Ideas on how to teach a 3 year old to read!

[V.Sackett]

Hello, My name is Victoria and I am new to the group. I love to read books with a passion, especially History. I love learning new things and would like some imput from you about how to get my son slowly into reading and writing. He is only 3 years old, but I am not sure when is the time to get him started. He loves for me to read to him and sometimes he will go through a book as if he is reading. He loves to look at the pictures I think. Anyhow, any inpute would be a blessing. Thanks.

[abcjmom]

Hi.  I'm new to the group, too.  I am a reading tutor to 5  and 6 yr. olds.  We only teach them their ABC's and sounds.   The best advice I can give you is to keep reading to your  child.  Make the books fun to keep  him excited about being read  to.  The students I work with for the most part do not have parents who are interested   in reading to their children.  How sad!  You  could read books to  him that have the ABC's and give the sounds.  That way your child will have a head start.   Usually young  children will read from memory.  They are not really reading at the age of three.  Also, beware to have your child too far ahead of the other children.   You  don't want them to be bored in school, because they are so far ahead of their own grade level.

As I said , personally, right now, keep reading to your child.  the rest should come naturally.  Have fun!  :}laurie

[teeny_tiny_mom]

I agree. Just read to him and he will learn to love it and he will learn when the time is right.  I am a teacher and I messed up I taught my daughter everything she would learn in Pre-k before she ever entered the pre-k classroom.  I now believe we should leave some for the teacher.  That is his/her job of course:)
wd

[marusya812]

Hi Victoria.  I know this is an old post, but I am new to the group and just came upon your question.  With my son, I started with the ABCs and all their corresponding sounds.   Now when we read books, I just make sure to go slowly and point to all the words.   I stop on the words he's learning and wait for him to either say the word or he shows me by pointing at something to indicate the meaning.  He also likes when we ask him where is such and such word.  He doesn't talk much, but communicates a lot in this way.   I found that larger font books are easier for them to read initially.  Also, I just wanted to say that I don't think there is any problem with him learning to read earlier as long as he enjoys it and you are not forcing.   There is a lot of research that says that this is the time they learn  best and there are always other things for children to learn if they know the basics.   This is not at all uncommon in other cultures.  Hope this helps!  ~Marusya

[mybabies]

I agree that reading to your child is a big boost.

I would also like to suggest a good way to start the process.  Tune into your child's interests by taking him to the bookstore/library and show him how to find and select a good book. (if you don't already)

Just take him to a shelf, tell him to pick one, look at the cover with him, the pictures inside and ask him if it looks good. Ask questions about the pictures to see if he's truly interested.

Do it a few more times so he'll get the hang of picking his own.  This will show him that reading is on HIS terms. When he gets to select his books, he'll become even more interested.

It's just lke that choice thing with clothes. Give them two items to pick from and they almost always pick one; whereas if you make them wear one outfit you picked out, they will fight it to the end. :)

[PrincessJulie]

I'll tell you what I'm doing with my almost three year old that is working great. I learned it from my paternal grandmother who used it with all of her kids (5 of them!) and all of her grandkids (no idea how many of us there is!) and most of her great-grandkids (only three out of the five because one of her granddaughters refuses to "push her kids" but whatever.) She (and I) started at two (you can start whenever of course) putting little cards around the house, like a card with the word "sink" written fairly big and clear and sticking it on the sink. I mean, using the world "refrigerator" probably wouldn't work at this age but a lot of words can be done. My daughter will be three next month and I started this almost exactly at age two and I can't even tell you how many words she sees others places (not where the cards are) that she can "read". She sees signs that have words she knows, billboards, newspapers, so much stuff and it's so cool to see that! I definitely recommend it as long as you think he or she is ready. I usually just remove a card when it seems like she has it down and then I still use them as flash cards because I don't want her to forget but like anyone else, seeing something all day everyday is going to help your brain catch on. Hope this helps!