Building Blocks To Reading

The Joy of Reading

Reading is the eternal fountain of learning. Reading also gives us access to endless stories, making books possibly the best and certainly oldest form of entertainment.

Help Them Read

How do we make it possible to open up the doors of literacy to every child?  How do we gift them with the treasures of words, and then numbers, facts and figures, history, and all things academic?

The Solution

Doing reading exercises with your kiddo at a very young age will teach him how to read on his own.

Reading with Infants and Toddlers

First off, pick out books that you think your kiddo will like and you will enjoy reading.  Read the story or book over and over again to help him learn language.

Point to pictures and talk about them. (That bear is brown!)  Have him point to pictures as well and tell you what it is. (Which one is the dog?)

Talk to him about things in his life that have to do with the story. (Did you see a dog today? Is your stuffed animal a bear? What is it?)

Suggested Reading

Dr. Seuss books are great for all of those exercises, as well as  “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown.

Reading with Pre-School and School-Age Children

With kids that are a little older the strategy to teach them to read is a little bit different.

Try to discuss the story with your kiddo (Where did the monkey go?  What happened after he left the zoo?)

Start going over the sounds of letters. (Point to a dog and ask him what sound a dog makes.) The better he gets ask more difficult questions. (Point to a picture of a cow and ask him what is the first letter sound of the word cow.)

You can also play sound games with your child. (Ask for words that rhyme, like bell and tell. Or ask for words that start with the same sound, like six and seven.)

Suggested Reading 

Some books to look into are “Hippos Go Berserk!” by Sandra Boynton and “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” by Dr. Seuss.

Don’t Lose Heart

Learning to read is a challenge, for some kids more than others. Don’t lose heart. Patient reading and applying the exercises that were discussed will get results.

Real Results

One day he will be reading and staring while you point.  Some time later he may be able to follow along perfectly, word for word. And then the day will come when he is actually reading, not memorizing, and he can understand every word.