Teaching Preschooler to Read

I didn't deliberately teach my kid to read. No hooking her on phonics, no flash cards.
I just read to her and tracked the text with my finger (voice-pointed). One day while we were reading, she suddenly pointed to the page and said "That says So Wipe!" (Snow White).
It actually said Sneezy, but she had made the letter-sound connection. By the time she was three, she was reading independently.

I didn't. They learned how to read at school.
At home and in preschool they were read to every day. Letters and numbers were a part of their daily life, in books, toys, puzzles, games, whatever. And they watched plenty of Sesame Street.
That's all they need!
Keep in mind that it's been clearly shown that reading earlier has no effect on later school success. Just like the tallest kid in K won't necessarily be the tallest kid in 3rd grade, it all evens out.
You're better off teaching them how to color, use scissors and glue, tie their shoes, etc. All those skills strengthen their little fingers which prepares them for WRITING, a skill many kids struggle with when they first start school.

Hi C.,

I was a preschool teacher for years and observed that kids develop their reading skills on a huge spectrum... some children read very early (three, four), some became proficient readers at 7 or so.

All that to say, this is one area not to sweat it too much.

My preschoolers loved playing with letters... I had a wooden alphabet puzzle where the letters come out separately. Letter magnets also work fine. We used them sometimes as 'cookies' and played bakery (they could select different letters) and hid them around the preschool -- the kids would find them, we'd say the name of the letter and then put it back into the puzzle.

We drew letters with sidewalk chalk. I cut out thick pieces of paper that had the first letter in their name and they could trace the shape with markers or decorate it how they chose. Cut out the letters of their name and let them glue them onto paper. You could even print out an alphabet a few times and let the kids cut and paste those. A lot of this is just about exposure. We can also make letter shapes with our bodies, which was a fun group activity.

And as everyone below has suggested: reading, reading, reading to them. Simple picture books with clear printing to follow along with your finger as you read. Read to them while they are playing with playdough. You can make letters with playdough as well. I read or told longer stories when the kids were busy with a fine motor activity (beading, playdough, coloring) if they liked. Offer a variety of sources, too-- in our family we will read and share magazine blurbs, online articles, non-fiction books on topics we enjoy... not just picture books. :)

Notice signs when you are out and about. Bananagrams tiles or an old Boggle game are great items to just have available to explore (don't play the games the way an adult would.)

I never had a 'how to read' curriculum; instead, I focused on offering experiential opportunities for children to familiarize themselves with letters and numerals.

For what it's worth, my son entered kindergarten not being able to identify every single letter and only some numbers. By first grade he was a strong reader and was choosing to read for pleasure on his own. We read a lot as a family as well and he has about an hour of reading time each evening, 20-30 minutes of a parent reading to him and another half hour, at least, of him reading independently.

I'm a reading specialist. There is no need to teach 4 year olds how to read.

Best things to do:
Read to them a lot!! For fun, try to read 500 books to them. You can read the same books more than once.
Play rhyming games.
Play "what starts with bbb sound" games.
Play letter recognition games.
Match letters and sounds.
Use a digital camera, or draw pictures, or cut pictures from magazines and write simple pattern books together (I see the car. I see the dog. I see the book.)
Have them make up the stories in books by "reading" the pictures.

What not to do:
Workbooks
Baby Can Read or any other product that claims to teach your child to read in "6 easy steps".

In the last week, we have assessed about 30 kindergarten kids at the school where I teach reading. About 5 of them can truly read. By Christmas, probably 90% of them will be reading. You don't need to force it. My son just turned 5. I'm a reading specialist and even my own kid can't read yet. I saw no need to teach him yet. He has all of the pre-reading skills, but he picked up most of those skills just by listening to us read to him. Keep calm and read on!

I just read to our son at every opportunity (when ever we had to wait for anything).
We almost memorized all the Dr Seuss books.
We made it fun, no pressure, and it was all about snuggling up and reading something funny.
My reading took off the 2nd half of 2nd grade and it was the same for our son.
Suddenly something just clicked and he was reading Harry Potter in the 3rd grade.
His lexile scores have been off the charts since 8th grade (1700+ highest score you can get).
He's still an avid reader (he's 15 now).
I really think just enjoying the books together when he was young helped him become someone who enjoys a good read for recreational purposes.

Just read to them every day, using books at their level (only a sentence or two per page, and you can run your finger under the words if you want as you say them). If they are ready, they will start to follow along. Otherwise, don't push it. The most important thing is for them to think that reading is FUN! Which, if you are reading fun stories to them, it will be.

They'll get to memorize sight words in school soon enough. If you start that with them now, they may think that reading is a chore, and not fun. And that will be much harder to overcome later.

Read to them. Follow the words with your finger.

Our daughter learned letters along the way. We started with the first letter of her name. We also have a local Grocery chain called HEB. So she quickly learned those letters. From there we would talk about other words that started with those letters. Of course she new the "M" in McDonalds also. Along the ay, once she realized a few letters, she wanted to learn all of them.

She loved language. Ryhmes, puns, jokes.

We gave her subscriptions to Cilldrens literature magazines.
Honestly, we did not realize our daughter knew how to read! a few months after she turned 4, I purchased a set of the BOB books. She read all of them in the car on our way home. I turned the car around and exchanged that set for the second set.

I asked our daughter, why didn't you tell us you could read? She said "Because I was afraid you would quit reading to me" We still all read to each other, especially on car trips.

We LOVED reading as a family. At least 2 picture books a night and as she got older chapter books all the way through 5th grader.

During the later years, she would read a chapter aloud to us, then we would read 2 more chapters. With Harry Potter, it was so hard for all of us, to limit the chapters!

FYI, I read every book our daughter read until the end of 8th grade. We were able to discuss them. After that, I could not keep up with all of the books she was reading.

Just read to them so they learn to love books. They'll learn soon enough. Some of the programs used to teach tiny kids to read actually turn kids off of reading.

If you read to them often and expose them to books and your own love of reading (ie - YOU need to sit down and read your own book and let them see you doing that), then you don't need a method or curriculum. They'll learn when they're ready. All those things you see advertised on TV are just ways to force kids, and you really want them to develop a love of reading.

I didn't use any curriculum or method, just read to my girls a lot and read in their presence. They were barely reading in Kindergarten, but amazing readers in early first grade. And now in second grade one is reading at a sixth grade level and the other reads practically as well as I do. The teachers said they can't even give me a grade level because she can read anything they put in front of her. So... I just don't think you need anything formal. Just read. Have fun. Share your love of reading.

Isn't that what school is for? No, seriously. I read to my kids and let them ask questions and talked about letters (and numbers, colors, shapes), but I never felt like I needed to specifically teach them how to read.

My oldest new most of his letters when he started kindergarten. He did fabulous in school and is a great reader now (2nd grade). My youngest is in kindergarten now. He has been in speech since he was about 1 1/2, so he learned a ton through speech. He'll be reading sooner than his big brother did, but it's not because of anything I did.

Just read to them and play with them. The formal education will begin soon enough. The age appropriate way for them to learn is through play. If either of them seems interested in more, you will know. Just follow their lead, and you'll be fine.

Your children are 4. They need to play... not have structured teaching right now. There is no need for a curriculum or lessons.

The best way to go about it is to read a lot to them so they enjoy books and over time, they will pick up on sight words and such and who knows, they may pick up on some reading but don't "teach" it.

Read to your children.
Recite nursery rhymes ( prerequisite to reading)
Sing songs
Play educational games
Cook together (Make fruit salad, etc) to learn language and vocabulary
Letter crafts
Make a magnet fishing pole---Make 2 A's, 2 B's and 2 C's---Put a magnet on them. Catch an A, Catch a B, Catch a C........
Take them to story time at the library
I used to put post it papers on items in the house---Just for letter/word recognition---even if not reading yet "Refrigerator" "Bed" " Door"
*Play
Letter puzzles
Play "I Spy" when driving around or at a playground....

As a former teacher, I will mention that Kindergarten is much more academic now. When my child was 4 1/2...I did teach a few words...I , the, me, and a couple others.

I agree the main thing is to read read read! Also, I love the LeapFrog series. They are short videos that teach sounds of letters and how to combine sounds into words. They have very catchy tunes that help kids retain the information. My daughter really loved them!

With my son, I just read to him, constantly. Reading was his world. We limited TV/videos to one evening per week. He taught himself to read the summer he turned 5, and by the time he started kindergarten, he was reading at a 2nd grade level.

And, that's what I recommend. Don't make reading a lesson or a curriculum. Make it immersive, and the skill will flow from there.

We just read a lot of books. When she could recognize the letters, I started teaching her the different sounds they make. That led to sounding out parts of words, then whole words. I didn't formally teach her, we just worked on it while running errands, while reading, and whenever she had questions. I will say that it varies from child to child - my older son had no interest in learning to read until right before kindergarten, my youngest is starting to recognize what sounds letters make (he's 4), and my daughter was reading well at 4.

I agree with JC. "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." I did it with both my kids.

However, if you don't already read to them frequently, then start that habit first. They will have no interest if they don't enjoy books already. We read books all the time. During the day, before naps, and as part of the bedtime routine... every.single.day. They were trying to read things on their own.. recognizing restaurant signage and things when we were out and about in the car. Trying to figure out menus or whatever, too.

So, we just stepped it up a bit, really... and did the Teach Your Child to Read... which has been recommended to me by my SIL. My daughter started around 3.75 years old and finished it before her 4th birthday. She was reading whole books (not picture books) before she started kindergarten. She's still an avid reader and doesn't go anywhere without something to read... she's 13.

But if you haven't yet laid the foundation to love reading and books, start there.

I taught my daughter to read using the following book... http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/06...

It took about 60 days before my then 4yo could read any easy reader. By the time she went into kindergarten she was reading chapter books (Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones etc).

This book was amazing and only took about 15 minutes per day. (We didn't do the writing activity however).

Have fun!!

At that age? Just read to them. No need to worry about phonics or sight words at that young age, there is plenty of time.

I do think you're awesome for wanting them to read, really.

BUT most kids don't read even by the end of kindergarten. A bunch do start reading in kindergarten and a few even start reading in Pre-K.

Your reading to them as much as they'll let you will make a difference. There are programs out there that can help you achieve your goal but if they still aren't reading or one is and one isn't please don't think about yourself badly, understand when that connection clicks and they can suddenly read it's done. If it doesn't click on until 1st or 2nd grade then it just doesn't click until then.

Like almost everyone else who has replied, I did not use any particular curriculum to teach reading to our kids. I read to them a lot and they both had full bookshelves in their rooms. Also, our home has lots of reading material in it, including a daily newspaper. Finally, we visited the library regularly and they picked out books they wanted to 'read' (have read to them). Both have ended up loving to read and are far above grade level, however their paths to reading were very different. Our son (now 12 1/2) did not read comfortably or for pleasure until he was 8 1/2, the summer after second grade. He loved being read to, however the only books he would get from the library to read himself were graphic novels (cartoons, basically). It took finding a series by chance that grabbed him, and finally he was off and running. His little sister read well from kindergarten on, so probably at age 6. I notice that their 'types' of books (the level of book) are similar, however, so just because she started reading earlier in her life did not mean that she reads more advanced books in 3rd grade than he did, despite him having just 'gotten' reading three months before 3rd grade started.

Both kids still enjoy being read to, and I do still read to the 12 1/2 year old. It's part of his settling in to bed ritual, and while he can read any book I am reading to him, he enjoys hearing it out loud.

The take-away message: we can set the stage by making books or the printed word attractive, and then individual kids' reading skills will develop at their own rate. Enjoy the time without homework and curriculum! You will be buried in them soon enough.

I used the phonics game. We played for about an hour 3 times and he said, "I get it. It's all about patterns!' He started looking for letter/sound patterns and a reader was born. By kindergarten, he was reading at a 4th grade level. We may have uncovered an innate talent, but the game sure helped.

I don't teach my kids to read, I let them learn it in school.

I read to them daily, and then I support whatever they are doing in kindergarten that they ask us to do (homework, more reading).

If anything, I might just get a kindergarten skills workbook and have them do the little phonics activities, and practice letter recognition and letter tracing. Make it fun for them like "playing school" That would give them a leg up when they get to kindergarten and they'll probably learn to read quickly.

No rush though, it's one of those things we all learn eventually and the early readers don't really end up any more advanced than the others in the end.

My older child was reading books independently at age 4. My younger child could read many words by kindergarten, but things really clicked for him when he was in 1st grade

I didn't use any curriculum or lessons. I read to them very frequently since they were born. We played together with letter blocks and naturally evolving word games like rhyming or silly stuff. That sort of thing. It was more about playing than intentionally teaching. When they started having an opinion about book topics, we went to the library regularly. This is also how I learned to read at an early age.

To this day, both of my kids love reading. Sometimes we will all pile up on my bed and read our own things. I think it is partly because I never pushed it or used stuff like flashcards and workbooks.

The downside to all this early childhood reading is that I accumulated multiple hundreds of little kids books. I only recently let go of most of them and my oldest is 14!