Questions Answered

1. At what age do you recommend starting memorizing the sight words?

The quick answer to this question is when your child enters Kindergarten or shows interest, but I would like to tell you the reasoning behind this. Reading is part of language. It has to be taught. It is not acquired like speaking. A child has to learn to speak, and then transition speaking into reading. In order to do this we have to help the child break up spoken words into smaller parts. Children have to realize that words are made up of sounds, and print represents these sounds. We call these sounds phonemes. Cat has three phonemes /c/ /a/ /t/. Children have to develop this awareness. (My next blog is about rhyming and why it is so important to teach children to manipulate sounds.)

Teach children the letters and sounds. They need to realize that letters represent a sound and it is related to words. When you read to a child they start to develop this knowledge base and also build vocabulary.

Children need to be able to orally manipulate sounds. Talk about rhyming words. Say a word that has more than one syllable and have them take out a syllable, for example: say “teacher”, now say it without “er”, “teach”. Say a word and have them take out a phoneme, for example: say “man”, now take off the /m/, “an”.

Sight words are words that need to be memorized. If a child does not have a basic sense of language he/she cannot understand what a words is and that words unlock print. Memorizing sight words is a higher-level skill. When your child is ready and wants to learn to read or is teaching himself/herself to read, then definitely help him memorize sight words. If he/she is not interested wait until Kindergarten and continue to work on oral language and mastering letters and sounds.

2. How can reading to my child help her learn to read?

There are many steps in teaching children to learn to read. These include phonemic awareness, phonics, literature, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Let’s go through each of these steps to better understand them from a pre-reading or beginning reading stand point:

1. Literature and vocabulary are high up on the list of teaching reading. When you read to a child they come to love stories and literature. They also develop vocabulary, which is a big part of learning to read. Stories have plots and characters. Stories draw you and your child into another world. When your child asks what a word means, take time to explain it. If they don’t ask, take the time to explain vocabulary. This is one reason reading to your child is important in teaching him/her to read.

2. On a Kindergarten level, fluency is memorizing and retelling a story. Children want to retell the story with the same expression that they heard you use. Children develop fluency by listening to you read to them. They want to learn to read like you.

3. Comprehension can be taught as you talk about the story and ask questions. Become involved in the story with your child. Ask questions about the story.

4. Phonemic awareness is helping children manipulate and notice the sounds (or phonemes) in words. (See my next blog for a detailed definition of phonemic awareness).

5. Phonics is systematically teaching reading rules, starting with the letters and sounds, blends, diagraphs, vowel rules, and how to divide a word into syllables so they can be decoded.

When you put this altogether children can actually have the motivation to learn to read.

Motivation leads to enjoyment. Enjoyment leads to reading. We want children to learn to read words, but we want them to learn to enjoy reading more. Make the world a better place, read to a child today!