I encourage parents to have a very positive expectation for your child’s educational future, and the easy reading instructions in my book, PRESCHOOL READING SUCCESS IN JUST FIVE MINUTES A DAY is a great start which most definitely speaks to your child’s future schooling success.
THE ATTITUDE TO HAVE
Please impart an invisible sense of positive energy to your child that he or she is smart, clever, and will easily understand reading as you slip in easy instruction here and there throughout the day that I fully describe in my book … no big deal…no stress… no anxiety. In fact, my approach is not pedantic, stultified, or boring.
Your child will understand and “get it” if you discover the correct (hilarious, energetic, meaningful, plain funny) words to demonstrate the initial phonic sounds you are teaching with an upbeat approach. It will feel so natural to both of you as you impart a very positive attitude to learning in general with reading as a first big step. Now is NOT the time to delegate the teaching of your child to read to someone else.
Take control of this issue to make sure that your child “gets it,” and be totally loving and understanding until she or he does. To bring a sense of joy and vision when you are with your child as you see and expect his/her success can become thrilling, and create defining moments on whom your child will become.
This is the invisible attitude that I want to impart to you as the parent who has a critical role in this whole process. You are their first teachers. See the very best in your child doing very well in school, and generally doing well in life starting with these very simple reading concepts.
Compliment and reward your child for any reading progress with what makes her/him happy…a tickle…a chase around the room, let’s play a game, a cookie saying this is so easy, and exclaiming “YOU ARE READING!” even if it is just one three letter word. I direct you at every turn with clear instructions in my book. It isn’t hard. In fact, it is really fun for you two as you connect to your child in this wonderful new way. It is not just another chore or fatiguing responsibility draining your energy, your patience or your last nerve…no no…
These conversations will optimize the ordinary moments that you have together. You are developing your child with this knowledge, and the rewards are extraordinary. Your admiration and respect for him/her grows as your child learns with not that much effort from either one of you. Your time together is optimized with results that you both will love.
To see my grandson reading way beyond a second grader is a joy to see.As a first grader, I now write down words on a piece of paper on a clipboard that are to surprise me if he reads them. He gets most of them, and I am dutifully astounded. How did you know that? He loves for me to be surprised and astounded. I give him checks and stars. Learning like this has a flow….a joy and a sense of wonder. It is there….go for it!
FUN ZONE
So capturing the attention and finding the fun zone of a 3 to 5 year old is quite easy as you discover what makes her laugh, is silly or interesting from one moment to the next. You will discover these words sometimes in less than a few seconds or minutes. It could be the names of her toys, the name of her doll, her stuffed animals, her puppy or kitty, her uncle, her grandparents, her favorite foods, the words on the cereal box, cartoon characters, or the birds in the sky or the bugs hiding in the grass.
I connect these people, things, animals and food and much more to the basic initial phonetic sounds (I call it a noise) in a very child friendly way that I describe in detail. They find this irresistible, and there are many other funny target words for a young child in my book.
There are no DVDs, complicated teaching methods, no pedantic anxieties, no workbooks, no big deal, no sit down and listen, no be quiet and pay attention, or any of the common dull methods used today. It is just about mastering the basic phonetic sounds in a stress free and very happy and relatable manner. This is it, and I have seen this approach work over and over again.
In addition, I would suggest to read silly poetry to your child. Edward Lear is a wonderful example such as his poem, The Owl and The Pussycat and especially his limericks available at the library. You want them to enjoy the language, and to enjoy the sound and meaning of words. Oral language and vocabulary are the bridge to reading, so keep up the chatter.
They will see and understand that the words on the page have meaning. Poetry, nursery rhymes, and songs are a key part of literacy development, says Bernice E. Cullinan, Ph.D., professor emerita at New York University. Listening to, and repeating words and poetry are a wonderful way for children to learn phonemic awareness and the use of vocabulary. That is the ability to notice and isolate the individual sounds, or phonemes, in words, like the “c” in cat or the “b” in bat — a key skill for future success in reading.
Preschoolers first learn that speech is made up of sounds, syllables, and words indirectly from listening to stories, nursery rhymes, poetry, and conversations. They gain phonemic awareness, says Cullinan, by “playing with language” — by meowing like the cat in the story a teacher is reading, or making up nonsense rhymes. Rhyming games also help children think about sound and the structure of words.” Your emotional voice inflections also add to their interest.
SUCCESSFUL PROGRESS
My grandson is a very young first grader…just 6 yrs old by one week when he started first grade. He was tested for reading 3 months into the semester, and was so proficient in reading that the teacher said in a parent/teacher conference that there is no need for him to ever be tested again.
He is reading way beyond the second grade level. The solid average score is 4 for his age category, and he tested at 24. The reason he did well in reading instruction in preschool (which he only attended in the morning on two days a week) and kindergarten, and why he so easily picked up on the teaching there in very elementary classes was because he had the preliminary instruction via these concepts explained in my book.
He was very comfortable with the beginning phonetic sounds of the alphabet because we had gone over them using silly words that he remembered. Just memorizing the ABCs isn’t enough. It is the basic sounds/noises that a child can hear related to a specific letter introduced with funny words…so easy and so simple to explain. Your child’s reading and future successful schooling years await!
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!!
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