In this post we take a look at how to teach a 5 year old to read. One cannot underrate the curiosity that a five-year old child exhibits.
They are most inquisitive at this age, making it the perfect period in their development to introduce them to reading.
Their curiosity is the perfect ingredient that makes them think of learning and reading as a form of fun adventure.
At this age, you may begin to notice your five-year-old child trying to read out the letters in boxes and labels, take advantage of this in teaching to read properly.
The secret is paying attention to your child’s growing interests in order to know if it’s the right time to reach to read.
Forcing them to read before they are ready will not help, that’s like force-feeding them.
This could result in your child rejecting learning to read.
Here are some tips that can help you to teach your child to read.
Find Interesting Books
five-year-olds are energetic and adventurous, they love to play and have fun all the time so you might want to choose interesting books.
You will not make so much progress if you are trying to teach a five-year-old child to read with a boring book.
Kids learn to read better when the books have illustrations of characters or colourful pictures that they find interesting.
Also, the theme of the book matters, for instance, if your child loves dogs, find books that are about dogs.
If your child finds the topic of the book interesting, he or she is likely to want to read it more.
Such topics should be relatable to your five-year-old, you want them to easily understand what they are reading about.
This will also help them to memorize words better. Give your child the opportunity to choose what he or she will like to read.
Read to your child often
You should spend time reading to your child.
Children learn to read, first, by listening.
Spending a lot of your free time reading with your five-year-old will help him/her develop their vocabulary and enable to relate what is being read with the real world.
In addition, reading with your five-year-old often will help them develop an interest in reading.
It will become their second nature, which is important in how they excel in other aspects of their learning/education.
Choose a good time to read with your five-year-old, while doing so, ask them questions about the story and the characters.
If there are moral lessons in the book, tell your five-year-old about them.
Make Use Flash Cards
Using flash cards is an effective method to teach your five-year-old to read.
It is a great way to introduce them to vocabulary words and phonics.
You can purchase flashcards from your local bookshop or you can make one with your child.
The more you practice with your child the more they will be able to easily recognized words.
First practice identifying the letters, words and the sound of the word displayed on the card.
Once your five-year-old becomes familiar with the words, you can introduce a contest where you can reward him or her based on how many words they are able to recognize.
Practice, Practice, and more Practice!
Practice reading with your child as often as you can.
Practice makes perfect, and this is true to teaching your five-year-old to read as well.
The more your child becomes familiar with the book, the better he recognizes words, and the faster he or she reads.