Here are a few simple tips that
will guide your child down the path to becoming a confident and happy reader.
Keep them short and sweet; never impose any reading exercise for more than
10-15 minutes:
1. Play “Phonic I Spy” The sounds that make up words are called phonemes, and it is crucial that your child learns to hear them. Play the classic “I Spy” game, but instead of using the letter name, use the first sound of the word, like “sh” for shoes.
2. Play “Clink Clink Clink”
This is another simple little game you can play anywhere to familiarize your child with different sound patterns. First, you say a word. Then your child says a word that either has the same initial sound OR rhymes with the word. Repeat back and forth until someone is stuck. Here is an example; fish, wish, wine, whale, bail, sail, etc… Both of you tap something [“clink, clink, clink”] between the words, and each player has to give the next word straight after the third clink.
3. Play “Build-a-Word”
Get a set of plastic letters or fridge magnets. Think of a simple word that uses the basic sounds connected to each letter (i.e. a, e, i, o, u are “ah” rather than “ay”, “eh” rather than “ee”, “ih” rather than “eye”, “aw” rather than “oh”, “uh” rather than “oo”). Examples include bid, had, wed, mud, cod etc. Then try to get your child to build the word from a small group of 6 letters that include the ones needed.
4. Play “Nonsense Words”
Using the same set of letters, think of simple nonsense words like wup, pog, gub, bip, that also use those basic alphabet sounds. Write out a nonsense word with the letters and get your child to try reading it. The nonsense approach circumvents your child resorting to guessing the word instead of sounding it out.
Guest Author: David Morgan is CEO of Oxford Learning Solutions and creator of the
Easyread System, an online phonics course which teaches struggling readers and
spellers through short daily lessons. Find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com or www.facebook.com/easyreadsystem
