Our children are going to school and still, they cannot read. Why???? This is one of the most frequent questions parents ask. Today I want to address a few of the factors that come into play and give you practical tips that will benefit your child’s reading success. It'll be great if you can find one idea in this blog to encourage you. Remember, you are not alone in this. It takes a village!
1. Both parents work
This is not a criticism, but simply me stating a fact of life. We find it more and more that both parents must work full-time, and their children's reading lessons are left solely to the teacher and/or after school care staff. As parents, it is first and foremost crucial to provide for our children's basic needs, and then we can start thinking about reading and academics. Thus it is totally understandable that sometimes, we just do not have the time! This is without even mentioning the unforeseen balls life throws at us.
2. Bad timing
When the parent(s) finally have time to dedicate to their child's reading, he is exhausted from the days’ activities, is struggling to focus, and just not able to engage in quality educational activities…without tantrums and consternation that is! Timing, when teaching youngsters, are EVERYTHING!
3. Classroom sizes
Classroom sizes are of course the icing on the reading cake, causing the cake to cave in. There is little to no time in the general classroom, with 25 students, to differentiate and teach in a way to address the barriers to learning some students are facing.
4. Content overwhelm
We all know how much content our children are supposed to take in daily. The teachers are extremely overwhelmed and are doing the absolute best they can with the expectations that are set for them, as well as the expectations that the children need to meet at the end of the school year. The number one factor that comes into play in this situation is CONTENT OVERWHELM. I don’t know if that is an actual term, but I am making it one. Our children are expected to retain concepts taught with extraordinarily little time to practice and consolidate the content.
5. Knowledge
Teaching reading can very well be called science. Teachers study best methodology practices for years to be able to teach reading and writing efficiently. There is a definite reason to the rhyme of teaching a child to read and to do it in the most pain-free way possible. No child should be expected to sit passively with books and paper, reading, and writing from morning to evening. Many parents are not aware that they should primarily focus on teaching letter sounds and phonemic awareness.
I’m not leaving you to figure this out by yourselves!
Here are 5 tips to address the daily challenges of teaching your preschooler to read.
TIP 1: Spend only 20 minutes a day
If you do not have a 20-minute slot, break it up into two 10-minute slots. Keep it fun!!!
Examples of such activities are:
1. Use your hands to clap the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words and have your child repeat it.
m-a-n v-a-n r-a-n
2. Cut cardstock into little tiles to write letters on and do word building.
h-op fl-op m-op dr-op
3. A worksheet with letter or word tracing (only if you have taught the letter sounds), writing letters in flour, building a letter or word with pasta, writing outside in the sand or with chalk on the sidewalk. If your child cannot write by themselves, you can write with chalk and have him trace it.
4. Sing a song or make rhymes with hand gestures:
o-n-e, o-n-e, ……o-n-e says… one , one , one!
5. Choose the correct level book for your child! He should not be struggling with every word. That means the book is too advanced and will cause feelings of incompetence, humiliation, and frustration.
TIP 2: Get your timing right!
When is the right time of the day? It’s that time of the day when your preschooler is still very much alert and energized. It may very well be while you are driving or while you are out shopping. Use any opportunity and be ready. Think of a few verbal games you can play…we plan our meals, why not a few fun games to promote phonemic awareness?
“My child is lethargic and cannot focus for 20 min”
Quickly do a few activities to get him to that alerted state where he will be more engaged and able to focus.
IDEAS OF SHORT AND SWEET MOVEMENT BREAKS:
Jumping Jacks
Run fast outside for a while
Jump rope
Do pushups
Jump/run/hop on one spot
Run up and down the stairs
Shake your limbs or dance to the beat of music
Play a funny quick thinking game/tell jokes
TIP 3: You cannot change the size of your child’s classroom, but you can ensure great communication with the teacher.
This is one area where you do not let sleeping dogs lie…if you don’t know, ASK. If you’re not sure, ASK. If you have a feeling, trust your sixth sense, and ASK. Make sure the teacher is aware that you want to work on one or two concepts that really need attention. Prioritize, with the teacher, what needs working on, the most!
TIP 4: Help your child to become more underwhelmed, where reading is concerned.
Short bursts of high-quality teaching, repetition, but in a fun way. That is what works like a dream. Stay away from monotonous activities. If you want to see your child learn, think out of the box and make it as practical as possible, even a little muddy or dirty!
TIP 5: If you don’t know ask! All around you are moms, teachers, and other professionals who will gladly share some tips and knowledge.
Stay focused on the basics of reading. Letter sounds, work building, and teaching your child to decode words. Deliberately teach a few letter combinations to help your child be successful.
Ch for chill, ch for check, ch for cheese.
Sh says sh sh sh….sh for she, sh for sheep, sh for shell.
Follow Edu-Kids Club for free worksheets and tips on how to make learning to read FUN FUN FUN!
