Right off the bat I would like to tell you that I am about to share an amazing strategy… a strategy that will have your child reading in minutes… and it comes not from me, but from an incredible teacher who has used it in the trenches. My Aunt Karen shared this with me. She is a seasoned professional in her own right, having 7 children, all of which she home schooled.
On with the magic. You will need a few pictures of animals and some index cards with one letter per card. Start with the animal pictures. Your conversation will go something like this…
“What is this animal?”
“a cow”
“What sound does a cow make?”
“moooooo”
“When I show you this picture, I want you to say the sound the animal makes. Let’s practice.”
Continue this conversation with the next animal. Each time asking what sound the animal makes. Now, show a letter card. I recommend “b” and have this conversation.
“What is this letter?”- or if your child doesn’t know letters yet- “This is a b”
“B”
“Letters are just like animals. Each one makes a sound. B says b. Can you make that sound with me? b When I show you this card I want you to say its sound.”
Practice a few times, then introduce “A” only using the a as in apple sound (we don’t want to move too quickly). Then introduce “T”. You are now ready to read. Put B…A….T… on the table. Your child will say b a t. Bat- there is a roar of applause. You read bat. Make a huge deal. Confidence is one of the key factors in reading success. Now put the cards T…A…B. Another roar of applause. Can you believe it? Two words already. Dare to go for three with the word at.
By learning just one more sound, g, you can read bag, gab, tag. That is 6 words knowing only 4 sounds.
I hope you see the beauty in this. Your child doesn’t have to know every letter or even every sound that each letter makes before they can feel the success of reading. They can do something immediately with a limited amount of knowledge. You will not believe how excited a child is to be able to “read”. Stay positive. Show everyone. Stick to 3 letter words with short vowel sounds and don’t introduce every letter on the same day. You want to end on a note that leaves your child wanting to learn more tomorrow.
Also, remember that when things are broken down into pieces they are digestable. You wouldn’t memorize a speech by reading the whole thing over and over. You work sentence by sentence and take breaks so that your brain has time to digest all the information it is processing. The same is true for your new reader. Practice in managable amounts of time and add just one letter at a time. The important part of this lesson is the immediate success that your child will feel. He is a reader!
Filed under: Read It Up | Tagged: lesson, read, reading
