Medievalist4Literacy

This page is for all of those who have asked for my recommendation when it comes to teaching children how to read. I want to empower caregivers to know that they can teach their child to read. It really isn’t rocket science!

In addition to explicit phonics instruction, I encourage all teachers and parents to read good books together out loud with children well past when children are able to read to themselves. And remember, if you find the book boring, it is probably not good for your child either. A list of recommended books is forthcoming!

[If you find a recommendation useful, do know that buying through the links below helps to support my work.]

Quick Resources for Caregivers Pressed For Time

This is one of my favorite, most entertaining Alphabet books of all time. It is good for young children, but could also entertain slightly older children who are still struggling with letter recognition.
This resource is an easy, open and go, book to get children ages 3-8 reading in only a few months. It is good for younger children who express an early interest in reading but don’t have dexterity for writing as long as you move more slowly through the text. It is also good for those who do not have the luxury of a lot of time, but find that the schools have failed their school-aged children.
This book is the backbone of the full Memoria Press curriculum, which I highly recommend! It can also be used for those parents who need to reinforce phonics when that phonics is not being learned in school OR when a child learned to read very young (i.e. 3/4) and needs to have phonics reinforced as they get older.
The Explode the Code series is one of the best stand-alone workbooks. It can be used in just a few minutes a day for parents who need to supplement what a child is learning at school.

Other Recommended Resources:

While research has shown that children younger than 2 should have limited screen time, I do think the older Leap Frog materials do actually work when it comes to teaching children basic early literacy.

LeapFrog Letter Factory

LeapFrog Talking Words Factory

Leap Frog CodeWord Caper

LeapFrog Mr. Pencil Scribble

Melissa and Doug Spelling Puzzles

Montessori Spelling Sand Tables

And also Rod and Staff’s Complete Preschool Curriculum!

These little readers start with pre-reading skills and move through basic skills for reading. While there are a lot of phonics readers on the market (and sometimes the key is just to find.a set that your child is just interested in), these books advance in a carefully sequenced way.
This is an excellent book for strategies for building reading fluency, including the importance of oral reading (out loud!) together.
Once a child has mastered basic competency in phonics, it is important to not neglecting giving them a content-rich curriculum. While phonics is the essential first step for decoding, fluency is, in part, a combination of the knowledge of language and subject-matter.
Homepage
Hirsch’s work has led to the founding of the Core Knowledge Foundation, which has many free resources for continuing a child’s education.

For Those Picking a Phonics Curriculum

There are a lot of phonics curriculums out there, but not all of them are as good as they seem. Like Cheryl Lowe, I DO NOT recommend Spalding-type phonics curriculums, including Logic of English. For those looking for full curriculum suggestions, I do recommend Cheryl Lowe’s articles:

What is the Classical Approach to Phonics? Any of the

How to Teach Phonics (And How Not To)

How to Teach Phonics

I do recommend programs that distinguish between phonics (decoding) and spelling (encoding). The study of Latin and Greek roots is also highly recommended for truly helping students understand why English is spelled the way it is.

Here is a list of recommended full curriculums:

Primary School (K-2) Appropriate Programs: Programs primarily focused on Phonics (decoding)

Full Elementary School Programs: Phonics Programs that are followed by a strong Spelling Program

When Should I Worry?

For some reason, a decline in general education has led to a push for earlier and earlier mastery of skills. Sometimes these expectations are not reasonable, especially because children before 3rd grade naturally vary widely in their abilities. Here are some general rules of thumb though:

  • With some reinforcement from home and explicit instruction, most children should be able to know their alphabet, consonant sounds, and basic short vowel sounds before, or at the very least, by the middle of their kindergarten year.
  • A child who has finished kindergarten should be able to easily read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and a few frequently repeated words like (I, said, etc.).
  • By the middle of first grade, a child should be able to use basic decoding rules like blending consonants, silent e’s, and vowel teams.
  • The fluency and endurance with which a child can read varies widely between first and third grade. As long as your child is reading with you everyday, and reading frequently to you out loud, it is important to have some patience with how quickly this fluency develops.
  • The aim is to have a good baseline of fluency, including the ability to read short chapter books, by the beginning of third grade. This is known as the beginning of the “read to learn” phase.

While I am not an expert in dyslexia, I have personally found that cursive can be very helpful in helping children with dyslexia. I personally love the NAC curriculum:

https://www.amazon.com/New-American-Cursive-Iris-Hatfield/dp/0979767806?crid=27D7XMW5UI3FC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AIrGww1h9JRp5o1QYh4Nvx-9Yy6nElcQ_yY_V9G3ouzIbabbqhP82weqGaD4FPNgK1Mg0D2LslpA6KpHkWUlRjhKs3fjzux0MJrYeomRRqMHK8ZJrhZiI2k0BXfUQr4WhReytCMX8CLJomD9tcx9rtJa7NHKt6aSxzcS84m8wuE4UZ_Mk2uFvw7U1FpY1vGmwoowx1m8kS5AG0rjN1djQ8d1YxMyvxPNhKUCElDIMbg.oiRcDcZYj1RF2K2qKcc7ph6szSC_5EE18mWvxi0SYUM&dib_tag=se&keywords=new+american+cursive&qid=1721929322&s=books&sprefix=new+american+cursive%2Cstripbooks%2C99&sr=1-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lawill89-20&linkId=6c595945df85b2a2e5ead47220650b93&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl