Resources for teaching reading early

[SeekingOne]

I have a granddaughter who will be three and is interested in "doing school." My daughter thinks she may be ready for some (student-led) reading instruction. Is there anything available, or have any of you had any luck with certain resources, in this area? (My own kids were smart, but definitely not accelerated, and I haven't taught anyone to read for at least 15 years!)

Edited to add: I'd actually be interested in any and all resources. She's two and a half and can count to at least 20 accurately, knows all the letters and many sounds, colors, shapes. I think she'll be bored in preschool next year, other than that she's very social. 😉 

Edited January 29 by SeekingOne

[Clarita]

I would suggest look at the Montessori method like (https://www.amontessoristory.com/journal/teach-montessori-reading). There are a lot of free articles online detailing how to do it. 

If you want a put together program I used this with my children and liked it. (https://www.lisaadele.com/) Although it's actually pretty simple to DIY with just the free how-to's. 

[HomeAgain]

We used Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons at age 4, finished it three months after his birthday.

What you have described are not the prereading skills I was looking for before I brought out the book.  I made sure my kid could do things like:

• put together puzzles based on a picture of the pieces (Day & Night, Wedgits & the cards..)
• follow two step instructions
• play the 'slow-fast' game, where a word is stretched out very slowly and the child figures out what it is/says it fast
• understand symbolic language/each symbol has a function

With a good grasp on these, we could begin reading instruction and stop if necessary.  The book I mentioned is a very condensed program, from the 3 years it covers in public school (Reading Mastery).  There are plenty of resources to stretch it out, but I would have stopped entirely after lesson 10 if there was no progress or it seemed frustrating.  That, lesson 20 and lesson 70ish seem to be maturity checkpoints where it's necessary to take a step back and work on underlying skills.

[Penderwink]

We used All About Reading Pre-reading with the Ziggy Zebra puppet (from almost 4). He already knew letter sounds starting it (mostly) but it was great for rhyming, picking out sounds in words etc. It worked because it was fun, he liked Ziggy and he liked the games. We mostly skipped the art and craft book and I just drew a letter on paper and he painted it or stuck foil or tape or glitter glue or whatever as he wanted to, but we did do the ones that used scissors. We also combined it with playing with some other resources like magnatab letter boards, and some of the preschool stuff from HWOT like wood pieces or playdoh mats.

Gakken has some cute workbooks aimed at little children. I think we did a letters one and a numbers one, plus they had some with mazes etc. They had a bit of coloring, cutting and sticking etc. 

For other resources - it was about this time I began adding more seasonal/celebration related picture books, and picture books to follow up an interest or maybe a museum visit we had had. (On top of our vehicle/construction related favorites). We also did Koala crate (subscription box) for a while.

[SeekingOne]

3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

• put together puzzles based on a picture of the pieces (Day & Night, Wedgits & the cards..)
• follow two step instructions
• play the 'slow-fast' game, where a word is stretched out very slowly and the child figures out what it is/says it fast
• understand symbolic language/each symbol has a function

Thank you for these tips!

[SeekingOne]

3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

I would have stopped entirely after lesson 10 if there was no progress or it seemed frustrating.  That, lesson 20 and lesson 70ish seem to be maturity checkpoints where it's necessary to take a step back and work on underlying skills.

And thanks for this too!

 

[EKS]

I made power point slides with giant letters and had the kid sit on my lap.  Then I did the same thing with words and then sentences.  

I think I used Phonics Pathways (or something like it) as inspiration.

[Frances]

On 1/29/2024 at 12:58 PM, SeekingOne said:
Edited to add: I'd actually be interested in any and all resources. She's two and a half and can count to at least 20 accurately, knows all the letters and many sounds, colors, shapes. I think she'll be bored in preschool next year, other than that she's very social. 😉 

Hopefully her parents will choose a developmentally appropriate play based preschool rather than an academic one. There’s no need for her to be bored if it’s developmentally appropriate and full of books, language, lots of free play, art, music, large and small motor skill activities, outdoor time, etc.

While teaching reading early is fine if she’s developmentally ready and eager (and mom is willing to stop as soon as it’s not fun), the most important thing is to immerse her in a language rich environment, lots of talking with adults, read-alouds (picture books and chapter books), audio books, etc. This will have way more long term benefits than learning to read at a young age. Similarly for math, the most important thing is to help a child develop number sense through daily life, games, books, etc. Personally, I think so many kids struggle with math in school because neither they nor their elementary teachers often have much in the way of number sense. While there are likely some programs out there to help with this, daily life is full of so many opportunities.

[lewelma]

I used the Bob phonics-based readers. I just sat with my kids and taught them how to sound words out. 

https://www.amazon.com.au/Complete-Set-Books-Sets-books/dp/B001KIZMEU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=E08C13Q078IG&keywords=bob+readers+set+1&qid=1706747751&sprefix=bob+readers+set+%2Caps%2C346&sr=8-2

You can buy just the first set rather than the series.  

[Dmmetler]

Has anyone mentioned the Leap Frog letter and word factory videos yet? 

[SFisher]

Here’s what I have done:

I would teach her all the regular consonant sounds and all of the short vowel sounds in a playful way. Scavenger hunts, alphabet puzzles, etc. Don’t make reading about sitting down.

once she has that, I’ve used hooked on phonics. Don’t bother with the video/DVD. Just do the workbook & readers. The short/visual lessons worked for my kids. Start at level 3 and do all of the levels in sequence.

You can also add some phonemic awareness games… I wish I could point you to a specific resource, but I don’t have one. These are generally games where you play with taking apart and putting together sounds. Most of them you can do during lunch or while you’re waiting in line somewhere.

Don’t feel like she has to sit down for long periods of time. Lessons can be very short. This is how my kids learned. Once they have all of the phonics skills, they blast off in reading ability and self-teach.

For a kid who is motivated, eager, I would teach them at home b/c it’ll be a long wait to get all the phonics skills at school. 

Mine loved Alphablocks when they were 3-4 yo. It’s a cartoon that demonstrates the concept of phonics. Lots of clips on YouTube, maybe can stream on Netflix.

Don’t forget that acceleration isn’t the only way to support a smart kid. Experiences. Read to them lots to build background knowledge. Lots of play with all ages. Follow interests/hobbies. Make art. 

Edited February 2 by SFisher

[Malam]

http://library.lol/main/DDFC49CC58F0D8544AE87C96806562B7

http://www.readingbear.org/

https://larrysanger.org/2010/12/baby-reading/

[chocolate-chip chooky]

@SeekingOne  I am a Montessori 0-3 and 3-6 teacher.  If you decide to go the Montessori route, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

What's your granddaughter's phonological awareness like? This is an important first step to reading. You can nurture phonological awareness with things like rhyming, alliteration, playing with syllables, I spy etc. 

If she can identify and manipulate sounds within words, then that's a good sign that she can begin some reading instruction.

Edited February 3 by chocolate-chip chooky

[sweet2ndchance]

Before Five In A Row is a wonderful resource for eager 2 - 4 year olds. It's a guide for developmentally appropriate activities to pair with books that are perfect for that age group. Reading to children that age as often as possible from age appropriate books does so much more than trying to teach them how to read.

I have two children that learned to read at age 3 - 4 and I didn't teach them. They learned on their own by intuiting phonics because they were ready. One was verbally accelerated from the time she was an infant. The other just picked up reading from being read to. If I had my children's childhoods to do over again, the biggest thing I would change is not to try and rush academics at all and just read read read TO THEM at the preschool age.

[Wobwe]

Jim Yang (https://www.childrenlearningreading.org/) and Spencer Russell (https://www.toddlersread.com/) both provide early reading materials/programs.  In my opinion, they—and the growing number of unrelated people who have vlogged their efforts to teach their children early reading—have successfully demonstrated that many kids can successfully begin learning to read as early as 18 months, with many of those kids going on to be very strong readers in 1-2 years of practice.  I’m sure it’s not for every kid, but if you have a child who seems attentive and interested, I personally think it’s worth strongly considering getting started early.

I personally started to teach my son to read at 2.5 y/o. I would’ve started earlier but just wasn’t even aware it was a remotely feasible thing until I stumbled upon videos of Jim Yang’s kids reading at 2. I read his book and used his program to start. It’s really just a simple phonics program.  The only secret ingredient seems to be breaking the lessons into bit sized, 5-10 minute lessons you do 1-3 times a day (e.g. at meal time).  That said, I did find his book very helpful to me for learning the fundamentals and theory behind phonics instruction since I had no prior experience with phonics.  I haven’t looked at Spencer Russell’s materials but from what I’ve gleaned he takes a very similar approach.  I’m also aware of people out there, like “Homeschool Doctor” Dr. Theodore Nyame (https://www.instagram.com/homeschooldoctor/?hl=en), who seem to have taught their children to be very strong early readers starting with their own improvised, basic phonics instruction.

After completing Jim Yang’s program, we did a program that appears to have been a repackaging of 100EZ lessons, and then we basically just read a lot, almost every meal.  I also started doing Fry-Dolch flash cards with him daily, typically right before we did something fun like the playground.  It was essential to me that the process always be without pain or frustration, so we read whatever my son was into (yes, Ninja Turtle books and such abound), and I read to him whenever he didn’t feel up to it (which was frankly 95% of the time in the beginning—I often just had him read the last 1-3 words in a sentence).  We even had brief periods where we took a break from reading altogether.

Now, my son is almost 4 years old, and I’m very happy with his reading. He reads everything around him when we’re out, and he reads a new book (typically around 2^nd grade level) out loud to me each night with virtually zero error. I also still read a lot to him. He loves reading, it’s unlocked many fun things for him (e.g. games that require reading, or having his own e-mail address where he sends and receives cute e-mails), and it’s left me feeling relieved in his schooling ahead. I can focus the bulk of our work together on other skills and topics, and I don’t have to worry about trying to teach an increasingly energetic and distracted child something as complex as reading.

I only have one child and no other experience with childhood education, so I can’t gauge how much aptitude may have played into my son’s success with early learning, but I wouldn’t be sharing if I thought it played a substantial role.  I didn't have any special reason to think he could read early; I just saw Jim Yang's stuff and decided to give it a go. Some of the kids from the resources I shared above became even stronger readers than my son even earlier, and none of them were screened for giftedness or the like prior to starting, so I'm inclined to think it’s more feasible than not for a lot of kids, but of course I’ll leave that to everyone’s own assessment. 

Good luck with your grandchild!  Based on what you shared, it sounds like she’ll be a great reader in due course regardless of what you choose to do.

[SeekingOne]

On 1/30/2024 at 10:48 PM, Frances said:

Hopefully her parents will choose a developmentally appropriate play based preschool rather than an academic one. There’s no need for her to be bored if it’s developmentally appropriate and full of books, language, lots of free play, art, music, large and small motor skill activities, outdoor time, etc.

While teaching reading early is fine if she’s developmentally ready and eager (and mom is willing to stop as soon as it’s not fun), the most important thing is to immerse her in a language rich environment, lots of talking with adults, read-alouds (picture books and chapter books), audio books, etc. This will have way more long term benefits than learning to read at a young age. Similarly for math, the most important thing is to help a child develop number sense through daily life, games, books, etc. Personally, I think so many kids struggle with math in school because neither they nor their elementary teachers often have much in the way of number sense. While there are likely some programs out there to help with this, daily life is full of so many opportunities.

Yes to all of this! 🙂  Thank you.

[SeekingOne]

On 1/31/2024 at 4:37 PM, lewelma said:

I used the Bob phonics-based readers.

Oh, yes! Thank you. (It's what we used way-back-when... I'd forgotten about those.)

[SeekingOne]

Again, thank you to everyone! I've read everyone's suggestions and will be looking through all the websites and resources.