Reading can help children throughout school and nurtures a love for learning. Between the ages of 5 and 7, your child will officially start to read, and it may take some time before they are able to read fluently by themselves. You can help them in their reading journey by making time to listen to them read and surrounding them with resources that you can even make yourself. We have teamed up with a prep school in Middlesex to share more on this below.
Make Time for Story Time
Reading can help to improve the parent and child relationship. It puts you at the centre of their learning and development as reading is responsible for much of that. By reading to them, you can help to expand your child’s vocabulary and make it much easier for them when they start to read as the words will be familiar to them. Practice makes perfect and reading out loud will help them to improve on their blending and gain confidence.
Nursery Rhymes
There are basics that your child will need to master before being able to read and these are their phonetics. Songs are catchy and can help your child to remember them.
Be Patient
It will take your child some time and practice to be able to blend and read at a pace where they are able to read full sentences. While they do, it’s important that you remain patient so that they do not feel pressured and feel happy to learn.
Refer to the Sounds and Not Letters
When children learn to read, they are taught using the phonetic alphabet and not the names of letters. This is to avoid confusion and something that you should try to do to.
Phonetic Cards
Games also work well when teaching children. You can create lots of different ones using a card sort which you can make at home. You can design each card to have a different phonetic sound and an object that begins with the corresponding sound on the reverse. The cards can be used to play snap and guessing games.
Start Off with Small Words
To make reading enjoyable and easy for your child to grasp, start off with small 3 letter words. Anything bigger can be difficult for children to blend. This is why when looking for a book, it’s important to pick one of the right reading age.