How to Help Your Young Child Learn to Read

Are you looking for the best way to help your child develop reading skills? Teaching kids to read can be a challenging but rewarding experience for both parents and children alike. With the right strategies in place, parents can support their children on their journey toward becoming independent readers. Knowing where to start and which tools to use is essential - but it doesn't have to be daunting! 

While it may seem like reading is something that happens naturally after kindergarten, the truth is that it's a complex process that requires a bit of teaching. To help your children learn, it's essential to focus on phonics and phonemic awareness, letter and sight word recognition.

Fortunately, building these skills is fairly simple and easy to follow, so you can make the whole experience positive and rewarding for everyone involved. Use these tried-and-true strategies to help your little ones unlock the joys of reading! Read on for tips on equipping your little one with the building blocks needed to become an engaged, confident reader.

Here Are Simple Steps to Teach Your Young Child Read

Good news: You can try many fun and simple strategies at home! You can help your little one become a reading superstar with a little effort and creativity. Here’s what you can focus on:

• Create the right environment
  
• Learn to recognize letters and different sounds
  
• Identify sight words
  
• Memorize new vocabulary words
  
• Explore reading comprehension
  
• Improve fluency
  

Reading is a skill that can be developed and refined over time, but it requires more than just the ability to recognize words on a page.

To truly excel as a young reader in kindergarten and first grade, it's essential to employ various mental strategies that help you engage with the material and retain essential information. Everything starts before kindergarten by implementing some healthy reading habits. So take the time at home or find a daycare focusing on academics.

It is a crucial part of this process, as it enables you to build the mental agility and focus needed to tackle even the simplest texts as they become more complex.

Create The Right Environment to Explore

Adding some prints to your walls at home is a powerful tool to help build your child's reading skills. Printed letters, numbers, and words displayed prominently in your child's surroundings can encourage them to see and understand the connections between sounds and letters. ​

The great thing about creating a reading environment is that you do not need to be stuck at home. When running out for errands, try to make a game of pointing out letters on posters, billboards, and signs.  That’s part of the environment, too! This small exercise can help your child's mental training by getting them to focus intensely on identifying letters, sounds, and syllables.

You can even model sounding out letters to make words, asking your child to focus on the first letter in a word and test their skills by asking what other word starts with that sound or rhymes with that word. These small interactions build up over time to create a lifelong love of reading and language.

No matter what you do to create that reading environment, remember that young children learn better when they have fun, and no one ever established that reading should be boring. 

Reading is fun.

Letters, Words, and Sounds Recognition

Simply cut out cards with three-sound words like "Sam," "can," or “pig,” and have your child pick one. Together, read the word and hold up three fingers. Then, ask them to identify the first, second, and third sounds and then repeat the word. ​

This interactive game is a great way to help them sound out words and develop essential phonics and decoding skills.

Plus, it requires minimal preparation time, and you do not have to spend hundreds of dollars! And if your kiddo is just starting to learn the alphabet, focus on sounds over letter names. If you consistently work with them every day, you will see their reading ability soar!

Identify Sight Words

Sight words play a pivotal role in learning to read. In our language, there are 100 commonly used sight words that many young children can focus on if they are about to enter pre-Kindergarten and beyond. 

Known as "sight words" due to their propensity for immediate recognition when seen, the majority are only one or two syllables. They are some of the most commonly used words in the English language. Here are examples of sight words:

• I
• Am
• He
• Is
• We
• Are
• Become

Incorporated as part of any reading strategy for learning, focusing on these provide kids with an increased sense of comfort alongside other forms of vocabulary acquisition. 

Consequently, if your child is almost entering pre-K, why not use this great opportunity to teach some sight words gradually? This way, they can start their elementary school journey well by firmly understanding the basics early on!

Memorize New Vocabulary

Using new vocabulary words is the best way to become familiar with them. There are many fun and interesting activities you can do at home or in the classroom to help facilitate a great understanding of the language:

• Reading to children can provide musical literacy skills and an introduction to characters, numbers, rhymes, and stories that they wouldn’t otherwise experience. 
• Playtime interaction can be a great method of integrating words into a child’s active vocabulary by introducing them to items by name in the context of their game, like saying, "Hey, let's play doctor. Can you get me a thermometer?"
• Using flashcards and having everyday conversations, including feelings and thoughts, will help holistically enrich their language skills.

Explore Reading Comprehension

​As we’ve seen before, reading to your child is about teaching them to sound out words, build more vocabulary, and it's also an opportunity to improve their comprehension skills.

Reading comprehension allows them to make sense of written words, build their vocabularies, and develop strong comprehension skills. However, parents shouldn't neglect the importance of engagement while reading to kids. 

Provide opportunities for your child to soak up the words; ask questions about the story or pictures. For example, little kids may benefit when you point out details and ask questions about shapes or colors. At the same time, older children may enjoy conversations around the motivations of characters or plot points. 

Reading with your little ones is no small task; it requires patience, but it sets them substantially ahead in terms of success and ability. Together time with a book fosters a profound love for reading more than any other activity you could offer.

Improve Fluency

Reading regularly is one of the best ways to help your child become a confident and successful reader, as it helps them build confidence and increase their fluency. 

What is fluency? The ability to read with speed, accuracy, and expression is crucial for understanding written texts. Regular interaction with books and learning materials allows your child to gain this essential skill! 

However, everyone learns in different ways and at their own pace. It also follows your child’s natural cognitive development. So, be patient.

Remember to make it fun – mix things up with different activities, such as having them choose their own books every now and then. But don't expect instant results! Becoming a fluent reader takes time and practice.

Remember to Keep It Fun!

The best way to ensure mastery of this essential skill is to make it enjoyable. By incorporating fun elements into their lessons and reading materials, young learners are more likely to take to the subject matter more willingly and actively like it. 

Work in interactive activities that may update old learning conventions with new tools such as flashcards, ebooks, and online libraries. This will add novelty without compromising instruction. 

Help kids build up their vocabulary by playing word games or even creating mnemonics whenever possible; presenting content in entertaining formats like drawings, adventures, or hiding stories within stories could also go a long way in making it palatable for children who would otherwise feel inadequate and frustrated during their journey for knowledge. Contact us if you need help.