Teaching them to read

My girls are just 4 but I thought I might draw on the expertise of the 5-11 "veterans." My girls understand letter sounds and can tell you initial consonants of anything with a straighforward sound (and have been able to do so for a loong time) and now are attempting spellings, like "Mom, what does r-o-g spell, rug?" or more nonsensical combinations like, "Is w-x-v-r a word?" Other times I'll slowly phonetically help them sound out a word, and they do well, except the vowels -- not grasping that as well.

So...my question is whether there are any games or products that would be age-appropriate for them at this point that would help them learn to read? Or other suggestions. They are very interested in learning.

Melissa said just yesterday, "The next thing I want to learn to do by myself is READ." :wub: Jade, FWIW, is ahead of her on this, making better answers at spellings, and in all things related has been ahead.

 

I am teaching my 4 yr old DD to read using 100 easy lessons book. It's designed for children 3-5 and so far we really like it.

 

A simple (and free) thing you can do is when you read to them point to each word. They will learn "sight words" this way and then won't have to sound out words like "the", "and", etc. You can also use flash cards to practice those. It sounds like they are already sounding out words which is more than a lot of kids starting kindergarten have!

 

My DS is 4 1/2 and he is doing the same thing.. He is better at making the sounds and spelling out loud, than the visual part of it . i.e. writing and reading. But I guess that is coming too. He is in preschool, so each week they work on 1-2 letters, sound, recognition and writing. He is doing really well. I just help him sound out words, and he will tell me how to spell it. He can spell Mom, Dad, his first and last name, and other words if we help him. Im not using anything right now to help reading. I will be visiting the Parent Teacher store in the area soon though to see whats out there.
Im so excited about his progress. I feel like he is sooo smart. Im glad he shows interest in the learning process as Im sure you are as well, with your girls!

 

Each of my boys read by age 4 and are reading well beyond grade level now. Aside from the Leap Frog Letter Factory and Word Factory DVDs (for letter and blend sounds), which brought really remarkable results, we just read to them daily from infancy and always had books available to them. Their board books from those early days didn't survive the chewing and tearing, but I think it's important that kids have free access to books at all times. We kept baskets of them in the playrooms, in addition to their bookshelf in their room. And as they got older, we encouraged them to read to us. We also put clip-on lights on their headboards very early on so they could choose to read in bed -- even before they could actually read.

These days, they usually read with their clip-on light for 10-20 minutes after I tuck them in, and I often find Brady on weekend mornings laying in bed reading rather than getting up.

 

LOL! My girls have clip-on book lights!

 

Aidan has enjoyed playing around on www.starfall.com for a couple years now. His K teacher recommended it.

Christy

 

And they love starfall.com too! I just ordered the 100 easy lessons book from the library. I'm not going to get all crazy about it but if they are interested in learning I want to support them every way I can.

 

Kids really love Boggle Jr. There are many different ways you can play it but I think the most fun for kids is just sitting with the dice and cards and matching up the letters.

 

I was going to suggest the 100 easy lessons book, as well. It didn't work with my older son when I tried it with him (he's a "I'll do it when I'm ready" sort of kid), but my twins have liked it. Also, I have really enjoyed using the 'Bob Books' with all of my boys. They are easy to read phonics readers with silly pictures. Nate and Drew love reading them out loud to me and they are SO PROUD of themselves. We have the first 2 sets, and once my boys have mastered those, they are reading everything - we've never used the 3rd set. They have taught all of my boys to read.

Like other's have said, just a general availability of books at all times has helped a lot. It warms my heart when I peek in on one of my sons and they are enjoying a moment with a book! We struggled to get my 2nd son reading and ENJOYING to read. Now, it makes me so happy when I have to say, "Will, put that book away, it's time for dinner!"

Lastly, we also saw amazing results from the Leap Frog videos! They are like magic!

 

Just ordered the BOB books (set 1) -- thanks!

BTW, another thing they love is the Word Whammer letters on the fridge. I threw out the noisy toy and now we just have the letters. I show them a couple new words every day, and they try to make words too.

 

You know, I never thought about teaching them to read. I never got to that point. The twins (both separately, at about 4 1/2), just decided to read me a book one day. I was FLOORED. I had no idea they 'knew' how to. We always read, a lot, to them, so I guess they just picked it up. I am keeping all these great suggestions though. Not sure how Peyton or Jake will do with reading. Peyton loves books, but unfortunately, I just don't have the same amount of time to read with her like I did with the twins.

That reminds me.....I think I will go read her a book now.

 

We did 100 easy lessons here and it worked very well. They still like to go back and read it.

 

I noticed the boys starting "sight" reading street signs and tv program names around age 3. My one son Luke really took off over this past year. It's amazing what he can sight read after having the word read to him only once.

I started off with the Leap Frog letter and word factory DVD's. They are a great resource. As others, I bought the "Starfall" book sets and the first 2 "Bob" book series. At age 4, Luke especially, can read many of them on his own. More recently, I'm noticing him sounded out words that he doesn't have memorized.

At their preschool, they get "Scholastic" book order forms sent home every couple months. I have ordered a few of their "Sight Word Tales" books. The boys really like the books and enjoy the little reviews and quizes at the end. Might be able to get these on the scholastic.com website if your preschool doesn't participate.

 

"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is an excellent book. We ordered it for homeschooling and made it about 1/3 of the way in before the girls started school (they go to a University Model School that holds class 2 days a week and then homeschools 2 days a week). Even the little bit that we did gave them a good grasp of reading and they could already decode simple words and sentences.

 

I also wanted to add that in addition to books, I think many of the computer games out there are a helpful addition in learning to read.

Our boys are obsessed with the CD-ROM game series "I Spy" (I spy treasure hunt, I spy spooky mansion, I spy fantasy,etc). It states for ages 6-9 but our boys have been playing for close to a year now. The game gives items to find within busy picture pages. The word lists are printed at the bottom of the page. They can click on each word to hear them read aloud. Although there are many different games, the boys play it so often, they begin to pick up/memorize many of the words. Like all computer games, it puts into use using words to create actions.( i.e hit the word "play" to begin, hit "quit" to stop,etc. ) Plus, its very entertaining and fun for them in the process. They can also move the mouse, keyboard and click like nobody's business from playing this particular game.

"I Spy" is really stimulating for kids (and adults). For the boys it gives them a chance to find objects that they may have never been exposed to before....increasing vocabulary. Some of the objects are abstract and difficult to find and its amazing how they can spot them. Great exercise for the brain.

 

QUOTE(momotwinsmom @ Oct 7 2008, 02:23 PM) [snapback]1015897[/snapback]
You know, I never thought about teaching them to read. I never got to that point. The twins (both separately, at about 4 1/2), just decided to read me a book one day. I was FLOORED. I had no idea they 'knew' how to. We always read, a lot, to them, so I guess they just picked it up. I am keeping all these great suggestions though. Not sure how Peyton or Jake will do with reading. Peyton loves books, but unfortunately, I just don't have the same amount of time to read with her like I did with the twins.

That reminds me.....I think I will go read her a book now.


Heather, I was the same way. I never worked with my kids on reading--but I did extend on what they asked and took their lead. I discovered Jon could read at 3 1/2 when I found him reading Curious George to himself in bed. Marcus, although he had the potential, really didn't read until K. He is the type of kid who was waiting for his teacher to "show" him that he could read, and since then has taken off, and is one of the top readers in his class.

I favor informal methods, although we do use various computer games and work books.

 

I taught Nadia with this book:

http://www.readinglesson.com/prods.htm

It's similar to the 100 Easy Lessons book from what I understand, but I chose this one just based on the Amazon reviews between the two.

We started fairly early with the Leap Frog videos and fridge magnets and what not, and she was spelling words and sounding words out by age 2.5. So, I started using this book shortly after she turned 3, but we did maybe one page here or there, whenever she was interested. We'd go weeks without even opening it. And then, my little ones were born last summer, so we went many months without looking at it, LOL.

Anyhow. Just finished the book a month or two ago, which puts her at about the 2nd grade level with reading....somewhere around lesson 15, I realized it had just "clicked."

Good luck!

 

Bob Books worked well at our house. My MIL just got this for us at a garage sale: Word Launch. It plugs in to the tv and the boys love it. It's great for teaching the concept of putting letters/sounds together to form words, since you literally have to place them one after another to make the word.