Reading is one of the most essential things children will learn in their early age. It equips them with the literacy skills they need throughout their lives. Kids should be trained not only to read for the sake of reading but to learn and develop the skills of reading. With a proper way of teaching reading, kids can acquire a number of important skills, including phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, reading for gist, making predictions, critical thinking, and so … Effective learning of reading will turn them into fast readers; because they can recognize vocabulary by sight instead of reading out loud. They also get able to boost their vocabulary through context. Another powerful benefit of reading is that it helps them write and express themselves effectively.
How to teach reading to kids?
Learning to read is not as simple as it seems, but demands a systematic instruction of skills (e.g. phonics, phonemic awareness, … ). However, the following simple steps will allow you to effectively teach reading to kids.
1- Phonics :
It’s a method of instruction that refers to teaching kids to make connections between letters and their sounds. It’s one of the major challenges that children face when learning to read. Therefore, parents and teachers should be always there for help in case of any difficulty the kids may encounter in understanding phonics; otherwise, they will struggle to read.
2- Use songs to promote phonemic awareness :
Reading through phonemic awareness is one of the most important skills in learning to read. There are a set of activities teachers or parents can use with children to build phonemic awareness, such as singing together while clapping rhythmically. Using songs and nursery rhymes is not only entertaining, but also an awesome way to learn to read.
3- Go step by step :
Long texts, from the very start, can be demotivating for a beginner reader. That’s why it’s recommended to start with short reading passages in a form of single words before moving to phrases and sentences.
4- A lot of repetition does work :
children ought to be exposed to repeated words and letters; this will help them develop a number of important reading skills.
5- Create Words Cards :
After you prepare a number of simple cards, write a word on each one. Every word should consist of three sounds. Ask your child to pick one card, and read the word together. Have them recite each sound of the word in order. This activity enables children to develop important phonics and decoding skills. If your kid is a beginner at the alphabet, focus only on the sounds rather than the letter names.
6-Create a print-rich environment for children:
Decorating the classroom or your child’s room with printed materials ( e.g posters, pictures, books, labels, etc. ) will certainly motivate them to develop reading skills such as making connections between sounds and letters. You can use your print-rich environment to play several games with your child. At any time, you can draw the child’s attention to the printed words, and read them out loud sound by sound. Then invite them to do the same. In a competitive and fun atmosphere, you can also ask your child questions such as: “What sound is the first letter of that word” “which words that start with this sound?” “What word rhymes with this word?”
7- Letter magnets to Deal with the issue of vowel sounds for kids:
Some children find it challenging to sound vowels, especially the ones that come in the middle of words. For this reason, this activity is found to be very helpful. Put the letter magnets on the fridge, and move the vowels to one side ( a,e,i,o,u). Pronounce a C-V-C word ( consonant-vowel-consonant), such as ‘hat’, then invite your child to spell it using the magnets.
8-Familiarize kids with sight words to the maximum extent possible :
Simply, sight words are frequently-used words (e.g. you, am, and, the, they, where, was, does) that children find hard to sound because they don’t follow the basic phonetic rules. That’s why this type of words need to be memorized by sight so that your child can recognize it once they see it in a text. There are several strategies for learning sight words. One important step is to expose your child to a wide range of sight words early on. The more children recognize sight words, the more they become fluent and fast readers.
9- Respect their choices:
Allow your children to pick the books they are interested in. Making your child enjoy reading is a good start which will set them up for success. You might find a book they like is challenging, but at least this will help you have an idea about what kind of topics they are passionate about.
10- Read to your child regularly and check their comprehension :
Reading to your child is another outstanding technique that will help them pick up many skills. This useful method not only teaches them how to pronounce words, but it also enables them to boost their vocabulary, and develop important comprehension skills. What’s more, reading regularly to your child will inspire a love of reading in them. Make this practice a habit, and don’t forget to ask questions to empower your child’s comprehension skills.
