How to teach your child to read at home – Mummascribbles

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As soon as our children start school, there is one main thing that we have to help them with on a daily basis, and that is reading. From the very start, they bring home their reading journal waiting to be filled in. But if there is one thing we as parents aren’t taught, it’s how to teach your child to read at home.

We are recommended to have Zach read to us every day. In Reception, he brought home one book per week, and now in Year One, he brings two home. As their reading progresses, the books change. They start very simple –

The cat sat on the mat.

And then before you know it, the amount of words per page get more and more and suddenly they are bringing home much larger books.

There are some things that I have learnt over the years when it comes to how to teach your child to read at home, so I thought I would share them with you.

Start early

And when I say start early, I mean start them as a baby. We have been reading to both our boys since they were tiny and I really do believe it’s one of the most important things we can do as parents. If you focus on books that have rhyming content, they will soon start to pick up the words at the end of each sentence, and before you know it, they will be reciting it from memory. This all helps with them then recognising the words on the page, and from there, your little ones will start to read themselves. It takes time and there is no rush, but starting early is key in my eyes.

When they are really little, board books are a fantastic idea. I love the Baby’s Big Box Of Little Books* because they are the perfect size for little hands to move through. We are also huge fans of the That’s Not My series*, and also my fabulous discovery of the Where’s Mrs Ladybird* (and other variations) flap books. Importantly the flaps are made of felt and they cannot be ripped! Oscar was absolutely obsessed with them for a time and now he sits and reads them himself as he remembers the story 🙂

Talk about sounds and letters

If there is something that I have noticed that has been completely different with Oscar, it’s that he has a far earlier understanding of the alphabet and phonics. I think this is down to us sitting and doing it with Zach, and Oscar quite happily being taught by his big brother. I don’t think drilling it into them is a good idea, but I do think that starting to refer to things ‘properly’ early on is a good idea. So once they have mastered the alphabet in the normal way, introduce the different sounds every now and then. It’s amazing how quickly they pick these things up.

Talk about the story and look at the pictures

A picture tells a thousand words, they say. And of course the words are already there on the page, but the pictures can help them to understand what is going on within the story.

Learning to read can be quite a slow process, so it can be hard for them to actually follow the story along whilst trying to concentrate on sounding out the words. So following along with the pictures can keep their mind on the story and they’ll know what’s going on even if they can’t follow it through the words.

Keep their reading time short

We are recommended to have Zach read for ten minutes each day. Sometimes I struggle to get him to do that much, so unless you have a really, really keen reader, short reading sessions work far better.

Choose your time wisely

One of the things that I find the hardest with Zach is actually finding the right time to sit down and focus on reading. I learnt very early on to not do it when he’s hungry or tired! So, the first thing I do when we walk through the door after school is feed him – because he is staaaaarving! And then I sit with him and read. Because if I try and do it later on after dinner, he is far too tired to concentrate and it just ends with me getting frustrated with him.

I have found that reading before school can be a good time. When he’s had breakfast of course, and has had time to wake up!

Content is key

Zach brings home two books per week. One of them is a Biff and Chip* stylee. Not Biff and Chip because he has moved past them now, but they are still just as blimmin boring. The other book is a proper story book. I find it far easier to get him to read the proper storybook than the boring one. Because in all honesty, a six year old really doesn’t care whether Jeff’s dog ran away. But they do care whether the big bad pig ate the three wolves!

And when it comes to reading to them, try and choose things that you know they will love. Every time we visit the library I let them choose some books, but I also pop in some that I think they will love. For Oscar, that is anything to do with dinosaurs, monsters, diggers or trucks! And for Zach, it would be werewolves or wizards! I mean they like all sorts of stories, but these ones are always bound to keep their attention.

Learn Phonics

At the end of the day, this is how they are going to learn from pre-school onwards. We were invited to a phonics workshop both in Reception and Year One, and it was really helpful. All schools have different ways of learning, but it doesn’t stop the sounds from being the same. If you are reading with your child and they get stuck on a word, help them to sound it out in Phonics. So C-A-T rather than see-ay-tee. Your knowledge is probably the biggest help you need when it comes to how to teach your child to read at home.

Play the ‘jump in’ game

OK, we may have made this one up but it totally blooming works. Zach is at the stage now where there are a lot of words and a lot of pages within the books that he brings home from school. Even though he can pretty much read most of the words (if he puts his mind to it), the length of the book is too much of a challenge and he tends to do a few pages before he gives up.

So what we have been doing is having him read the first few pages, and then I continue it (because he and Oscar tend to want to know what happens in the rest of the story). But, on every page, I will stop at random words and get Zach to read them. I notice though, that he doesn’t only read that specific word, but usually ends up reading the remainder of the sentence. Meaning he is willingly reading more without realising that I am encouraging him to do so! Cheeky I know!

It was him that named it the ‘jump in’ game though, and so it is clearly working for him!

Just keep reading

If there is one thing we try and do, it’s read at bedtime every night. Sometimes we don’t manage it – the boys might be too tired, it might be a bit on the late side, or they might just be desperate for one more play together (although Oscar still normally manages to squeeze at least one story in when this happens), but more often than not, there are at least two bedtime stories (sometimes four!).

The more you read to your children, the more they will pick up. And the more you focus on the pleasure of the story rather than the need to be able to read it, the more your children will love books.

I think it’s safe to say that Oscar is much more of a bookworm than Zach was at his age, and I think it’s because we read so much more with Zach being that bit older, that it’s rubbed off positively on Oscar. We often sit down in the day with a pile of books and just work our way through them!

Keep a record

Why not get them to keep a record of all the books you read together? Whether they have read to you, or you have read to them. I have created a free reading chart download for you to complete together 🙂 Just scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find the opt in details 🙂 And don’t forget to grab my fab list of children’s books to check out too 🙂

So there you go. There are just a few ways that you can help to teach your child to read at home. Remember that most importantly, you want to install a love of books. A love of storytelling. Yes, we all know it’s extremely important for our children to learn to read, but I find trying to force these things just isn’t the best way to go about it. It’s about finding the balance between having them read to you, and you reading to them.

Zach learning to actually read over the last couple of years has probably been my most favourite part of his schooling so far. It’s amazing how quickly they pick it up, and even though it can be quite draining sitting down and practising with him, I know that the more that we do it, the better he will become.

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