Learning to read....

Gaby&Emmy'sMama · #1 February 7th, 2012, 05:32 PM

Gaby has had 1/4 of a year at school and obviously is at the point that she's learning to read. I just wanted to know how I can help her to do this? Each night she gets a book to read with me - and I've been reading it to her first, then she'll read it to me.. Is that what I should be doing? Or should I be getting her to read it first? She doesn't know a lot of words yet, and gets very frustrated when she gets a word wrong..

She has started sounding words out - so I am thinking she's moved up a level in her reading development... but is there a 'right' way for me to help her with this? I know I should just ask her teacher - and I will do that, but I always like to hear from other Mum's who have BTDT, or are at the same stage with their own child....

Yesterday I read the story to her, then she read it back to me (with me helping). Afterward I selected easy words for her to sound out (can, up, my).. It seemed to work....

MellieB · #2 February 7th, 2012, 08:22 PM

This is from the cover of Jas's reader...

"A good reader knows how to look at the picture, look at the starting letter, reread and make their best guess, stretch the word and read on".

Jas has been able to read for a while. Sounding out each word really helped her. Re-reading books also helped a lot. She was then able to recognise simple words. That in turn helped with group of letters sounds. Such as "sh" ect.

I would perhaps read the book together. Get her to have a try first, break the word up into single letter sounds. Once she gets going and it starts to make more sense it will get easier.

Jas came across the word Shuttle for the first time today. I had her sound it out. She started with just the "s" sound. Her first guess of the word was suttle. I then suggested that she try sounding it out with the S and H together to make the SH sound. She got the word on the second try.

Jaidynsmum · #3 February 8th, 2012, 02:10 AM

I'd talk to her teacher as different schools have different ways of teaching.
Here there are various reading schemes that schools use and what is used in one school isn't necessarily the same one used in another school in the same town.
Jaidyn has learnt all the sounds that letters make and their names (S says ssssss type of thing). She is learning to blend letters and has a list of 3 letter words ending in 'ip', 'it', 'in', 'et' etc. She has lists of key words taken from her weekly reading books that she has to learn every night and is now convinced she can read Harry Potter, so we have to read that together!

Lucia_mommy · #4 February 8th, 2012, 05:01 AM

Sounds like your doing it fine!! Anna was a quick reader, could read a whole book at 4, but Josephine shows little interest in it so far LOL. So each child is different. But I can't really advice you as the Dutch language is so different from the English and they use different methods to teach reading and writing here

Kimchi · #5 February 8th, 2012, 05:30 AM

My girls have been reading for a few years now. I first taught them the letters and then the sounds that each letter made. Then I started them on Bob books because of the controlled vocabulary, it made it easy for them to sound out the words. We also worked on memorizing sight words (the, and, with...) that you see a lot in print and that are not necessarily decodable.
Here is a link for the Bob books BOB BOOKS - "I read the WHOLE book!"
I would ask her teacher too and see what guidance she can give you.

ETA: There is a Bob Books App that I had on my iPad when the kids were younger that they liked.

Momof4Boyz · #6 February 8th, 2012, 07:12 AM

We're at that point too, Jay knows his letters and their sounds and can put them together and sound out a word. His library book is grade-specific and he can usually read a good portion of it himself. So I help with the bigger words and he says the ones he knows. Then we also have these books called decodables from when my oldest was in school that I let him read - they have sight words and then a picture to represent a word they don't know such as baseball but words like ball and bat are for them to read. Your teacher could advise you on how to help her to what she is doing in school. Our teacher sends home a weekly newsletter with ideas of things we can do with them to help them with reading.

LovinMyGirls · #7 February 8th, 2012, 02:38 PM

Starfall's Learn to Read with phonics excellent site for letter sounds/words

Letters - have names.. and sounds

We can put letter sounds together to make words. When we read things must make sense, sound right and look right.

Trish36 · #8 February 8th, 2012, 05:22 PM

I think you are doing a great job.
Remember that at first they start to memorize the stories and will basically tell you from memory what you've read the night before, so yes, you do want to read it to her first and then have her read it to you. If she can already recognize words and sound them out then she is doing awesome ....way ahead of where some other kids would be at that age.
When Tyler started grade 1 his teacher called me at the beginning of the year to tell me that his reading level for grade one was at a 7 and most of the other kids are lucky to be at a 3 or 4. I was so proud of him.
I would just stock up on many different books and let her enjoy them.

pauriemmo · #9 February 9th, 2012, 05:13 AM

My son learned to read at 4 and it was mostly on his own. The best thing I ever bought for him was a Tag Reader. He would read the books over and over again and memorized them. This helped him to be able to read other books because he recognized a lot of the words. I definitely recommend buying it.

Now when we read together, he only needs help with really big words. It was one of the best investments I have ever made as a parent. I will be using it with my next child as well.

Gaby&Emmy'sMama · #10 February 13th, 2012, 07:16 PM

thanks for all your thoughts etc. I spoke to her teacher & she said Gaby is doing well - I guess it's just hard for me to imagine NOT being able to read, and having to actually learn, but obviously we all did that

I'll check out those websites too!

clouise · #11 February 13th, 2012, 07:55 PM

When my two were learning I had them spend a few minutes on flashcards of sight words every night, and then we would read a book together, pretty much the same way you're doing. I really think that the most important thing is just that you read to and with your children often.

yemanya · #12 February 19th, 2012, 04:34 PM

Can I throw some different ideas out there?

(Sorry, these probably will be seeped in a bias, I am a Children's Librarian)

As previously stated, firstly, easy reader books are very simple, and usually by the time kids are at the stage to read them, they are well above the language used, making them very easy to memorise, so I wouldnt read them to her first, just help her along as she goes, all kids get frustrated when they cant get a word out and thats the point to step in.

Alternate styles that youre reading, this will help with reading comprehension. I did used to work as a teachers aid with grade 1 kids and in my experience most schools tend to stick with the one "brand" of easy reader (bulk discounts) and theyre usually worded quite similarly, so to really broaden children's compehension of what theyre reading they need variety, different authors, different styles. *Insert plug for joining your local library here* so varying from picture books to phonic style readers to story based readers has its benefits.

And of course, most important is to make reading enjoyable, finding books your daughter loves and is interested in (you would think this is a given, but strangely no) not forcing it if she's having an off day and keeping it a happy experience. And, something I say to a lot of parents, kids learn by example, if they see their parents enjoying reading, it will encourage them to hack at it more than if they dont see it as something that their parents value.