# Teaching a child to read



## CuriousWanderer (Feb 23, 2014)

My ridiculously smart daughter told me this morning that she wants to read all by herself "like a big girl". 
She already knows all of her letters, uppercase and lowercase, and is recognizing letter sounds and some basic words. 
Has anyone used a specific program for reading that they loved? I was just going to go to the library and borrow the phonics books.


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

The absolute best thing you can do to teach a child to read is to read to and with them. Get some wonderful easy picture books with strong text patterns (Go Dog Go, Hop on Pop -- your librarian should be able to give you some good titles). Show her how to track print with her finger (until she becomes a fairly adept reader and then transition to tracking with her eyes only). Show her how to check that the words match the pictures and that what she reads make sense. Ask her questions about what you two are reading.

You didn't say how old your child is but from your post I gathered that she is a little (4ish, 5ish). From how you describe her skills, it sounds like she is right on track to developing good reading skills. Another good thing to do is to play games that develop her phonemic awareness skills. Studies have shown that kids with good PA skills develop stronger reading skills. Rhyming, segmenting (example: tell me the sounds you hear in the word cat), blending (example: what word would I have if I said /k/ /a/ /t/), deletion (example: say cat without the /k/), substitution (example: say cat, now change the /k/ to /b/ and tell me what word you would have)

You can develop her sight word bank (Google "Dolch sight words" for the appropriate lists for her age) by pointing them out as you read them in familiar books or you can play sight word games. Google is your friend for finding all sorts of ideas for games.

Rather than searching for a particular program, I would do the above. Make it fun. Reading should be a joy-filled activity.


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## CuriousWanderer (Feb 23, 2014)

She will be three in April 
We have a ton of books at home and get new ones at the library every week. We already do the finger thing when we read, we also do that at church when we sing hymns-it makes it easier for her to follow with the notes.
I love the Dr. Seuss books the only problem I have with them is he uses a lot of made up words which will probably only confuse her at this point. She goes like Go Dog Go though! 
I'll talk to the librarian when we go on Tuesday and see what she recommends. Thank you for the wonderful ideas!


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## gwithrow (Feb 5, 2005)

I used 'teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons'...all I can say it really works, it is easy and you can go as fast or slow as you like....we homeschooled 6 children and they all learned to read using this book....it requires no prep on your part...just read it and do it with the child ....after you work through all the lessons, voila!..you have a reader....


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Books with easy words. Dr. Seuss was my step into reading. Ds learned sight reading with Seuss and other simple stories.


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## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

My friend used "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" and it worked well for her. However, it did not work well for us at all. We tried many things, but eventually used Charlotte Mason's method of teaching the child the words and then the phonics comes later. This worked well for my daughter. Starfall is a good phonics based program online and it is free. Start with something and if it isn't working or is frustrating then don't be afraid to try something else. Blessings, Kat


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## Lilith (Dec 29, 2012)

Following: I have one child who learned without struggle - I didn't even have to "teach" her, and another child who is older but just never "got it".


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## HomeOnTheFarm (Mar 9, 2004)

*Hooked on Phonics*. I wish I'd found it for my oldest child who was a struggling reader for a long time; my second and third children are voracious readers. The youngest didn't know how to read when she turned 6. A few months later, she decided that she wanted to learn. She finished up the entire set (old version, cheaper than the new version and just as good) within 6 months and was reading at a 2nd grade level at that time.


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## MoTightwad (Sep 6, 2011)

Our 3 of 4 children were read too at least two or three times a day while they were little, then when school started they were advanced in classes. The last one was not a bit interrested in learning to read. He wanted to be outside to do something. I think it all depends on the type of child it is as to how fast they learn. Read to them all they want and then have them read back to you even if it is from the pictures they see. I love to reminence about the reading our kids did to us while I cooked supper or what ever. Have fun and enjoy every minute.


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## gatrapper (Mar 1, 2015)

I am a second grade teacher and have taught children on all levels to read. Imo the Wilson Reading Program is by far the best reading program out there hands down. I have children who were on a pre-k reading level in August and they are currently on a 4th grade reading level and they are on a middle school sight word list.


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## motherhenshow (Apr 7, 2015)

Just like all children learn to tie their shoes, all children will learn to read. Read to them (a lot!) rainy days are good for this. If a child is struggling, don't stress them, don't push it. Some day they will combine blends and vowels and read words by themselves. Just read to them a lot and it will come. The book "Better Late than Early" is helpful. I learned to read when I was 3, but my parents read to me evey day for hours and I was a calm and docile little girl. I have 4 sons. None of them are calm or docile. I read to them for hours every day. Everyone but my 4 y old can read well for their age. It will come. Children can't learn under stress. Their brains don't work as well that way.


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