How do I teach a 4 year old to read?

[Sachertorte]

I don´t know how to go about it basically and don´t like the look of phonics, does this really help or just make the process more complicated? Are there other ways to teach reading? I´m not sure DD would like a very structured approach with phonics, I think she would prefer to learn individual words by heart...

Is your child interested in books and the words in books? Dont start her reading until she is ready, Knowing common words will help ie the and it ect. At this stage hopwever I would look at pre reading skills for example matching pairs, as if she cant see the paris she is not ready for words. I would aso look at letters, how many if any does she recognise? Then I would look at he letters in hher name. Does she understand and pick up that words have meaning if she does not understand this she is not ready to read.

I think when she gets to school, they will use phonics - learning individual words by heart doesn't teach you how to decipher words you haven't seen before, so you have to understand the rules about what letters sound like on their own and when combined together.

Why do you want to teach her to read? If it's just to enjoy books together, then you can just read them to her and maybe follow the place with your finger - she'll pick up some of the common words as you go along. And more importantly will understand that you start at the front, turn the pages, that it tells a story, etc.

But I'd leave actually teaching her to read to the school when the time comes.

With mine, she learnt all her letters, then we progressed to "words that start with XXX" games, "words that end with XXX" etc which helped her make the connection between the letter, the sound and the word.

Now we are putting letters together to spell and read words. Interestingly she is more interested in spelling than reading. I know when she looks at a book she recognises immediately the words that she can spell.

So in the sentence "The pig had a big hat" as an example, she spells p-i-g, h-a-t etc but she looks completely blank at "the" and "a" even though they obviously come up all the time.

We're abroad and even though she is 5 next month she won't start this stuff at school until September. I'm not pushing it, but just trying to encourage her. I bought some spelling/learning to read work books which were quite useful (Wh Smiths/Waterstones).

I'm interested in anyone's tips on this to.

Hi, thanks all. Yes, she´s ready to read, has done lots of the pre-reading books, which are ridiculously easy for her. She won´t learn English at school, that´s why it´s my job : ( I´m a bit intimidated and worried about doing it right..

Also problem we have no library here, so I would have to commit to buying a phonics set. I know Jolly Phonics are the most popular but have never seem them..

Ds learnt the phonetics alphabet (from a toy bus!), then I taught him the 'th' rule and how to read 'it' by saying each letter phonetically, then saying them without the space in between, it clicked right away. He is a very bright boy though.

REading ability is arguably nothing to do with intelligence, well not how and when they learn anyway. Some children just get it. Cbeebies website and other children's online resources may be a good place to start.

I think it depends on how early they were reading Divine Ds has always had an advantage at school because he was a very early reader, he's read a wide range of books so this has helped him.

Maybe ask on the Home Ed topic how people there have done it, what resources they'd recommend? I hadn't realsied you were abroad and would have to do this yourself, that does make a difference!

My dd, at 2.3, can recognise words and I know will 'get' reading early as she knows her alphabet phonetically (she is dc3) but it would foolish to assume she's going to be the brain of Britain.

I really wouldn't bother, because thay do it at school anyway- you can encourage them then. Is it really worth it? 5 is young enough to start reading- why would you even bother beforehand? Makes no difference long term, and so makes no sense.

Hm, yes, I obviously have tgo put some thought into this, have some starting points now, and pleased about idea of Home Ed area. DD has been badgering me for ages now to learn to read, I´m the reluctant learner here I´m afraid ... She will learn to read in another language at school, that´´s why it will fall to me to teach her. Maybe the home eders will help me with an idea of how to structure her learning.. Thanks all!

Just keep sharing books with her. Point to the words as you read. Show her which way round the book goes and how we turn pages int he right order, from front to back. Look at the pictures and try and work out what the story may be about. During or after reading talk about what the story was about, what she liked and didn't like, etc.

The above are all very important pre reading skills and need to come befoe actual reading skills.

Then look at letters. Look at a phonics based system and introduce letter sounds. Find the letters in books or on paper - can you find an a, etc. Point to a letter and reeat the sound it makes (NOT the letter name). Point them out on day to day activities such as when shopping, when in the car. Play I spy games using the letter sounds.

Then look at blending those sounds with VC words- a/t say them faster together to make at, etc.

Then move onto CVC words such at cat, dot, etc. Find the words in her books.

IMO you do not need any special resources bar normal books, pen and paper.

And no, early or late reading doesn't have a bearing on the general intelligence of a child.

Have a look at the resources here.

I think learning a language by memorising words is really really hard, particularly such a wordy language like English. If you learn phonics then your dd will be able to decode more complicated words and work out how to pronounce them. Of course there are key words that they just have to learn but not that many.

Oh, and some words have to be just taught - the tricky words.

Have a look at the Sounds and Letters document that schools use.

Letters and Sounds

agree with everything hula recommends. school uses Jolly Phonics, and I have been amazed by how quickly a lot of previously uninterested learners have picked up reading - I work in the pre-school and occasionally TA in the school so see the progression.

try making a dictionary - with pictures of items that are significant to your DD starting with the letter - so photo of you on M for mummy. Can then do pages for blends also

Sparklebox has booklets you can print off for letters.

I use sparklebox a lot for resources with my pupils at school (now a TA)

My DS wasn't much interested in reading/writing before school, even at playgroup. But since starting school in September, he has taken to the phonics method like a duck to water, and six months on is well into his reading books. I'm glad I didn't push it.

We did lots of reading together though, at least 3 bedtime stories every day. Maybe start with some kind of alphabet book so she gets used to the letters?

My DS wasn't much interested in reading/writing before school, even at playgroup. But since starting school in September, he has taken to the phonics method like a duck to water, and six months on is well into his reading books. I'm glad I didn't push it.

We did lots of reading together though, at least 3 bedtime stories every day. Maybe start with some kind of alphabet book so she gets used to the letters?

Sparklebox looks fantastic.

On the other hand, does anyone know where I can get similar type things in French?

So instead of A is for Apple, it'd be P is for Pomme.

Ok, I will study the links and what you´ve all said tomorrow. DD already knows most of the letters. I like the idea of just using what I have at hand with print outs...

I didn´t realise I should teach her the letter sounds as such, she has learned the normal alphabet. Isn´t this a bit confusing?

She needs to know the sounds rather than the letter names. The letter names don't offer themselves to reading and sounding out. It is the sounds those letters make she will need to know. And then moving onto sh, the, etc. and then learning thins like magic e.

I'm with Hulababy on this. I have always pointed out the words in a book as I've read to DS and how "oo" is different to "o".

The other thing I do is make labels for things around the house so he learns words without realising it.

I currently have door, wall, chair, table, bed, window and cupboard labelled.