Reading is an important part of anyone’s life, and for a child, the ability to read can help send them to different worlds full of adventure, fun, and education.  Of course, we are not all born with a reading ability ingrained into our minds!  Children must be taught how to read, and whether they learn at a school, preschool, or at home with a parent or guardian teaching them, it is important to get them started on the road to reading in the way that works best for them.  Here are some ideas for teaching children to read, no matter what kind of learners they might be.

 

• Start by reading to your child.

Read to children as often as possible even when they are still babies.

 

• Have your child copy down letters.

Repetitive copying of letter shapes helps teach kids what the letters mean.

 

• Ask your child to repeat letter sounds aloud.

Repetition can also be used to teach letter sounds.

 

• Teach sight words, and ask your child to identify them.

Sight words, like a, an, the, to, and from, can be easy to recognize.  Teach them early, and ask kids to point them out in newspapers and magazines.

 

• Put words into word families.

Ask children to organize words into families based on different structures, such as color words, sound words, and more.

 

• Consider teaching phonics.

Phonics is sometimes a controversial subject, but many kids respond well to learning phonemes as they learn how to read.

 

• Teach children how to sound out words.

Sounding it out can be a great way for a child to make a guess at a complicated new word.

 

• Make letter arrangement puzzles.

Cut up simple words or the child’s name into individual letters, mix them up, and ask the child to reorganize them into the correct order.

 

• Glue or sew letters.

Gluing or sewing around letters is a great way for kids to remember their shapes by touch.

 

• Teach with simple clues or scavenger hunts.

 Write down easy to read clues and have kids read them to for “treasure” around the room.

 

• Ask children to organize items into boxes by letter or sound.

A toy duck should go into the D box, and a pencil should go into the P box.  Teach kids word beginnings using this method.

 

• Clap out syllables.

Syllables can be tricky, but if you make a game of clapping them out, they can be fun to learn.

 

•  Focus on punctuation.

Slightly older kids can learn about punctuation marks and what they do to a sentence.

 

• Spend a while on vowel sounds.

 Vowels are difficult, since they make a lot of different sounds.  Be sure to spend plenty of time focusing on them.

 

• Read simple poetry to learn about rhymes.

Simple children’s poems are excellent ways to teach vowel sounds through rhyme.

 

• Set a daily reading time.

Reading every day is a sure way to improve those skills!

 

• Allow children to put together simple scrapbooks of their families, friends, or pets.

Cutting and pasting pictures and mementos into pages organized by name can help kids sort words by family member, emotion, and more.

 

• Ask children to classify their favorite stories by type.

Older kids might benefit from sorting out their favorite stories as fantasies, school stories, and more.

 

• Teach children how to write simple notes.

Small notes to and from friends or family are great reasons for any child to learn reading and writing both.

 

• Utilize flash cards.

They may be a little outdated, but flash cards can still help some kids learn how to recognize words, letters, and sounds quickly.

 

 

When a child knows how to read, he or she is able to enjoy books, comics, and more without struggling.  With these methods for teaching children to read, you can easily help a child in your home or classroom.