Teach my child to read



Mother skunk and her baby skunks



In our previous lesson, your child was pointing to each word as you guided his finger and you read the words.

You asked your child for a word from the story to watch for, a word like: cat, kitten, puppy, bird, etc.

You were helping your child see his chosen word, over and over. Ask your child how he can find his chosen word on his own without your help?  How can he tell his word from all the other words? 

(Answer: His word always has the same letters, printed in the same order, every time. This makes it different from the other words.)

Read another story in the same pattern: your child points to each word as you guide his finger while you read. Let your child read his chosen word. Now, pick a 2nd chosen word. Your child is now looking for two words.

Ask your child how he can find his two chosen words? (Answer: Always the same letters, printed in the same order.)

Use today to make sure your child is picking up simple but important lessons:

1) Do you see the space between each word? Each word must have its own space, just as cars on the street must have space between them. Otherwise the cars, and the words, would crash into each other.

When printing words, ask your child to put a one finger-space between each word he prints.

2) Do you see that words always start on the same side of the page and travel along to the other side? Let's look at that pattern.

Yes, it always starts on this same side - the left side. The words always travel along to the other side of the page.

In ancient times, words traveled like a snake. At the end of the top line, the reader dropped down to the next line, then ran back to the left side. This was a confusing plan so people had to change to the one we use today.

I have created special books to teach children the tricky lessons. My Panda book is wonderful for new readers. It does not practice letter writing except for the small tricky set: b, d, g, p, q. The Panda teaches the lessons an early reader needs. Lots of color pictures and fun ways to be a star reader. Click this link, then click bookstore, scroll down to see the Panda: http://www.zoomreadingstrategy.com    Give your child a smart start!

Have fun reading with your child. Thank you, Mary Maisner