Teaching reading

[123LuckyMom]

My DS is starting to read. He's incredibly excited about it, and I want to help and encourage him, but I really don't know how. On a friend's suggestion, we borrowed the BOB books from the library. He burned through the first 5 in a few minutes. His biggest problem is that he doesn't always recognize the lowercase letters. I know that's just an exposure issue.

The second biggest problem is that he occasionally has trouble with sounding words out. He's inconsistent. He'll read the word "has" a bunch of times and then all of a sudden, he gets stuck on it and has to sound it out. Once he starts sounding out, he can make the sounds of all the letters, but he has trouble putting them together, and I often have to help. Getting from "mmmmm" "aaaaaa" "pppppp" to "mmaaaa" is the hardest for him. Once he gets the first two letters, he's good.

So my questions are twofold. First, how can I help teach him to get from "mmm" "aaa" to "mmaaa", and what books can I use to encourage his skills? He can read Hop on Pop. He's doing well with the BOB books, but I don't know what else is out there on that very, very beginning level.

Any suggestions?

[megs4413]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. it's great for helping with blending sounds. I would also encourage you to do some games to work on recognizing lowercase letters. It didn't take us all 100 lessons to teach DD when she was coming from that sort of starting point that you're describing. It maybe took us 15 or 20 of them in addition to the other steps we were taking (BOB type books, lots of reading together, letter/sound recognition games) to get her really confidently reading at a beginner level.

[elephantmeg]

I loved the Now I'm Reading series! So well written and really built one step on the next.

[123LuckyMom]

I'm going to check out both of those at the library! Thanks! Please keep the tips coming!

[egoldber]

Your library probably has an "Early Readers" section in the children's library. Many of these are phonics based books, some that explicitly work on a sound at a time. I would look for books in that section that appeal to him.

[123LuckyMom]

I'll go back to the library tomorrow whe the children's librarian is in. Thanks for the tips! The how to teach book should be here in a couple of days.

[magnoliaparadise]

We have done Reading Eggs on the computer (you can get a free trial membership for a period of time). I feel fair about it - it's FUN and some friends' kids love it. I just find that some of the things require my help on the computer and since I don't really care if DC has computer skills (for now) and would rather do other stuff while she is looking at the computer (or spend time with her one on one but not doing computer stuff), it isn't a good use of time. On the other hand, I think it's a useful tool. We had signed up, but barely used it, but I might have her go back to it if she wants. My view is that I'm only having her do it if she wants to/it is fun because frankly, she is busy enough learning in school. I completely have forgotten to ask if she wants to do it for the past year and when she originally looked at it, she was probably too much of a novice to understand much. So... if you are interested in online, I'd check it out.

[Melaine]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. it's great for helping with blending sounds. I would also encourage you to do some games to work on recognizing lowercase letters. It didn't take us all 100 lessons to teach DD when she was coming from that sort of starting point that you're describing. It maybe took us 15 or 20 of them in addition to the other steps we were taking (BOB type books, lots of reading together, letter/sound recognition games) to get her really confidently reading at a beginner level.

We have had good results with the above book. the blending skill is kind of the last step in reading and it can take awhile to click.