Kindergarten Children Begin to Read

Lets talk more about teaching kindergarten children beginning reading. Last time we talked about letters and sounds, blending small words, sight words, and reading beginning picture books.

Today lets discuss rhyming, word families, and beginning and ending sounds:

Rhyming is important because it shows children how words work. They learn how to manipulate language. In rhyming the end stays the same and the beginning changes. It’s ok to use nonsense words. ”What rhymes with dog?” Log, hog, sog, wog, bog, tog, chog… all these are fine. Some are words and some are nonsense words, but the children are hearing the sounds and hearing the changes in words. Rhyming games are fun while you are driving, playing or cleaning the house.

The next step in rhyming is word families. When teaching word families use only real words, (this is also rhyming). In the “at” family there is bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, etc. Put “at” on an index card then change the beginning consonant. See if the children can sound out the new word. Make lots of different word families: “an” family: can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, etc. “Og” family: bog, dog, fog, hog, jog, log, etc.

When you teach beginning and ending sounds say a word and ask two different questions. 1) What sound do you hear? 2) What letter makes that sound? It is important for the children to hear the sound at the beginning and ending of words even before they know the name of the letter. Children will hear the beginning and ending sounds, before they are able to hear the middle vowel sound.

A fun game to play is separating words into sounds. Say, “I am thinking of a word” and give 3 separate sounds. Have them try to put it together and tell you the word. This is difficult for children so be patient. What is /c/ /a/ /t/? Answer: cat. Do it the opposite way as well. Tell me the sounds you hear in dog. Answer: /d/ /o/ /g/.

After all these fun games don’t forget to just cuddle up with a book, read together and enjoy a story. Nothing will make a child want to read more than learning to enjoy a story. So happy reading!

Succeed in Kindergarten

You have had your child with you for 5-6 years and it is time to start Kindergarten. What can you do to help your child succeed in Kindergarten? It is time to start putting it altogether.

Before you can make any headway into reading your child has to know his/her letters and sounds. If this is a problem then it is time to start drilling at home. Make a chart, give rewards, and give hugs and kisses. This is where it all begins. Every day in Kindergarten the teacher drills the letters and sounds. At home do it again, but you can make it fun. The very best website for teaching letters and sounds and beginning reading is www.starfall.com. Kids love this website.

If your child is really struggling in learning the letters and sounds start with the letters in his/her name. Then do Mom and Dad along with siblings’ names.

After your child has learned all his/her letters and sounds, then start putting them together. Create short three letter words that can be sounded out like; cat, dog, pig, sun, pet, etc. Show your child the letters and they can blend them into words.

Do not choose sight words that cannot be sounded out. Words like; the, this, is, are, said etc. These go into another category: words that need to be memorized. Your child’s teacher will usually send home a list of words to be memorized. Learn these by sight. Take your time on these. Only do 1-3 a week unless your child shows real interest.

As your child starts to read sometimes you get your hands on books where the text repeats. For example: We can run. We can hop. We can swim. We can play. On each page with the words is a picture. In Kindergarten we teach that good readers look at the picture for clues to the words. On the page is a picture of children jumping into leaves. So the student will say, “We can jump”, but the words say, “We can hop.” Tell your child that jump is a good guess. Have them look at the word “hop”, and then ask: “What letter does the word start with?” Answer: “h”. What sound does “h” make? Answer: /h/. What sound does jump start with? Answer: /j/. So the word cannot be jump. Then sound out the word together. HOP. “We can hop.”

As your child is beginning to read memorization is OK. If they memorize the “We can…” book, that is fine. We are trying to help them feel like readers. A big part of reading is fluency. Children will mimic how you are reading, this is also important.

These are just a couple of pointers on reading. We will talk more on another blog.

With Kindergarten children a big key is to be patient. Take little steps. As you work with your child, and his/her teacher, he/she will learn to read. Be patient, reading will evolve.

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

Kindergarten is not the same as it was even just 15 years ago. After teaching Kindergarten for 22 years I have seen a big change. I often feel like I teach a half-year of Kindergarten and a half-year of the “old first grade”. I used to be happy if my students left Kindergarten knowing their letters and sounds. Now by the end of Kindergarten most students are reading.

My most successful Kindergarten students come into Kindergarten knowing many of their letters and a few sounds. I am so excited when I test kids before school and this is the case. They understand what letters are and they want to learn to read.

Remember not to push your children before school. Introduce what they are interested in. As you read it becomes natural for children to learn the concepts of print. I will discuss a few concepts.

First: Occasionally point to the words on the page. Show your children how you read from left to right with a return sweep. Many children don’t realize you are reading, they think you are making up the story. Don’t do this on every page just introduce it to them.

Second: As you read ask questions and make predictions. Good readers are engaged in the story. They know the characters and stop if they get lost in the story and re-read to find about a character. Poor readers just read words and are not engaged in the story.

Third: Help children listen to how language is formed and words are manipulated. Rhyming in poems or fairy tales is productive. Picture books and Dr. Seuss books are full of rhyming. After reading the story a few times, when you come to the end leave the last rhyming word off. See if your child can fill in the word.

Repetition books are great for teaching language development; books like Silly Sally, or The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood. When it comes to “Here is a house a napping house where everyone is sleeping”, your child will be able to repeat it with you.

ABC books are important to teach alphabetical order and what starts with the letter “c” etc. Point to letters and repeat them to your child. You can never read too many ABC books.

Fourth: Retelling the story is important. When you finish the book have your child retell the story. Ask questions about the story; ask them what their favorite part was, have them talk about the characters. Another fun activity is to make puppets with storybook characters. Have the children retell the story using puppets.

It all comes back to reading and talking to your children. Let your children see your love for literacy. Parents keep up the good work; enjoying and leaning to love literacy is for the whole family!

Reading Creates an Emotional and Family Bond

When reading to a child he/she hears many different emotions and expressive sounds. He is fostering social and emotional development. Talking and asking questions develops thinking skills. Stay away from books on tapes, TV and radio. What you are trying to foster is an emotional connection to the words being spoken. As for videos, save these for children over age three.

Reading is a great time for cuddling and bonding with Mom and Dad. The first few months of your child’s life he is hearing the rhythm of language. That is why, nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss, fairy tales and children books are a good choice. Any children’s literature is rich in vocabulary and language. He/she likes to listen to your voice reading, even if you read a magazine or a novel you are trying to finish. Babies learn a great deal about language before they ever say a word. When you read to baby you set them up to love literacy for life.

As you are reading to young children, focus on the pleasure at hand, not on trying to teach the alphabet and letter sounds. Teach these as your child becomes interested. Sometimes it is not so much the rote learning that’s important, it is developing a literacy rich environment. Teaching him to enjoy reading at an early age, is much more important than just simply phonics.

The amount of literacy in the home is in direct correlation with fluent readers in the future. The most successful readers are those who partner home with school. Home is the first teacher. Children need to see books, newspapers, and magazines in the home. They need to see that reading is enjoyable for their family

The family shapes a child’s learning. Talk to your child, read to your child, let your child see you reading and writing. Help them experience simple things; going to the library, supermarket, or the park. Play language games in the car and at home. Children are sponges. Give them experiences they will cherish. Make your child a participant in your life; this is what will shape his future. “Although excellent formal reading instruction can ensure success in literacy even for high-risk readers, substantial efforts to recruit the partnership of families greatly increase the chances of success.” (Lenses on Reading: Diane H. Tracy and Lesley Mandel Morrow)

Talking and reading to your baby creates a love for reading. It is the greatest gift you can give your child. Make your connection to your child the most important one in your life. As you model a love of reading your child will learn to love to read.

Talk to your Baby

Literacy-rich home environments are the key to children becoming readers. They contribute more to a child’s early literacy development than do kindergarten or pre-school. How can I create a home environment that is literacy rich?

The first step is to talk to your baby. Who would think that talking to your child creates intelligence? Talk to your baby even before your child is born. Children learn vocabulary and communication by hearing their language spoken to them. Hart and Ridley (1995, 1999) estimated that “within a year’s time period, children from professional homes are exposed to 11.2 million words, children from working-class homes are exposed to 6.5 million words, and children from welfare homes are exposed to 3.2 million words.” Vocabulary development is essential to literacy. We can bridge that gap by talking to our children. Turn off the T.V. Turn off devices in the car. Talk to your children while you are making dinner, making the bed, having a bath. Tell them anything you can think of. The more you speak from the beginning or his/her life, the better for his/her growth and development. “Studies have shown that language skills—and even your intelligence—are related to how many words an infant hears each day. In one study, babies whose parents spoke to them a lot (an average of 2,100 words an hour) scored higher on standard tests when they reached age 3 than did children whose parents hadn’t been as verbal.” (www.babycenter.com/0_reading-to-your-baby)

By the time your child reaches his/her first birthday, he will have learned all the sounds needed to speak his native tongue. Children whose parents frequently talk/read to them know more words by age two than children who have not been talk/read to, so talk, talk, talk. Children who are talk/read to will be ready and willing to learn to read at the right time.

Read to your Baby

It is never too early to read to your child. Read to your baby before your child is born. When your baby is born make a special time to read. When your child gets to be 6 months or older they love picture books. Get durable books, board books, books with pages that can be turned easily and can survive wear and tear because everything goes into his/her mouth. Babies love to be held and spoken to. As you read the book talk about colors, ask questions, talk about the pages. An infant won’t understand all the questions of the conversation, but it is the foundation of language.

Some children prefer books with built in activities, like lift flaps, touch and feel pages, or photographs. Children like the same story over and over. This is all right. Remember you are building vocabulary and closeness. The child is learning that reading is a skill worth learning. Let your baby choose what book he/she wants to listen to. He/she will come to have a favorite book or story but variety is also fine.

I was watching Rachael as her mother read to her while we were waiting in the airport. She was only 6 months old, but her hands flapped and her eyes got as big as saucers. Her smile was huge as she reached for the book. The very last page was a flap that lifted up. She squealed at the end of the book and wanted to start again. Rachael is on her way to being a reader. She has already found joy in books.

Because I teach school I want to be known as the “Book Grandma”. Surround your children and grandchildren with books. Make sure the books are within reach of the children. Put them at a level that they can be reached and loved. Children soon realize that there is a story within the pages. As you read to them they will begin to understand that a whole new world opens up as you read. So let’s, read, read, read!