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Note to parents: This might look like a lot, but you can spend anywhere from 1 week to 25 weeks or more at each stage. How much time you spend depends on your child’s individual trajectory and age. You can read through it all to get the overall picture, and then focus on the level you think your child is at. Please feel free to reach out to us and ask questions or seek out additional resources. We have books for beginning readers in our library and we are happy to loan them out to you.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic Awareness
Step 1: Understanding that words are made up of individual sounds.
Step 1: Understanding that words are made up of individual sounds.
Please note that while this is a foundational step in the reading journey, this does not have anything to do with reading directly. It is to help kids understand that a spoken word is made up of sounds. We need not introduce the alphabet for this. It is all about how to break down words into sounds, how to identify the first and last sounds in a word.
Help your child break down simple words while reading to them or in conversation. What are the sounds in M-OO-N, M-O-P, P-I-N etc.
Sing songs and clap along to individual words to help the child understand that what seems like a continuous stream of sounds is actually a sequence of many words.
LETTER RECOGNITION
LETTER RECOGNITION
Step 2: Learning to recognize the alphabet, and to trace and write letters.
Step 2: Learning to recognize the alphabet, and to trace and write letters.
Before we recognize words, we must recognize letters. Where to expect to find them, how to read and write them. We have a wonderful capacity for visually recognizing objects. Letters are slightly trickier because they are made of lines -- not something we see out in the wild. Young kids can also have trouble with reversed letters and distinguishing them (b and d, for instance).
Trace letters in rice, sand, or flour.
Scribble in a book. It doesn't have to be letters. General scribbling also helps with dexterity and understanding line-drawings and curves.
Recognizing letters in words in the world around us - on packages, signages when on the road, on television.
If you have wooden blocks, lego blocks, or pebbles at home, use those to construct letters.
You can find more activities here : https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/alphabet_matching
https://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/RacecarABCcards.htm
https://www.twinkl.co.in/resource/t-l-154-pencil-control-worksheets
Phonics: SOUNDS TO Letters and back
Phonics: SOUNDS TO Letters and back
Step 3: Learning that sounds can be represented by letters and vice-versa.
Step 3: Learning that sounds can be represented by letters and vice-versa.
This is where many will probably want to introduce the Alphabet song. But here’s a secret: It is technically not very useful and even counterproductive, to learn the alphabet the way we usually do! A doesn’t make an AY sound like in BAY but more often makes an AA sound like in BAT. And to add to that, letters don’t map to sounds in a regular way - F, FF, GH, PH all make the /f/ sound in IF, RUFFLE, TOUGH, PHONE. How do you teach that? We don’t!
Instead of teaching kids rules, we can use examples and help them recognize and learn patterns on their own.
Introduce sounds while reading and help kids map these sounds to letters. Show how MOP has three sounds, each corresponding to one letter, and say those sounds out. (English has 26 letters and 44 sounds, making it all but impossible to have simple mappings, but that is for later.)
Here is an excellent video that tells you how to make these sounds without adding what is called a schwa sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBuA589kfMg
Note: When reading, do not introduce complex words too early. Instead, move systematically from simple words with regular letter-to-sound patterns to more complex ones once your child is comfortable. Words ending in R and E are tricky because they change the sounds of letters that come before them, so be AWARE and go for SIMPLER. See what we did there? (Those words end in E and R and change the sounds of the letters before them)
You can play word games where you ask the child to think of a word that ends with a specific sound. What is the word for an animal that ends with /ig/ (PIG) How about a word for a fruit that ends with /ig/ (FIG) What is a word that is the opposite of tiny and ends with /ig/ (BIG)
Activity: Indulge in a fun game of “snail talk.” Slow down when saying some words and draaaag them ouuuuuut so they can hear the individual sounds, and then ask them to guess the words.
CVC WORDS
CVC WORDS
Step 4: Learning to string together sounds in simple three-letter words
Step 4: Learning to string together sounds in simple three-letter words
CVC words are simple three-letter words: a consonant, a vowel, followed by a consonant. Please note that kids just starting to read do not need to know what consonants and vowels are! These are just big-people words for different sets of letters that they can always pick up later.
These are the easiest worksheets to find on the web. However, don't go overboard with worksheets as it is not much fun to sit and read words in isolation. Look for interesting ones that combine them with other activities like coloring or counting.
Spot them in the wild, or make them. You can get a set of alphabet fridge magnets and use them to spell out simple words on the fridge. As a game you could even have them read simple words to gain access to the fridge when they want to snack, or have them write out the things that need to be restocked.
Combine letter tracing and spelling CVC words. According to research, recognition of letters and words is aided by being able to write and spell them. Writing helps reinforce the visual aspect and spelling helps with the mapping of letters (or letter combinations) and sounds.
SIGHT WORDS: HE, SHE, BY, AS...
SIGHT WORDS: HE, SHE, BY, AS...
Step 4: Learning to recognize frequently occurring words that do not follow simple phonetic rules
Step 4: Learning to recognize frequently occurring words that do not follow simple phonetic rules
Eventually, most words become automatically recognizable if you are a fluent reader. You don’t have to decode them letter by letter. You can just pick them on “sight”. There are some very commonly used words that do not follow any spelling rules. Words like HE, SHE, I, THE. Rather than attempt to explain (and confuse) kids, we get them to recognize them on sight and that’s how we end up with SIGHT words.
You can easily find lists of sight words online. We suggest you start with just a few and introduce them gradually, and with plenty of repetition. A word of caution. Many websites use lists that have far too many words. Your child only needs to know a few by SIGHT to get started.
Point them out as you read to your child. How do you know if it is a SIGHT word? You shouldn't be able to decode the word based on the sounds the letters usually make.
SImple phrases with simple words
SImple phrases with simple words
Step 5: Learning to read simple phrases
Step 5: Learning to read simple phrases
Alright! Your kid is now ready to take on multiple words and see how a string of words can erupt into meaning and imagery in their minds! You can introduce them to simple sentences with CVC words and a few of the most common SIGHT words.
A tag on a bag
Ben is ten
Ken has ten
A man in a van
The fat cat sat on a mat
etc.
Note: Not all simple three-letter words are made equal. Words ending in R like BAR, CAR can be avoided at this stage as the vowel sound is changed by the R. This wrinkle of complexity can be introduced later.
Use post-its to create a grab-bag of simple CVC words and SIGHT words and try to string them together into meaningful sentences. Help them understand how changing the order of words changes the meaning of the sentence. And how just a few words can be used to create very long, and very different sentences.
SImple BLENDS: RAN-T, S-TOP
SImple BLENDS: RAN-T, S-TOP
Step 6: Learning how to blend the sounds of letters
Step 6: Learning how to blend the sounds of letters
This is frequently tricky for many children. It is initially hard for them to remember the sequence of sounds in their minds and will often transpose them (SNOT may be remembered as S-O-N-T). Remembering sequences makes use of what’s called our Working Memory. Kids are still in the very early stages of developing theirs. Look out for such transposition errors and help them note the proper sequence. It is often hard for us adults to understand how difficult a small sequence might be for a good. Here’s a good test to help you gain perspective: Take two phone numbers that are not familiar to you and try to remember the sequence of digits in both after staring at them for 15 seconds. That is pretty much how letter sequences look to kids until they start a) developing a better working memory and b) learning to group together letters into recognizable patterns
Introduce simple words like RANT, DUST, SNOT and explain how the addition of the new letter (a consonant, but they don’t need to know this, remember?) changes the sound from RAN to RANT, BUS to BUST, NOT to SNOT and so on.
Any activity that involves a sequence of actions requires working memory. Our world is complex enough to give them practice (tying shoe-laces, learning a musical instrument or moves in a dance) but you can also play fun games (retelling the sequence of events in a story, remembering the names of all the trinkets in a bag, and so on).
Repeated Consonants: BELL, FUSS / Y-ending: RUNN-Y, BELL-Y, DOLL-Y
Repeated Consonants: BELL, FUSS / Y-ending: RUNN-Y, BELL-Y, DOLL-Y
Step 6 (to 66): Introducing more complex words gradually
Step 6 (to 66): Introducing more complex words gradually
Now that your child can read many simple words, and phrases, you can gradually introduce more complex patterns. By patterns we mean how specific letters or combinations of letters map to different sounds. For instance, the repeated consonants (LL, FF, TT, SS) make the same sound as a single consonant. And adding a Y at the end of a word usually gives it a short /i/ sound
CONGRATULATIONS: YOUR CHILD IS NOW A READER!
CONGRATULATIONS: YOUR CHILD IS NOW A READER!
You can now encourage them to read books that cater to early learners
We still have quite a lot to cover (e-ending, ed-ending, er-ending words, dipthongs and digraphs; words with multiple vowels together, and so on) but this should be a good start for your preschoolers and kindergartners. Talk to us if your child is ready for more!
additional RESOURCES
additional RESOURCES
How the brain learns to read - A lecture by author and neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene
More about Phonemic Awareness
More about Phonics
BOB Books
We have a set of BOB Books at the Comini Library. Please feel free to take them on loan from us. These are wonderfully simple and great for beginning readers. It helps give them a sense of accomplishment for being able to read a book on their own.
Apps: Khan Academy Kids
The Khan Academy Kids app is beautifully and thoughtfully put together and has a great set of resources and activities for beginning readers. We are generally averse to apps because many are built to entertain and the reward-frequency in these apps (how often a child gets something nice or novel) is artificially high and designed to lure them into frequent interaction. However, Khan Academy Kids is a wonderful exception.
https://learn.khanacademy.org/khan-academy-kids/
We built Giffie a fun learning to read app, which uses all the tips and suggestions mentioned here, to help with reading practice. It offers kids a great way to explore reading while providing plenty of practice with phonics. You can click on the above link or click here for the Android version, and here for the iOS version.
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