How to Handle Brand New Readers

[Purple Cat]

I have twins who recently turned 5.  I have read to them incessantly.  In reading a book, I always pick one word in the title and identify the phonetic sounds.  I haven't, however, asked them to sound out words. 

My son had started pointing to phrases and asking if they said, "x,y,z."  Invariably, he was correct.

For Christmas, he read Green Eggs and Ham to Me almost seamlessly.   I've been asking him to read one book a day to me.  He got really mad reading a Bernstain Bears book and told me that it was too hard and he didn't want to do it.  I was thinking we would step back to the Dr. Seuss books, which he reads pretty well.

Once he read, I asked his sister to read.  She seems to get really nervous.  It part seems like she is refusing to try out a fear she won't get it correct and/or nervously blurts out anything instead of looking at the word.  At other times, she does show she knows the words.  I had been trying to have her read to me outloud each day, too.

I'm thinking to stop asking her to read out loud to me and instead read easy reader books to her while pointing to each word.  I hope doing so will build up her confidence.  She is very bright. 

Should I continue to have my son read a book to me each day?  What do you think?  I'm sure the disparity in reading skills at this point is part of my daughter's anxiety in reading.  She's seen her brother pick up books and seem to know most every word, while she is still trying to sound out the words.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Thanks 

l

[stik]

At this age, it's so hard to know what they are reading and what they have memorized.  Young fives are pretty young to be reading entire books - it's not unheard of, but for a lot of children it's a major challenge.  It's easy for kids to be over-whelmed by length. 

Reading to kids is extremely powerful.  I wouldn't ask such young children to read books to you - they will do that spontaneously when they are ready.  Reading one or two words from an environmental source would be a less-stressful way to build the skill.  This is why early elementary school classrooms have labels on practically everything.  It sounds like your kids are experiencing some reading-related anxiety and frustration.  That's a strong signal suggesting that you should step back and give them more time to build confidence.  This is probably a great time to read a lot of visually appealing, fun books (easy reader style or other - the appeal is the important part) and encourage your kids to try sounding out single words on signs or labels.

[simple living mama]

  My son (now 12) who is one year younger than my daughter got the reading thing pretty early. She however, didn't.  All I did was read to both of them every day.  It has always and still is the most enjoyable part of home schooling for all of us.

 I didn't have either of my kids read to me, but my son just started doing it.  It was a surprise.  I could tell my daughter felt bad.  I think she wanted that same great feeling he was going through and compliments are always fun to get.  It actually took her three more years to get where he was.  I had inner freak outs thinking, cmon daughter, you can do this.  But I am so very glad I did NOT make a big deal out of it.  I just kept saying you'll get it when it's right for you.

She did and now she's in to huge chapter books.  Lord of the Rings and so on.  My point here is I would not make him read to you at this stage unless he wants to.  He knows how and he's learning bigger simply by the fact that there are words just about everywhere.  Does he snuggle so he can see the words when you read to him?    Keep it enjoyable for both of them and just keep reading together and have books everywhere. We want to teach so bad but it's easy to forget, just by reading to them and modeling it ourselves, we are teaching them so much!  Most important, do what it takes to keep reading enjoyable.  

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by simple living mama 
 My point here is I would not make him read to you at this stage unless he wants to.  He knows how and he's learning bigger simply by the fact that there are words just about everywhere.  

I very much agree with this. And it should go double for your dd too. There's no reason to believe she should be ready to read at more or less the same time as your ds -- and it has nothing to do with being bright or not. Some kids are simply not wired to learn to read at 5. Expecting them to do so (because a school or curriculum expects it, or because a sibling has managed to do so, because a family member wants proof that homeschooling is "working" or wahtever reason) is only going to create anxiety, which will in turn reduce the ability to learn. 

I have four wonderfully literate kids, none of whom I ever asked to read to me. Assigned reading aloud is a sort of enforced practice and an evaluation tool. Useful in school perhaps, but not necessary at home. If your child is ready to read, he or she will practice all the time: we are surrounded by print in our contemporary worlds. If you live with your child you will not need to perform reading evaluations: observation will suffice.

I think reading aloud for pleasure is a wonderful family tradition. So by all means, if a child wants to read aloud I would encourage it. Sensitively and without a lot of hoopla if you have one child who might be worried she is lagging. But unless a child wants to, nah, reading aloud is totally unnecessary for beginning readers. 

Miranda