Teach your 4 year old to read in 10 minutes a day

Teach your 4 year old to read in 10 minutes a day

Teach your 4 year old to reach with 10 minutes a day

I was driving in the car the other day in a part of town that we arent always in and Gabriel asked if we could go to the dollar store. I asked him what made him want to go to the dollar store and he said that there was one over there and he wanted to get some toys. I was so amazed because we had never been to this store location before. It was then that I realized that he recognized the dollar store picture. At that moment it was time to apply this site recognition to reading. Here a how to guide for how I got started teaching Gabriel, my 4 year old, how to read.

1. Use Dolch Sight Words

What are Dolch sight words? It is a list of the most commonly used words in children's books. In the 1930s Dr. Edward William Dolch developed this list after studying children's books. The list has 220 site words & 45 nouns, which is then broken down by age group; pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade and nouns.

1. Pick 3 words from the list

You can pick any 3 words from this list, I chose to start off with words that were easy for me to draw little pictures of such as look (an eye), three (the numeral 3 and 3 dots) and blue (blue line) to help in the beginning with word association.

1. Make flash cards

I decided to use post it notes because I had a super large unused stack that had been sitting in the office for over a year but you can use what ever is available. No need to go out and buy anything extra, you can even just cut a piece of paper into squares. On each post it note I wrote the word and a picture, such as an eye for the word look, the numeral 3 for the word 3 and a blue line for the word blue.

1. Each day practice those 3 words

After each word was written on the post-it I asked him to put the post the word on something he could associate the word with. For example, the word look went on the tv and the windows because you “look” at them/through them. For the word three we found items of 3 things and posted the word on them. And of course for the word blue we put the sticky note on blue items. This will not be easy for all the words but its a great starting point to get your child used to seeing the words and recalling them in their memory. I also use this time to practice Gabriel's A,B,C's. Each word we practice we spell them together. So he's learning new words, practicing his letters and learning how to read.

*Challenge, set the timer for 5 minutes in the morning and set up your expectations for your practice session.

For example, “Gabriel, we have 5 minutes to practice these words and then you are free to go do other fun things. I need you to focus until the timer goes off and then we will be done and we can put them away. I know that it may be difficult to remember all the words but I know that if we work together we can get through this. And dont forget that once we know the words we will be able to read books together. Do you think this is something you can do with me?”

When I set my expectations for the practice session there are clearly defined guidelines that help keep him on track and define what he is working towards and why. If he cant agree to these things we try again at a different time. If your child does not want to practice at the moment I would advise not pushing it and trying again later.

1. Add 3 more words each week

Each week add three more words, but dont forget to keep practicing the words you worked on for the previous week.

1. Play a game with the words

As I am sure you know kids love playing games. There are so many games that you can try but make sure you keep it at their skill level. Learning to read is already a new skill that they are trying to develop, it may make it more difficult and they may shy away from practicing if the games are beyond their comprehension. Right now we play memory. Gabriel already knew how to play the game, its short at the moment because we currently know 10 words and its easy to make. All you need to do is make a duplicate list of your flash cards, then turn them over and your ready to play.

Heres a list of ideas for games

Memory (Make duplicate flash cards, flip them over and start playing)

Bingo (Make a bingo board with the words you are learning)

Go Fish (Use the same cards from memory and deal them between the players)

Tic-Tac-Toe (For each word your child gets correct they get to place an X or an O on the board)

There are so many games but this will be a great start. As your child grows and develops you can create other games to keep their interest.

1. Go to library and pick level one books

Books can be expensive and kids grow out of them quickly, head over to the library and find level 1 books to start off with. If you are unsure where to find these just ask the librarian, they are always super helpful.

1. Practice reading with the level one books

Once you have your book in hand, its time to read! As we started out I had Gabriel sit in my lap and asked him to use his finger to follow along. We kept the same books for 2 weeks before returning them so he could practice the sight recognition and build confidence. By the end of the 2 weeks he was reading a majority of it by himself and learning words we hadn't even practiced yet due to repition.

I know that with work and life it can be hard to fit time into your busy schedule but if you can set aside 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night it will not only help your child get ahead of the curve for their reading skills but you will be able to spend quality non electronic time with your little one.

1. As vocabulary is mastered add more levels

This is probably self explainatory but as your child masters the list and is developing his vocabulary add more words and additional reading levels as you go along.

Thanks for stopping in to read this guide for teaching your child to read. I look forward to hearing about your progress with your little one and even problem solving hurtles that you may come across.

#reading #4yearold #sightwords #dolch #prek