learning to read
All of my children have learned to read on their own time schedule and in their own way.
My oldest child (Elisha, 11) came by reading quite naturally and was reading whatever he wanted in Kindergarten. Elisha was speaking in full sentences before his first birthday, so there was never any question that language was his strong point.
My next child (Moses, 9) struggled with reading and it didn’t click until the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade. He also didn’t say much until he was almost 4. Moses was difficult to understand when he spoke, but when we started working hard on phonics his speech improved. He still struggles with spelling, but we are taking a different approach this year.
Now I am working with my third child (Malachi, 7) and it is slow going teaching him to read. He has some speech issues and other people find him difficult to understand. Working through the phonics sounds is hard for him, but we are plugging away. Things are starting to really click for him. I can see that is getting it more and more as we go along.
I have not even begun phonics instruction with the twins (Zion and Hosanna, 3), but I know that I am going to do things a little bit differently when we get there (which will be very soon).
Since Malachi and I have some extra work to do on phonics (and the twins will have work to do soon), I went searching for phonics resources. I found some awesome resources around the Internet that I wanted to share with you.
Online Phonics Activities
- Letter Sounds
- Letter Blends
- Wild West Phonics
- Machine – Beginning Sounds
- Phonics Fighter – Beginning Sounds
- The Quiet Machine – Beginning Sounds
- Initial Sounds
- Starfall
Printable Readers For Extra Practice
- Hubbards Cupboard
- Mrs. Meacham
- Carl’s Corner – Word Family Readers
- Alphabet Avenue
- Emergent Readers
- Rhyme A Week
- Learning Island
Phonics Games and Activities
- KizClub
- Carl’s Corner – Kindergarten
- Carl’s Corner – 1st Grade
- Carl’s Corner – 2nd Grade
- Carl’s Corner – 3rd Grade
- Kidzone Phonics
Phonics Practice Basket
I am working on creating a phonics basket to use with Malachi (and then with the twins). I wanted something that was easy to pull out when we had a few minutes to work on our reading.
- Readers
- Letter Tiles Or Cards For Word Buliding
- Games And Activities
- Flashcards
How did you teach your child to read?
What other resources can you share?
What else would you put in the phonics basket?
When Honey is not researching for phonics resources or teaching her five children, she can be found blogging over at Sunflower Schoolhouse.
The first thing I used to introduce the alphabet was the Letter Factory DVD from Leapfrog. I would pop it in to keep him occupied so I could get through a lesson with his brothers uninterrupted. After that I put him on Starfall because it was like a game. He also loves his Leapster (which I would put in the basket). Currently we are using The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading and I love it!
Hi Mary,
We love the Letter Factory DVD’s and Starfall. I had the Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading, but it didn’t work with previous children, although it may have been a good fit for Malachi.
Blessings
Honey
Thanks for these great resources!
Kelly
I made a game with caps from milk bottles. The pink caps are common endings for words, the blue ones are common beginning sounds. We play a game of picking one blue cap and one pink cap and trying to make a word out of them. It is okay to have silly and nonsense words; the idea is to practice sounding out the sounds. But bonus points for real words! My daughter loves the game and we even take it with to the pool to play while my son has swim team practice.
What a great idea. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Honey
Oh so many links to look at – thank you!!! I wrote a post on reading resources a while back: http://www.se7en.org.za/2009/05/02/se7en-learning-to-read-resources
I really liked your post. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Honey
My kids have learned to read through Montessori Methods. We started with I-Spy beginning sound games and lowercase sandpaper letters. Both of my children moved almost seamlessly from letter sounds to “writing” (with a moveable alphabet) 3 letter words to finally reading 3 letter words. My oldest completed this sequence around her fifth birthday and is moving on to more advanced phonics. My youngest, who has been identified as having speech issues, is at the “writing” stage at age 3 1/2. Not only has Montessori helped her learn to read, but it helped her speech more than any speech therapist.