to start learning how to read?? My Jack has been begging me every day for weeks to teach him to read. I have just been reading like crazy to him, hoping to stall him a little bit longer. I guess I am hesitant because it has been NERVE WRACKING teaching the 6 (almost 7yo) to read. He finally got the incentive when he wanted to read his weekly church papers! WOO! But is 3 yo too young? He doesn't even know his letters yet....
my hunter is doing the same thing, wants to know how to read,a nd asks how to spell things but doesn't know the individual letters yet. I have decided to use the letter of the week curric to teach him the letters and then will move to reading itself. He turns 4 tomorrow so I think that he will be reading before his 5th b-day for sure.
I'd start with letter sounds and go from there. It's not too young if the child is ready for it! My oldest son was reading very well by age three but it took very little teaching on my part. He led the way and we just provided what he asked for. You'll know in short order whether he has the skills for it or if he just thinks he wants to read. Either way, I'd definitely listen to him, give it a go and see what happens! He may be ready to fly! Michelle
It just depends on the kid. I was reading at 3. My son is 3 now, and he knows maybe half of his letters/sounds, and we are starting there. I hope he will pick it up quickly, but who knows! Everything I think will be easy is hard, and the stuff I worry about is usually a breeze. Maybe I need to worry more! :lol:
Sometimes you just have to go at the pace of the kid. lol If they want to know something then teach them. My first LOVED to be read to. Book after book, after book, after book until you were about to fall asleep reading Dr. Seuss books. I'd usually have to call "time out" after 8 books to get up and move before falling asleep. lol This is when he was a year to 16 months old. So... By the time he was 3 he had taught himself to read by following along as we read and probably read at about a 1st grade level to boot. Now...my second could care less. He's gotta be moving and shaking and loves to draw. We finally nailed the ABC's over the summer and have started K level last week. He will be 5 in October. He's slowly learning the sounds that letters make and taking a more "normal" approach. lol So...if he wants to read at 3 then tell him the letters and get him to know those then the sounds they make. Tell him that by learning the sounds of the letters you blend them together to read the words. www.starfall.com is a great FREE computer resource. HTH
Depends on the 3yo. If the kid is initiating it, not at all! If a parent is pushing a kid who isn't interested, it's absolutely too young. Phillip wanted to learn at three, but after a week or so, he changed his mind and lost interest. So we backed off until he was "ready" again!
He is wanting quick results, and I know a trick to get him what he wants, relatively quickly.... Let him pick any book and you two read it together like this.... Show him the word "THE". Tell him that is HIS word and everytime he sees it, it is HIS JOB to say it out loud. You will be "Partners" in reading together. Yea! Jump up and down! Then read the story slowly, while running your finger under each word. When you get to HIS WORD, pause... let him say it... (Help when needed) Then do this with HIS WORD for the next couple of days with a variety of books... Next week, or a few days later, depending on his pace...... pick a new word to ADD to the words that he has to read when you read together. So now he will have to read BOTH words when they come up. We picked "THE" and the Dolch words simply because they are based on the frequency that the words tend to turn up in books..... And this helped her to have instant gratification in her desire to read. Here is the list in order of frequency, starting with the most used... the to and he a I you it of in When Sasha turned four she just "Up and Decided" she was ready to read.... This is what worked for us on satisfying her need for fast results.... She is now moving into the #2 list. This is all based on "Sight Words", and is her memorizing words. Actual phonics work and the skills that come with "Decoding words" come later.... we work on them through the week.... ... she works on one letter sound at a time, drawing it, coloring it, circling items that start with that letter's sound and so on.... (Think regular prek and kinder work book type stuff...) Meanwhile, she can pick up her care bears book and read half of it with me, she loves it and we have MOMMY time alone... (Or Daddy, if he reads with her!)
If he wants to learn then by all means go for it! At 3 we had letter sounds down and could sound out short vowel words. She didn't fully grasp the concept of reading till she was 4 though. Now she's a reading machine! We never did sight words till she was in ps k this past year. Never thought to do sight words before that but we'd already read so much that she had quite a few down. I taught phonetically from the start. Go for it!
I love it Jen! Grace wants to read and we will be doing letter of the week with all kinds of activities for each letter. But I will begin this with Grace NOW! See you tomorrow!
My dd was reading at 3 & is now reading at a high school level. My son is 3 1/2 & starting to read. He knows some sight words & is good at sounding words out, even words that are spoken not written. If he's ready for it, then go for it! www.starfall is a great free website for teaching reading skills. Also, you may to check out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I was using it with my ds. He was really enjoying, but then stopped wanting to do it. Even though we haven't done it for about a month, he's still making great progress in reading.
According to the superintendent of our district, once public preschool becomes mandatory, all kids in public school will be able to read before Kindergarten. He says that K teachers should never have had to teach reading. That should be done before K. According to him, parents are obviously failing their children, hence the need for public preK. *roll eyes here*
I am big on "Most will naturally show an interest in reading once THEIR brain is ready for it, not one moment sooner, so let them learn if they want to, leave them alone if they don't"....... So, every kid will be ready at a different time. You may find that he is not actually ready to read, but is wanting to have more one-to-one time with you, or to feel like a "Big Boy". For most kids at that age, phonics and decoding tends to be a bit hard, the sight words "Word of the week or day" co-reading activity helps to get the quick results that a young child is desiring... Once they have two or three of "THEIR WORDS" that they recognize, they find that they CAN actually READ some of their little books and it is AMAZING what it does for not only their confidence but their desire to want to learn MORE....... I know that those things that come quickly are not really better, but for some children, it fits the bill just right. Good luck on whatever works for ya! He's such a cutie! P.S. Sasha says he HAS to read, if she is going to marry him! BWAAA HAAA HAAAA!
Two books that are good for beginning readers are "Jump Frog Jump" and "Where's the Bear?" "Jump Frog Jump" keeps asking "How did the frog get away?" to which the child can read "Jump, Frog! Jump!" With "Where's the Bear?", the vocabulary is SO limited to "Where's the bear?" and finally "THERE's the bear!!!"
I agree with the ladies if he is ready then by all means let him go for it.. start with a letter a week and go from there.. God made every child and person different...
My 3 year old(4 in Oct) has been begging to learn to read. So I'm using the letteroftheweek.com website to help get her on her way. She already knows a lot of letters and the sounds they make. This kid is like a sponge. No kidding. She gets things so quick. I don't think 3 is too early. My husband learned to read when he was 4. Me....not until 6. But if they WANT to learn then I say they are ready. Angela
My 2 and 3 year olds 'read'. They a few books memorized already. We are just now learning the ABC's and their sounds. I personally don't plan to enforce them to read until they are closer to 5. My oldest learned around 5. Not sure if I taughter her or the teacher. She went to PS in the AM and then I did some stuff with her in the PM. It wouldn't hurt to teach him now if he wants too just don't force it, KWIM? I was hard on my DD and almost killed her love for reading. Now that I have become more laid back we are all good to go. As I type this my youngest is 'reading' Barney to her baby. I need a tape recorder because it's so cute to hear.
Teach your little one the letters and the sounds together. My 3 year old, 4 in November, read a Bob Book last week. The title is Mat. Mat sat. Sam sat. Mat sat on sam... Bob Books are great for beginning readers. Have fun! Each child is different in their learning to read pace. I am excited for you!!!
