I have a 4 year old that is trying to learn how to read...?

Question

what are some good websites for children that have games and activities to help her out. i bought her the hooked on phonics kindergarten kit, but i think that might be a lil too much for her to handle. any ideas??

she has a particular problem with rhyming words as well.

Answer 1

As a Montessori teacher, we focus on recognizing the letter and the sound it makes. Once a child can do these things, it's much easier to go to the next step which is sounding out 3 letter words. There is a huge difference between learning to remember words and actually reading them by being able to sound them out. A fun activity for kids is to focus on one letter, go through old magazines and cut out pictures that begin with that sound, ie; Bb~ baby, books, banana, bridge, and so on. They love making little books out of these. I'm all for taking kids to the library! There's a huge selection of books for her level~ rhyming books as well.

Answer 2

first of all I'm a T.A in the UK so i don't know what your curriculum is. in the UK  we first concentrate on the looking at the pictures whilst mum reads the book. then you ask your child what the story is about, and ask her if she can read it back to you. this would normally be done in her own words. from this point on they start to understand letters. like Heidi (from one of the above answers) said you concentrate on the letters first..and the sounds of the letters too. this makes it easier for the child to put 2&2 together. personally i wouldnt take her on websites to help her to read i would take her to the libary and pick out a book she likes or i would take to jumble sales with a little pocket money. but thats my own veiw. its great that you daughter is interested in reading!  good luck and best wishes.

Answer 3

buy leap frog videos

Answer 4

Read to her more.

Answer 5

First of all, relax.  If she is 4, she has plenty of time to develop reading skills.

Start talking about letters and their sounds *without* the letters in front of you.  Maybe get some refridgerator magnets that are letters so that she can put combinations together on her own.  Leap products are good, but she will get more out of them if you use them together.  That's why reading together is the best thing you can do.

In terms of letter-sound recognition, try www.starfall.com.  My children have enjoyed it, and it has several activities surrounding each letter of the alphabet.  Once she connects letters and sounds, reading will come in its own time.  

Good luck!  You sound like a great parent to be thinking along these lines so early.

Answer 6

Here is a website that reviews the best sites for preschoolers:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Answer 7

starfall.com is wonderful!  It's easy to use and will help with letter recognition and letter sounds.  And read, read, read, and read!  It's wonderful that she is showing such an interest.

Answer 8

She's too young to read

Answer 9

My sister is 3, and we made a habit of reading together on her bed every night.  I read my book, and she reads her book.  She can't really read, but she tries hard to read a little because she wants to be able to read higher level books that I read.  She's improving now because she's striving so hard to excel.

Answer 10

i know that my 4's class loves the book "runny babbit" by silverstein and it is a book compiled of short stories where the first letter has been switched causing rhyming and lots of giggles (for ex. runny babbit= bunny rabbit) also there are a variety of books that contain rhyming poems and in the beginning my class did not understand but the more we went through various ones the more they liked them and were soon finishing the rhyme for me...repetition of things is key..good luck.

Answer 11

One is www.readingrockets.com. Some more are... www.starfall.com, www.kidsites.com/sites-fun/stories, www.rif.org, www.magickeys.com/books/links.

I learned to read by looking at the pictures of the "Foot Book" by Dr. Suess. Then my Mom read it to me so I memorize the words and could recognize the letters. I soon was able to read because I could recognize the letters.

Also, if you would like to find some reading sites on your own you could always look at the site www.readingsites.com for some great links!

Good Luck!

Answer 12

READ to her more! My daughter is 3.6 and LOVES to read, on her own! Of course its in her own words, but she can recognize the letters and words! she has memorized three books, we read a lot. So I think you should just let her go at HER own pace and not push, if you are. Practice rhyming? Does she go to preschool?? My daughter does and her teacher has songs and books that rhyme etc....

Answer 13

Anyone who says she is too young to read is crazy! Starfall.com is wonderful! As well as the Leap Frog Letter Factory video. I teach a 4 year old class and so many of them doubled or even tripled the number of letter sounds they knew in a month from watching that video.

For rhyming words, try reading her books with repetative rhyming verses. As she's beginning to understand the rhymes, stop and have her guess the rhyming words.

Good luck!

Answer 14

Try ZooPhonics (http://www.zoophonics.com). It's great for younger children because it includes auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning all at the same time, and the animal characters are really cute!

I have been using this program with ESL kindergarteners for the past 3 years with great success.

Good luck!

Answer 15

Your child isn't ready to learn to read; most 4 year-olds aren't. Kids at her cognitive and language level don't have the capacity to learn sound/symbol association.

There is no reason to push her, as she will only become frustrated and will learn to HATE reading.

My suggestion is to continure reading TO her with books that have pre-reading skills, such as rhyming and letter recognition. Dr. Seuss, "Mig the Pig", and the like will help prepare her.

Answer 16

try reading wiv her everyday for about 10-15 mins then she will ve reading a bit better reading that wot i did wiv my mum and i love reading i am 13 years old just try it

it might help

good luck don't worry you daughter will be able to read one day trust me