You can start teaching your child the building blocks for reading before they ever step foot in a classroom. Once your child enters school, you can work with your child and their teachers to help aid the learning process. Teaching your child to read will involve dedication and patience.
Make reading an important part of your child’s life before they can even speak. Read to your child as they develop in the womb and when they are babies. When your child is ready, start to read out loud to them while they follow along by looking at the pictures. You can then start to point out words in the book to your child while you read their favorite stories.
Read your children books with rhymes as well. The rhymes are easy for your child to remember and as they grow older they can learn to recognize some of the words in their favorite rhymes.
Start to introduce your baby to the alphabet from a young age. When your baby is just a couple months old you can start singing the ABC’s song to them. Between twelve to eighteen months, your little one will start to sing parts of the song on their own. A few months after that, you can start showing them the letters of the alphabet on a chart as you sing through the tune.
Start to demonstrate the sounds made by each letter of the alphabet when your child reaches preschool age. Take your time teaching them all the sounds that the letters of the alphabet will make. After your child starts to comprehend the various sounds made my letters of the alphabet, you can start teaching some basic words. Take each letter of the alphabet and teach your child common words that start with that letter. Write out the words for your child to see. Search for these words in your child’s books to show them how the word is written. In time, your child will begin to recognize basic words. (Some examples of words you might want to start out with include: apple, bat, cat, dog and hat).
Teaching your child to write will also help to aid in the learning process for reading. Teach your child to write the letters of the alphabet first. You can buy practice books that start out by having children trace each letter before they try to write letters on their own. When your child has mastered the alphabet, they can begin learning to trace and write simple words such as: dog, cat, bat, ball and top.
When your child is ready to start trying to read a few words on their own, buy some basic books. The books should contain words that follow the basic rules of phonics. Words that deter from the average phonics rules will be difficult for your child to recognize at first until they learn to spot and identify these words.
As your child starts to work on reading and writing in school, be actively involved in the process. Help your child with their homework. If your child is struggling, talk to their teacher to learn further ways to help your child learn to read. Spend time reading with your children each night.