how do you teach reading?
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how do you teach reading?
| Sat, 05-22-2004 - 11:44am |
alright, i'm going to post this everywhere and hopefully someone will have THE answer, lol. my daughter is almost five and will be starting k in the fall, and i would really like her to be doing basic reading by the time she goes, but i have absolutely no idea how to teach her! we've done every thing that all the books suggest-we read tons of books to her, she's done hundreds of kindergarten workbooks (pretty much breezes through them), loves her leap pad, plays reading games on playstation and pc, but she hasn't managed to make that magical jump to actually reading on her own. she can recognize a few words, but she tends to just memorize the book, and she will paraphrase or recite the words on the page but she can't actually read. i encourage reading all that i can, point words out to her, etc etc, but it hasn't really "clicked" for her. none of the things i have read explain how that happens, they just recomend everything we're already doing, and have been doing for years. so i'm asking the REAL experts: how do i get her to "get it?"
can anyone tell me how their children learned? did anyone teach their own kids, or did you just wait for school? should i shell out the big bucks for HOP or something, or just be patient? what worked for your kids? she's really smart and seems to have the desire, it seems like she's soooo close but just can't quite get it.
ideas anyone?
tia,
clarity
can anyone tell me how their children learned? did anyone teach their own kids, or did you just wait for school? should i shell out the big bucks for HOP or something, or just be patient? what worked for your kids? she's really smart and seems to have the desire, it seems like she's soooo close but just can't quite get it.
ideas anyone?
tia,
clarity


You are doing all of the right things. But there is nothing you can do to MAKE her get it.
My DS is almost 6. When he was 3, I could spell ANY word and he could interpret it. I would say to DH "Honey, do you think we should s-t-o-p at a t-o-y s-t-o-r-e?" and Ben would immediately say "We're gonna stop at a toy store??" Then I would point to the word "toy" in print and ask him what the word was and he would say "apple?" or some other unrelated word. I couldn't figure out how he could nail one skill set cold and be clueless as to the other when they appeared to me to be basically the same.
However, it really does make sense. There's a gigantic difference between what the brain can intuit and comprehending letter sounds and the link between the brain and the way ones' eyes view print. Until a child is physically ready for his/her eyes to interpret text as words, he or she isn't going to be able to read. And that is a physical thing that just happens at a different age for each child.
The family education web site has some fun pre-reading and early reading stuff.
http://www.familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,1-20954,00.html
Also, there is an early reader tip sheet posted on one of the other boards:
http://pages.ivillage.com/thegiftedchild/reading_tips.html
Hope this helps - Suzanne
clarity
Here's another article that you might find interesting. It shows how few kids in the US in kindergarten can read at all, let alone read words in context. Even if quite a few kids in your area start kindy reading, I wouldn't worry at all if your DD can't do it yet. Reading is strange. One week, they can't do it. The next week, something just clicks and they "can."
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001035.pdf
The funny thing though? Probably half of her class caught up with her by the end of this school year. She started off SOO far ahead, but ended this school year being just above average. I knew it would happen, but I think she was actually surprised though.
After going through all of this with my first born, I learned something very important... It's not exactly how much they read at what age, more importantly, it's how much they ENJOY it at a young age. If they don't like reading, then it's more likely to affect them for the rest of their lives, but in the long run, it's not going to matter so much how old they were when they started. I would much rather my children have the passion for reading (like I do) than a gift for it and not want to use it. LOL I was lucky though, my DD learned to read at such a young age because she WANTED to. She BEGGED me to learn how to read. She even told me, when she was 4 yrs old and already on the verge of learning a lot of it, "Mommy, I'm the ONLY kid that DOESN'T know how to read!" and she was practically in tears when she told me this! I was shocked! LOL The reason why she felt this way, was because she was SO CLOSE, PLUS she had older cousins that were showing off reading skills. I guess it was too much for her to handle! LOL
As for actually teaching her.... Well, I confess...I cheated. My best friend is a SAHM, but she had just gotten her teaching certifcation right when her first child was born. Her grade she was working with was 1st grade, so she knew all of the tricks and had all of the "tools" to teach her. So she taught Cassie how to read. I think she tutored her twice a week for like 30 minutes over a six week course (she had a six week reading course from her teaching materials). I listened to Cassie when she read over the little booklets she had, but other than that, I didn't work with her much at all. LOL I'm such a cheat! I have NO CLUE how to go about teaching them. I do know that my friend concentrated on her knowing ALL of the sounds of the alphabet before she started her on putting the sounds together.
If your DD has a true passion for learning to read, I would definitely keep encouraging it. You don't want her to lose that passion. It really sounds like you are doing all that you can with her though. It's just a matter of time before it all "clicks" for her.
Good luck!
Angie
I get to actually help someone on this board instead of the other way around!
My 7 yr old ds has been reading since he was 4 years old. Yes he is very bright, but I have taught at least 20 other children using the same method!
It is so simple you will be amazed that it is not talked about everywhere!
The book is called Alphaphonics. It is just one book to buy around 29.00 and you need nothing else with it! It has simple easy to understand lesson plans in back for you to teach, and it even tells you exactly what to say!
I have taught my ds, and 3 of my nephews at age 4 to read. I went back to work for a while last year and taught my 12 students to read. I now use the same method teaching preschool out of my home. The old preschool I taught at still uses that method since they were so impressed with what i had done.
I am not exxagerating when I say my ds was reading in just under 3 days!!!
Here is a website that has book on it, may be official site.
http://www.howtotutor.com
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I got mine at wal-mart for 8 dollars. You can also use a childs large chalkboard.
Good luck, hope this helps
Traci
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clarity