Resources for teaching under 5's to read?

[mim1]

What are the best resources out there to teach a young child to read?

My ds is only 3 and is wanting to read, trying to spell all sorts of words in the last few days. It's taken me by surprise (don't know why it's a surprise he's known all his letters for over a year). I don't really know where to start.

I found a book in a newsagent with how to write different letters and he sat down with it for 40 minutes this morning and finished it! Now what?

We read to him all the time, we spell things for him a lot, we constantly make up stories (him & us), he watches some tv like WordWorld which he loves and we play all sorts of games. Up until the last few days that's been enough, but he really just wants to read.

So, what books did you start your kids off reading? How do I get a hold of basic readers? We've got heaps of books but not readers specifically. How do I teach phonics? I don't recall how I learnt to read and it was nearly 30 years ago and I'm sure resources have changed somewhat.

I don't want to push him, quite the opposite really (I never wanted my child to read before school ... seems my ds has other ideas), but if he's going to read I might as well teach him properly.

[fludo]

My DD is not yet 2, so we're a bit behind where you're at, but a website I've found with great info (and a great forum!) is www.brillkids.com

They have their own computer based program you can buy but also lots of info about the main methods of teaching toddlers and babies to read and do maths.

I started showing my DD sight words at about 18 months and she now recognises about 30 of them (using the Doman method - it's important the text is big enough to start with). We've only been working on the alphabet the last 2 months so she doesn't know many letters yet.

Do a google search on phonics and you'll find the basic rules and order to teach the letters and sounds in. I'll probably just teach my DD this way instead of buying a program - I don't really want her on the computer yet anyway!

there are also DVD's you can get, like Your Baby Can Read.

I'd love to know what others are using as I'm new to all this too. Just wanted to share what I'd found so far.

I'd also like to know how to get hold of early readers?

[Phyllis Stein]

For slightly older children - link (http://readingeggs.com/)

[delirium]

Most public libraries have a stack of home readers in the kids section. They start off basic at level 1 and as your child gets better they progress up the levels. They usually have themes of the 'sh', 'th' etc sound words to teach combinations. The only issue we have found is that when they start kinder/prep they start the child at lev 1 and our DD is finding them too easy due to her reading before school.

[jalibali]

Reading Eggs is supposed to be fantastic.

http://readingeggs.com/

It is a little more expensive, but it has a free trial. It is designed for kids 4-7, my DD who is almost 3 loves it.

http://www.starfall.com/

This one is good too and free, but not as comprehensive as reading eggs.

Have fun!

[naget]

You don't need specific readers to teach to read... just any old book! But kids find it easier to follow words/sentences if to start with there are only one sentence per page and repetitive words.

but here's some ideas that might help with the whole phonetics stuff

* Make flash cards with letters. If you make two or more sets you can play go fish, match, snap. Order the flash cards into the alphabet - time it... see how fast your DS can do it!
*Pick a letter, practice the sound then use magazines to find pictures starting with those sounds. Stick them on a poster and put them up somewhere he can see them all the time. Alterntively playing eye spy with a letter.
*Once letters are easy move onto blends like sh, sp, th, pr etc (if you google blends you'll find some resources). Can do the same activities with them as the alphabet ones.
*Words - learning common words by sight so recognising words like the, a, and, can... use newspapers/magazines, give a highlighter and ask them to find/highlight one word in an article (could be all the 'and's...).

There are sooo many things you can do. If you google 'learning sight words activities' you'll find HEAPS of websites/lists of words/activities you can do with your DS!

HTH:thumbsup:

[River Song]

my DS did reading Eggs at age 3, he demanded to learn to read lol

I did the $100 - 12 months access plus book packs and it was well worth it.

We made it something fun we did together, and now there are more levels to take you further then when we did it.

after reading eggs we did star fall

A good bookshop can help with readers, but wait a bit as you pay about $10 for a book with about 15 words.

There is a great series by osbourne for phonics (http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Log-Usborne-Phonics-Readers/dp/0794515045 - you can get them in multiple stories in one book and its cheaper)...really cute lil stories about animals...we also had a diego box set of phonic readers that i got from the scholastic book club.

One thing to really check on...is comprehension....no point just knowing the words....so talk about the stories, ask him questions about what he has read.

Mainly, have fun with it....AND most importantly for school readiness, make sure you balance with writing.

[jaq]

You mentioned enrolling him in school/going for an interview in another thread, mimsgirl - maybe have a chat with them about that? How they learn to read at that school will be a good guide ... we school Montessori, for example, so when they learn the alphabet, the emphasis is on sounds, not the names of the letters. Then the step to reading is quite small ...

In terms of choosing books, you probably have a lot at home already, and starting with his old favourites is an excellent way to go - he has his memory to help then.

Just make sure the books you choose have quite clear, standard lettering ... no fancy fonts that will confuse him from one book to the next.

Reading eggs IS brilliant. It reinforces the phonics combination and stresses th sounds of the letters, and was recommended by my daughter's teacher when she was 3 to help extend her reading. Its great for the basics too, though, and the initial readers are quite good.

Happy reading!

[missie_mack]

Yep another reading eggs fan. Particularly loved that we got a six week trial which meant we could be sure DS liked it before paying for it.

The doctor was astounded watching DS read similar stype words to what other kids do in their first year (like cat, hat, mat, man etc) and he is only 3

[Pina Colada]

I agree, reading eggs is fab. I avoid anything that teaches sight words, I really think it is important to learn phonics.

[jaq]

I certainly agree that phonics need to come first. There is a place for sight words later, but giving a child the tools to decode a word is a very important skill. I take reading in my daughter's class, and those who can't sound out a word tend to suffer when they get on to the harder words.

[missie_mack]

Oh I forgot Sesame Street has CDROM programs you can buy for about $20 to help with literacy and learning from a young age. The preschoolers version designed for 4- 6 year olds is a similar style to reading eggs

[mim1]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'll look into them all :).

My ds can 'read' lots of his books purely from memory, even after we've only read it to him a handful of times, so I've got a bit of a challenge there to actually teach him to read rather than memorise. Hence, wanting some sort of structure to teach phonics, because recognising actual words will be simple, phonics will be a new concept.

On a side note we were driving out of a carpark last night and looking for the exit and my ds pipes up in the back seat - "Exit starts with an X". I explain that "ex" sounds like "x" and "Exit really starts with an E". My dh said the same thing, cause my ds just wouldn't believe us. He still didn't believe us and remained convinced that exit starts with an x. :D

[oscarsmummy]

Another "Reading Eggs" fan here. We also had a free 6 week trial and went on to purchase the 12 month subscription because it was well worth it. You can sign up for a free trial on the website http://readingeggs.com/.

They also had "Letterland" at my son's pre-prep and it was good too http://www.letterland.com/.

[mim1]

Thanks everyone for your comments. We trialled Reading Eggs online and then bought a 12 month subscription as my ds loved it. We also bought a book package and he's already reading the story books and I can't get him to stop copying the letters in the activity books (I've actually had to hide them!). It's great to see him learning and loving it! Now my challenge is to stop overstimulation ... but that's always been a challenge since he was a little baby.

[River Song]

lol Mimi sounds like you have a winner there!

I used to only give him the books when he finished each level.

we'd do the computer level, read the book and then do the workbook...all in a row.

I would allow 2 levels a day maximum....i wanted it to last and i didn't want him to rush.

AS you go on and the levels get harder they naturally slow a little....

but it is great that he loves it....and you might find it calm him in other areas.

Does he have a specific interest? With my ds it was (and is) dinosaurs....so we did a lot of fun stuff with that...learning names and terms and visiting museums, making models, drawing, writing stories...if you can spend time broadening his learning rather then having it linear it can help them loads .... and...its lots of fun!

Does he do a sport at all? I found that adding Karate when DS was 3 really helped...and we had lots of words to learn in chinese for the gradings etc

have fun with it all....i love that age where they just want to learn!

[igloomonster]

Good to hear feedback on Reading Eggs. We plonked our child in front of Your Baby Can Read (it was a gift), when he was about 13 months old. We didn't do it with any rigour or regularity, just when the mood took him, and he seemed to enjoy it. At around 2 when he was starting to talk, I was showing him some reading cards, and suddenly he could sight read 180 words. Talk about gob smacked. We have now bought him the follow on for 3 year olds plus, Your Child Can Read. He can probably read at least 300 words at age 3 and 4 months. And he just loves doing it. The more words he learns, the more he seems to want to know. If you don't mind the Ned Flanders voices and the downhome chintzy American flavour (and the odd word spelt in US English), you might find it worth a look, despite the bad press it was receiving on all of those commercial station current affairs shows a while back. We have been really surprised, and pleased with it.

[mim1]

igloo monster ... glad that is working well for you :)

A year on from when I opened this post my ds still loves Reading Eggs. Now that he's nearly 4.5 he does it on his own for the last 8 weeks or so. I didn't realise he could use the mouse so well! Eik, kids grow up so fast! Since he started doing it on his own he's been happier to go back to the earlier lessons on phonics basics instead of just powering ahead with new levels (he's up to level 76 or something now). It's made a big difference and he's reading more books independently now. Reading Eggs is much more than just learning sight words, although he does that too.

He loved Reading Eggs for a few months straight after starting in June last year. But then he didn't ask for it over about 2 - 3 months and I was happy for him to give it a rest. Then, just as he started kinder this year he got another burst of interest in it and that's when his reading has really taken off. I had a bit of trouble when he started using Reading Eggs on his own and he wanted to do it constantly and if I wasn't paying enough attention to the time (due to my pregnancy nausea/exhaustion/etc) he sometimes did it for 2 hours at a time! But then we moved the computer into the main living area & ironically he's been using it less, maybe cause he can see his toys & gets distracted :)

[igloomonster]

Hi Mim
thanks for that feedback. I think we are going to invest in reading eggs based on what we've heard (but also perhaps a cheap laptop so ours don't get hogged)!

[trishalishous]

You don't need specific readers to teach to read... just any old book! But kids find it easier to follow words/sentences if to start with there are only one sentence per page and repetitive words.

but here's some ideas that might help with the whole phonetics stuff

* Make flash cards with letters. If you make two or more sets you can play go fish, match, snap. Order the flash cards into the alphabet - time it... see how fast your DS can do it!
*Pick a letter, practice the sound then use magazines to find pictures starting with those sounds. Stick them on a poster and put them up somewhere he can see them all the time. Alterntively playing eye spy with a letter.
*Once letters are easy move onto blends like sh, sp, th, pr etc (if you google blends you'll find some resources). Can do the same activities with them as the alphabet ones.
*Words - learning common words by sight so recognising words like the, a, and, can... use newspapers/magazines, give a highlighter and ask them to find/highlight one word in an article (could be all the 'and's...).

There are sooo many things you can do. If you google 'learning sight words activities' you'll find HEAPS of websites/lists of words/activities you can do with your DS!

HTH:thumbsup:

great suggestion. thats how i learnt to read :)

[yvonnemommy]

DD learns reading by using online worksheets from beestar. It's a cute website offering weekly practices, full of interesting stories and cool pictures. It helps a lot. DD has made great progress.:cheerleader1:
Lisa