My son starts kindergarten this month and already knows all his letters by recognition and how to write them. I'd like to boost his early reading skills, but don't know what to use. Is the Tag Reading System a good one? Give me your successes and failures.
Both my son and daughter learned to read doing the Hooked on Phonics kit. I buy mine from Sam's Club, but I have found them at book stores, sometimes big lots, sometimes wal mart, & Fry's has had them as well. The kits are around $30. I liked them, because the very first day we started my son was able to read a book. He was very proud!
Practice, practice, practice. Several companies make leveled readers. I like the Scholastic series. Stay at a level he can handle, and just move up as he improves.
If your school uses the guided reading approach, he will bring a 'baggy book" home with a leveled reader in it.
Also, Reading A-Z is a good website to get leveled readers. If you get a membership, you can print them off.
When I was 14 we home schooled at the time and I taught my younger brother to read using How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Days. Now as an adult, many years later, I've had several friends who have used it with their children with great success. It doesn't take very long to do each day and sometimes you can do more than 1 day's worth each day. Depends on your kid really.
M.
"Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" Tried and true - I'm the fourth mom on this list that used it. My son has to read a chapter every day in order to watch 30min of cartoons a day. He reads chapters now, understands the title of the sentence, periods etc and can tell me what the story was about - they have questions for you to ask him afterward.
The English language is terrible and I never knew how bad it was until trying to teach it to my son - we don't follow the rules! lol
So this book helps him over the hump - it tells you exactly what to say - no over talking or pressuring. I liked that and so does he.
Also, it teaches the hard letters - Y, CH, TH, WH - you may not get this in kindergarten. Oh and Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Suess is a good book too for kindergarteners
Good luck - hope you like it. We did!
Sounds like he's well prepared for kindergarten. Personally, I wouldn't buy any system to help him with his reading. I would make sure you continue reading to him & take him to the library often to pick out books. He can start working on his phonics now that he recognizes all his letters. www.starfall.com is a great early reading website that is free. Good luck and congrats on such a smart little boy!
A.
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I'm an elementary teacher so I'm coming from that perspective: Read, read, read with your child. Notice all the tings about a book --word patterns, how the pictures help tell the story, how to handle a book and treat it well. Make going to the library an adventure and a treat you do together--speacial bag/basket for the books etc. When he gets to school, ask the teacher what you can do that would reinforce what he is learning at school. I'm big on 'environmental print'--noticing words all around us--signs, menus etc and how they help us in the world (keeps us safe, gives us more choices etc.) I would say that you don't need a 'system', espcially because it could be confusing to what he is doing at school. I teach 1st/2nd and the focus is on one vowel sound/pattern a week. In K, it's generally a letter a week. Start looking through magazines for pictures that start with each letter and make a letter scrapbook page for each letter. Just have him continue to love reading--as soon as it's a 'have to' chore, it will be hard on everyone because his attitude about school in general could tank. good luck!
I don't know if/how much things have changed -- but the way I helped my girls learn to read: read with them. Read everything -- boxes, labels, signs -- to them until they can read them to you. I think I put labels on just about everything in the house at some point. But mostly, I read books to them and let them read books (about anything they wanted) to me.
I personally would not invest in a "reading system" that you have to pay money for, your son's school will do that for you. If you really want to "boost his early reading skills" the best thing you can do is read to him. Read, read, read!!! Read books together (many, many books) read signs as you drive, read the cereal boxes at the store. Read and talk about print as much as you possibly can. There is a fantastic book that you might enjoy by Mem Fox (a well known children's book author) called "Reading Magic" that talks about how children learn to read. It doesn't take fancy or expensive programs. They learn by being read to and introduced to the words all around them. I reccomend you get Mem Fox's book and a library card and your son will be more than ready for Kindergarten. Good luck and good job on being a great proactive mom concerning your sons reading skills.
