What are some techniques to teach a 4.5 year old to read 3 letter words in phonetics?

Question

My child can read all the sounds phonetically, however to readh three letter words like b a t, or h a t, t e n, etc he struggles and connot connect them. Please advise

Answer 1

The first thing you want to do is make sure he is saying them correctly.  Many people mess this up while teaching it and they will add extra sounds to the letter.  "B" is not "buh."  Make sure he is saying them correctly first.

The 2nd thing you want to do is give it time.  This will come naturally.  Is he already able to spell the words?  That usually comes first.  Give him a moveable alphabet, something he can manipulate, and have him spell out the words with it.  If he needs help, have him hold up three fingers and, with your thumb and index finger, lightly grab each individual finger for each sound.  (Grab one finger and say, "/b" the next finger and say "/a/"  the next finger and say "/t/"   Use the sounds...not the names of the letters).

Also, another thing that has helped with the actual reading part.  "Singing" the sounds.  Start low on the first one then change it to a high sound as you smoothly say the next one then back down to the third.  This is just to help him not make each sound so choppy.

Finally, and MOST important, just give it time.  Don't tell him he did it wrong.  If he made the correct letter sounds, make him feel content with that.  Don't uncover the fact that he's reading yet - that discovery has to happen on his own time.  4.5 - 5 is the age it usually happens if he's at this stage right now.  It may happen tomorrow - it may happen in a few months.  Don't worry - he's right on track and the more the discovery is his own discovery (as opposed to you pointing it out to him), the more excited he will be about it.

Matt

Answer 2

This goes beyond the 3 letter words but I'm having great success with it!  The book/program is called

Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann.

A homeschooling mother recommended it to me and because my sister is homeschooling I wanted to check it out for her.  I checked the reviews on amazon and it had great reviews...only $20 so I purchased it and tried it out on my own child.  He's reading and he's only halfway through!  Now, I don't use it exactly how it says because my son was way past some of it but I use it as a guideline and I add my own review activities and he's doing wonderful!

Answer 3

to teach three letter words get a hat show the hat write the letters together and it should work. A child needs to see, feel explore before it can make sense of the object.

cat get a picture write the word separate and together and let him say it. Use flash cards with pictures and printing of the letters. Draw the pictures yourself or cut out of magazines.

Thats how i taught my daughter.

ham draw a leg of ham and the word

pig draw a pig and the word across from it

make a list pictures and words

red

ball picture and word across one line

Answer 4

Don't!  It is not developmentally appropriate to teach reading at 4 years old.  Studies have shown that early readers make reading boring and uninteresting.  Besides they all are reading at the same level (for the most part) by 4th grade.  So don't be so quick to push reading. Just enjoy them and reading will come naturally when they are ready.

Someone challenged my information on early literacy.  Here is one source. Research it there are hundreds more!

"An older study was carried out by Carleton Washburn, the famed Evanston, Illinois, educator. He introduced children to formal instruction in reading at different grade levels from kindergarten to 2nd grade. The children who were introduced to reading at these three levels were then retested in junior high school. The assessors didn’t know the grade at which each child had learned to read. Washburn found little difference in reading achievement among the groups. The children who had been introduced to formal instruction in reading later than the others, however, were more motivated and spontaneous readers than those who had begun early. Similar findings were reported in the Plowden Report in England, which compared children from the informal schools of rural areas with children who attended the more formal schools of urban centers.

Studies of early readers, those who are able to read phonemically on entering kindergarten, have found similar results. In both the United States and Canada, only about 3 to 5 percent of children read early. In such studies, most children had IQs of 120 or higher and were at Piaget’s stage of concrete operations. In addition, almost all of them had a parent or relative who took special interest in them. These adults did not engage in formal instruction; they read to their children, took them to the library, and talked about books with them. In order to learn to read early in life, children need the requisite mental abilities, but they also benefit from the motivation that develops from rich exposure to language and books and the special attention of a warm and caring adult.

Evidence attesting to the importance of developmentally appropriate education in the early years comes from cross-cultural studies. Jerome Bruner reports that in French-speaking parts of Switzerland, where reading instruction is begun at the preschool level, a large percentage of children have reading problems. In German-speaking parts of Switzerland, where reading is not taught until age six or seven, there are few reading problems. In Denmark, where reading is taught late, there is almost no illiteracy. Likewise in Russia, where the literacy rate is quite high, reading is not taught until the age of six or seven."

http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/...

Answer 5

The most important thing to remember is that the child needs to be ready. If the child is showing an interest, then go for it. I disagree with the answer that said it was not "developmentally appropriate" to teach a 4 year old to read. Unfortunately the term developmentally gets used incorrectly. I would also like to see the research that children get bored when they are taught to read at a young age.

I would suggest using magnet letters and making different three letter word combinations. The easiest to begin with is words that end in at.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Look around your home and find some everyday things with simple names:

bed, hat, door, toy, book, box, and print out or write some labels for them.  Get your kid to help you find the right label for each thing and stick them on together.  Remind them that this is the name for that thing and whenever they see it, its name is there in writing too.  

Also, when you read a story to them, point to each word as you go along.  If it's a familiar story with repetition, and you have full attention, just pause slightly before you say the word as this helps the child to anticipate what's about to come up and you pointing at the word shows them that this is where we will look for clues.

Answer 7

(Sorry this is so long--but the love of learning is a passion of mine...)

First, he’s young and it will happen! What is important and that you can do now—is instill the LOVE of “reading and writing” —do all you can to show him that reading and writing are FUN!!!  Show him your own love of the written word…

You specifically ask for putting sounds together; Mia, Squires and Ann gave you some good ideas-here is another…Play a game in which you blend an onset sound and rhyme that you pronounce separately. Example: b...at, bat. When you first play the game, begin by using words that are in the same family, such as: hat, cat, and fat. When your child becomes proficient at this, change it so that you keep the beginning sound and change the rhyme: s...and, sand; s...un, sun; s...eal, seal.

An Example of some FUN ideas that will help him learn to read and write!

1. Provide REPEATED readings of stories so he can gain mastery of the ideas, and language. Point to the words as you go along--using expression with reading--talk about the ideas and pictures.

2. Encourage him to join in reading by letting him complete rhymes or tell favorite parts of stories. After you have read the book a few times, stop when you come to the second word that rhymes, and let your child fill in the word. “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a yellow fish looking at ____”

Use the fill-in-the-blank technique: For example, "Old Mother Hubbard went to her ____." This also can be used with non-rhyming books.

3. When making pancakes, instead of pouring the batter to make round, traditional pancakes, pour the batter in the shape of a letter. Write on round pancakes with blueberries or chocolate chips.

4. Serve alphabet soup as a snack; look for certain letters.

5. Cook --- where together you read, measure, pour, dump, cook, eat, enjoy! (Kids learn a lot with cooking)

6. Warm weather--- take him outside with a bucket of water and a paint brush to "paint" his name, shapes and words on the sidewalk or wall (be sure to tell them that it's only OK with water, not with real paints. Also you can finger paint the alphabet using sand, garden soil or playground pebbles.

...Do you still have snow? Mix food coloring and water in a spray bottle—and go outside and draw pictures in the snow—work in letters, words and numbers…

7. Use movement, touch and texture whenever you can to make learning more meaningful. Have him build letters or numbers with clay, play dough, blocks-- or his and your-- own body. (Like in the YMCA song) You can write words together in the sand, in a tray of rice or stamp them with plastic letters into rolled-out play dough.

A play dough idea… Make large flash cards, using words of your choice that are suited to his ability. Laminate the flash cards, or cover them in plastic. When done, the cards are ready to use…. First, say the word on card. Next, have him make small "ropes" out of clay. He can use the "ropes" to trace over the laminated sight word card. This will enhance tactile stimulus and reinforce learning.

Purchase some” Alphabet stamps and  a variety of magnetic letters…

Label things in his room--where daily he will be puttng the item and word together.

The ideas are endless but I'll stop here...At his cognitive development level--the most important thing you can do--is for the two of you to have fun while he is developing a love for the written word!

Answer 8

they make phonic books with puzzle pieces - you put together a picture of a hat and the letters underneath spell "hat" - that sure helps our kids.  Plus rhyming - remove the h and up a c and that spells cat.