Learning to read is one of the greatest skills any child will gain from their elementary education, and parents play a central role in making sure their kid has opportunities to practice. If your child is at an age where they’re starting to learn to read, here are three ways you can help them enjoy this amazing process.
Get Sound Cards
Nowadays, most kids learn to read through a phonics system. This system aims to teach children all of the potential sounds they will encounter when reading in the English language. It starts off simple, with sounds like “a” being used to teach words like “cat”, but gets more complex as children learn about unvoiced letters, split digraphs (such as in the word “late”, where the a and the e work together to create a long a sound) and dipthongs. Get some cards with all of the sounds printed on them, make sure you know how to say them (check in with your child’s teacher), and then get practicing together!
Set Aside Time to Listen
It’s really important that you appear keen and eager to listen to your child read. Even if initially, their attempts are quite painful and slow, expressing your delight and admiration will help keep them invested. What you want to avoid is a battle, where you’re trying to get your kid to read to you and they’re refusing due to lack of confidence or dislike of reading.
Read to Them
Learning to read can feel overwhelming for some kids, and requires an awful lot of brain power. Keep them interested in books, but give them a break from all that hard work, by ensuring that you’re reading high-quality books to them at bedtime or when they get home from school.