Best way to teach my child to read

This is the best way to teach reading because it shows your child how to get comprehension from the start.  (Quick look;

story > words > letters > letters within words > tricky letters.)

Unknown by parents and teachers, is the fact that so much brain energy is fixated on decoding words - figuring out the letters and sounds - that many children never, or only slightly, pick up the meaning from the words the child is trying to read. 
 

Kids learn to talk by imitating your talk. You are going to help your child see how comprehension happens. 

As your child sits with you and a story, you say: "point to each word as I read it. If you know the word, say it with me."    (Do these steps with any age child.)

After you have read five sentences, stop and ask your child what this story is about? What is happening in this story so far?   (You want to be sure - do not assume - your child is getting the meaning of the words and holding on to it. Help your child recap the story.)  

Your goal right now is getting meaning, not sounding out.  If your child is reading some words, tell him any unknown words and keep going forward. (If you see decoding problems --  correct letter / sound -- make a mental note to work on it at a different time.)

Start teaching words by picking a creature, like dog or cat or kitten. Talk to your child about the 1st letter - kitten - k says ka. This is the word kitten. The word kitten always uses these same letters. Do we see the word kitten anywhere else on the page?  Let your child read the word kitten as you come to it when reading the story. You can add other creature words like dog - d says da.  

After a few weeks, begin helping your child see that certain words are not animals but are repeated. Using a story, help your child point to the word the. Instead of reading the story, look through it, finding and pointing to the. As you read the story with your child still pointing to each word, ask your child to read the word the as you come to it. The is the 1st sight word.

Sight words are not real things you can touch like a kitten or dog; sight words have vague meanings. Sight words are service words: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for.

All sight word lists are the same and in the same order; they are the most frequently seen words. It was discovered decades ago that a child instant with sight words had a huge advantage over children who were slower.

Many sight words look alike to children who have a ton of other lessons to pay attention to: the, these, those, there, their, they're, we, were, was, saw, does, goes, and so on.  

Children do not learn sight words without parent help. Stories is the easiest way to learn them. Try to learn the 1st 20 in kindergarten; 1st 50 by Thanksgiving of 1st Grade. 

By now your child knows: words have letters and letters make sounds. Get an ABC letter strip at Target, Office Max, etc. Start learning the names and sounds, three letters at a time, daily review starting with Aa. (52 letter shapes and a huge variety of sounds.)

Printing letters backward is natural and will self-correct by 2nd Grade; it is very rarely dyslexia, and will not slow your child's progress. Ignore them.

However b, d, g, p, q have to be correct. Children have limited energy, spend it getting instant with b, d, g, p, q. Children must be able to identify b, d, g, p, q within words. Getting confused by b / d  and p / q / g when your child starts reading words in 1st Grade is something you want to avoid. 

Preschool and kindergarten will not prepare your child; there is not enough time for the needed repetition. Use my blog search box - top left corner - put in backward b.

Recap: be sure your child recognizes b, d, g, p, q within words and is learning sight words.

My blog and my books give you clear tools and tips. I use Ebay as my website. Search Instant Reading Help all my books will pop up for you. All my books include my contact info; email or call for help. Instant with early lessons gives your child's short-term working memory the keys to success.  Have fun reading, Mary Maisner