talk about what he thinks might happen in the story.  When you're done reading, talk about whether his predictions were correct or not.

As you're reading and you come upon a word you think your son might be successful at reading himself, pause and ask him what he thinks it might be.  Keep in mind that good readers not only sound out words as a strategy but also think about what makes sense in the sentence and the way the word looks (for example, "Could that word be cat?  Cat is such a short word and this word looks so long" for the word chicken).  

Encourage him to look at the pictures to figure out what the word means.  Good early reading books should be structured so he can easily do this.  They should also be very predictable: "The cat can go up.  The dog can go up.  The mouse can go up..."  You get the point.

When I taught preschool I made books of environmental print - cereal boxes, ads for kid-friendly products like McDonald's and mac and cheese, soup labels...Then the child can go through this and "read" the words because they're familiar to him.  Environmental print are generally the first words that kids learn to read because they recognize the symbols.

I'm glad to say that you don't want to push him too hard.  That's the best thing you can keep in mind!  Good luck and have fun with it!

Answer 7

I've used the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" with both of my older children. It is an awesome book. My 8 year old reads at a 6th grade level and my 5 year old is currently reading at a 2nd grade level. I really think it is because of this book. You can probably find the book for relatively cheap on Ebay or half.com. I'd sell you mine but I am saving it to use when the baby is older. That is how much I love this book. Good luck.

Answer 8

Read the book to him and have him follow along as you read it to him. Get the boy some Dr. Seuss books. All kids love those.

Answer 9

Read WITH him. Not to him, not for him, not him by himself, but with him. Maybe alternate pages or sentences or something. He needs to see reading as comfy mommy-and-me time, it will make learning so much easier.