How exactly should children learn to read?
As you may know, teaching kids to read is no easy task. However, despite the many approaches to teaching this essential skill, research is evident on the best way to teach children to read.
Kids learn to read when they can identify letters and connect them to sounds. This phonemic awareness is the initial step to becoming a reader. If your child struggles to read, it is likely because they haven't mastered phonics. This reason is why research points to the importance of explicit, systematic instruction in phonics. Students must learn to read following a specific sequence of letters and sounds. This way, they will learn to decode words and gradually become familiar with more challenging words, ultimately becoming fluent readers.
According to the National Institute for Literacy, "systematic and explicit phonics instruction contributes to children's growth in reading than instruction that provides non-systematic or no phonics instruction."
But what is the difference?
The essence of systematic phonemic instruction is the direct teaching of a set of letter-sound relationships in a clearly defined sequence. Accordingly, the collection includes the primary sound/spelling relationships of consonants and vowels.
Besides the specific order in which children should be learning their letters and sounds, there is substantial practice applying this new knowledge as they read and write. Good examples of this practice include books and stories containing letters and sounds your children can decode and are learning to decode. Besides form books, practice can involve having your child spell words and even write their own stories with these letter-sound relationships they are on the path of conquering.
What can parents do to help their children learn to read?
Besides ensuring their little one's school curriculum follows systematic and explicit instruction, parents can significantly impact their children's reading journey. Of course, as parents, we don't want to push them out so much that they begin to dread reading. So here are a few ideas to make decoding playful:
Find things around the house or in your car rides that start with a specific sound.
Stretch out words in a sentence (Let'sLet's go to the p-a-r-k, saying the individual sounds of the words instead of just park)
Figure out what each of your family members would be if they started with a specific letter (Sophia with a B, Bophia!)
Read your child's favorite book repeatedly and have them follow with their finger.
Activities that have nothing to do with reading will give your child a diverse experience when decoding sounds that will help them further their abilities. We want well-rounded children, and this includes reading.
