Hellobee Boards Topic: Teaching a child to read/spell

Hellobee Boards Topic: Teaching a child to read/spell https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 24 Apr 2026 07:49:07 +0000 Mrs Green Grass on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892761 Tue, 30 Jul 2019 00:31:27 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 2892761@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I really think just reading! I have a naturally linguistic kiddo an dee never did 1 flash card or sight word, we read a ton and we would play games at bedtime. Silly words, spelling words, rhyming, silly sounds, spelling. But the key is that it was all fun! He’s 6.5 now and reads about a 2nd grade level. But he still mostly chooses to have me read, so I do. Sometimes we switch pages... I also credit a few books like Little Blue Truck, The Book with no Pictures, and Elephant and Piggie (all) at increasing my son’s understanding of language and words because they are different colors and sizes and it’s really clear how each word is different. Enjoy and keep it fun!! LadyDi on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892651 Mon, 29 Jul 2019 08:56:53 +0000 LadyDi 2892651@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @charm55: thank you for so much detailed information! This is really helpful. I’m excited for him to learn, I hope he loves reading as much as I do. charm55 on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892566 Sun, 28 Jul 2019 07:48:39 +0000 charm55 2892566@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Once our students know most of their letters and some of their sounds, these are some things we do to continue nudging them in the reading process. Introduce sight words with automaticity. The first ten we focus on are : (am, at, can, go, is, like, me, see, the, to). To introduce a new sight word we do these 4 procedures with every word: 1) What's missing? - put the word on a whiteboard and have the child look at the whole word. Turn the board around and erase a letter. Then ask the student what letter is missing? Do this a few times changing the letter. This helps them to see the word as a whole unit. They love this as it's like a game. 2) Mix and Fix - have the child make the word with magnetic letters. Then, mix them up and have the child put the letters back in the correct order. 3) Table Write - Have the child write the word on the table with just their finger. This kinaesthetic movement is really important. 4) Write and Retrieve - Have the child write the word on a whiteboard. Then, erase it and ask them to write a familiar word that they know easily (can be their name, or a previous known sight word). Erase that word and ask them to write the word being taught again. We want to see if children can retrieve the word beyond just memorization. We do these 4 procedures with every word that we teach. It is remarkable how quickly they learn (and remember!) sight words by following them. Once a sight word has been taught, they practice building it with lots of kinaesthetic materials (wiki stix, play-doh, sand, sticks, etc) Another thing you will want to do is establish early concepts of print. Find a very simple book (one line of text per page with a repeating pattern where only 1-2 words per page change is the best). Practice pointing to every word as you read (one to one matching), reading left to right, top to bottom, using the pictures, etc. You will want to establish the difference between a letter and a word. Ask questions like "How many words are on this page? Which word is the longest on this page? How many letters are in the word ______?" We also continue building sounds by doing some simple word work activities. Use Elkonin boxes to work on CVC words (ie: dog, cat, map, etc). Use pictures to do some sound sorts (Ie; give pictures that start with C and pictures that start with G and sort them into two piles based on beginning sound). We also do Making Words activities - a child makes "dog" with magnetic letters then we ask them to change one letter to make the word "log", then change one letter to make the word "bog", etc. As they get more advanced you can change medial and ending sounds, add blends and make it more difficult. Also definitely continue reading aloud to your child. Have your child make meaning out of complex texts by reading the pictures of unfamiliar and familiar books. It's OK if what is said doesn't match the words at all - they will be doing very important and deep comprehension work that will really benefit them as they get older. SORRY for the novel - early literacy is my passion and there is nothing more exciting than supporting a child who is on the cusp of becoming a reader! Have fun!! :happy: Autumnmama79 on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892550 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 17:45:39 +0000 Autumnmama79 2892550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @LadyDi: I would continue reading aloud to him and while you’re reading track the words with your finger underneath the print. Modeling good reading strategies is your best bet at this stage! Learning to read is such a magical time, enjoy. ALV91711 on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892548 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 16:13:29 +0000 ALV91711 2892548@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My DS who is 6 started to learn to read at 4. Like actually sounding out words. We didn’t really do amything formal but we read a lot and help him when he asked along with having activity books available to him. He’s always been interested in the letters and sounds they make. Now at 6 he is a bookworm. I think keep doing what your doing and let him lead the way and helping when he asks. LadyDi on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892547 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 15:04:54 +0000 LadyDi 2892547@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @MrsSRS: @Hypatia: @PinkElephant: thanks for the recommendations! This is very helpful. I definitely don’t want to be one of those moms who brags about their toddler reading and I don’t want to make reading seem like work, so we only do stuff in a workbook when he suggests it. He’s just been asking me about spelling so much lately that I’d like to encourage it if I can....plus it’s better than talking about race cars or construction vehicles which is usually what he babbles on about. PinkElephant on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892541 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 13:30:34 +0000 PinkElephant 2892541@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We like Bob books, FlipAWord books, and Guided Science Readers level A (red) books. As others said, these are more memorization/playing with sound than the are true reading, but they’ve taught my newly 5 year old a lot of sight words and make her feel motivated to learn more. For us, a lot was self- guided....asking how to spell “Mommy”, “Daddy”, “Love”, friend/sibling names, etc., and over time she’s memorized them. She also spells out words on signs, and has learned a lot that way (STOP was a favorite for awhile - she’d write it all the time just because she could!). I think so much depends on the kid, though. My now-seven year old was never this interested or self motivated! Hypatia on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892527 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 09:02:34 +0000 Hypatia 2892527@https://boards.hellobee.com/ What you’re doing now is fine! Most kids aren’t developmentally ready to blend sounds at that age, so they can’t make the jump from knowing letters/memorizing sight words to actually sounding out words. I mean, if he can, that’s great, but just remember that when you see other moms boasting that their four year old can read, a lot of the time, they are either lying or mistaking memorizing words for actual reading. Can he rhyme yet? That’s one of the key signs of readiness, because it shows that he’s able to break words up into their smaller parts. One of the best things you can do is just keep reading books to him. Audiobooks, picture books, and chapter books are all great for encouraging early literacy. Studies have shown they actually have more of an impact than flash cards or more formal learning. Reading Eggs is a pretty comprehensive reading app, if you think he might be ready for that. All About Reading is a great reading curriculum (the pre-reading level even uses cute puppet). Good luck! MrsSRS on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892521 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 06:56:43 +0000 MrsSRS 2892521@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Bob books, and the Bob app, and the Endless spelling app are good. But just chatting about it organically as it comes up in your day like you are now is the best! LadyDi on "Teaching a child to read/spell" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teaching-a-child-to-readspell#post-2892520 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 06:51:45 +0000 LadyDi 2892520@https://boards.hellobee.com/ DS is newly 4 and is really interested in learning how to spell and read. He knows all of his letters and mostly knows the sounds they make. He asks me all of the time how to spell things and yesterday I found some sight word flash cards that we were looking at. What else could I do to encourage him or teach him? I have a brain quest workbook thing and we have the star fall app, but I think he’s ready for something a little more advanced than the app.