How to Teach Reading

How to teach reading: Is there a more controversial topic in preschool and kindergarten?!

There are a few skills that we get to share with our children that are incredibly life-changing. They open up new possibilities and opportunities for independence and growth in ways that most other lessons can only approach.  

Learning to read changes a child's life as much as learning to speak or use the bathroom!

It is one of the last major milestones of early childhood, and it propels a child into a new world that they can learn about and decipher, to a large measure, without an adult explaining everything for them.

Watching this new skill become part of a child is thrilling! I have, however, seen many people feel more overwhelmed by the responsibility of the idea than excited about the potential. Is this you? 

Have you ever wondered, 

"How do I teach my child to read?" 

"Should my child be reading already?" 

"How do we get ready to read?" 

"Are there pre-reading skills I need to work on?"

If so, this series is for you!

I have three articles in this series:

   

#1: Pre-Reading for Preschoolers.  In this article I will share 6 important areas to playfully teach pre-reading skills, and hands-on ideas to help your preschooler develop these foundation abilities. 

#2: Is Your Child Ready to Learn to Read?  Just because your child turns five, does not mean he/she is ready to read! I look for signs of reading readiness in the following three areas: phonological awareness, mental and physical readiness, and interest. I also share a free checklist that helps you decide if your child is ready enough in those three areas to begin a deliberate reading curriculum.

#3: How to Teach Reading.  Once your child has the foundation skills discussed in the pre-reading post and shows the signs of reading readiness discussed in the readiness post, it is time to sit down with your kiddo and share some explicit reading lessons.  When kids show the readiness signs, the actual teaching process is easy! This post covers the basics that you will want to know before you start teaching, shares a few curricula that I've enjoyed, and even gives you the information you need if you want to create your own reading curriculum! I also share a few things I've learned about teaching dyslexic readers. 

When I think of a child learning to read, I usually place that child in one of the following four groups:

1- Pre-Reading

2- Reading Basics

3- Intermediate Reading

4- Advanced Reading

Pre-readers are working on the skills that I discuss in Pre-Reading for Preschoolers.  The earliest phonological awareness skills, attention span skills, memory, and communication skills do not require writing, but are vital for being able to learn to read. They are learned through play! These skills are discussed in the first two posts above.

Children in the second group, Reading Basics, are beginning to manipulate letters and words. These kids can begin to sound out CVC words, identify letters, and identify uppercase and lowercase letters. Teaching Reading Basics is the most exciting level because it is when kids realize that they can decipher the written world! Teaching how to read at this level is what I discuss in the third post above.

Intermediate and advanced readers are still learning new words and skills, but they are reading well enough that they can actually continue to learn independently. 

This is a good place to mention that no matter how good your children get at reading (or how old they get), they still enjoy being read to! Play with your children, incorporate the skills that I'm about to share, and read with and to them! Above all, the greatest purpose in our reading education is to teach joy! When children enjoy books and know how to engage with them, learning to read will come naturally and joyfully.  

I hope you will join me for this look inside the world of how to teach reading, and come away excited and confident in your ability to teach and your child's ability to learn how to read.

Happy Educating,

Carla

Have you seen HEEP? It is a preschool homeschool curriculum! Learn more here!

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KEYWORDS: pre-reading, how to teach reading