Let’s look at teaching your child to read. With the amount of information that is out there to help you when it comes to teaching your child, it can seem that there is no solid answer on how to specifically teach your child to read. As a parent, you are busy, which means that you don’t have the time to filter through tonnes and tonnes of articles. In the post below, we have kept it short and sweet. Here are some top tips from an Independent School in Hampshire on teaching your child to read.
Focus on the sound of the letter rather than the name
Rewind it back to your own childhood. When you were learning to read, you were taught that C stands for cat. However, saying the letter in a word compared to saying it on its own is completely different. As a young child, this can be extremely confusing to understand. Start by teaching your child the sound that is associated with each letter of the alphabet. Once they grasp this concept, they will be able to form short words together on their own.
Teach your child uppercase letters before introducing lowercase
Once your child is able to sound out letters by themselves, you will then want them to be able to identify the letters too. It is well known that lowercase letters are a lot more common to see in books and on the TV screen. However, for a young child, being able to distinguish letters such as b and d, which look very similar to each other in lowercase, can make this task even harder. Starting off with uppercase letters will allow your child to grasp the basics that are needed for them to then move on to identifying lowercase letters as well.
Gradually incorporate phonics
Children who have a strong background in phonics tend to become the strongest readers in the long run. Work slow and go letter by letter, sound by sound to help your child gradually pick up words that they have not yet learnt.
We’d love to hear your own experiences of teaching your child to read
*Collaborative post