Disclaimer: I am not an English teacher. I didn't teach Emma traditionally. I have no experience teaching other kids how to read.
It started when Emma was still a baby. I've decided to read her books every day, 5-15 minutes a day. Then, at about 1 year old I've noticed that she's really interested in "reading" books. One day, I was cooking when I didn't hear any sound from her. She was so quiet so I checked her in her room. She was actually holding a book and was reading
At 2 years old, I introduced alphabets. I wrote A-Z in a paper and tried to teach her. But of course, it was not without the help of Little Baby Bum alphabet songs in youtube. They have various alphabet songs that we used. So Emma was starting to identify letters, sound and some words that starts with it.
Other than Little Baby Bum, we selected some TV shows for her to watch. We let her watched "Word Party" from Netflix. They have 4 seasons now. Each episode is about 10-13 minutes short. We usually limits
her screen time to 1 hr maximum.
It's a very good tv show because they are learning different words there like color words, emotions, and others. They also sing and dance so she really enjoyed it.
Also, as I've mentioned we tried to limit her screen time, so it means bringing books, papers and markers everywhere we go. There's one mommy hack that I've seen in pinterest about this. You can check my post about that on this link below:
Mommy Hack
At age 3, I've decided to teach her "sight words". I've taught her 2-4 letter words like "can", "man", "mom. I used some flashcards for this. We also used to learn one new word a week. But of course, I still read her books everyday. When we read books, I point the words on the pictures. (I learned this tip from my mom). It helped her to recognize the letter forms. Reading everyday actually helped her recognize the long words like "beautiful", "instead" and the like.
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| This is from amazon, but there's some in Indigo |
In addition, I also used a homeschool preschool curriculum that has weekly plans on what to teach, with sight words. I just forgot which curriculum was that so I can't link it here. But I'm subscribed to Reading mama blog where she has so many free printables that was very helpful in reading and learning new words.
There is this one wonderful free app that we used "Starfall learn to read". They have website too starfall.com. They teach letters, reading and the sound of each letters. We like the app because you can use it even there is no wifi.
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| This is sample from the app |
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| It has games and very interactive |
Another tip is when we let her watch movies or cartoons, we often put the subtitle on so she can also follow and read the words. Of course, we screen the movies that she watched.
Also, we read all the time, everywhere and anywhere. When we see a word in the mall, we read it. When we see words on the train station we read it. It also helps when we explain the word/phrases too. Few months ago, she suprised me when she asked me why is the bus out of service. She actually read the wordings on the bus "Out of service".
Also, we read all the time, everywhere and anywhere. When we see a word in the mall, we read it. When we see words on the train station we read it. It also helps when we explain the word/phrases too. Few months ago, she suprised me when she asked me why is the bus out of service. She actually read the wordings on the bus "Out of service".
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| Her bookshelf, 2018 |
Starting this year, when I do my daily devotion and Bible reading, I always tell her that "it's devotion time". She will also get her book or any of her devotional and read it beside me.
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| She's reading her bible story book |
She's really good in reading most words. Although she still stumbles at some words but she's a fast learner. Even at daycare, teachers are telling me that she's really good at reading. We don't want to force her to be advance on learning English. We just want her to love and enjoy reading as early as 4 years old.
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| An email from her daycare |
Here are some of the books that I recommend for easy reading:
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss and other Dr. Seuss Books
Our favorite is the Elephant and Piggie books
Sandra Boynton books like Tickle Time, The Going to bed book
And many more...
There was one website the vooks.com which streams animated children's books. We love it so much because it reads aloud and is very engaging. It is paid though but we are subscribed 1 year free because they have promos for teachers.
There was one website the vooks.com which streams animated children's books. We love it so much because it reads aloud and is very engaging. It is paid though but we are subscribed 1 year free because they have promos for teachers.
These works for me and I hope it will work for you too. :)
Happy Reading!
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