Learning reading for toddlers

Teaching children to read isn’t easy. How do kids actually learn to read?

Teaching kids to read isn’t easy; educators often feel strongly about what they think is the “right” way to teach this essential skill. Though teachers’ approaches may differ, the research is pretty clear on how best to help kids learn to read. Here’s what parents should look for in their children’s classroom.

How do kids actually learn how to read?

Research shows kids learn to read when they are able to identify letters or combinations of letters and connect those letters to sounds. There’s more to it, of course, like attaching meaning to words and phrases, but phonemic awareness (understanding sounds in spoken words) and an understanding of phonics (knowing that letters in print correspond to sounds) are the most basic first steps to becoming a reader.

If children can’t master phonics, they are more likely to struggle to read. That’s why researchers say explicit, systematic instruction in phonics is important: Teachers must lead students step by step through a specific sequence of letters and sounds. Kids who learn how to decode words can then apply that skill to more challenging words and ultimately read with fluency. Some kids may not need much help with phonics, especially as they get older, but experts say phonics instruction can be essential for young children and struggling readers “We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs,” said Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York, who recently led the transformation of his schools’ reading program to a research-based, structured approach. “But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it.”

How should your child’s school teach reading?

Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an expert on reading instruction, said phonics are important in kindergarten through second grade and phonemic awareness should be explicitly taught in kindergarten and first grade. This view has been underscored by experts in recent years as the debate over reading instruction has intensified. But teaching kids how to read should include more than phonics, said Shanahan. They should also be exposed to oral reading, reading comprehension and writing.

The wars over how to teach reading are back. Here’s the four things you need to know.

Wiley Blevins, an author and expert on phonics, said a good test parents can use to determine whether a child is receiving research-based reading instruction is to ask their child’s teacher how reading is taught. “They should be able to tell you something more than ‘by reading lots of books’ and ‘developing a love of reading.’ ” Blevins said. Along with time dedicated to teaching phonics, Blevins said children should participate in read-alouds with their teacher to build vocabulary and content knowledge. “These read-alouds must involve interactive conversations to engage students in thinking about the content and using the vocabulary,” he said. “Too often, when time is limited, the daily read-alouds are the first thing left out of the reading time. We undervalue its impact on reading growth and must change that.”

Rasmussen’s school uses a structured approach: Children receive lessons in phonemic awareness, phonics, pre-writing and writing, vocabulary and repeated readings. Research shows this type of “systematic and intensive” approach in several aspects of literacy can turn children who struggle to read into average or above-average readers.

What should schools avoid when teaching reading?

Educators and experts say kids should be encouraged to sound out words, instead of guessing. “We really want to make sure that no kid is guessing,” Rasmussen said. “You really want … your own kid sounding out words and blending words from the earliest level on.” That means children are not told to guess an unfamiliar word by looking at a picture in the book, for example. As children encounter more challenging texts in later grades, avoiding reliance on visual cues also supports fluent reading. “When they get to ninth grade and they have to read “Of Mice and Men,” there are no picture cues,” Rasmussen said.

Related: Teacher Voice: We need phonics, along with other supports, for reading

Blevins and Shanahan caution against organizing books by different reading levels and keeping students at one level until they read with enough fluency to move up to the next level. Although many people may think keeping students at one level will help prevent them from getting frustrated and discouraged by difficult texts, research shows that students actually learn more when they are challenged by reading materials.

Blevins said reliance on “leveled books” can contribute to “a bad habit in readers.” Because students can’t sound out many of the words, they rely on memorizing repeated words and sentence patterns, or on using picture clues to guess words. Rasmussen said making kids stick with one reading level — and, especially, consistently giving some kids texts that are below grade level, rather than giving them supports to bring them to grade level — can also lead to larger gaps in reading ability.

How do I know if a reading curriculum is effective?

Some reading curricula cover more aspects of literacy than others. While almost all programs have some research-based components, the structure of a program can make a big difference, said Rasmussen. Watching children read is the best way to tell if they are receiving proper instruction — explicit, systematic instruction in phonics to establish a foundation for reading, coupled with the use of grade-level texts, offered to all kids.

Parents who are curious about what’s included in the curriculum in their child’s classroom can find sources online, like a chart included in an article by Readingrockets.org which summarizes the various aspects of literacy, including phonics, writing and comprehension strategies, in some of the most popular reading curricula.

Blevins also suggested some questions parents can ask their child’s teacher:

• What is your phonics scope and sequence?

“If research-based, the curriculum must have a clearly defined phonics scope and sequence that serves as the spine of the instruction. ” Blevins said.

• Do you have decodable readers (short books with words composed of the letters and sounds students are learning) to practice phonics?

“If no decodable or phonics readers are used, students are unlikely to get the amount of practice and application to get to mastery so they can then transfer these skills to all reading and writing experiences,” Blevins said. “If teachers say they are using leveled books, ask how many words can students sound out based on the phonics skills (teachers) have taught … Can these words be fully sounded out based on the phonics skills you taught or are children only using pieces of the word? They should be fully sounding out the words — not using just the first or first and last letters and guessing at the rest.”

• What are you doing to build students’ vocabulary and background knowledge? How frequent is this instruction? How much time is spent each day doing this?

“It should be a lot,” Blevins said, “and much of it happens during read-alouds, especially informational texts, and science and social studies lessons. ”

• Is the research used to support your reading curriculum just about the actual materials, or does it draw from a larger body of research on how children learn to read? How does it connect to the science of reading?

Teachers should be able to answer these questions, said Blevins.

What should I do if my child isn’t progressing in reading?

When a child isn’t progressing, Blevins said, the key is to find out why. “Is it a learning challenge or is your child a curriculum casualty? This is a tough one.” Blevins suggested that parents of kindergarteners and first graders ask their child’s school to test the child’s phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency.

Parents of older children should ask for a test of vocabulary. “These tests will locate some underlying issues as to why your child is struggling reading and understanding what they read,” Blevins said. “Once underlying issues are found, they can be systematically addressed. ”

“We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs. But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it.”

Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York

Rasmussen recommended parents work with their school if they are concerned about their children’s progress. By sitting and reading with their children, parents can see the kind of literacy instruction the kids are receiving. If children are trying to guess based on pictures, parents can talk to teachers about increasing phonics instruction.

“Teachers aren’t there doing necessarily bad things or disadvantaging kids purposefully or willfully,” Rasmussen said. “You have many great reading teachers using some effective strategies and some ineffective strategies.”

What can parents do at home to help their children learn to read?

Parents want to help their kids learn how to read but don’t want to push them to the point where they hate reading. “Parents at home can fall into the trap of thinking this is about drilling their kid,” said Cindy Jiban, a former educator and current principal academic lead at NWEA, a research-based non-profit focused on assessments and professional learning opportunities. “This is unfortunate,” Jiban said. “It sets up a parent-child interaction that makes it, ‘Ugh, there’s this thing that’s not fun.’” Instead, Jiban advises making decoding playful. Here are some ideas:

• Challenge kids to find everything in the house that starts with a specific sound.
• Stretch out one word in a sentence. Ask your child to “pass the salt” but say the individual sounds in the word “salt” instead of the word itself.
• Ask your child to figure out what every family member’s name would be if it started with a “b” sound.
• Sing that annoying “Banana fana fo fanna song.” Jiban said that kind of playful activity can actually help a kid think about the sounds that correspond with letters even if they’re not looking at a letter right in front of them.
• Read your child’s favorite book over and over again. For books that children know well, Jiban suggests that children use their finger to follow along as each word is read. Parents can do the same, or come up with another strategy to help kids follow which words they’re reading on a page.

Giving a child diverse experiences that seem to have nothing to do with reading can also help a child’s reading ability. By having a variety of experiences, Rasmussen said, children will be able to apply their own knowledge to better comprehend texts about various topics.

This story about teaching children to read was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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Toddler Reading Time (for Parents)

What Are the Benefits of Reading to My Toddler?

Kids who hear a lot of language do better in school. And being read to is one of the best ways to hear language.

Reading to toddlers sets the foundation for later independent reading. Reading problems can be challenging to fix when discovered in elementary school. But many reading problems can be prevented if reading starts in the toddler and preschool years.

Before children can read by themselves, they need early literacy skills. These include:

• having a large vocabulary of words and knowing how to use them
• understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds (called phonemic awareness)
• understanding that marks on a page represent letters and words
• knowing the letters of the alphabet

You don't need games, flashcards, or special instruction for a toddler to learn these skills. Reading to kids as often as possible is the best way to help them learn to read by themselves.

Helping Your Child's Move to Toddlerhood

Reading aloud is also an important way to help kids move from babyhood to toddlerhood. Between the ages of 1 and 3, toddlers have celebrations and challenges. So it can help for them to hear stories about other kids and how they faced their fears about what's under the bed or learned how to use the potty.

Kids make big leaps in vocabulary during this time, and learn about letters, shapes, colors, weather, animals, seasons. This can be strengthened through books. Choose books with many pictures your child can point to and name.

But while excited to learn about the world and experience it, your toddler also needs a strong connection with you. Reading together regularly can strengthen that connection, helping your toddler feel safe and comfortable.

When and How to Read to Toddlers

Reading to toddlers often (if possible, at least once a day) is a great goal. Choosing regular times to read (especially before naps and bedtime) helps kids learn to sit with a book and relax. But you can read anytime your child seems in the mood.

If your toddler will let you, hold him or her in your lap when you read. This helps your toddler feel safe, happy, and relaxed. It also shows you're giving your full attention as you show your child new things, and encourages your child to participate.

Toddlers like to do things on their own. Encourage this by putting out  three or four books and asking your child to pick one. Praise the selection, let your toddler help you turn pages, and ask for help as you find things on a page. Your child will love to finish sentences in books with familiar or repetitive phrasing or rhymes. When you come to a familiar or repetitive phrase or rhyme in a book, pause and let your child finish.

Here are some other reading tips:

• Read whatever books your toddler asks for, even if it's the same book every night for weeks and weeks (and weeks and weeks).
• Read slowly so your toddler can understand the story.
• Read expressively, using different voices for different characters, and raising or lowering your voice as appropriate.
• Choose board books or cloth books that are durable. You can let your child use these books without having to worry about pages getting ripped.
• Use puppets, finger plays (like the "Itsy Bitsy Spider"), or props while you read.
• Encourage your toddler to clap or sing when you read rhythmic, sing-song books.
• Talk about the pictures. Point to items and name them. Then ask your child to name them with you and praise your child for their response.
• Ask open-ended questions: "Why do you think the lion is going into the woods? What do you think will happen next?" This helps your child to think about the story and to ask questions.
• Use your child's name as the name of a character in the book.
• Have fun! Show your child that reading is enjoyable.

Sitting Still Is Not Required

Trying to read to a toddler who won't sit still can be frustrating. Be patient and keep trying. Find a book or a few pages that are interesting. If that doesn't work, don't force the reading but be sure to try again later. Remember that toddlers love repetition — if your child doesn't seem interested in books, you may need to find a favorite and read it over and over again.

Some busy toddlers like to stand up while you read to them. Others like to look at a page or two before moving on to something else. Keep the book out — kids might want to return to it later, which you should encourage.

It's OK if your child can't sit still for an entire book — toddlers' attention spans will get longer soon. You might want to keep reading even if your child moves around. Before bedtime, allow your child to touch and play with favorite toys while you read aloud. The sound of your voice will be a soothing reminder of the bedtime routine and that books are a part of it.

You may find that your child sits still while coloring or playing with a favorite toy while you read. Some kids might not look at you or the book, but that doesn't mean they're not interested or listening.

You want your child to have positive associations with reading. If you feel tense or your child resists, consider setting the book aside and returning to it later.

Reading to your child is only one way to build early literacy skills. You also can:

• Talk to your child throughout the day.
• Sing songs together, play rhyming games, and make up your own stories together.
• Provide paper and crayons so your child can practice writing.

Also, consider limits on screen time use, whether that's a TV or other electronic devices.

Choosing Books for Toddlers

Toddlers want to feel included and capable. So choose books they can follow along with, especially those with familiar or repetitive text so they can fill in words. Keep your toddler's interest by choosing books with small amounts of words on the page and books about topics that you know your child will like.

For younger toddlers (12–24 months):

• You'll want sturdy board books with pictures (especially photos) of kids doing the things they do every day. Books about bedtime, baths, or mealtime are all good choices; so are books about saying hello or good-bye. Keep active hands busy with lift-the-flap pages and textures to feel.

For older toddlers (24–36 months):

• Kids this age are starting to turn paper pages, so it's a good time to move beyond board books. They're also beginning to understand the mechanics of reading. They like books that are repetitive and easy to memorize so that they can "read" along.

By now you will start to know what your child likes. Whether it's trains, trucks, or stuffed bears, find books about these things. Kids this age also like books about children, families, and animals.

Toddlers love to look at homemade books, scrapbooks, or photo albums full of people they know (try adding simple captions). Poetry and songbooks are good choices for this age group too. You may find that story time turns into sing-along time.

Easy Ways to Keep Books Available

Toddlers love to choose and look at books on their own. Keep books in a basket on the floor or on a low shelf where your child can reach them and look at them by themselves. Keep some books in the car and always have a few handy in your bag for long waits at the doctor or lines at the grocery store.

Visit the library or the bookstore and let your child pick books to read at home. Many libraries and bookstores have toddler story times that kids enjoy. And let your child see you reading for fun. It's a great way to be your toddler's reading role model.

Reviewed by: Kandia N. Lewis, PhD

Date reviewed: August 2019

Teaching children to read

Every parent thinks about the importance and role of reading in the life of their children, who cares about their harmonious, correct and holistic development. But if in some families it’s enough for moms and dads to simply send their child to a kindergarten or school, shifting, but it doesn’t sound loudly, the responsibility on the shoulders of educators and teachers, then in others, caring parents prefer to work with kids on their own.

The information from this course is intended specifically for people of the second category, because those who belong to the first category are unlikely to search the Internet for relevant information. But let's continue.

Despite the great desire to teach your precious child to read as soon as possible, this process should be approached with maximum attention and caution, because there are subtleties and nuances that simply cannot be ignored. The fact is that contrary to popular belief that the sooner you start learning the basics of reading with your child, the better, many specialists (neurologists, child psychologists, etc.) are convinced that this can lead to negative consequences in the future. For example, early learning to read with the accompanying premature stress on the visual apparatus often causes myopia and other vision problems.

Thus, it is very important to know at least the basic features of the formation of the child's body, when to start teaching children to read and how their readiness for this process is determined, as well as to adhere to the basic relevant rules. These fundamental questions will be considered by us in the first lesson.

Contents:

1. How a child is formed. General information
2. When can I start teaching my child to read
3. A few words about the correct teaching of reading
4. Basic rules for teaching a child to read
5. A few additional recommendations
6. Reading quotes from famous people

How a child is formed. General information

Here, as it should be understood, we will present only general information, because it will be sufficient.

So, starting from the early stages of pregnancy and ending with the age of three, the first functional block of the baby's brain is formed, which is responsible for his bodily, cognitive and emotional perception.

From three to five or eight years of age, the formation of the second functional block of the brain takes place, which controls the five senses - touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision.

It should be borne in mind that the formation of the functional blocks of the brain is a sequential process. Any attempt by a parent to “skip” any stage negatively affects the development of the child, which is inherent in nature, because. unnatural "adjustments" are made to it. The insidiousness of the consequences lies in the fact that, quite likely, they will not affect immediately, but after years. Subsequently, an already matured child may have problems that are expressed not only in speech disorders, neuroses, motor failures, etc., but also in difficulties in relationships with people around them.

Based on this, it is necessary to start teaching a child to read at a certain time.

When to start teaching a child to read

There are several opinions on when to start teaching a child to read. Some experts believe that it is possible to start certain work, for example, showing Doman cards (we will talk about them and other methods in the second lesson), already after the baby reaches six months of age, while others believe that it is best to start at 3-4 years old , and from the primer. However, all teachers agree on one thing: no teaching of reading is completely unacceptable and impossible until the child has mastered speech skills. If, somewhere around the age of 3-4, the baby begins to take an active interest in books, it is not only possible, but also necessary, to start learning to read.

It is also worth noting that if you show restlessness and indifference to printed materials before learning, you should understand how to arouse the child's interest in reading. We will touch on this issue in more detail in a separate lesson, but nevertheless we will say that an incredible selection of books will help parents solve this problem, which, in addition to brightness and colorfulness, have many moving elements and even sound accompaniment. Thanks to this, reading becomes not only an interesting activity for children, but also an exciting game. At the initial stage, any book serves not so much as a source of knowledge, but as a way to get involved in the very process of reading.

Continuing the conversation about the readiness of the child to read, it can be determined by several signs:

• Firstly, the baby has already formed speech, and he is able to pronounce words and sentences, as well as compose at least small coherent stories
• Secondly, the child has no speech therapy disorders, and this applies to both incorrect pronunciation and violations of melody and tempo and rhythm of speech
• Thirdly, the baby is able to navigate normally in space, and does not confuse the concepts of “right”, “left”, “down” and “up”
• Fourthly, the child has a sufficiently developed phonemic hearing, i. it can easily recognize sounds in different parts of words

If there are problems with any of the above, you should take up their elimination - take some time to work out the difficult moments, visit a speech therapist, neuropathologist, etc. If everything is in order (or after fixing the problems), you can proceed to learning to read.

A few words about the correct teaching of reading

The presented question worries, perhaps, every parent. And the first answer to it will be the traditional method, which boils down to daily monotonous reading of the primer. But this option is not very effective, because almost always the child gets bored, he quickly gets tired and tired. Plus, he does not learn to read thoughtfully at all. Of course, the baby will learn some skills and knowledge, but it is a stretch to call it a good way of sensory-emotional development, knowledge of the world around him and his place in it. In order for the process to become exciting and creative, so that it arouses interest in the child, so that the reading skill is mastered effectively, you need to use other methods (we devoted separate lessons of our course to such methods, and for now we will not focus on them).

Before you start learning to read and apply any methods, it is imperative to learn the basic rules that you should rely on in your work. They can be called the basis of the whole process. Although slight deviations are allowed, it is still recommended to adhere to all the rules, otherwise the reading skill will be mastered by the child less effectively, which in no case should be allowed.

Basic Rules for Teaching Your Child to Read

So, if you want to help your child learn such an important skill as reading, follow these rules:

1

Do not force

Remember that you cannot force a child to read, and any such strategy is wrong, wrong and ineffective in advance. To make the child want to read and begin to show interest in books, just surround him with them. So, you can arrange books around the house - on shelves, tables and other easily accessible places. In addition, you yourself need to pick up books and read something interesting to your son or daughter. You also need to read for yourself so that the child can see you with a book. Given that children strive to be like their moms and dads, your child will most likely ask what you are doing, or pick up a book himself.

2

First the sounds, then the letters

Many parents make a big mistake by first explaining the pronunciation of the letters to the baby, and only then the sounds. It is necessary to do the opposite: first of all, it is important to tell what sound this or that letter in the word has, and only then - how it is pronounced by itself. Those. initially explain that the letter "er" in the word sounds like "r", "en" - like "n", "em" - like "m", etc. And after that, teach that “er” is “er”, “en” is “en”, “em” is “em”, etc.

3

Learn not letters, but syllables

It must be understood that syllables, and in some cases even whole words, are assimilated by children much better than many single boring letters. Therefore, the letters must be shown in whole words. As an auxiliary material, you can use specially printed cards with syllables, with the help of which it is convenient to teach the baby to read by syllables and make words.

4

Repetition

The frequency of repetition of the material studied with the child depends on how well he will remember and assimilate it. However, there is one trick here - many kids do not really like it when they are satisfied with checks and tests, and therefore repetition as a teaching method must be presented in the form of a game.

5

First simple, then complex

As we said, initially it is most effective to teach a child to pronounce sounds, and only then complicate the process - move on to reading by syllables and combining syllables into words. All information should be provided in a dosed and step-by-step manner so that there is no “porridge” from the knowledge gained in the child’s head.

6

Learn simple words

Learning to read should always start with simple words where letters are repeated, for example, the words "mother", "woman", "dad", "uncle", etc. After that, it is allowed to move on to learning words, where a letter is added to the syllable, for example, “bass”, “cat”, “house”, “poppy”, “lacquer”, etc. And having already mastered such material, you can begin to engage in elementary sentences, such as “mother washed Mila”, “Kolya pricks stakes”, etc. As for the letters "y", "b" and "b", it is better to leave them in the end.

7

Learn anytime, anywhere

No matter what you and your baby are doing at the moment: walking, shopping, standing at a bus stop or having a snack in a cafe - you can read anywhere and anytime. Almost everywhere there are signs, advertising posters, signs with the names of shops, streets, stops, etc. Use it to your advantage and your child, and let him read everything you show him.

8

Play

Teaching a child to read, as well as any other skill, should take place in a playful way. Come up with your own games where you need to know the sounds, letters and syllables. For example, you can ask your child to look for specific letters in words and pronounce them. You can also buy home letters on magnets and make words on a special board or refrigerator. And another game will help develop mindfulness - take letters on magnets or cubes, make a series of letters where all but one are consonants, and let your baby find a vowel.

9

Arouse interest

To make your child learn to read better and easier, you need to get him interested in it. And for this it is very good to show that reading is necessary for a full life among other people. Therefore, clearly demonstrate to the baby the importance of this skill - show him letters, postcards, notes, tablets, write notes so that he reads them. Over time, the child himself realizes that learning to read is simply necessary.

10

Read aloud

Reading aloud, and even for a while, is considered to be a very effective way of teaching a child to read quickly. But you need to apply it, of course, when the baby has already mastered some skills. Based on what your child has already learned, make up your tasks and give them to him to complete, marking, for example, a minute. By the way, the so-called “Reader's Diary” will help a lot here, where you will record the progress of your baby. And so that he completes the tasks with enthusiasm, after every hundred words you read, give him some nice little thing.

11

Reading with a bookmark

Reading with a bookmark is another rule for improving reading skills. You need to use a bookmark here, as usual, with the only difference being that it should not close the bottom line, but the words read. So you will help your baby not get confused in a large number of words and focus on a new word.

12

Regularity of study

We have already talked about repetition, so just add that you need to read regularly and systematically. In other words, you need to pay attention to mastering the reading skill every day, even if it takes only 5-10 minutes. But what is even more important is not to abandon classes, even when it starts to seem that the baby is already reading well.

To conclude the first lesson, we would like to supplement the above rules with a few more tips that will help you teach your child to read faster and better.

A few extra tips

Your child will learn to read more successfully if you follow this list of tips:

• Be sure to get a primer or alphabet. In the future, this literature will always evoke in the child associations with pleasant learning. It is best if the books are supplemented with drawings
• If you study letters, then start with vowels, because you can sing them using your favorite melodies, and this is useful, fun and interesting. It is very good if the classes are accompanied by modeling from plasticine or coloring pictures. This will teach the baby to identify letters and understand them
• You need to study consonants only after vowels. And do not forget that you first need to explain to the child how the letter in the word is pronounced, and only then - how it sounds on its own
• To increase the effectiveness of learning, it is useful to compose fairy tales about letters so that acquaintance with them is more interesting for the baby. For example, once upon a time there was a cheerful letter "U". And one day she climbed a hill, and how she rolled down from it, fervently shouting “Uuh!”. By analogy, make short stories for each letter
• In the process of learning, do not neglect creative materials. Remember that a child learns the world through sensory perception, which means that he definitely needs to try and touch everything. Cutting out letters from cardboard, sculpting letters from plasticine, baking cookies in the shape of letters, etc. can come up. An experience like this will forever be imprinted in your child's memory
• Most effective are short sessions of 10-15 minutes several (3 to 5) times a day. Stick to this system, and your kid will not only not get tired, but will also look forward to each lesson
• And, finally, the most important rule in any interaction with a child is benevolence and patience with the baby. Never allow yourself to lose your temper, raise your voice, and even more so insult the little man. Otherwise, all activities will be of no use, and even the child’s attitude towards you may not be the best.

Approach teaching your child to read with love and intelligence, and the first results will not be long in coming. And in the next lesson, we will talk about the most popular methods for teaching children to read today, and also briefly talk about what we based on when creating the presented course.

Almost every one of us today can remember the famous blue primer with which he learned to read. But time passes, and the presented tool loses its relevance, giving way to special methods of teaching children to read. Today, there are many such methods, but we will tell you about the most popular ones, as well as point out their main advantages and disadvantages, if any. Of course, we will say a few words about the primer, as well as introduce the benefits of practical methods for teaching children to read, collected in this course by the 4Brain team. But, as is customary with us, everything is in order.

To begin with, it will not be superfluous to note once again that it is recommended to teach children to read no earlier than 4-5 years old, but it is not excluded that children begin to master this skill earlier (we talked about indicators of readiness of kids for reading in the first lesson). The author's methods, which we will talk about, are designed for early, i.e. primary education for children.

In the previous two lessons, we looked at the basics of teaching children to read and got acquainted with the most popular methods on this topic. But the theoretical aspects do not end there, because teaching a child to read is not an easy task. Naturally, we will not load you with theory, otherwise the course will simply be of no use, but nevertheless we will allow ourselves to touch on a few more issues of a similar nature.

If you want to make your child's reading education as effective as possible, you should pay attention to a number of specific nuances, which we will discuss below. We also note that the recommendations we offer have been tested in practice by many parents and have shown their effectiveness on many generations of children. Despite this, they are extremely simple, and it will not be difficult for you to follow them. Plus, this information will help you avoid the most common mistakes. And this means that your baby will very soon distinguish between letters, syllables and words, memorize them and pronounce them correctly.

Remember, just recently you thought about how to help your baby solve his first "baby" difficulties - to master a rattle, teach him to eat, go to the potty. But time flies, and now it's time for the baby to master the first skills that will be useful to him in adulthood. And one of them is reading. Preparation for the process of learning to read is very important, because. only with a competent integrated approach, success in this difficult, but very interesting business will be guaranteed.

To begin with, let's once again touch on the age characteristics, namely: consider what is special in the period from 3 to 7 years with a child, because the methods that need to be used for learning and the subtleties of preparation depend on this.

One of the foundations of reading at all times was the knowledge of the alphabet. As it should be assumed, there are many methods for studying the variety of letters in the Russian language, but not all of them are effective. In addition, when teaching a child, it is always necessary to focus on the psychological and physiological characteristics. Of particular importance in the development of the alphabet is the age aspect.

We have already mentioned that in 99% of cases the characteristics of babies are such that it is quite difficult for them to concentrate. For this reason, it makes no sense to purposefully study the alphabet at the age of 1-2 years (meaning just such a study that will come in handy in the future, but of course you can prepare for reading), and teachers advise starting this from the age of three. Although always and everywhere one should rely on the individual characteristics of a particular child, and not try to find any age limits. Next, we will talk about learning the alphabet for children of different ages.

After the child has mastered the alphabet, and you are sure that from now on the information about the letters of the Russian language is firmly established in his head, it's time to move on to the study of syllables. This lesson is dedicated to this topic.

Here are practical tips to help you teach your toddler to read by syllables, as well as some homework lessons to improve reading skills and abilities. Let's start with recommendations.

After completing the lessons, the child can confidently read the words, but they sound something like this: “ko-te-nok”, “so-ba-ka”, “ig-rush- ka", "ki-no", etc. In other words, the baby reads the words, but reads them syllable by syllable. This is quite normal, but you definitely need to work on it, because. only when the child reads the words and sentences completely and without hesitation can we say that he really learned to read. In addition, at the same time as learning to read words in their entirety, children must learn to understand the meaning of what they read. We will talk about these topics in the presented lesson.

But first, let's clarify a few very important points for ourselves - when a child learns to read words in its entirety, it is necessary: ​​

The ability to read is one of the most important and necessary skills for a person in life. And this is most clearly expressed when the child begins to go to school. The speed and quality of perception of information, as well as the success of the entire learning process in general, depends on the ability to read. If the child is able to read with difficulty, he will study, write down and assimilate the material very slowly, and this, in turn, will affect academic performance.

For these and many other similar reasons, every parent who cares about his child and his success in life should not only help him learn to read, but do it as efficiently and competently as possible. In a slightly different way, he is obliged to teach the child to read correctly, meaningfully and quickly. And in our today's lesson, we will present a number of techniques and exercises that will help you achieve this result.

Enough has already been said about the meaning of reading and the boundaries it opens. We only recall that people who love to read have a much better chance of success in life. And according to some psychological research, well-read children perform better in school and are significantly more likely to receive a higher education than children who do not like to read.

But how can a child be able to read and love this activity? How do you get him to pick up a book and spend time with it instead of spending countless hours on social media or playing games on his tablet?

Teaching a child to read Russian is one thing. This, of course, is necessary; without it, as they say, nowhere. But at present, more and more often there is a need for a person to also know a foreign language, and, of course, this implies the ability to read in this language.

In the final lesson, we will look at the basics of teaching children to read in foreign languages, and as an example, as you might guess, we use English. First, it is an international language, i.e. it can be useful in life to any person, and secondly, its relevance is due to the widespread use of computer technology. That is why, by the way, today it is increasingly being taught in schools from the first grade.

And before moving on to the main part of the course, let's think a little about why being able to read and teaching your children to read is so important.

Reading quotes from famous people

To conclude this introductory lesson, here are some inspiring quotes from famous people about reading:

Reading is the best teaching!

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Joseph Addison

People stop thinking when they stop reading.

Denis Diderot

Reading is an idle creative labor.

Maurice Blanchot

Reading is talking with wise men, action is meeting fools.

Francis Bacon

If the crowns of all the kingdoms of the world were placed at my feet in exchange for my books and my love of reading, I would reject them all.

François Fénelon

To love reading is to exchange hours of boredom, inevitable in life, for hours of great pleasure.

Charles Louis Montesquieu

The mind is strengthened or relaxed by reading just as much as the body by fresh or spoiled air.

John Ruskin

There is no entertainment cheaper than reading books and there is no pleasure longer.

Marie Montagu

Now feel free to start taking lessons. Good luck!

Kirill

1 Popular methods →

How to easily teach a 4-6 year old child to read - the best methods and exercises there is no ready answer, but we want to immediately warn against two misconceptions:

1. “You don't have to teach your child to read at home, they will teach you at school anyway.” Yes, they will. But remember: the first year at school is the most intense in all 11 years of study. For some 4-5 months in the 1st grade, the child goes through the alphabet "from" and "to", learns to read, write, and the rest of the time he studies the basics of the Russian language. Therefore, it will be great if he has a reading skill before school. This will reduce the burden on the child.

2. "There is no time to waste - the sooner the baby begins to read, the better." All children are different and develop at their own pace. Therefore, you should not impose teaching reading to a preschooler as soon as he is 4-5 years old, if the student himself does not yet show interest in this activity. Instead, you can begin to develop an interest in reading through bright and engaging books. A good option would also be games that involve letters.

The indicator to be guided by is not the age of a preschooler, but his speech skills.

It's time to learn to read if...

If the speech development of a preschooler proceeds without gross violations. Let's figure out what criteria will help you find out if a child is ready to learn to read:

1. Understanding addressed speech. The kid must understand sentences, phrases, individual words that others around him turn to.

2. Vocabulary. The more words a child knows, the better he will understand what he read. It will also help him communicate with adults and other children.

3. Grammar. The ability to correctly build sentences, select and change words is important for children who are learning to read.

4. Pronunciation. For learning to be effective, the child must know how to pronounce words without gross errors.

Remember: at preschool age, a child may have minor flaws in grammar and pronunciation - this is normal. Over time, these violations will be corrected, and they should not be considered an obstacle to reading. But if the baby is not yet very confident in speaking, do not rush him to read - this will not help develop speech, but only demotivate.

Practicing child psychologist Ekaterina Murashova

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How to make reading easier for preschoolers

1. Praise more and never scold

   It's hard for us adults to imagine how difficult it really is for a baby to learn from scratch such a complex skill as reading. After all, being able to read means being able to correlate a sound with a letter or a combination of letters, connect sounds, understand the meanings of the words read and the meaning behind the text.

   If parents take the child's progress for granted and express dissatisfaction when the child does not understand something, this will not push the future student to development, but will only complicate the process. Therefore, it is important to praise for small victories: I learned the letter that was passed last time - great, I coped without my father's help with the word as much as two syllables - clever.

   Do not take failures as a consequence of the negligence of the little student. When a child does not understand the first time, this is an occasion to look for another explanation or give more time to practice. If you feel tired and irritated, you should stop the activity and return to it in a good mood.

2. Exercise little but regularly

   Do not expect perseverance and a desire to spend hours figuring out unfamiliar letters from your baby. It is difficult for preschoolers to keep their attention in a lesson for more than 25 minutes, and even such small classes should be interrupted with physical education minutes and games so that the child does not get bored. This is exactly how Skysmart prepares for school: 25-minute classes with breaks for outdoor games.

   But regular practice is important - much more important than the duration of the session. And it doesn’t have to be just lessons: you can look for familiar letters on signs during a walk, on a door plate in a children’s clinic, on a package of your favorite corn flakes.

3. Read books aloud

   In a series of studies conducted by Dr. Victoria Purcell-Gates among five-year-olds who could not yet read, those children to whom their parents read aloud regularly for two years, expressed their thoughts in more literary language, built longer phrases and used more complex syntax.

   In addition, reading aloud with adults contributed to the expansion of children's vocabulary, as parents explained the meanings of new words that children did not encounter in everyday life.

Expert Opinion

According to neuroscientist Marianne Wolfe, book evenings with parents help develop a love of reading because the child establishes a connection between reading aloud and feelings of love and warmth.

4. Discuss read

   The role of communication in teaching literacy cannot be overestimated. At first, it is important to ask if the future student is interested, if he is tired, what was remembered from the lesson. When a preschooler learns to read coherent texts, be sure to ask questions about their content.

   It's great if the child reads on his own and without the prompting of the parents, but even in this case, do not deprive him of the opportunity to discuss what he has read with you. For example, you might ask:

   • Which of the characters do you like?

   • Do you think this character is like you? Would you like to be like her?

   • What would you do if you were a hero?

   • Why did the described event happen? How are these two events related?

   • How did what you read make you feel?

   • What do you remember most from what you read?

   • What do you think the author wanted to teach? Why did he write this? Do you agree with the author?

It is important to select questions individually, based on the age of the child. With younger children, discuss everything together, ask simple questions, direct their attention to some facts. The complexity of the questions should increase in proportion to the age of the child. The older he is, the more difficult the tasks should be, and the questions can already affect the "reflection" of their feelings and experiences.

5. Go from simple to complex

   From the correspondence between sounds and letters to syllables, from short words to longer and more complex words. It would seem that this is obvious, but no: sometimes parents are so happy with the success of the child at first that they push him to study more complex topics than he is ready to accept. Of course, the program should adapt to the future student, but you should not skip steps, even if the child is making progress.

   There are methods that offer to teach a child to read by memorizing whole words. Alas, experiments show that such techniques generally work worse. For example, a group of scientists from the United States came up with an artificial alphabet and offered subjects to learn it, and then read the words written using this alphabet. At the same time, some subjects were immediately explained the principles of correspondence between sounds and letters, while others had to derive reading rules on their own based on whole words. It turned out that the first group copes with reading new, previously unfamiliar words better than the second.

   Therefore, we advise you to choose those teaching methods that involve clear instructions about the relationship between sound and letter - and this is especially important for those children who have difficulty reading. Below we have compiled a few of these techniques that you can use to teach your preschooler at home.

Methods of teaching preschoolers to read

Warehouse reading

The way to teach a child to read through warehouses was actually used in Russia, but for modern parents this technique is associated with the name of the philologist Nikolai Alexandrovich Zaitsev.

Zaitsev suggests not focusing on the study of individual letters, as it can be difficult for students to understand how letters can merge into syllables and words. Teaching a child to read by syllables is also not always easy: one syllable can be quite long ( shine, ruble ), and the boundaries of syllables are not obvious ( Lun-tik or Lu-ntik ?). Therefore, in Zaitsev's methodology, a warehouse is used as the main unit.

Warehouse can be a combination of a consonant and a vowel (pa-pa, ma-ma), a single consonant or vowel (de- d , i-s -li, A -le-sha), as well as a combination of a consonant with a hard or soft sign (ma- l -chi-k, po- d -yem).

In order for a preschooler to understand the differences between the recording of voiced and soft, vowels and consonants, different types of warehouses have their own cube size, color and content, thanks to which the cubes sound when they are shaken. Cubes affect several channels of perception at once, and warehouses should not just be pronounced, but sung - this way, according to the author of the methodology, learning is more interesting and effective.

One of the advantages of the technique is that children willingly play with blocks themselves, and the process of learning to read becomes active, mobile.

Syllabic reading

This technique, according to some sources, was developed by the Romans. Later, Nadezhda Sergeevna Zhukova, a Soviet and Russian speech therapist, created a primer based on it. In it, she built her own system in which sounds and letters are sequentially introduced into speech.

Due to the fact that the concept of a syllable is introduced at an early stage, it is faster and easier to teach a child to read syllables together. By the way, as in Zaitsev's technique, it is proposed to sing syllables, and not just pronounce them.

Based on the syllabic method, Zhukova developed a set of teaching aids - copybooks, copybooks and a book for reading. Benefits will help teach children to read correctly 6 and 7 years old at home.

Both techniques for teaching preschoolers to read are used in the Skysmart Ready for School course. The course consists of two stages: first, children get acquainted with letters and warehouses, which allows them to quickly start reading simple words, and then they learn what a syllable is. Gradually, we introduce more complex syllabic constructions, move on to reading phrases and sentences.

Sound analytical-synthetic teaching method

This method originated in the USSR and is still considered the main one in Russian schools and kindergartens. It was developed by the Soviet teacher and Russian language methodologist Voskresenskaya Alexandra Ilyinichna.

Like N.S. Zhukova, Voskresenskaya proposed her own order in which children should learn letters and sounds. The principle of this sequence was that the child first learned the letters that can be combined into simple syllables, and then moved forward in the level of complexity. As a result, children learn syllables in this order:

1. Two-letter syllables (including one consonant): am, ma, ra, etc. and simple words from them: ra-ma, ma-sha, Pa-sha, etc.

2. Three-letter syllables with a central vowel: poppy, lat, etc.

3. The combination of the first two stages into words: sa-lat, earth-la, etc.

4. Words of three syllables and six letters: az-bu-ka, ve-se-lo, etc.

5. Words of two syllables and six letters: question-ros, tea-nick, etc.

6. Words with a combination of vowels at the beginning and end of the word: chair, March, etc.

In this way, children simultaneously prepare for more complex syllables at each stage and reinforce what they have learned earlier.

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Exercises for learning to read

Learning to read usually takes place in several stages. First, the child listens to the sound, visually remembers the letters. Different games will help with this, where you need to look for letters, invent words, etc. When this stage is over, you can move on to syllables and games to work them out. And only after that it will be possible to proceed to words, and then to sentences and texts.

Letter memory exercises

The first step is to teach your child to recognize letters. To do this, you can use pictures with hidden letters. We use such exercises in the preparation for school lessons in Skysmart.

Ask your child to identify what letter a word begins with, or name as many words as possible that begin with a certain letter.

Next, we train to distinguish correctly written letters from incorrect ones. This is also important for learning to write: preschoolers often mirror letters or distort individual elements.

Exercises for vowels and consonants

Learning to distinguish vowels from consonants will help tasks in which you need to determine what sound a word begins with.

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