When a Child Starts to Read

What an exciting time! Your child is starting to read!

Who has good advice?

Reading Rockets has information and articles.

My website: Parent and Child Reading Assistance has advice on teaching reading and some helpful blog posts. Reading Help Blog

When a Child Starts to Read

Reading Books More Than Once is Good for Early Readers?

Each time a familiar book is read it becomes easier for a child to combine reading skills. Rereading the same books is a lot like doing the same sports drill over and over.

Words that were difficult the first few times a book was read become easier each time. The process of sounding out becomes easier and words are stored in the reader's memory for future reading.

My own children had boxes of favorite books for rereading. You can help your child by having books your child likes available for rereading and encouraging your child to read everyday.

Some of the best places to find books are garage sales and used stores.

The trick to getting children to read books more that once is to have them choose their favorite books. Many books should be made available. If a child doesn't love a book, it won't be one they will want to read again.

Reading Books More Than Once is Good for Early Readers?

Improve Reading Skills by Having Kids Listen to Stories

Reading is more than reading words correctly. I have seen many readers be able to read words, but not make sense of what is read. I was one of those readers when I was young. I didn't enjoy reading as a child or teenager. I was in my twenties before reading started to make sense for me and become enjoyable.

You can increase a child's ability to attach meaning to reading by providing many opportunities to hear stories and let a child get involved in the stories. Reading a book to a child yourself is probably the best since vocabulary and questions can be addressed immediately. If you'd like ideas to improve comprehension while reading with a child, you can check out this post.

Audio books are great for getting more stories and language to your kids. Listening to an audio book together on a road trip is a way to have a story to discuss and have a shared experience. Recently my family and I listened to My Brother Sam is Dead on a road trip. It did have a sad and graphic ending. My children are older, so they were able to handle it. I didn't plan the timing, but the story ended exactly when we pulled into the garage. It is a memory we all share, and a story we won't forget.

Improve Reading Skills by Having Kids Listen to Stories

Parents Who Read Aloud to Their Children Set Them Up for Reading Success!

You can make a difference in this world by spreading this message and encouraging parents to read aloud to their children from birth.

My Parent and Child Reading Assistance business recently became a partner with Read Aloud 15 MINUTES. Here's a graphic Read Aloud 15 MINUTES produced.

I've come across a number of organizations that promote reading aloud. There are many ways you can help. You can support an organization financially or by spreading information through social media. You can make personal connections with parents you know. Share books or have encouraging conversations.

When my niece had a baby, the first thing I did was send her board books for babies and some books that would interest a toddler. I found most of them at a used store. Her parents and grandma read to her often. She is three years old now and loves when someone reads to her.

Parents Who Read Aloud to Their Children Set Them Up for Reading Success!

What Reading Skills Do Children Need?

A reader combines four reading skills.

COMPREHENSION, VOCABULARY, FLUENCY, and DECODING

READING COMPREHENSION

A reader with good reading comprehension has a purpose for reading, monitors for understanding while reading, and checks for understanding after reading.

When you read with a child you can talk about thinking you do while reading. I personally struggled with this until I was twenty-five years old. I didn't naturally think before, during, or after reading. I read the words on the page and thought that was enough. I did not enjoy reading or do well in school until by some miracle I figured out how to think while reading in college.

VOCABULARY

Vocabulary knowledge is an important part of reading. It is built through experiences, conversations, and reading. New vocabulary words can be learned while reading by using word parts, attending to context clues, or using a dictionary.

Readers need to understand most of the words being read to understand their reading.

FLUENCY

A reader with strong fluency skills quickly recognizes words, reads like a person speaks, and focuses on meaning.

It is normal for an early reader to sound choppy and take longer to read. It takes patience to listen to a beginning reader. Fluency comes with practice and combining reading skills. Telling a reader to read faster will not make a reader fluent.

Improve fluency by making sure sounding out has been taught and is happening. Then have plenty of books at your child's reading level that are enjoyable to read. Encourage your child to read out loud. I like to tell a child that their is a movie playing in my head when I listen to your reading. The movie gets fuzzy when something is read correctly. I ask them to please rewind the movie and play it again. If small errors are made and I can still understand the story, I don't stop a reader. Encourage your child to have a movie and make sure to get them to reread a sentence when the meaning gets fuzzy.

DECODING

Decoding involves reading words by using sounds, phonics, and knowledge of phonics rules and exceptions.

Decoding words takes a lot of effort and time in the beginning stages of reading. Smooth reading will not happen until decoding becomes automatic. It takes time and practice for a child to decode words quickly. Your child will stumble over words when learning to decode. Think of the beginning stages of reading as a child learning to walk.

Teach Letter Sounds and Letter Combinations

After a child knows the alphabet and letter sounds, there are still a few letter combinations you can teach. I suggest you start by teaching a few letter combinations at a time. These letter combinations can be taught while you read books to your child. Stop and point out a few letters and letter combinations. Break the word apart by individual sounds with your voice.

You can check out Reading Bear. Reading Bear is a free online program that gives practice with letter sounds and letter combinations.

What Reading Skills Do Children Need?

Sounding Out Words

When a child is first learning to read, it is important to give a little help and know a little about sounding out words yourself.  Reading Horizons has a free phonics course for parents.

Reading Bear is a free site that helps teach children to sound out words.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know the story of how my daughter started reading by memorizing words and using picture clues. She didn't learn to sound out words until the middle of first grade and was falling behind her twin brother. Here's a link to her story and the story of how my other two children learned to read.

Should we be teaching children sight words?
There are many people who promote learning words by sight. Eventually words are known by sight. Often times when an early reader memorizes a few words it helps them read some simple books and increases confidence. I hope by sharing my story I can help a few children learn to sound out words and then commit words to memory. Here's a great article from The Reading Genie that helps explain the process of learning to read words and becoming a fluent reader.

Feel free to share any learning to read stories in a comment.

Sounding Out Words

How Do Children Learn to Read?

Here's a picture of my oldest son.

He's one of three children. I read to him from the time he was a baby. He was reading before he started school. If I only had one child, I could've been fooled into thinking all parents had to do is read to their children to turn them into successful readers. He has twin siblings. My other two children were read to just as much, but they didn't learn to read as easily. In fact one struggled a lot.

I recently found an amazing resource for parents. It's Nemours Reading Bright Start! There are book recommendations and activities for all ages. 

My other advice is for parents is to get their children help with reading if they fall behind in reading by first grade. One on one help is the most effective way to help a struggling reader. 

Children will learn to read at their own pace and make the connections needed with experience. Parents can help their children learn to read by exposing children to language, good books, and interacting in ways recommended by Nemours Reading Bright Start.

How Do Children Learn to Read?

Learning to Write Letters with Finger Paint

Children will attempt to write letters while scribbling and drawing at an early age. My first child, Eric, started making many of his letters from the bottom up. It was difficult to get him to start writing his lowercase "r" in his name correctly. It wasn't that big of a deal, but unlearning something takes time and can cause frustration.


Try finger paint, freezer paper, and pointer fingers to make learning to write letters fun.  
 

Here are some things to practice before a child is ready to write letters.
1. Practice making lines from the top to the bottom.
2. Practice making circles from the left to the right. Many letters like c, o, d, a, and g start at the 2:00 position of a circle and move to the left. (Making smiley faces and having a child follow your finger is fun.)
3. Practice making candy canes that look like the letter f or the tail of the letter g.
4. Let your child be creative and have fun making lines and pictures with finger paint.


There are a few different styles of printing. If you are homeschooling, you can choose your favorite style to teach. If you are sending your child to school, it would be wise to check what style of handwriting will be taught. My children's school district teaches manuscript handwriting or D' Nealian.

Handwriting Tips from Therapy Street for Kids
 Here's a link to a previous post that includes videos showing how to form letters using D'Nealian style handwriting. 

Learning to Write Letters with Finger Paint

Listen to Your Child Read Everyday!

Helping a child learn to read is easier than most parents think.

 

Find books that are at your child's reading level. If your child makes a mistake or takes a long time to sound out more than one in ten words, the book your child is reading is at frustration level. Easier books should be chosen.

Be patient.
Let your child know you are his or her audience.
You expect the story you hear to make sense, so you expect your child to fix anything that is confusing.

You can explain it like this. As you listen to a story there's a movie playing in your head. If something is not read correctly, the movie in your head gets fuzzy or stops. Ask your child to make a movie in his or her head too.

Hopefully your child will fix his or her reading or ask for help when something stops making sense. Let your child know if something didn't make sense to you. Give your child time to use and combine reading skills. Wait for your child to ask for help before pointing out a mistake or jumping in to show how to read a word.

It's okay to tell your child a word sometimes. You can point out letter sounds or ask your child to look at pictures and think about what might make sense, but you don't have to do it every time. You want to keep the flow of the story going, so your child's movie doesn't stop.

Many children learn to read easily after a little instruction and being read to early and often. About thirty percent of children struggle. If a child starts to fall behind in reading and attends school, parents should not wait to get help for their child. School is all about reading. Even in math, children have to read story problems and directions. If a child falls behind in reading, they fall behind in everything. Every day it gets worse. I've seen this first hand, and it breaks my heart.

Please visit my Parent and Child Reading Assistance website for more information about teaching reading.

Listen to Your Child Read Everyday!

World Read Aloud Day is March 5, 2014

I'm proud to announce another year hosting an event at my local library for World Read Aloud Day.
I'm giving away an autographed copy of Too Pickley by Jean Reidy and bookmarks.

If you don't know about LitWorld or World Read Aloud Day, I encourage you to check out their site, mission, and accomplishments.

You can celebrate World Read Aloud Day in big or small ways.

Look for activities on LitWorld's site.

The first year I learned about World Read Aloud Day, I told my kids the unbelievable number of people in our world that are unable to read, and we had a special read aloud time that night.

My kids have helped me celebrate in the past two years.  We've had a lot of fun. Check out what we've done. Maybe next year, or even this year, you'll want to be a World Read Aloud Day Ambassador.
2012 World Read Aloud Day Celebration Post
2013 World Read Aloud Day Celebration Post

World Read Aloud Day is March 5, 2014

Books for Early Readers

Choosing high quality books with just the right difficulty for early readers helps get them a good start with reading. I've tutored children with reading and have used these books with students.

Phonics Books -
The Now I'm Reading Series by Nora Gaydos is a great series to introduce and practice phonics. The colorful illustrations, fun animal characters, and surprise endings encourage children to read these books multiple times. Re-reading books is one of the best ways to help early readers become successful and transfer reading skills to new books.




Easy to Read Books -
These books have some repeated phrases, easy words, and strong picture clues.
 

Books for Early Readers

Teaching Letters and Phonemes

Teaching phonemes along with letters will set your child up for reading success. Here's a great article from Reading Rockets to get you started.


Tips for Teaching Your Child Phonemes

Phonemes can be represented by one letter or more than one letter. The oo in the words moo, boom, doodle, hoo and choo are great words to introduce a child to this concept. The ur in burp and slurp are in this book too.


The picture I added to this post is the last pages of the book Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Suess. It's the book I used to introduce my oldest to letters working together.


Here's a link to a page from my blog with links to teach and practice letters.
Learning Letter Websites

Head over to my website for more information for parents helping their children with reading.
Parent and Child Reading Assistance

Teaching Letters and Phonemes

Check Phonological Awareness When a Child Can't Learn to Read

 

 A child who can't learn to read needs help.

One area I always check is phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness can be taught and practiced.

Reading requires a reader to separate and blend sounds in words. This skill is part of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in speech. The highest level of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. For example: Fish has three sounds. /f/ /i/ /sh/

I love this article for information and ideas to teach and practice phonological awareness. 

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Check Phonological Awareness When a Child Can't Learn to Read

Books for Kids

Finding the right books for a child to read is one of the best ways a parent can help their child with reading. Reading skills improve with time spent reading. Getting a child to choose to read can be a challenge.

My youngest son didn't like to read two years ago.
He could read, but he didn't choose to read.

He's reading 10 books to everyone 1 book his twin sister reads. I can't get him to turn off his light at night. He reads when he gets home from school. He takes his book in the car to read on the way to gymnastics.

What did I do?

I helped him create images and try to make a movie in his head when he read. I also found him books he loved to read. His favorites in the beginning were action adventure, sports, and motorcycle riding.

Source: parentandchildreading.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Books for Kids

I See Sam Books Are Free to Download and View Online

I recently discovered I See Sam Books. The books were published through a federally funded program in 1972 and made available in the public domain in 1977.

The original versions of 52 I See Sam books continue to be available for free. You can print, download, and view the original I See Sam books.

In 1993 changes were made to I See Sam books through the Reading For All Learners Program. The RALP versions of I See Sam books are copyrighted and can be purchased in printed form. There is also a free iPad app available. Reading For All Learners - I See Sam Phonics Books - Academic Success For All Learners Inc.

I See Sam Books Are Free to Download and View Online

Learn the Alphabet and Letter Sounds

Many experts suggest teaching letter sounds along with letter names. Vowel sounds and the sounds for the letters c and g can be tricky since they make more than one sound. Most research I have done suggests teaching the short vowel sounds first and the hard sounds for the letters c and g. The hard sound sound of c is in the word cat. The hard sound of g is in the word goat. The soft sounds are in the words cent and giraffe.

Free Online Letter Learning Websites: Here's a page with links to ten high quality letter learning websites.

Learn the Alphabet and Letter Sounds

When To Seek Help For a Child's Reading Problems

Most research indicates that about 40% of children experience problems learning to read. 

This is a picture of my daughter. 

My daughter had some problems learning to read even though I read to her all the time and provided her with the same support as I gave her brothers. I noticed she was falling behind her twin brother in first grade. I began to teach her in the same manner I would tutor a child with reading, and she was able to catch up with her brother quickly. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I didn't have a teaching background and didn't know how to help. Many children fall behind in all subjects and label themselves as stupid when they experience problems with reading.

When should a parent find help for a child struggling with reading?

ANSWER: As soon as a problem is noticed! 

Read this article from Reading Rockets for more information about helping a struggling reader.

Solutions to reading problems are not one size fits all.
I welcome comments. Feel free to share anything about getting help for children with reading. 

When To Seek Help For a Child's Reading Problems

World Read Aloud Day is March 6, 2013

I'm celebrating World Read Aloud Day again this year. You can celebrate World Read Aloud Day too! Here's a link with ideas.

I first found out about World Read Aloud Day in 2011. I celebrated by telling my three children about the day, and we read aloud together at home.

In 2012 I was asked to be a World Read Aloud Day advocate and spread the word about World Read Aloud Day online and in my community. I held two local events with autographed book drawings and gave away World Read Aloud Day bookmarks. Two of my children read aloud at our public library. Here's a video of our library event.

I'll be at the library at 10:30 Wednesday March 6th during regular story time to read and give away a signed copy of Light Up the Night and bookmarks. I'll be delivering books donated by the Junior League of Billings to the Friendship House with my children in the afternoon. We will celebrate World Read Aloud Day by telling kids in the after school program about the day and giving away bookmarks.

A friend from the Junior League of Billings helped me celebrate World Read Aloud Day at the library and at the Friendship House. Here are two pictures she took of the day. Thanks Kelli!

This is my daughter reading What a Bad Day by Mercer Mayer to children at the Friendship House.  I was so proud of her. She was confident and read with expression! Way to go Hailey! Thank you to my sons for helping carry in book donations and celebrating World Read Aloud Day as a family! 

Here's a picture of me reading an autographed copy of Light Up the Night by Jean Reidy at the library. We gave away the book in a drawing. Thank you Jean Reidy for sending an autographed copy of your amazing book to celebrate World Read Aloud Day!

Happy World Read Aloud Day! 

World Read Aloud Day is March 6, 2013

Kids Books

How do you find good books for kids?

Scholastic Book Wizard
Find a Book
Read Kiddo Read

(Please share a site you use to find books for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, early readers, preteens, and teens in a comment to help me and readers of this blog find books for kids.)

My kids are all readers. They are 9, 9, and 11.

I have wonderful memories of reading to them as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. I've packed away our favorite books from these years.

Making sure all my children have a book that keeps them interested in reading is important to me.
My nine year old son is the hardest to help find books. Sometimes if I read the first chapter or two he gets hooked on a book. The last book I helped him find didn't hold his interest. He came home yesterday with a book he likes. Lunch Money by Andrew Clements. His favorite books are action adventure books with boy main characters.

My nine year old daughter was into reading a series called Sister's Eight. She's a twin. She enjoyed reading about octuplet sisters. She enjoys adventure stories with girl main characters.

My eleven year old son has been into fantasy and science fiction books. His favorite books a year ago were Animorphs. Recently he is enjoying some realistic fiction books. He leans toward adventure and action packed books. He's reading some historical fiction books in school.

Kids Books

International Book Giving Day! February 14, 2013

Today is International Book Giving Day!

How will you celebrate? 

Visit this link to learn more about International Book Giving Day.

I was reminded about this just yesterday. I'm going to share the link with my kids tomorrow and let them each decide how to give books. I can't wait to see how they decide to celebrate this day! 

I'm collecting books to be donated to Friendship House in Billings from now until World Read Aloud Day, which is March 6, 2013. I asked members of the Junior League of Billings to donate books for babies to teens to give to the Friendship House at a meeting this week. I plan to deliver the books on World Read Aloud Day.

Enjoy the day! 

International Book Giving Day! February 14, 2013