A Fun Approach for Teaching Your Kids to Read
Sixteen years ago when I was carrying my first child, the thought of teaching her nearly overwhelmed me. I distinctly remember wondering how I was ever going to teach the babe to read and was quickly relieved to think someone else would do this for me (a teacher at a school). Well, by the time this little one was four, I had decided I was going to be that teacher after all. I was the one who had to figure out how to teach her to read. I needed to do some research, put a little common sense into the mix, and figure out a plan for this endeavor that five years prior had nearly paralyzed me with fear.
One thing I did know for sure was that learning to read required phonics for almost all children to get the proper foundation. It didn’t take too much thinking to realize that the short vowels would be most important to know first. They would become the “glue” to later stick to consonants; making reading consonant-vowel-consonant words (CVC) possible at the earliest stage, ensuring success and enthusiasm for reading.
Although it goes against my traditional background, I like what Maria Montessori did with letters and refer to them by their sound instead of their name. We deal with the most common sound of the letter first and later reintroduce the same letter with the second or third sound once they’ve become well established in their ability to use the first sound within blends and words.
Let’s begin by telling our kids we are going to learn about the “Crazy Glue” of reading. I personally start with “short a” (symbolized as /æ/, sometimes shown as /ă/). I make learning to recognize this sound fun! We usually go for a hunt around our home looking for things that start with the /æ/ sound and scream “Ahh!!” as if the object with the /æ/ sound scared us. For a few days, we watch for items, objects, and words that either begin with or have the /æ/ sound in them and over enunciate that scared “Aaahhh!” (/æ/) sound. It is important to attach the picture of the letter “a” with this sound. Do this with all the sounds and letters so children connect the sound with the letter.
This method takes the pressure off reading and starts kids out by showing them reading is fun and not just a hard job. Go through the rest of the vowels in this way and don’t do anything more than sing the alphabet for this subject. Refrain from testing, quizzing, or putting undue pressure on this learning experience because you will push most students away from the joy of learning to read that way.
- /I/ (short i, sometimes shown as /ĭ/) makes a small dog yipping sound (notice the short “i” in the word “yip”). Help your child imagine you have a little dog on the trail for /I/ words. Every time you find one, let your child /I/ like a yippy dog (the same way you would imagine a coon dog treeing a raccoon but with a yippy dog bark instead of a howl).
- /a/ (short o, sometimes shown as /ŏ/) is the sound the doctor asks you to make when you stick out your tongue. Use a doll and pretend to tell the doll to say /a/ as if you and your child are the doctors (note the /a/ sound in “doctor” as well). Go through your home and look for all the items and words that need a doctor’s check up – enunciating the /a/ sound.
- /ʊ/ (short u, sometimes shown as /ŭ/) is the sound people make when they are trying to think of something to say. You and your child can go on a hunt for words with the /ʊ/ sound and pretend to get forgetful when you find one. Use your index finger and tap it on your temple as if you’re trying to remember something while saying /ʊ/.
- /e/ (short e, sometimes shown as /ĕ/) is the sound people make when they think you said something crazy. (Imagine furrowing your brow, raising your shoulders, maybe even shaking your head in disbelief – “/e/? You just saw an elephant in the red room?” Notice the /e/ in those words.) For this last vowel, keep up the crazy fun with vivid facial expressions that make you think the object or word with an /e/ sound is plum ridiculous!
This is the “crazy glue” your child needs to glue the sounds to their respective letter shape and begin reading with a crazy veraciousness.
Next, give your child one consonant at a time and have her/him glue the vowels to each before adding another consonant. It is so important to use that crazy glue early so words don’t get chopped to bits of letters. Go through each vowel (crazy glue) with the consonant you introduce. For example: We introduce “c” first, using the /k/ sound. Remember they are glued together so they are not choppy. You do not have a /k/ pause /æ/, in “ca.” You have a (nonsense) word that is blended as one new sound /kæ/. Add /t/ next. Glue /t/ to each of the five vowel. When that is easy as pie, then show your child:
cat
This word will be read as one sound. Slide your finger under the letters and hold the /kæ/ as long as it takes for your child to remember the /t/ sound at the end. (Hint – you may want to cover the last letter so your child doesn’t skip ahead to that sound while they are supposed to be reading the /kæ/ part of the word – then while your child is holding that sound out, reveal the “t”). You may end up with a thirty second long /kæ/, but your child will know that he/she just read the word “cat”!!! And that is cause for celebration!!! (If you forget the glue and your child reads only choppy sounds, he/she may not realize they have read the word “cat.”)
Go ahead! Go crazy and glue your kids to reading success!
Lisa Blauvelt (with her family and three dogs, two cats, a horse, pony, donkey, two red eared turtles, a fluctuating number of tadpoles and baby fish, and various other creatures collected by her adventurous boys) puts her education degrees to work at her home in the Deep South. There she teaches not only her own children, but others who come to her home to learn. Her decade long experience in teaching children to read will soon be published as a 476 page guide for parents.
