Category Archives: Learn to Read

Children Learning Reading v Reading Head Start Review

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Children Learning Reading v Reading Head Start Review

Being a parent is challenging regardless, plus you have the added challenge of teaching your children to read. Myself as a teacher, I can positively say a child’s reading skills are early sign of their success academically in the future.

Children Learning Reading v Reading Head Start ReviewTeaching your children to read should not be a step you need to take alone, there are multiple resources and products available to aid you along the way. The 2 most popular are, Children Learning Reading and Reading Head Start, continue reading on for a review of both to find out which of these courses is best for your children personally and academically.

Children Learning Reading Review:

“Children Learning Reading” was developed by Jim Yang, it is a comprehensive 12week course designed to target younger readers between the ages of 2 to 6, and their reading abilities.

This e-book course is split into 2 stages, each stage consisting of a “Children Learning Reading” PDF, then it is broken down even more, into 50 bite size sessions which parents and children can complete at their individual pace.

Early on the content is focused on creating phonetic awareness within your child, transitioning between different letter combinations while learning new words and the sounds they would make.

As I said earlier the “Children Learning Reading” program is split into 2 stages,

Stage 1: includes 28 sessions that are focused on the alphabet and the sounds each single letter would make.

Stage 2: is made up of 22 sessions that build on the skills learnt within stage 1, the difference being stage 2 will introduce larger words, more complex sentences and longer difficult paragraphs.

I have now outlined the work required in this program; the next stage is to discuss cost.  The same way the “Children Learning Reading” comes in 2 stages the same can be said about its pricing, the standard option via there official website will cost $69 whereas the premium package pack costs $89 but both packages have enough material to cover the 12-week course.

The difference between the 2 options besides the difference in price are the bonuses included within the premium package, included are, stage 1 & stage 2 printouts also illustrated colouring book, and lessons coming in video format.

Once all 50 lessons have been completed, the benefits for your child be what? “Children Learning Reading” makes the claim is will assist your children in the understanding of the alphabet and its sounds also to create a yearning to take on more complicated sentences and paragraphs, and instil confidence to learn your new skills.

Prior to making any buying decision, lets take a look at some pros and cons.

PROS:

  • Comprehensive information provided for each lesson.
  • Works on your mobile or computer device.
  • Free bonus package with the premium course.

 

Cons:

  • Needs extensive work time from parents and your children.
  • Heavy intense workload.
  • Does not include all age groups, targeting only ages between 2 and 6.
  • Does not guarantee results for your child.

 

Reading Head Start Review:

“Reading Head Start” has been created by Sarah Shepard, a teacher who wanted a simple system to help her children improve their reading development. Once she began, she quickly realised she was able to help children under the age of 2 to 9 years plus with her program “Reading Head Start”.

The program comes in a digital format, entirely different from any school syllabus. Everything used within the program has been scientifically verified as 100% effective.

“Reading Head Start” is

  • Simple to follow and comes in 4 phases.
  • Needs only 15 minutes of your time.
  • Will improve a child’s self-confidence.
  • Enhances a child’s reading skills.
  • Sharpens your child’s language skills.
  • Sets your child on the path for success in his/her school life.

The program will not only help you children to read and understand, it teaches your child the precise meaning of the words they are reading, even in readers as young 2 years old. Reading to your child is amazing, but a child reading to you is even more amazing.

36.000+ is the number of children who have benefited from using the “Reading Head Start” program most seeing results within 30 days! Parents who are interested can take the “Reading Head Start” program for a test drive right now for as little as a $1, rising to $197 for a 12 month pass or lifetime access for only $297.

Me as a teacher I can say “Reading Head Start “uses a fun and positive technique in helping children to read and improve on the current skills already in them. It will enhance a child’s vocabulary a child’s language and a child’s communication skills.

As before lets take a look at the pros and cons of the “Reading Head Start”,

Pros:

  • Very user friendly, easy to understand, and begins by simply clicking a play button on the video lessons.
  • Many interactive lessons to make your child see reading as fun and enjoyable.
  • Scientifically proven methods to improve a child’s skills.
  • Extremely affordable considering the content provided.
  • Your child becomes stronger in these skills, they can go on in life to achieve academic success.

Cons:

  1. Program come in digital format so only available online.
  2. Will require commitment for you to see the results you desire.

Yes, I know there are many reading programs available currently, in my personable opinion Reading Head Start” by far is the one to go with.

It is a one-of-a-kind program with teaching techniques not being seen in our schools, results can be seen within 30 days and will enhance your child’s shills and general confidence.

Click the link below, Sarah will show you how she has taught over 35,000 children how to read, and she guarantees results when using her Reading Head Start program…

check out Reading Head Start Here:<<<

check out Children Learning Reading Here:<<<

 

Phonics for Younger Learners

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Phonics For Younger Learners

As a teacher I can confidently say that there’s a lot to learn when starting school.

Beginning with making new friends, to building confidence with letters and numbers, and learning much more through play; however, learning how to read is taught systematically, from their first days at preschool through their first years in elementary school.

It can be challenging at times to figure out how to best support your child through these early stages of reading, especially since teaching methods have definitely changed since you were in school! Before you can begin to teach your child to read, I have provided a short list of “buzz words” to help you out!

  • Phonics: using the sound made by a letter and groups of letters to read words.
  • Decoding: using the knowledge of phonics to sound out and read words.
  • Grapheme: a written single letter or group of letters, like “s”, “a”, or “she”.
  • Diagraph: two letters that make one sound together, for example “sh”.
  • Phoneme: the sound a letter or group of letters make. An example is the word “mat”, which has 3 phonemes, “m”, “a”, and “t”.
  • Sounding Out: using your phonic knowledge to help you say the sounds within a word; e.g., “r-e-d”, pronouncing each phoneme.
  • Blending: reading the sounds in the word all together to read the whole word; e.g., “r-e-d, red” or “m-o-m, mom”.
  • High-Frequency Words: also known as “common exception words”, we use these common words often, but aren’t always decodable using phonics. Examples of high-frequency words are, “the”, “one”, and “where”; children are taught to recognize these words on sight.

The most important word out of that list when teaching your children to read is phonics. Phonics, using the sound made by a letter and groups of letters to read words, is so widely used because there is an abundance of research showing it works!

In preschool or nursery school, children begin to develop their listening skills so that they can tune in to the different sounds in words, laying the foundation to learn names and sounds.

The next step takes place in primary school, where children learn the letters of the alphabet in a set order, and the sound of each letter. Once that is learned, children can begin to sound out and read short, simple words.

Remember, the purpose of phonics is to have your child reading as easily and quickly as possible so they can feel confident to read whatever they like! Reading is meant to be fun, and no one wants it to turn into a chore, so here are some tips to have success when teaching your child to read with phonics:

Keep it short and sweet: Ten minutes is often long enough to keep your child’s attention on a phonics lesson, and will prevent them from getting bored.

Quality time: pick a time to read when your child is not too tired, and try to find a quiet place where they won’t be distracted by screens, siblings or pets. Even when your child becomes a strong independent reader, keep on reading with them! Not only are their reading skills important, but that quality time you spend together is too!

Form a partnership with the teacher: Ask your child’s teacher how you can highlight reading and phonics inside the home and feel free to express any concerns you may have.

Spread the joy of reading: Keeping plenty of books and/or magazines around the home will show your child how valuable reading is, while cultivating a lifelong love of reading

In my experience, most children begin to put their phonics knowledge into practice when they transition from a toddler to a young reader. At this age, the focus has shifted from using phonics only for reading, to using phonics for spelling.

However, it’s not uncommon for young readers to go back and revisit their phonics knowledge, so don’t worry if your child isn’t completely confident yet. Keep up with reading to your child, especially books that appeal to their interests and topics that excite them. Remember, “children see, children do”, let them see you read and enjoying books or magazines, you’d be surprised how quickly they’ll be grabbing books of their own!

The key thing here is to not let your child become stressed or upset; keep a positive attitude and reinforcement, continue reading, and keep the lessons short and fun. Teaching children is not a simple task, and if after reading these steps you’re left feeling a little overwhelmed, no need to worry,

I have a solution for that too! Click the link below to see how Sarah Shepard, a fellow teacher, has taught over 35,000 children how to read with her program Reading Head Start!

 

How To Learn Phonics for kids

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How To Learn Phonics for kids

Before we talk about why it’s so important for toddlers to learn about Phonics we should learn what phonics actually is.

Phonics is learning that letters and sounds are a partnership i.e. it is the link between what is said and what we read and write.

Phonics is the first stage that younger readers will need to sound out your words. Within pre school children will begin to build their listening skills so they can tune into the varying sound in many different words, laying the basis to learn sounds and names.

How To Learn Phonics for kids

 

The next step would of course take place at primary school level where a child would learn the letters within the alphabet in a set order, then sound out each letter. Once learned a child will start to sound out and read short simple words. Here is an example, children would learn the letter C has a sound of a “c” as in of course “CAT”, then the child then learn to blend the remaining sounds, “c/a/t/” to then pronounce the whole word.

Of course, practice makes perfect, after working with short simple words a child’s self-confidence will begin to grow and they will be thus be able to begin making connections to more complex words. All this while relishing a new love of reading. Listed below is a list of Buzzwords to assist you to help your child to read.. 

Phonics: using the sound made by a letter and groups of letters to read words.

Decoding: using the knowledge of phonics to sound out and read words.

Grapheme: a written single letter or group of letters, like “s”, “a”, or “she”.

Diagraph: two letters that make one sound together, for example “sh”.

Phoneme: the sound a letter or group of letters make. An example is the word “mat”, which has 3 phonemes, “m”, “a”, and “t”.

Sounding Out: using your phonic knowledge to help you say the sounds within a word; e.g., “r-e-d”, pronouncing each phoneme.

Blending: reading the sounds in the word all together to read the whole word; e.g., “r-e-d, red” or “m-o-m, mom”.

High-Frequency Words: also known as “common exception words”, we use these common words often, but aren’t always decodable using phonics. Examples of high-frequency words are, “the”, “one”, and “where”; children are taught to recognize these words on sight.

In school, teachers give children plenty of time and practice when working with phonics. Working with phonics in my classroom, children read short, easy books, containing a particular letter sound or words they are working on, allowing them to build knowledge and confidence towards phonics. As a parent, it can be a bit of a puzzle trying to work out the best ways to support your children in the early stages of reading, especially since teaching methods are always changing, and are sure to have changed since you were in school! Learning about phonics does not have to start and stop within the walls of the classroom. As a teacher, I have come up with several ways to work on phonics with your child from the comfort of your own home. Some of those ways are:

  • Form a partnership with the teacher

Ask your child’s teacher how you can highlight reading and phonics inside the home and feel free to express any concerns you may have.

  • Listen to your child read

If you notice when reading with your child that they stumble on a word, encourage them to use phonics to sound it out. If they are still unsure after sounding the word out, don’t be discouraged, provide the word and some encourage to your child to get the next one right!

  • Boost comprehension

When reading with your child, take breaks from the story to ask questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Can you make up a different ending to the story?”

  • Reread familiar books

If you notice your child wants to reread their favourite book, that’s okay! In fact, it’s beneficial as it shows a desire to read, builds fluency, and builds confidence in your child as they can demonstrate reading on their own with little to know assistance.

  • Read aloud

When choosing a book to read, choose a book that excites your child and their interests, and, if you can, use different voices for each character!

  • Spread the joy of reading

Keeping plenty of books and/or magazines around the home will show your child how valuable reading is, while cultivating a lifelong love of reading

Once your child has learned to read words with the most common letter-sound combinations, they will move on to learn other, harder combinations. With daily practice, your child will be well on their way to reading pretty much any familiar word in the English language! Teaching children is not a simple task, and if after reading these steps you’re left feeling a little overwhelmed, no need to worry, I have a solution for that too! Click the link below to see how Sarah Shepard, a fellow teacher, has taught over 35,000 children how to read with her program Reading Head.

How to Improve Children’s Reading

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How to Improve Children’s Reading

Before your child reaches the age of 10, one of the most important things they will accomplish is learning how to read; in fact, children begin acquiring the skills they need to master reading from birth.

An infant as young as 6 months old can already distinguish between the sound of their mother tongue and a foreign language, and by the age of 2 they have mastered enough word sounds in their native language to produce over 50 words. Singing the alphabet song and reciting nursery rhymes is the next step as fine How to improve children's readingmotor skills advance, and the ability to write, draw, and copy shapes follow, which eventually lead to forming letters.

As a parent, you can encourage these early skills in your child by pointing out letters in daily life, visiting your local library and bookstore to foster an interest in books, and asking them about their day to assist with the development of narrative skills. As an elementary school teacher, everything from vocabulary growth to high performance across all subjects, is linked to a child’s reading ability.

When teaching children to read, there are 3 main techniques I have used with amazing results.

Those 3 techniques are the Phonics Method, the Whole-Word Approach, and the Language Experience Method, which will be explained in detail below.

  • The Phonics Method

The phonics method is one of the most popular and commonly used methods for teaching reading to children, as it teaches children to pair sounds with the letters, and blend them together to pronounce the word. This method is focused on helping a child learn how to break down words into sounds, translate those sounds into letters, and combining them to form words, leading to the foundation of their reading ability. Using this method over time will train the cognitive process to automatically translate between letters and sounds, allowing the child to become more fluent and read with ease.

The Whole-Word Approach

This method shows children how to read by sight and relies on memorization and repeated exposure to the written form a word pair with an image and audio.

How the whole-word approach differs from the phonics method is that they learn to say the word by recognizing its’ written form as opposed to sounding it out.

Putting words into context and providing images can help, and eventually familiar words can be presented on their own, then in short sentences, and eventually longer sentences. When children begin reading via this method, it becomes an automatic process that will have them reading the majority of the vocabulary they encounter, only sounding out words that are unfamiliar to them.

The Language Experience

The language experience method of teaching children to read is rooted in personalization, where the words being taught are different for every child. The idea of this technique is children will learn words that they are already familiar with to build confidence and eagerness towards reading. As a teacher, I have used this technique to create unique stories for each student using their preferred list of words, while they draw pictures to correspond with the story, therefore creating their own storybook. As a parent, don’t be afraid to try this technique at home to further strengthen your child’s reading comprehension and build their confidence in reading!

When it comes to teaching your child how to read, it is important to remember that no two children will learn the same way, so remaining flexible in your approach is key to achieving success. Motivation are patience are also key as to avoid introducing any negative associations with school and learning. The more children read with their parents, teacher, and caregivers, the more books become a favourite and exciting pastime and activity. Instead of solely using one of these techniques, it can sometimes be beneficial to combine aspects from each to create your own customized technique for your child. Teaching children is not a simple task, and if after reading these steps you’re left feeling a little overwhelmed, no need to worry, I have a solution for that too! Click the link below to see how Sarah Shepard, a fellow teacher, has taught over 35,000 children how to read with her program Reading Head Start!

Teach Your Children to Read in 7 Simple Steps

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Teach Your Children to Read in 7 Easy Steps..

I am certain most parents do not think about the process of learning to read up to the time when they have children of their own at home grasping for books.

As a teacher myself, I cannot tell you how many times moms and dads have approached me asking questions on the subject of how they can teach their children to read at home.

My answer to each one of them is consistently the same: learning to read is a composed of many different skills and methods, and fortunately, I have broken it down into straightforward and tested approaches to try at home!

1.); Use Songs and Nursery Rhymes

learning to read Songs and nursery rhymes are not just fun sounding to children, but are crammed with rhymes which aid them to hear sounds and syllables, which consequently help them with their reading.

One of the most essential skill sets required when learning to read is phonetic awareness. Phonetic awareness is the capability to totally focus on the sound each letter tends to make inside a word.

In this Example, the word “mat” is composed of the sounds the letters m/a/t/ make.

To help your children construct phonemic awareness utilizing songs and nursery rhymes, clap to the beat and sing the songs, try clapping to the rhythm singing the songs together, and just watch your young ones become effective with reading.

2.) Create Homemade Word Cards

Super quick and easy, just simply cut out cards any size from paper, and write just 1 word with 3 sounds on each single (e.g., Sat, cat, sun, pot, pig). Have your infant select a card and read the word together, holding up three fingers. Once done, ask them to say the 1st sound they hear in the word they chose, then the second, and then the third.

This exercise needs very little preparation time, and builds phonics skills and helps them sound out words. If your girl or boy is just starting out, you can do the same exercise, but use letters of the alphabet as a substitute of words.

3.)  Print Environments Are Best

If little ones see printed words on a regular basis, like on posters, books, and labels, they actually will be able to make associations between the letter sounds as well as the letter symbol. While out and about with your children, stop and point to letters on billboards and signs to inspire them to work, making letter sounds and ultimately, sounding out the word.

4.)  Make It Fun!

Never be afraid to have fun while you are teaching your children to read. Simple things like asking questions, “What sound does the word ___ begin with?”, or “What word rhymes with ___?”, this very easy method will have little ones listening, identifying, and sounding out the sounds within the words, thus building confidence and enthusiasm towards learning how to read. An additional tool that can be used is letter magnets. Occasionally out vowels can be tricky for children, which is why magnets can be very helpful. Put magnets on your fridge, and place all the vowels (a, e, i, o, u) to one side. Say out loud a CVC word (consonant-vowel-consonant sounding), such as “cat”, and ask that your child to spell it out using the magnets. To help them along, say each vowel sound aloud while pointing to the corresponding letter, and ask your child which one makes the sound alike to the letter in the word.

5.) Building The Foundation.

Remember, multiple skills are involved in Learning how to read. Children require all of these skills that are listed below.

  1. 1,) Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear the different sounds within words.
  2. 2,) Phonics, understanding the connection between letters and the sounds they make.
  3. 3,) Vocabulary: recognizing the context of words and their meaning.
  4. 4,) Reading Understanding: Comprehending the meaning written text and storybooks.
  5. 5,) Fluency: Ability to read aloud at speed with accuracy and speed.

6.) Learn Together

Reading to your children every day is the most effective way to get your child to attain the skills required for learning how to read. You are actually showing your child how to structure and sound out words while also building their comprehension skills and increasing their vocabulary.

Letting them hear what someone sounds like who reads fluently, is all that’s needed for your child to be a successful reader. While reading to your child, speak to them engaging them ask them questions the things they see, i.e.: pictures, what colours they see, what animals they see.

7.) See the word, Say the word.

A common expression used is “see the word say the word”, is used to describe what is called sight words. Sight words are words that are slightly harder to sound out. Learning to recognize and read sight words is important while young children are learning to read, and the best method to teach them is by utilizing flash cards with sight words on them, and of course asking them to “see the word, say the word.

It’s important to remember every child is different, each child will have his/hers own pace so it is best to make the reading process as enjoyable and encouraging as possible. Reading daily and having fun with activities, even letting your child pick their own books to read as there reading skills grow will instil a passion to read. Teaching children is not an easy task, if after reading these 7 steps you are still feeling slightly overwhelmed, there is really no need, I have a solution to help you, click the link below and see how fellow teacher Sarah Shepard has taught over 30,000 children how to read with her program Reading Head Start!