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It would be amazing if we did learn to read by osmosis-unfortunately, that's not how it works. Check out our bookmarks and posters for your home and classroom.

I know there are children who just learn to read, I have one-my eldest child, but the vast majority of children need explicit instruction to become fluent readers.

When your child brings home a school reading book for the very first time...it's exciting. Daunting too, but oh so exciting. They have started their journey towards a literate future.

In the beginning all children sound like little robots, fluency will come. All children stumble on words.

It can be hard to go back and remember what it was like learning to read 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. So when your child does stumble it can be difficult to know what to do.

It is hard work being a parent-actually it's exhausting! A busy job, other kids, school sport and that family dinner you forgot about. The school reader can sometimes play second fiddle, and when you do get to it everybody is tired. Setting up a routine that suits your family is the best way to start a positive habit.

The number one question I am asked is what do I do when my child gets stuck?

So, a while ago I made a set of bookmark for the families I work with as a set of prompts to help when reading. There are now several variations of the bookmark and a poster in my free stuff area.

To grab the free decoding strategy bookmarks click here!
Subscribe to check out the free resource area and grab the A3 poster set here
If you are already a subscriber go here to access the library of free printable stuff I am curating

My hope is that your school is sending home decodable readers in the early days.

I just made this new set of bookmarks because a conversation with parents last night made me realise that the term decoding has still not entered the vocabulary of many parents yet. So I did a quick sketchnote as I do and made these other bookmarks last night - click here to get the download. An A4 poster is included.

In the beginning, to kick start the learning to read journey, decodable readers are the most effective way.
Go here to read about the decodable readers I use.
If your child stumbles on a word when they are reading - knowing what to do, and how to prompt them is key to building their confidence and their literacy skills.

Always bring it back to the word. I do love pictures, picture books are my favourite kind, however, the picture is not there to help your child learn to read - the picture is there to add to the experience. Using the picture as a cue will develop bad habits.

Try this when stuck

1. Always stop and look at the whole word from left to right.

2. Swipe your finger under the whole word and show your child how to sound out the word - say each sound as you run your finger under each letter blending the sounds as you go. In the beginning short decodable words are best because they are easy to sound out - words like cat, dog, cup etc.
So I say letter, but as your child progresses the individual letters will become letter strings. /ch/ /i/ /p/ /b/ /oa/ /t/

3. Once you have shown your child this strategy the next time they get stuck - prompt them to stop, look through the whole word, and sound out the letters swiping their finger under each letter matching to the sounds they are saying.

4. If they don't know a sound, just prompt them. Segmenting and blending sounds are skills that take lots of time and repetition. It takes many exposures for most children to truly click with the sound to symbol correspondence. It does take time!

5. Once your child has blended the sounds together and says the word - prompt them to check if it makes sense if it is the wrong word. Lifting the print off a page is one thing- but checking it makes sense is the complete package.

6. I always say..."mmm let's just check that" - I segment the word and blend the sounds together and ask them to repeat it and we have a short chat about the word.

If your child does bring home a book that is a predictable text

You know the ones that have the same line on each page, but one of the words is different - usually the last word.

I see an alligator

I see a zebra

I see a fish

This is tough- children in the early years can't really read this type of book and most just memorise the words without really knowing what they are doing - the picture does the talking - this is really barking at print! No meaning can come from this type of text. There is no cumulative learning here.

But, these are the books you have - so what to do!?

Download these free decodable books to read as well.

SPELD South Australia have free decodable books that work on an iPad. I have not used them this way, but their website has directions.

I have some I have printed and I use them as little books.
Download, print and use the amazing free books from SPELD South Australia. The link is here
But, your school will still expect you to read their books.

Here is what I would do with a predictable text

First read the book to your child. Read the book again, and this time stop and sound out the words to show your child what to do. This shows your child what a fluent reader sounds like and shows your child what to do to sound out words to lift the print from the page.

As you read each page with your child break up each word into the smallest units of sound using your finger to segment each word.

When you have read each page and there are never many - write out each sentence on a piece of card and cut up into individual words - get your child to match the words to the sentence on the page.

Have your child read the sentences again. This is not reading - this is exposure to print.

And, it all begins again with the next book. Learning to read is a journey, it does take time - stick with it and if you do feel there is an issue have a chat with your teacher and if need be, find a speech pathologist or literacy tutor that works from a speech to print systematic program to get a second opinion.

A couple of articles that are quick to read and are full of usable information

Maryanne Wolf's book Proust and the Squid is a great read. It is at times very heavy going, but if you happen to have an audible subscription it is well worth that monthly credit.

Here are all the other free decoding strategy resources I can find!

Lyn Stone has created a Decoding Dragon to ward off those ineffective strategies and give you effective decoding strategies

Pam Kastner has come up with a great acronym to help little learners remember what to do

Amy Manning has come up with a brilliant bookmark - just perfect for the early years.

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IF I GET STUCK - A GUIDE FOR PARENTS - Tiny Steps Make Big Strides

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It would be amazing if we did learn to read by osmosis-unfortunately, that's not how it works. Check out our bookmarks and posters for your home and classroom. I know there are children who just learn to read, I have one-my eldest child, but the vast majority of children need explicit instruction to become fluent readers.

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Reading Tips for Parents (Available in Multiple Languages)

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Reading Tips for Parents (Available in Multiple Languages)

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Learn how families can support literacy at home, whether their children are babies, toddlers, preschoolers, or in elementary school. These tips are available in 13 languages.

Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. Our one-page Reading Tip Sheets are available in thirteen languages and offer ideas for parents to help kids become successful readers.

Although we've divided these tips by age, many of them can be used with children at various ages and stages - we encourage you to choose the ones that work best for your child.

These tips were created with the generous support of the American Federation of Teachers.

Tips for Parents of Babies:

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of Toddlers

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of Preschoolers

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of Kindergartners

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of First Graders

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of Second Graders

In English

In Spanish

Tips for Parents of Third Graders

In English

In Spanish

Parent tip sheets

Tips for parents of Babies, Toddlers, and Preschool through 3rd grade:

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Learn how families can support literacy at home, whether their children are babies, toddlers, preschoolers, or in elementary school. These tips are available in 13 languages. Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. Our one-page Reading Tip Sheets are available in thirteen languages and offer ideas for parents to help kids become successful readers.

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Foundational Reading Skills | PBS LearningMedia

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Find resources for foundational reading skills. Discover videos, games, and activities that align with state and national standards.

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Fun Ways to Develop Phonological Awareness

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Fun Ways to Develop Phonological Awareness

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What Is Phonological Awareness?

It's a big term, but it's really quite basic: phonological awareness is the ability to hear and identify the various sounds in spoken words.

Kids who have strong phonological awareness can do things like rhyme, count syllables, and blend sounds into words. And most important of all, kids with strong phonological awareness learn to read much more easily, making their first attempts at reading more successful. This early advantage sticks with kids as they continue through their school career.

Phonological awareness is so incredibly important that it is one of the Big Five Skills for pre-readers, and it's one of the first things I work on with children before teaching them to read.

How Phonological Awareness Develops

Kids don't just pop out of the womb ready to run (although with some kids it may feel that way!). Instead, babies learn to stretch their little limbs, turn over onto their bellies, crawl, and walk-and then, eventually, they are off and running.

In the same way, phonological awareness develops gradually over time. Kids start with the easiest skills-like understanding that spoken language contains words-and then move on to skills like rhyming. Eventually they develop more advanced skills like manipulating sounds and are able to play word games like " Go Find It."

Quick Check for Phonological Awareness

Here are six skills that indicate that your child is phonologically aware.

Your child is able to rhyme. If you say the word , your child can respond with words that rhyme like , or .

Your child understands word boundaries. If you say the sentence Don't let the cat out , your child is able to separate the sentence into five individual words.

Your child can clap syllables. If you say , your child knows to clap once. If you say , your child knows to clap three times.

Your child can blend sounds to make a word. If you say the sounds , your child can respond and say the word .

Your child can identify the beginning sound in a word. If you ask your child to say the first sound in , your child is able to respond with the sound /p/.

Your child can identify the ending sound in a word. If you ask your child to say the last sound in the word , your child is able to respond with the sound /m/.

Of course there are more advanced phonological skills, such as segmenting and sound manipulation, but the skills above are the important ones to have before beginning reading instruction.

6 Fun Ways to Develop Phonological Awareness!

If your child hasn't yet acquired the skills on the checklist above, you can help her develop them through informal activities such as listening to great books and playing oral language games. Here are a few ideas for you!

Help your child hear the first sound in a word with our free "Go Find It" game.

This engaging phonological awareness activity is a great way to help your child learn to identify the beginning sound in a spoken word.

Practice word boundaries with building blocks.

Say a sentence such as My puppy has long ears. Have your child build a tower by adding one block for each spoken word.

Practice sound substitution with our free "Dinner Time" game.

In addition to helping kids practice sound substitution and rhyming, this fun game will provide lots of giggles for kids and parents alike!

The majority of a young child's day should be filled with play, real-life activities, and physical exploration. Add in just a touch of daily intentional instruction in the five reading readiness areas (including phonological awareness), and your child will have a huge advantage when it comes time to read.

Phonological Awareness Is One of the Big Five Skills

Phonological awareness is one of the five critical skills for reading readiness that we call the " Big Five Skills." The other four skills are:

If you're ready to tackle the rest of the Big Five Skills, be sure to check out the All About Reading Pre-reading program. Your student will enjoy special games, crafts, and story time read-alouds, and you will love the way your student effortlessly learns essential pre-reading skills.

Do you have any questions about print awareness? Post in the comments below!

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Fun Ways to Develop Phonological Awareness (+FREE Downloads!)

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Phonological awareness helps children learn to read more easily. Check out our free download and learn how to help your child develop this important skill!

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Reading Rockets: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Reading Rockets: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language - parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. Children who have phonological awareness are able to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap out the number of syllables in a word, and can recognize words with the same initial sounds like 'money' and 'mother.'

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9 Ways to Build Phonological Awareness in PK and K

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9 Ways to Build Phonological Awareness in PK and K

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Kids in pre-K and kindergarten can play with words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech to prepare for reading. This is called phonological awareness.

Parents and caregivers can introduce phonological awareness during reading, singing, or play activities.

Kids who struggle with these kinds of activities may be showing early signs of reading issues.

There are a few ways kids in pre-K and kindergarten can get ready to read. One way is by noticing and playing with the words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech. This called phonological awareness .

Kids also start to tune in to the individual sounds or phonemes in words. This is called phonemic awareness. The more you can build on these early "pre-reading" skills, the more prepared your child will be for the challenge of learning to read.

Good phonological awareness starts with kids picking up on sounds, syllables and rhymes in the words they hear. Read aloud to your child frequently. Choose books that rhyme or repeat the same sound. Draw your child's attention to rhymes: "Fox, socks, box! Those words all rhyme. Do you hear how they almost sound the same?"

It also helps to point out repeated sounds. For example, if you're reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, ask your child to listen to the /fffff/ sound in fish. (Really stretch the sounds out at first.) Outside of story time, try pointing out other words that start with the /fffff/ sound, just like in the book.

Ask your child to pick out the rhyming words in books without your help. Ask, "Did you hear a word that rhymes with fox?" Teach your child nursery rhymes and practice saying them together. Or say four short words, like log, cat, hog, frog. See if your child can pick out the word that doesn't rhyme.

Make syllables easier to understand by clapping the "beats" your child hears in words. Let's say you choose the word elephant. Pause as you say each syllable - e-le-phant - and clap out each syllable together. You can also get your child up and moving by having your child stomp or jump with each syllable.

Guessing games such as "I spy" can be used to work on almost any phonological skill. Want to practice noticing what sounds word begin with? Try "I spy something red that starts with /s/." Want to work on rhymes? "I'm wearing something warm that rhymes with boat."

Singing in general is a great way to get kids rhyming. There are also good songs teachers use to focus on other kinds of phonological and phonemic awareness skills. "Apples and Bananas" is a fun one. You can search online for more songs about phonemic awareness or ask your child's teacher for recommendations.

Sound blending is an important skill for early readers. They need to put sound units - phonemes - together to be able to read a word smoothly. You can help your child start working on this by putting together sounds of different words. Ask your child to connect the beginning sound with the rest of a word. For example, say, "Start with /p/ and add /ig/. What do word do you hear if you put them together?"

Have your child work on hearing a word and taking it apart. Start by using compound words such as cowboy, baseball or firefly. Tell your child, "Say the word cowboy. Now take away boy. What word is left?"

You can also use LEGO bricks to make this point. Give your child two attached LEGO bricks to represent parts of the word. Then have your child physically take the LEGO pieces apart while removing part of the word.

8. Get creative with crafts.

Kids respond to hands-on learning. Try making a collage of items that start with the same sound using pictures from magazines. Sock puppets can be another fun way to work on these skills. Make one that likes to munch on words that start with a certain sound. Let your child have fun "feeding" the puppet different objects or pictures that start with that sound.

There are many resources and ideas online to work on phonological and phonemic awareness skills. Check out YouTube for teaching videos, Pinterest for games and crafts, or the app store for nursery rhymes, sound games, and songs.

Whatever you do, keep the activities short and fun. If your child finds one activity too difficult or boring, try something different. If you find that activities of this type are too hard, talk to your classroom teacher . Your district's early childhood department may also be able to help you get extra help.

There are many ways to include sound play in your daily routine with your child.

Kids who play with sounds, syllables and rhymes when they are young are gaining important reading readiness skills.

If these skills are really difficult for your child, you may want to seek extra support in this area.

About the Author

About the Author

Kelli Johnson, MA is an educational speech-language pathologist, working with students from early childhood through 12th grade.

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9 ways to build phonological awareness in pre-K and kindergarten

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Kids in pre-K and kindergarten can play with words, rhymes, and syllables they hear in everyday speech to prepare for reading. This is called phonological awareness. Parents and caregivers can introduce phonological awareness during reading, singing, or play activities. Kids who struggle with these kinds of activities may be showing early signs of reading issues.

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If you teach students to read, then you know how important building a base of phonemic awareness is. When students are aware of the sounds they are hearing, it helps them encode as they write or spell and decode as they read. Elkonin boxes can be a helpful part of that teaching process. Named after their creator, psychologist D.B. Elkonin, the boxes are a teaching tool that helps students break down words into their component sounds.

How do Elkonin boxes work? It's easy. Each time a student hears a new sound, they drag a colored circle into a new box. For example, the word "see" would have two circles. The first circle for the sound "s" and the second one for the sound "ee." Diagraph or combined letter sounds count as one phoneme. For example, for the word "sheep" there would be three circles for the sounds or phonemes /sh/ /ee/ /p/.

You can easily modify the online Elkonin boxes to fit your lessons by changing the color of the circles and the number of the boxes. Select the color from the drop-down menu by clicking on the blue circle. Tap on the number "2" to select the number of boxes. Clear the Elkonin boxes by pressing the restart symbol.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources and printables related to Elkonin boxes and literacy.

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Elkonin Boxes | Free Educational Activities | Toy Theater

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Online Elkonin boxes make early reading, phonics, and literacy lessons fun and exciting. Students will build awareness of sound and phonemes.

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Reading adventure packs contain a paired set of theme-based fiction and nonfiction books with related interactive activities that kids can bring home from school to share with their family. Find out how to encourage hands-on, fun learning at home with Reading Rockets' Family Literacy Bags!

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Alphabet Tiles | Free Virtual Manipulatives | Toy Theater

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Use this fun online alphabet tile tool to write words, teach spelling, and practice a whole range of literacy skills.

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How to Practice Phonics With Kids at Home

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Support your child’s reading success at home with these 6 tips on how to teach phonics to kids.

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Fluency is defined as the ability to read with accuracy, good speed, and appropriate expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression.

Children who do not read with fluency sound choppy and awkward. Those students may have difficulty with decoding skills or they may just need more practice with speed and smoothness in reading. Fluency is also important for motivation; children who find reading laborious tend not to want read! As readers head into upper elementary grades, fluency becomes increasingly important. The volume of reading required in the upper elementary years escalates dramatically. Students whose reading is slow or labored will have trouble meeting the reading demands of their grade level.

What the problem looks like

A kid's perspective: What this feels like to me

Children will usually express their frustration and difficulties in a general way, with statements like "I hate reading!" or "This is stupid!". But if they could, this is how kids might describe how fluency difficulties in particular affect their reading:

I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words in this chapter.

It takes me so long to read something.

Reading through this book takes so much of my energy, I can't even think about what it means.

A parent's perspective: What I see at home

Here are some clues for parents that a child may have problems with fluency:

He knows how to read words but seems to take a long time to read a short book or passage silently.

She reads a book with no expression.

He stumbles a lot and loses his place when reading something aloud.

She reads aloud very slowly.

She moves her mouth when reading silently (subvocalizing).

A teacher's perspective: What I see in the classroom

Here are some clues for teachers that a student may have problems with fluency:

Her results on words-correct-per-minute assessments are below grade level or targeted benchmark.

She has difficulty and grows frustrated when reading aloud, either because of speed or accuracy.

He does not read aloud with expression; that is, he does not change his tone where appropriate.

She does not "chunk" words into meaningful units.

When reading, he doesn't pause at meaningful breaks within sentences or paragraphs.

How to help

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn strategies to cope with fluency issues that affect his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

What kids can do to help themselves

Track the words with your finger as a parent or teacher reads a passage aloud. Then you read it.

Have a parent or teacher read aloud to you. Then, match your voice to theirs.

Read your favorite books and poems over and over again. Practice getting smoother and reading with expression.

What parents can do to help at home

Support and encourage your child. Realize that he or she is likely frustrated by reading.

Check with your child's teachers to find out their assessment of your child's word decoding skills.

If your child can decode words well, help him or her build speed and accuracy by:

Reading aloud and having your child match his voice to yours

Having your child practice reading the same list of words, phrase, or short passages several times

Reminding your child to pause between sentences and phrases

Read aloud to your child to provide an example of how fluent reading sounds.

Give your child books with predictable vocabulary and clear rhythmic patterns so the child can "hear" the sound of fluent reading as he or she reads the book aloud.

Use books on tapes; have the child follow along in the print copy.

What teachers can do to help at school

Assess the student to make sure that word decoding or word recognition is not the source of the difficulty (if decoding is the source of the problem, decoding will need to be addressed in addition to reading speed and phrasing).

Give the student independent level texts that he or she can practice again and again. Time the student and calculate words-correct-per-minute regularly. The student can chart his or her own improvement.

Ask the student to match his or her voice to yours when reading aloud or to a tape recorded reading.

Read a short passage and then have the student immediately read it back to you.

Have the student practice reading a passage with a certain emotion, such as sadness or excitement, to emphasize expression and intonation.

Incorporate timed repeated readings into your instructional repertoire.

Plan lessons that explicitly teach students how to pay attention to clues in the text (for example, punctuation marks) that provide information about how that text should be read.

Browse our fluency library

Learn more about how to build children's fluency skills through our articles, tips for parents, video, FAQs, and research briefs. Visit our Fluency section

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Fluency is defined as the ability to read with accuracy, good speed, and appropriate expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately.

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Reading is one of the most important components of language learning and education. It forms the basis for learning how to read - only to learn from what we read. While most children gain the fundamentals of reading by the time they are in second grade, not every child develops the ability to read fluently. Reading fluency is more or less a skill that enables the reader to read quickly, accurately, and with expression.

If your child is struggling to read fluently, there are many strategies you can use at home to support this critical, lifelong skill. Don't worry! Any child who struggles with reading fluency can improve with practice, attention, and consistent feedback. Here are a few simple ways to get your kids reading pages and pages of text with absolute confidence.

1. Model fluent reading

Young children are naturally pretty fast learners. The one thing that we often overlook is their ability to learn from others. One of the best ways to improve a child's reading fluency is to model it for him. Let the child see and hear what fluent reading should sound like. Make sure you include plenty of expressions and emotion while reading and model proper phrasing and pacing. Then ask your child to read the same passage in the same style or manner as you did.

2. Stopwatch readings

Another strategy that works for improving reading speed, which is also a major part of fluency, is asking your child to read a given passage in a set time frame. Here's how it's done: Set a stopwatch for one minute, and have your child read a passage with as few errors as possible. Notice where your child stops or breaks his fluency and work on improving those areas. Perhaps there was a word he couldn't pronounce. Ask him to repeatedly pronounce the word after learning the meaning. Then once again, ask your child to read the passage with the timer set to one minute. This time the reading should be faster!

The one minute read works because it is a manageable chunk of time and your child will be able to practice several repeated reads in a row without losing focus or interest.

Use a graph to track the number of words your child read per minute, along with the number of errors and challenging words. Your child will be excited to know he/she is improving, so be sure to celebrate improvements regularly.

3. Choral read aloud sessions

"Choral reading," is when a teacher or parent reads aloud and asks the children to follow at the same pace. Choral reading is another way to show your child what fluent reading should sound like. Choosing a book at the child's independent reading level will make it easier for him/her to keep up with the accuracy and pace.

4. Marked reading

Take a passage and ask your child to read while you silently follow on a copy of that same passage. Mark places where your child made mistakes (mispronunciation, skipped words, etc.) and keep practicing these words and passages. This can be done during the stop watch reading exercise or a read aloud activity.

To track progress, mark the number of errors and challenging words each time the passage is read. Again, remember to celebrate progress with prizes and/or praise.

5. Re-read favorite books

Always encourage your child to re-read favorite books. Some parents or teachers discourage children from reading the same books again and again in an attempt to expose them to new information. However, constantly reading new material doesn't help reading fluency at all. In fact, the more accustomed to reading a particular book your child is, the more fluent he becomes at reading it. This gives them the confidence, accuracy, and speed needed to read fluently without focusing on just reading and instead more on comprehending and mimicking expressions.

Lastly, the best way to improve children's reading fluency is by encouraging them to read more often while keeping speed, accuracy, and expression in mind. The more they read, the better they get! Modeling positive reading behavior sets the tone for reading in your household.
Martin Berk is a well-trained personal tutor hailing from Los Angeles. He works as a senior editor at an online company offering the services of expert coursework writers UK . He's also an avid reader and a wannabe blogger with keen interest in teaching, tech and education, etc.

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5 ways parents can increase reading fluency | Reading Partners | Reading Partners

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Reading fluency is a practiced skill. Parents can help their kids increase reading fluency by using these easy, at-home strategies.

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ReadWriteThink Parent Resources (By Grade Level)

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ReadWriteThink Parent Resources (By Grade Level)

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Reading Resources - Help My Child Read - Parents - ED.gov

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Fun activities parents can use to build children's language skills. Includes a reading checklist, typical language accomplishments for different age groups, book suggestions, and resources for children with reading problems or learning disabilities.

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Nat'l Center on Improving Literacy Family Resources

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Nat'l Center on Improving Literacy Family Resources

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Public libraries are a great resource for your child's literacy learning. They often provide free literacy events, in addition to children's audio and print books. Library staff can help find resources to support your child's learning at home.

Check your local library to see what it offers!

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Parents & Families | National Center on Improving Literacy

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Help your child learn to read and write with practical ideas and expert-approved strategies.

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21 Questions to Ask Your Child About a Book

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21 Questions to Ask Your Child About a Book

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Warning: It looks like JavaScript is currently disabled. Please be aware that some features of this website will not work as intended.

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Talking to your children about the books they read is one of the best ways to support your child's literacy development. Your child needs to engage in critical thinking to discuss a book - a key skill for success in school as well as life. Here are some tips on how to start and sustain a book discussion with your child:

Before your child reads a book, ask:

Why did you select this book?

What makes you think this book is going to be interesting?

What do you think the book is going to be about?

Does this book remind you of anything else you've already read or seen?

What kind of characters do you think will be in the book?

What do you think is going to happen?

While your child is reading a book, try asking:

Will you catch me up on the story? What's happened so far?

What do you think will happen next?

If you were that character, what would you have done differently in that situation?

If the book was a TV show, which actors would you cast in it?

Where is the book set?

If the main character in that story lived next door, would you be friends?

What does the place look like in your head as you read? Would you want to visit there?

Did you learn any new words or facts so far?

After your child has finished a book, ask questions like:

What was your favorite part of the book? Why?

Who was your favorite character? Why?

What was the most interesting thing you learned from the book?

Why do you think the author wrote this book?

Would you have ended the book differently? Did it end the way you thought it would?

Did the problem of the book's plot get solved?

If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be?

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21 Questions to Ask Your Child About a Book - Lexile

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Talking to your children about the books they read is one of the best ways to support your child's literacy...

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Explore reading and play games with your favorite PBS KIDS characters like Elmo, Molly of Denali, Clifford, WordGirl, and Daniel Tiger!

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Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. To read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle - the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language. Decoding is when we use letter-sound relationships to translate a printed word into speech.

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Phonological Awareness Activities for Parents

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Phonological Awareness Activities for Parents

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Building underlying awareness of how sounds combine to make words will help with reading. There is an instructional sequence to these skills, but they don't all have to be mastered before moving on. Note that when a letter is inside hatch marks (//), it indicates just the letter sound.

Word Segmentation : Count words in sentences. Have your student think of a short sentence to describe a recent event. ("I went to the beach yesterday.") Clap the words and count them. Make the sentence longer and count again. ("I went to the beach yesterday and it was really windy.")

Rhyme Recognition and Production : Play rhyming "I Spy." You say "I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with ... [grable]." The student looks around and sees a "table." It's great to do this to pass the time in a new place, like a restaurant, a waiting room, etc.

Syllable Blending and Segmentation: Count syllables in words. As you're unloading groceries clap the syllables in the items. "How many times did we clap?" Some new exotic additions to the grocery list may spice this up a little ("arugula!"). You could vary this by listing just things you like or dislike, or choosing a category of thing (animals, cars) your student is interested in.

Syllable Deletion: Using compound words, ask what's left when you take away a word. This is the kind of thing that might work on a car ride. "If you start out with a [starfish, football] and you take away the [star, foot], what's left?" Work on first and last parts of the words.

Phoneme Manipulation : Start with first sounds in words and do something similar to the syllable deletion activity. "What word is left if I start with [pie] but take away the [/p/ sound]?" Words like pie, take, chart, cape, etc., all have hidden words in them.

Move on to identifying sounds in words, first sound first, then last sound, then middle sound. You can do this as a spy game. Set up a bridge and have animals cross the bridge: The student has to give the first (last, middle) sound as the secret pass-code to have the animal cross.

Phoneme Blending: Try a Simon Says game. Warm up with "Simon says touch your [wrist, etc.] Then play it with the words broken into their sound parts: "Simon says touch your /l/-/e/-/g/. Touch your /l/-/i/-/p/-/s/." Use one-syllable body-part names like toe, heel, foot, knee, thigh, chest, back, ear, etc.

Phoneme Segmentation/Deletion: Collect or draw pictures of one-syllable things on note cards, and draw 3 boxes under each. (Examples: cat; dog; can; cup; pan; fan. Don't include consonant blends like "stem," or "spot.")

Explain that there are three boxes because there are 3 sounds in each word. There may be fewer boxes than letters, but there are only 3 sounds (like "coat" or "peach"). Put a marker (or a star or other treat) in each box as you and the student identify the sounds in order.

Variation: "If I cover up the first sound, what's left?" ("What do you have if you take away the /c/ in "cat"?")

This can develop into removing sounds at the end and eventually into replacing sounds at beginning, end and middle. (Replacing sounds is harder than deleting, so should be done after.)

Sound/Letter Correspondence: You might start filling the boxes (above) with the letter that represents the sounds. If your student knows the letters, so this will develop naturally out of the sound-identification, -deletion, and -substitution activities.

Sounds Abound Bingo , available online at linguisystems.com

Learning Resources Reading Rods Phonemic Awareness Kit , available online at educationsuperstore.com

Get Read for the Code , books A, B, and C (address letters as they are introduced in kindergarten class)

Sounds Abound: Listening, Rhyming, and Reading , activity book available online at linguisystems.com

Sounds Wizard game box (not currently available), from superduperinc.com
http://www.getreadytoread.org/

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Phonological Awareness Activities for Parents - learning specialist

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Building underlying awareness of how sounds combine to make words will help with reading. There is an instructional sequence to these skills, but they don't all have to be mastered before moving on. Note that when a letter is inside hatch marks (//), it indicates just the letter sound.