How to Teach Children to Read

Teaching children to read is a transformative and rewarding experience. It’s a journey that opens up a world of knowledge and imagination for the child and strengthens the bond between you and your child. This guide provides simple, effective strategies for teaching reading to children, including ways to support those who might be struggling. Additionally, we’ll introduce Whole Phonics Level 1 Readers, a resource that can complement your teaching efforts.

1. Begin with Basic Sounds
Start by introducing your child to the most common and simple sounds. This includes single consonants like /m/, /s/, /t/, /p/, /n/, /b/, etc., and short vowels such as /a/ in “apple,” /e/ in “egg,” /i/ in “igloo,” /o/ in “octopus,” and /u/ in “umbrella.” This foundational step is essential in building the basic blocks of reading and phonetics.

2. Simple and Incremental Learning
Choose texts with basic words and short sentences for beginners. As your child’s reading abilities improve, you can gradually introduce more complex words and sentence structures. This step-by-step approach helps build confidence and reading skills.

3. Short and Engaging Stories
Engagement is key to learning. Use or create short, interesting stories or texts. Incorporate themes or characters your child enjoys to maintain their interest and encourage a love for reading.

4. Focus on Phonics and Decoding
Include words in your texts that demonstrate basic phonetic principles. Help your child sound out words and understand the relationship between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonology). This focus on phonics and decoding is crucial in developing reading skills.

Whole Phonics Readers

Here are examples of the initial beginning readers, Off We Go!, which are pre-Level One. The goal is that with just a small amount of sounds (8 in the first two books), children can begin to read a book. Also attached are a few pages from The Fab Cab, the 2nd book in the Off We Go! series.

Whole Phonics Level 1 Readers can be a valuable resource in the context of these strategies. These books are designed with features that align with the methods above:

Simple and Incremental Learning: The books cater to beginning readers and suggest an incremental learning approach.
Short and Engaging Stories: They feature short, comic-book-style stories that are likely engaging and suitable for young readers.
Repetition and Consistency: Decodable text emphasizes repetition and consistency in learning.
Focus on Phonics and Decoding: These books emphasize phonics, aligning with teaching children to decode words.

Note: Whole Phonics readers and workbooks are being used in classrooms throughout New York City. They are most commonly aligned to support the Fundations and UFLI programs. Support for classroom teachers is available upon request.

Visit the Whole Phonics website to explore more about these resources. Remember, every child’s learning journey is unique. Be patient, encouraging, and responsive to your child’s needs, and watch them flourish into confident readers.