Advice for 3.5 year old wanting to "read the words"

[medawyn]

... and getting very frustrated?

 

He's REALLY not ready to learn to read, even though he would like to.  I'm not interested in pushing early reading in most cases and definitely not his in particular, but neither do I want him in frustrated tears because he can't read.  

 

What can I do to help him feel like he is moving toward reading without causing further frustration?

 

He doesn't have access to a computer, but he could play with apps on my iPhone occasionally.  

 

Is this a good time for a (very slow) march through AAR pre-reading?

 

We read aloud often, or at least as often as life with a toddler and infant allows.  He will sit and listen to me read board books to his infant brother and enjoys shorter chapter books with me and everything in between.

[SKL]

What about Rebus books?

 

How about just teaching a few really useful words?  For example, y-e-s spells yes and n-o spells no.  Or a few color words that will show up on his crayons and in all the books about colors?  Numerals or a couple of number words?

 

There's an age-appropriate book with only 5 words, Three Yellow Dogs Run Home.

 

Or any really simple book could be read over and over until he can "read" it himself.

[featherhead]

Does he know letter sounds? I would let him watch Leapfrog Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory.

 

 

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[Josh Blade]

What makes you think he's not ready to learn to read if he's asking to learn to read...? 

 

As featherhead mentioned, you can start with teaching him the letter sounds. Leapfrog Letter Factory does a great job of it or just a few minutes per day with a letter puzzle. Teach your monster to read is free on pc (or about $5 I believe on iOS since you said there's no pc access) that goes really slowly with introducing letter sounds and other phonemes as well. 

 

Wanting to learn to read seems like exactly the time to teach reading to me. 

[ReadingMama1214]

AAR-Pre would be perfect. I don't think you'd even need to March slowly since it is pretty gentle and doesn't actually have the student reading anything.

 

It's divided in 3 parts:

1. Uppercase letters

2. Lowercase letters

3. Letter sounds

 

It does an excellent job building phonemic awareness. Rhyming, oral blending, clapping syllables, recognizing sounds at the beginning/end of a word, etc. We did it starting shortly After 3. My daughter loved it. She had tons of fun with Ziggy the zebra and the crafts. Doing one lesson a day was definitely doable.

[ReadingMama1214]

Also, my 2.5 and 4.5yo love Teach Your Monster to Read. We have the paid version on our iPad. I'm not sure it works on an iPhone. It's pretty simple and teaches only sounds of letters, not names. My 2.5yo does letter sounds when he does play it (which isn't often) and my 4.5yo is reading with it.

[Ellie]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is supposed to be good for very young children who rilly, rilly want to read but are not ready for the writing that is often required for most phonics methods.

 

Also, you could begin working in some things like helping him draw circles in the correct direction (yes, there is a correct direction, because those circles will become letters, and directionality is important) and straight lines in the correct direction (ditto), and holding his pencil/crayon/whatever properly. He can begin to learn the sounds of letters, too. The Writing Road to Reading (the manual for the Spalding Method) would help you in knowing what to do.

[Josh Blade]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is supposed to be good for very young children who rilly, rilly want to read but are not ready for the writing that is often required for most phonics methods.

 

Also, you could begin working in some things like helping him draw circles in the correct direction (yes, there is a correct direction, because those circles will become letters, and directionality is important) and straight lines in the correct direction (ditto), and holding his pencil/crayon/whatever properly. He can begin to learn the sounds of letters, too. The Writing Road to Reading (the manual for the Spalding Method) would help you in knowing what to do.

 

We used 100 Easy lessons from 2.5 until just after her 3rd birthday (when we finished it). It worked out really well for us. Prior to 100 Easy lessons she already knew letter sounds though from having the the bob books pre reader letter books read to her a few thousand times as well as using the Leap Frog Letter Factory. We basically just did a lesson whenever she was receptive to it (3-5 times per week on average - sometimes not at all for a week if she didn't want to do it). 

[MomatHWTK]

I would say he is ready to learn to ready. He's told you so. Each time you read a book, teach him a few words in it. Read ABC books and use the phonetic sounds for a few new letters each time you read through it. 

[mom2att]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is supposed to be good for very young children who rilly, rilly want to read but are not ready for the writing that is often required for most phonics methods.

 

 

Yep. This was my oldest. She could sound out about anything, but was extremely frustrated with words that weren't sound-out-able, like through, or any number of common English words. She was asking me to teach her to read, but since teaching early reading was totally against my whole language teacher training, I put her off for as long as I could. She was newly four when I finally caved and pulled out the book mentioned above. We kept the lessons short, and she did need the encouragement of a tootsie roll occasionally:-) After completing the first 40 - 50 lessons, we took a break for a new baby and somehow never got back to completing that book. It seemed those first 50 lessons were enough to give her the boost she needed to take off with reading. I do not regret following her lead and giving her the little push to begin reading. 

[MomatHWTK]

FWIW, my 6 y.o. is not writing at all yet (prob ASD). But, he out maths his 12 y.o. sis and out reads his 11 y.o. brother. Do focus on teaching each subject, but don't allow limits in one subject to limit the others.  :001_smile:

[medawyn]

What makes you think he's not ready to learn to read if he's asking to learn to read...? 

 

As featherhead mentioned, you can start with teaching him the letter sounds. Leapfrog Letter Factory does a great job of it or just a few minutes per day with a letter puzzle. Teach your monster to read is free on pc (or about $5 I believe on iOS since you said there's no pc access) that goes really slowly with introducing letter sounds and other phonemes as well. 

 

Wanting to learn to read seems like exactly the time to teach reading to me. 

 

 

I would say he is ready to learn to ready. He's told you so. Each time you read a book, teach him a few words in it. Read ABC books and use the phonetic sounds for a few new letters each time you read through it. 

 

 

He's eager to read, but I really don't think he's ready.  I don't want to frustrate him further by introducing skills he's not ready to master.  As an example, he can identify the first letter of his name, but he rarely recognizes his name, despite having it in many places he sees frequently.  He struggles with phonemic awareness, including rhyming, segmenting sounds, hearing/blending words when said slowly, etc.  I'm not worried about him developing these skills; I just don't think his brain is there yet.  I

 

Teach Your Monster to read sounds like it could be perfect way to play at learning as we wait for other skills to come on line.

[medawyn]

AAR-Pre would be perfect. I don't think you'd even need to March slowly since it is pretty gentle and doesn't actually have the student reading anything.

 

It's divided in 3 parts:

1. Uppercase letters

2. Lowercase letters

3. Letter sounds

 

It does an excellent job building phonemic awareness. Rhyming, oral blending, clapping syllables, recognizing sounds at the beginning/end of a word, etc. We did it starting shortly After 3. My daughter loved it. She had tons of fun with Ziggy the zebra and the crafts. Doing one lesson a day was definitely doable.

 

This is exactly what I needed to hear! I used to teach elementary school and worked as a reading tutor, but usually I focused on older struggling readers.  Three year olds are a different kettle of fish!  Plus, the baby still keeps me up at night, so I don't mind a little hand holding and "do this next" even for simple things.

 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is supposed to be good for very young children who rilly, rilly want to read but are not ready for the writing that is often required for most phonics methods.

 

Also, you could begin working in some things like helping him draw circles in the correct direction (yes, there is a correct direction, because those circles will become letters, and directionality is important) and straight lines in the correct direction (ditto), and holding his pencil/crayon/whatever properly. He can begin to learn the sounds of letters, too. The Writing Road to Reading (the manual for the Spalding Method) would help you in knowing what to do.

 

 

I taught the Spalding Method in a second grade classroom for five years; we'll definitely be revisiting the Writing Road to Reading in a few years when he's ready.  But it's been a long (long!) time since I've looked at Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I'll take a look at that, too.  I just don't think he's ready for multi-letter phonograms or blending yet.  He's still struggling with phonemic awareness, basic phonograms, and the concept that some letters have multiple sounds.  I'm not worried at all - he's so little! - but I want to help encourage him without adding to his frustration.  AAR and 100 Easy Lessons seem like good places to start.

[Mrs Twain]

My kids first learned the capital and lowercase letters and then learned the letter sounds. Then they learned to read with 100 EZ, and it worked perfectly.

 

My youngest was begging me to teach her to read at 3.5, but I had resisted because I thought there was no way she was ready or any chance she could understand 100 EZ. She proved me wrong, though!

[EKS]

Learning the letter sounds is the same thing as learning the name of any shape.  I'd start with lower case letters and go from there.  And I think your idea of moving slowly through AAR is a good one.

[Josh Blade]

He's eager to read, but I really don't think he's ready.  I don't want to frustrate him further by introducing skills he's not ready to master.  As an example, he can identify the first letter of his name, but he rarely recognizes his name, despite having it in many places he sees frequently.  He struggles with phonemic awareness, including rhyming, segmenting sounds, hearing/blending words when said slowly, etc.  I'm not worried about him developing these skills; I just don't think his brain is there yet.  

 

He doesn't really need to know his letter sounds, recognize his name, how to blend, rhyming etc before learning to read. Those are all skills you pick up while learning to read. If he's wanting instruction, give it to him. If he become frustrated with it then back off. You sound like my three year old telling me she doesn't like food when she's never tried it. You don't know how he'll take to instruction unless you try it. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Josh Blade

[Tanaqui]

As an example, he can identify the first letter of his name, but he rarely recognizes his name, despite having it in many places he sees frequently.  He struggles with phonemic awareness, including rhyming, segmenting sounds, hearing/blending words when said slowly, etc.  I'm not worried about him developing these skills; I just don't think his brain is there yet.

 

These are things we teach when teaching reading, aren't they?

 

Why don't you try teaching him anyway using a very gentle curriculum? If he doesn't get it, then you can put it aside for a little while.

[Slache]

Immersion reading.

 

Have him memorize something small like Sheep in the Jeep. Then he can read the one book.

[medawyn]

He doesn't really need to know his letter sounds, recognize his name, how to blend, rhyming etc before learning to read. Those are all skills you pick up while learning to read. If he's wanting instruction, give it to him. If he become frustrated with it then back off. You sound like my three year old telling me she doesn't like food when she's never tried it. You don't know how he'll take to instruction unless you try it. 

 

 

These are things we teach when teaching reading, aren't they?

 

Why don't you try teaching him anyway using a very gentle curriculum? If he doesn't get it, then you can put it aside for a little while.

 

 

Yes, those things are all part of learning to read, which is why I'm looking for advice about gentle curriculum.  We frequently talk about letter sounds and play around with other pre-reading skills (I'm a former elementary teacher and reading specialist) but so far for him those concepts haven't "stuck".  This is why I think he isn't really ready to learn to read, and why I was asking about some games/AAR as a way to continue to present those same pre-reading skills in a variety of ways.  I do as much as I can organically, but with two other little ones at home, I thought having something else already put together to turn to might help reenforce his current skills until he's ready to move to the next level.

 

I'm really not trying to hold him back, I promise.  I'm just looking for ways to encourage him and move him forward without jumping into blending in the first few lessons; most of the materials I have on hand are intended for school age children and move too fast for a young preschooler - or at least the young preschooler that he is.

[Tanaqui]

Oh, I see. I thought you were asking more "Should I start reading instruction or not?" and less "Okay, so which curriculum should I use?"

 

I'll leave that for other, more experienced people to answer :)

[ReadingMama1214]

I wouldn't go with AAR Pre. It is pretty straightforward and not too intensive. It's fun and comprehensive. It's provides a strong foundation for phonemic awareness.

 

Another though it Logic of English.