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How to Teach a Child to Read Part 1
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Teaching your child to read can seem like a monumental task. The authors of Spell to Write and Read (SWR) akin this task to getting a jumbo jet off the ground. Once the jet is off the ground it will use half the amount of fuel per minute to fly at 500 mph, but getting that plane off the ground is going to require that the pilot commit to burning a lot of fuel to get to that cruising altitude.
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
You need to print that verse out and repeat it to yourself every morning as you begin the journey of teaching your child to read. The goal is obtainable and the rewards are indescribable. It is possible to have your kindergarten child reading at a 2nd grade level by the end of the K5 year. You can invest 60-90 minutes per day and your child does not need to be a genius to accomplish this.
Things mentioned in this episode:
Samples of our son Riley’s progress with learning to read, spell, and write and cursive in kindergarten.
Interview with Elizabeth (Liz) FitzGerald where we talk about her book Cursive First.
STEPS (Sequential Teaching of Explicit Phonics and Spelling) Curriculum
SWR (Spell to Write and Read) Curriculum
Abeka Homeschool and Christian School Curriculum
The Wise Guide for Spelling
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Hands on the Car!
Every parent realizes it. One of the most stressful times for moms is loading and unloading the car in a parking lot…especially when you have more than one young child!
We were introduced to the concept of training our children to put their hands on the car while in busy parking lots by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo in the “Toddlerhood Transitions” video series. Putting a magnet on the car gives the children a direct place to put their hands making the instruction very concrete rather than an abstract instructions to “stand still” or “don’t move.” Really, what do those words mean to a toddler anyway?!
I had envisioned finding cute magnets such as cars or trains to use but had a very hard time finding magnets that were bigger than 3 inches then I stumbled on Parking Pals! All the younger boys received one in their Easter basket that year.
Let the training begin…
A tool is only as good as the training in using it (and the parental resolve)! We practiced loading and unloading the van in our driveway and communicating expectations. They all learned what “hands on car” means. Obedience was not an option. Mom’s resolve was strong and it was strong because of their safety.
Even the littlest one got the hang of it! Though I still have to watch him like a hawk, the Parking Pal magnets have been a great stress relief!
Cursive First Handwriting Samples
This is a follow up to our podcast episode on Cursive First. I am going to lay out, in a series of pictures, a rough outline of the process that I used to teach cursive writing and phonics to my five year old son. You will see writing samples for a one and a half year time frame.
The reading program that I incorporated the Cursive First into is called STEPS (Sequential Teaching of Explicit Phonics and Spelling). Handwriting is included in STEPS but it was easy for me to take out that part of the program to use the Cursive First. I did switch to STEPS handwriting paper that does not have “skip lines” as soon as we were done with writing the numerals. Some children have a hard time transitioning to regular lined paper so I went ahead and taught that early on.
Cursive First fits more neatly with the SWR (Spell to Write and Read) curriculum. The author of Cursive First, Elizabeth FitzGerald, is a trainer for the SWR program. This program is easily obtainable, in fact I got my copy off Amazon. I do like that SWR has a Biblical base whereas STEPS was created for public school use. Perhaps I will do a more thorough curriculum review of both in the future….
I give you a brief description of these two reading methods to acknowledge that the writing samples of my son’s will look a little different than both these methods because I blended the two together. Beyond the writing, I find both the SWR & STEPS to be very similar in their method, phonograms, and spelling rules. STEPS just happened to be the curriculum I already had from my previous teaching days.
*Disclaimer: My son is not “gifted” in reading and writing. In fact, he really dislikes writing to this day & would much prefer to do math! He does love to read, and has consistently read above grade level, but I attribute that more to an effective reading method rather than “giftedness.”*
I started with teaching the appropriate “tripod” pencil grip, sitting posture, and writing position. I taught the clock face reference tool (or the handwriting circle reference tool used by STEPS). Then I used a variety of tactile and kinesthetic activities such using a salt box as shown below.
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