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When children become good readers in the early grades, they are more likely to become better learners throughout their school years and beyond. Learning to read is hard work for children. Fortunately, research is now available that suggests how to give each child a good start in reading.
Becoming a Reader Involves the Development of Important Skills, Includes Learning to:
- Use language in conversation;
- Listen and respond to stories read aloud;
- Recognize and name the letters of the alphabet;
- Listen to the sounds of spoken language;
- Connect sounds to letters to figure out the "code" of reading;
- Read often so that recognizing words becomes easy and automatic;
- Learn and use new words;
- Understand what is read.
Preschool and kindergarten teachers set the stage for children to learn to read with some critical early skills. First, second, and third grade teachers then take up the task of building the skills that children will use every day for the rest of their lives. Parents can also help their children become readers. Learning to read takes practice -- more practice than children get during the school day.
If Your Child Is Just Beginning to Learn to Read, At Home You Can:
- Practice the sounds of language: Read books with rhymes. Teach your child rhymes, short poems, and songs. Play simple word games: How many words can you make up that sound like the word "bat"?
- Help your child take spoken words apart and put them together: Help your child separate the sounds in words, listen for beginning and ending sounds, and put separate sounds together.
- Practice the alphabet: By pointing out letters wherever you see them and by reading alphabet books.
