When you begin teaching your child how to read at home, you may feel overwhelmed when you Google or YouTube activities and skills. This is totally normal. There is SOO much information out there for teachers, reading specialists, and parents. It can be incredibly difficult to know where to start and what to work on.
Today I want to focus on the phonics aspect of teaching your child to read. In this post, I’ll help you to better understand what phonics is and how you can help teach your child how to read from home. These are tried and true tips and tricks from an experienced teacher.
What is Phonics?
Phonics is teaching children to read based on the code of written language. They learn to match the sounds of individual and groups of letters to written words. This allows them to decode (sound out) unfamiliar words and encode (write unfamiliar words).
Some examples include: sounding out CVC words, /c/ /a/ /t/, learning that the /k/ sound can be made with a c, k, ck, or ch, learning to spell rain vs. play, both long a sounds, and later on, decoding multisyllabic words by learning syllable rules.
How to Teach Phonics at Home
The most effective means of teaching phonics is using systematic instruction. (<-Read this article if you enjoy nerdy academic talk.) Systematic instruction means that you follow a specific plan of instruction rather than randomly picking and choosing when and what to teach.
Some pointers when beginning teaching phonics at home:
*Always start with phonological awareness skills such as rhymes, syllables, and hearing the sounds in words.
Make sure your child (even an older one) has firm letter sounds down before moving on.
Download a free phonics assessment to find out where your child is.
Then download a Phonics Scope and Sequence to help you determine what order to teach skills to your child.
Once you have a few guidelines for teaching your child phonics at home, use a variety of materials to keep them engaged and interested. Make sure to use a mixture of the following: online apps, games, multisensory activities and phonics books, or decodable readers.
Phonics Books and Decodable Readers
When you are teaching your child to read at home, it’s important to keep in mind their reading levels when choosing books. Phonics books are incredibly helpful in teaching specific phonics skills. They are often called decodable readers because they are books aimed at helping your child decode words and practice specific skills. Some of the most popular books for teaching phonics are:
High Noon Books (decodable chapter books)
SPELD - SA decodable books
Most importantly, when finding phonics books for your child, find ones that they will be excited about and make it a fun activity. Kids, not much different from adults, are much more likely to read when they are interested in what they are reading about!
Reading Tutor Near Forest Lake, MN (or online)
Imagine your child being excited about reading and finding increased self-esteem through new skills. Private tutoring can help your child gain new skills and enjoy learning while providing you peace of mind knowing that your child isn’t falling behind.
In-person or online reading tutoring is available from Keep It Up Tutoring. As a private tutor, I work with your child to best suit his or her needs. I have dedicated myself to specializing in literacy for children K-5th grade.
I, Ashley, am an experienced classroom teacher now dedicated to providing individualized services to students in and around the Forest Lake, MN area or online in any location.
Some services I offer as a private tutor include:
In-home or online tutoring
Summer reading camps
1-1 tutoring
Small group instruction
Sign up for a free phone consultation or email me today. I’ll help steer you in the right direction and help you guide your child to get the most out of their education!
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