50 ways to teach your child to READ

Learning to read is not a crash course that kids take and are done with once they can read Dick and Jane without any help. Learning to read is developmental and starts when a newborn looks at you and hears you talking to them. Below are 50 pieces to the reading puzzle . 50 ways that you and your child can have fun knowing that they are working on early literacy development and learning to love books. This is not definitive checklist it’s a buffet of options to help support your child as they develop literacy skills and become independent readers. Find ideas that work for your family with your child and their current development. Click through the linked items for more details and how to do the activity with your child.
1.Read to your child.
2.Play rhyming games.
3.Sing the alphabet song with them.
4.Label things with their names from an early age.
5.Go to the library even when they are at that loud voice only stage.
6.Have non fiction books as well as fiction available .
7.Tell stories.
8.Have books all over your house.
9.Teach the letter sounds by emphasizing the sounds in words they hear often from a young age.
10.Provide fun and interesting books for them to read.
11.Get a magazine subscription and read it together.
12.Make play dough letters.
13.Play the alphabet game on road trips.
14.Read the mail together.
15.Make a reading nook.
16.Clap out syllables.
17.Make letter crafts.
18.Make reading play time .
19.Notice letters in the environment.
20.Learn about how books work and other concepts of print.
21.Let them choose their own books at the library or bookstore.
22.Leave them notes in their lunchboxes .
23.Play with foam letters in the bath. Use bath toys to make up and tell stories.
24.Make your own books.
25.Play eye spy with letters and letter sounds. ” I spy something that starts with the letter B. Buh buh book!”
26.Give your children books as gifts.
27.Make up silly songs together.
28.Ask them to read the pictures to you before they can read the words.
29.Play library.
30.Read the book then see the movie for a family treat.
31.Play with word families.
32.Read books with no words and share storytelling duties.
33.Let them see you reading for fun.
34.Read nursery rhymes.
35.Explore and trace tactile letters.
36.Play listening games.
37.Retell and have your children retell stories after reading them.
38.Ask your child questions about elements of the story as you read with them. This works on comprehension.
39.Read books at lunchtime .
40.Take books with you when you travel.
41.Build with letter blocks or make your own.
42.Do word searches.
43.Play sight word games.
44.Download an e-reader app on your smartphone and instead of handing them it to play a game make it a treat to use it to read.
45.Read comics and graphic novels with them.
46.Talk your your kids using regular words not “kiddie” words.
47.Read them poetry.
48.Get their bodies moving to learn letters.
49.Read them their favorite book over and over and over even if it’s making you want to poke your eyes out.
50.Make reading part of their bedtime routine from day one.

Making time to read to your child each night!

It’s not always easy to squeeze in those extra few minutes into your schedule no matter how much you want to. To ensure that you have time at the end of each night to read bedtime stories to your child, you may need to put some measures in place.

* Make it a priority. It’s not enough if you think it–do whatever it takes to make it work. Put it down on your schedule. Set a cell phone reminder to go off 5 minutes before your child’s bedtime. Let your spouse, boss and others know that you won’t be available during that time. Put ‘Reading to my son’ in your status message if you have to.

* Set realistic expectations. Experts may recommend reading for 20 minutes each night. Your child may demand 45. Figure out how much time you can actually spare and what is right for you and your child.

* Delegate. Don’t let household tasks such as doing dishes, picking up toys and paying bills prevent you from keeping your reading date with your child. Share responsibilities with your spouse, older children and other family members so that it frees up a few minutes for you to read.

* Trade off. If it’s next to impossible to find those 20-30 minutes of time to read to your child, stop and take a look at your daily schedule. Make adjustments to other activities as needed. You may need to swap carpool or other duties with your spouse or another parent, leave work a little early, wake up 30 minutes earlier or stay up a few minutes late to make up.

* Maximize reading time. Given that finding the time to read bedtime stories to children is a challenge in itself for many of us, we should be making every minute count. Store books near the child’s bed or somewhere in her room where it’s super-easy to reach them. Decide what you and your child are going to read this week or month ahead of time so you don’t spend any more time than you have to each night pondering over titles and staring at the book shelf.

It may seem like a small thing, but the few minutes you spend reading to your child at bedtime often pave the way for a restful 8 hours that follow and have the potential to inspire a lifelong love of reading ahead.