Posted in Homeschool, phonics, Reading

12 CVC Word Family Classroom Wall Decorations (FREE Print-Outs)

Advertisements

CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant. CVC words are words like cat, zip, rug, and pen. The vowel sound is always short. These words can be read by simply blending the individual phoneme sounds together. A word family is a group of words that share a common root word with different prefixes and suffixes. I created 12 CVC word family classroom wall decorations. I originally got this idea for these posters from multiplication fact posters I saw on Pinterest. They were super colorful and featured adorable animals. It got my creative juices flowing and I decided to make similar phonics-themed posters. I hope all of the teachers, educators, and homeschool families enjoy these posters.

Advertisements
CVC word posters

Decorate your classroom wall or use these posters to actively teach sound blending. Children love the bright colors and identifying the animals. They may even have a favorite animal or color and choose to read the poster because of the animal or color. Use these posters to get children engaged in phonics word building. Continue exploring the Unabashed Kids blog for more word-building activity ideas. Download these 12 sets of word family posters for FREE.

Advertisements

5 Ways to use CVC Word Walls in a Classroom

Below is a list of ideas for using the CVC word family classroom wall decorations.

  1. Hang it up for decoration! Reminds students and visitors where the reading center is located.
  2. Reading Center Activity – Have students trace the laminated boards at the reading center or have them choose a poster to copy that word family down on a piece of paper.
  3. Spelling Word Wall Reference. Tired of being asked how to spell cat. Use these posters as a reference for spelling 3 letter words. Tell the students to find the correct word family and check if they spelled the word correctly.
  4. Circle time games! Word family of the week – have students practice reading and spelling the CVC words as a group during circle time.
  5. Group Work – pair students into groups of 2 or 3 and have them practice reading the words together.
Advertisements
Advertisements

Posted in guest post, Homeschool, Parenting, Reading

How to Choose Books at Your Child’s Reading Level

Teaching your kid to read is one of the most satisfying things you can do as parents. There is nothing more exciting than watching our babies grow and learn.

We all know that reading is an important skill. Children tend to learn to read their first books between the ages of 3 and 7. The earlier he or she begins to discover the love of reading, the easier it will be for them to become confident and independent readers as they get older. There are many online resources you can use to develop your child’s reading skills. It is important that once a child gets a small grasp of phonics we encourage them to continue building their literacy skills. This can be done by choosing books that are on their reading level and of interest to them.

Twin boys reading a book

Keep in mind, that children will not master reading skills overnight. The process takes time, and you must be patient with your child. You must also be supportive of their needs as they learn. The best way for a parent to teach their child how to read is by choosing books that are at just the right level.

Girl reads to her stuffed animal toys.

As a parent, it is important to choose books at your child’s reading level. By doing so, you are making the reading experience more comfortable for your child. Choosing books that are too easy will not challenge your child. He or she will not feel as if they are making any progress. On the other hand, choosing books that are too difficult can cause frustration for your child. It can lead to him losing interest in reading altogether.

The tips below will help you learn how to choose books at your child’s reading level.  This article will make the process of choosing books easier for you.

5 Steps to Choosing Books for Your Child (On Their Reading Level)

The 5 steps below are super easy ways to choose interesting books that your kid can actually read (on their own).

1. Learn your kid’s measured reading level

The first step in choosing books at your child’s reading level is knowing your child’s reading level. For this to happen, you will need to administer a reading test.

The best way to do this is with the help of a professional. They can tell you what level your child is at in reading. Then they can recommend books that are at that same level. It will allow you to choose books that are fun and challenging for your kids. It also ensures that they are learning new things while they read each book.

You can also do a reading test at home. One ideal way is by using the San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading Ability (SDQA). The SDQA measures a child’s recognition of words out of context. This means that the child will read the words independently, not in sentence or story format. Generally, proficient readers

read as accurately both in and out of context. This test consists of 8 graded word lists from Pre-K to 7th Grade. The words within each list are of about equal difficulty.

This test is very simple and easy to do. You can do it at home in just a few minutes.

Advertisements

A minor fault of the SDQA testing method is that it is not suitable for comprehension testing. So, if your child pronounces words correctly but has trouble understanding what they are reading then this test may place them at a higher level than what is best for their reading enjoyment. Who can enjoy a story that they do not understand?

There are a plethora of online tests that you can give your child, to test word pronunciation and comprehension. Most will only take 10 to 30 minutes.

2. Searching for books that match your child’s reading level

Once you know your child’s reading level, it’s time to go out and buy the books. Of course, it will help if you can find out what the level is ahead of time. You can always get help from a teacher or librarian for this purpose. It will help you avoid buying books that are too easy or too difficult for your child.  Amazon’s children’s book section offers books for every age and stage.

3. The five-fingers spelling check and how to do it

The next step in choosing books at your child’s reading level is to do the five-fingered spelling check. It will tell you if you forgot any words to make sure that they are included in the words list. And it will prevent you from buying books that have words that your child can not pronounce.

You can do the five-fingers spelling check by asking your kid to hold up five fingers and read one page of a book. Put one finger down every time your kid doesn’t know a word. If all the five fingers end up down, the book is too difficult for your child.

This test can be done when buying a book in a store, at your local library, or while shopping online. If you are shopping for a book online, browse the look inside feature and ask your child to read one of the preview pages. 

4. A Quick Comprehension Check for Kids

The next step to choosing books at your child’s reading level is to check their comprehension. I mentioned this earlier when discussing the reading test. Who can enjoy a book that they don’t understand?  You can do this by asking your kids questions about what they have read. You can ask questions like “Who is the main character?”, “What happened in the story?” or “Why did that happen?”. Make sure that you do this as soon as your child finishes reading a book. If you wait too long after, they may have forgotten all about the story they read. So, it is best to do this right after they finish reading a book. If you notice a certain level of books or even books by a certain author are too difficult for your child to comprehend, try doing one of the following.

  • Re-read the book with your child.
  • Slow reading down and ask comprehension questions every page or every other page.
  • Go down a level and read books that are a tad bit similar. There is no shame in leveling down, your child will eventually be able to understand. We do not want to overwhelm children. We want them to develop a love for reading and acquiring knowledge.

5. Checking your child’s word pronounciation

The last step in choosing books at your child’s reading level is to do an audio check. It will help you find out if your child has any trouble pronouncing the words in the book. You can ask them to read short passages from the book. You can ask them to repeat words until they have them perfectly memorized. Make sure you provide the correct pronunciation before asking them to repeat words over and over. If you are unsure of how to pronounce a word, be open and honest with your child. Tell them “I am not sure about that one, but I will sound it out slowly so that I can say it correctly. Will you do it with me?”

8 Helpful Tips: Developing A Child’s Reading Skills Early

  1. Start reading with your kid from a young age.  It will give them the desire to learn how to read. Kids always want to do what they see mom or dad do.
  2. Encourage them to read books that are appropriate for their age. For example, if a young child is going to read a book about dinosaurs, make sure that the book doesn’t have any scary images. We don’t want our kids to be afraid of opening a book because a big scary dinosaur is there.
  3. Read with your kid every day. It will help them enhance their reading skills and learn how to appreciate stories. Bedtime is a perfect time to read.
  4. Encourage your kid to engage in conversations using what they have read. Talk about the books we read. It will help them to expand their knowledge and get ideas from the books you are reading together.
  5. Make sure that your child is always interested in what they are reading. “I can’t wait to read this book!” should be the feeling a child has when introduced to a book. Give your kids the opportunity to pick book topics that interest them. It will encourage them to keep reading.
  6. Whenever possible, turn regular TV time into reading time; for example, you can read aloud while your kid follows along with his book. As your child’s reading ability improves, he or she can even take over when you need a break!
  7. Give your kids multiple opportunities to read books based on their interests; this will help them develop their interests and differentiate between what they like and do not like, thus creating a more positive attitude towards learning. This will result in your child developing a love of reading.
  8. Actively teach phonics skills. Children as young as 2 or 3 years old can learn to read. Learn how to teach your child to read with these easy phonics videos, workbooks, and materials.  

We hope this article has helped you learn how to choose books at your child’s reading level. You can use the tips and strategies we have included in this article to make choosing books easier. Above all, the most essential thing you can do is to read with your children!


Learn About Our Guest Author

Andrea Gibbs is a blog contributor and stay at home mom
Andre Gibbs

I’m Andrea Gibbs! Born, raised, and still living in New York. I’m a work-at-home mom with a background in business development, strategy, and social media marketing. I’m a blog contributor at Baby Steps Daycare in Rego Park, New York to motivate and educate other parents about how they can get their children ahead of the game in school.

If you want your article featured on Unabashedkids.com – submit a request form.

Posted in Books and Reading, holiday, phonics, Reading

Press Release “I is for Imani: A Kwanzaa Alphabet Book”

I is for Imani

Unabashed Kids Media is happy to announce the release of “I is for Imani!: A Kwanzaa Alphabet Book” written by Kerice Robinson. Learn about the celebration of Kwanzaa with this brightly colored holiday letter book. Children will go through each letter in the alphabet and learn how it relates to the principles of Kwanzaa.

“I is for Imani” teaches kids about Kwanzaa in a fun and easy to digest way. Simple ABCs of Kwanzaa book. The book has a word for every letter in the alphabet and relates the words to Kwanzaa. The book also gives a simple and kid-friendly definition of each word. Purchase on Amazon or Google Play.

Take a Peek Inside: “I is for Imani!”

I is for Imani: A Kwanzaa Alphabet Book
Take a peek inside “I is for Imani”

Join our newsletter for monthly updates, book list, and FREEbies

Posted in Reading

Step 6: Learn to read a full sentence

Advertisements

Sight Words and Sentence Building

Sight words are a collection of commonly used words that a child can learn to recognize by sight without decoding. A large amount of text is made up of 100 commonly used words. Most of these 100 words are small and easy to read (the, or, it, is, a, I, and, are, on). Some sight words are not easy to sound out by following the phonemic rules taught to early readers (from, what, there). This is why educators teach these words by sight. Memorizing sight words help children begin to read more fluently. There are 2 prominent lists of high-frequency words Dolch list and Fry list. Both lists include the same words but words on the list differ when it comes to frequency ranking. Using the top 100 words from either of these lists is sufficient for teaching sight words to early readers.

I was able to get my pre-kindergarten class to learn sight words by teaching them 1 word a day. During circle time, we would review about 10 to 15 words with flashcards but, 1 special sight word would be our word of the day. I would tape this word to my shirt and during snack, recess, and center time I asked the children to tell me what word I had on my shirt. This forced them to pay attention to our special word and learn it by sight.

After 80% of my class new 10 or more sight words, I began to have them read full sentences. This was introduced during circle time. I prepared about a dozen sentence strips that included phrases, questions, and statements. All words on the sentence strips were either 3 letter (CVC) words, student names, and sight words. I did not use any unfamiliar names on the sentence strips, as new names may be hard to read. My class constantly saw their names on cubbies, tables, cots, snacks, and other labels; they were familiar with the names of the children in the class. During circle time, I had the class read the sentences out load to me. I would add new sentences as they mastered new sight words, CVCe words, and other phonics sounds.

Advertisements
Sight Word Teaching Resources
Sight Word Worksheets
120 High-Frequency Word Flashcards. With a bonus of 13 worksheets which include word searches and spelling worksheets.
Sentence Building Worksheets – Coming Soon
Advertisements

Building Reading Skills is a Continuous Process: Read! Read! Read!

Read to children, even if they are now able to read to themselves. Have a child read to you if they enjoy reading. Below are several Unabashed Kid list of awesome books to introduce to children.

Posted in Reading

5th Step to Reading: Tricky and Long Vowel Sounds

Tricky and Long Vowel Sounds

This is the time to review the alphabet as vowels and consonants. Read our blog post about books that teach vowel sounds.

CVCe words are a part of the tricky vowel blends, I suggest introducing them after mastery of CVC words. Review Word Family worksheets and activities to practice long vowel sounds. 

  • Bossy r sounds include words with ar, ir, er, ur (car, shirt, her, hurt). 
  • Long a sounds include ai, ay, a_e (train, play, make).
  • Long e sounds happen when these letter combinations are found at the end of a word: ee, ea, e_e, y (see, read, here, happy).
  • Long i sounds happen when these letters are found at the end of a word: ie, i_e, igh, y (pie, like, night, my).
  • Long o sounds include oa, ow, o_e (goat, snow, home).
  • Long u sounds include ue, u_e, ew (cue, fuse, few).
  • Short o sounds happen when these letters are found in the middle of a word: aw, au, al (saw, caught, walk)
Advertisements

Rules to making long vowel sounds

  1. Vowels at the end of a syllable make the long sound. (ba/by, he/ro, mu/sic)
  2. Vowel teams can make the long sound. (beat, meat, seed, they, tie, dew)
  3. Silent e makes the previous vowel long. (like, make, tone)
  4. i and o make their long sound when they come before two consonants. (mind, bold, right)
Posted in Reading

4th Step to Reading: CVC Words and Word Families

Advertisements
Advertisements

How to Teach Rhyming Words, Word Families and CVC Words

The word phonogram comes from Greek and is translated as the “written symbol for a sound.” Phonograms are the building block to almost all English words, the vast majority of words follow the regular phonogram sounds. You can introduce children to the majority of words that don’t follow regular phonogram sounds, by teaching sight words. 

CVC stands for Consonant/Vowel/Consonant. These words will be super easy for kids to read once they have learned their letter sounds. You can even get a child who knows their CVC words to begin reading books. Check out the Unabashed List of Easy to Read Children’s books. Teach a child that the letters A, E, I, O, and U are vowels. Teach the short and long sounds of these letters. Children will learn to distinguish the long and short sounds with CVC and CVCe words in the next step of reading. CVC stands for Consonant/Vowel/Consonant and CVCe words are words where the letter ‘e’ at the end make the vowel in the middle make a long sound (say its name).The FREE CVC to CVCe packet aids in teaching children the long vowel sounds.

CVC Word Family Game

Pre-K students playing word family game

You can make your own cards (like I did in the image above), or print out our word family flash-cards. This game is easy to play, fun, and engaging for students. I had the children in my classroom work in groups of 2. One student will read the word outload and the other would match the words to the correct word family.

This game is fun for students who love to rhyme. It is also helpful to pair a stronger reading student with a less advanced reading students. They learn to work as a team and often children explain things to each other in a way that adults cannot. The less advanced reading student learns from the strong reader.

Advertisements

Word Family Truffula Trees – Inspired by Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

After reading the Lorax, the Pre-Kindergarten class created their own truffula trees. We turned our art project into a fun word family game.

Dr. Seuss Word Family Trufulla Tree

Use these flashcards and worksheets to assist you while teaching reading lessons. Don’t forget to make it FUN!

Phonograms

word families
Purchase these Word Family Flash Cards to build reading confidence. Includes over 400 easy to learn words. CVC, CVCe, flashcards.
ap word family

Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) Words + Intro to CVCe

CVC to CVCe word writing worksheet
CVC to CVCe comparison

50 page word building worksheet packet – coming soon

Advertisements

Posted in Reading

3rd Step to Reading: Blending Letter Sounds

Teach Children How to Identify the First, Middle, and Last Sounds in 3 Letter Words.

Blending may be the hardest step, but once we get over this hill, it will be much easier for children to learn how to read words. This is the step where you should introduce vowels and consonants, don’t worry too much if children don’t pick up on those 2 words (vowel/consonant matchups). This step will be repeated once a child has developed their reading skills a little more. 

In the worksheets below children will be asked to identify the first sound in a word, the middle sound, and the last sound. These are great word decoding exercises and build confidence before students are asked to read CVC or CVCe words. We offer free interactive phonics videos at unabashedkids.com/videos.

For more phonics worksheets purchase a workbook from the Unabashed Kids Welcome to Elementary School series. Welcome to Elementary School series focuses on Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade level work. The books are split by grade and subject (math, phonics, science, and finance). These books include up to 200 pages of comprehensive worksheets.

Beginning Sound Worksheets

Beginning Sound worksheets
Purchase this 10 page worksheet pack from Teachers Pay Teachers.

Welcome to Kindergarten! 180 Page Workbook

Welcome to Kindergarten Workbook

Ending Sound Worksheets


Posted in Reading

2nd Step to Reading: Letter Sounds and Names

Master Phonics with these Letter Sound Activities

Unabashed Kids offers FREE Alphabet Flashcards but please make it fun. Do not just drill letters into a child’s mind, this will just build resentment to written language. There are plenty ways to make learning letter sounds fun. Try playing sound games (with or without flashcards) and sing songs (ABC song, Apples and Bananas, BINGO) and teach a child to recognize their name. Children will love learning to recognize and spell their names. It is unique to them and will make them feel special. Most children may be familiar with the song “BINGO was his name-o”, changing this song a little can make it an engaging letter sound recognition game. Use consonant sounds to replace the B and have the children tell you the new dog’s name. The Unabashed Kids BINGO Song Board teaches letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming, and most importantly it teaches children that words are different if letters change. 

Advertisements

Letter Name and Sound Activities

Playdoh letter J

There are plenty of fun ways to get children to learn their letters. The pre-kindergarten class enjoyed making playdoh letters, finding things around the room that start with specific letters, and Q-tip letter tracing with paint. The more a child is exposed to letters and letter sounds the more they will learn. Below is a short list of letter learning activities.

Advertisements
  • Playdoh Letter Molding
  • Q-tip letter tracing
  • I Spy – Beginning Sounds
  • I Spy – Ending Sounds
  • Name a Friend who begins with (Letter)
  • BINGO Song Letter Rhyming

Straight Forward Letter Sound Practice (Video)

You know a child has mastered their letter sounds if they can name each letter and give its sound (out of ABC order). To test if my preschoolers know their letters and sounds, I start from the letter Z go backward to B, saving the vowels for last. After mastering the letter sounds, introduce syllables. Continuously emphasize to children that letters stand alone but when put together, they make words. 

Teach Syllables by Clapping

Build concepts of words and syllables. Try syllable games like clapping our syllables in words. This is a great activity to do with a class of students, by having them clap the syllables in their names. Clapping the syllables in the months of the year is also a fun circle time activity. Students will quickly begin to learn how to split words into syllables.

Advertisements

FREE Alphabet Flashcards, Letter Sound Game, & Letter Matching Worksheet.

Download our FREE letter learning materials. If you are interested in more fun learning materials like the ones below, consider purchasing Welcome to Kindergarten – an academic preparation workbook that covers beginning reading skills, counting, addition, math, pencil skills, matching and more.

FREE Alphabet Flashcards
ABC Flashcards
ABC Flashcards
FREE Interactive Song Board BINGO was his Name-O
BINGO song board
FREE 3-Page Letter Matching packet
Letter matching worksheet
Letter Matching worksheet
Posted in Reading

Teach Kids to Read in 5 Easy Steps!

Scroll down to view the first step to learning how to read and click each step to find the skill set your child needs to master.

  1. Develop Pre-Reading Skills First (matching, direction, rhyming, and concepts of print)
  2. Learn Letter Sounds and Names
  3. Blend Letter Sounds together
  4. Reading CVC words and Word Families
  5. Understanding Vowels (Reading Tricky and Long vowel sounds)

Step 1: Develop these Pre-reading Skills First.

What are pre-reading skills? Pre-reading skills are the skills needed before a child can begin to learn how to read. A simplified list of pre-reading skills: matching, direction, motor skills, concepts of print, language skills, and rhyming. Of course, we must develop oral forms of language with newborns and toddlers. Pre-reading skills can also help develop oral language skills.  The 3 FREE worksheet packets below will help develop pre-reading skills and comprehension.

Advertisements

  1. Matching 
    • Young children should learn to match shapes, patterns, letters, and then words. Part of what we do when reading is matching. That is why many adult readers can understand or read material with large amounts of errors.
  2. Concepts of Print
    • It is fine to make up stories at bedtime but reading an actual book helps to emphasize the concept of print. Letters make words when they come together and words make sentences when they are put together. Sentences are put together to make a story. 
    • Teach children how to hold a book properly. Tell them that words and symbols mean something. See if they recognize logos. When reading books to children point out the front cover, back cover, title, author, and illustrator. Teach them how to differentiate the front cover from the back cover of a book.
    • To teach about author and illustrator, say “Eric Carle is the author. What does an author do?” Teach the response “an author writes the words.” Do the same when it comes to the illustrator.
  3. Motor Skills
    • A motor skill is the ability to cause a predetermined movement outcome. Motor learning helps children perform the necessary tasks through practice. Infants love to imitate. Turning the pages of a board book is a great way to build fine motor skills. Every home and every classroom should have a small library. Please buy books for your infant. Soft feel and board books are designed especially for the infant to toddler age group. Use our affiliate link to discover infant and toddler books on amazon
  4. Develop Direction and Sequencing Skills
    • From the beginning of this article, you can already tell that reading books is much more than just knowing the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. Some adults make the mistake of teaching children sounds, blends, and memorization of words without developing basic skills. Understanding direction and sequencing is a skill that is often skipped when teaching a child how to read. Direction: we read left to right and top to bottom. Sequencing: what comes first, second, third or first, middle, last. 
    • Children must be able to recall what they have read. Children who learn how to sound out words but never learn how to recall events of a story will struggle with reading comprehension.
    • Early intervention can prevent comprehension issues. Build these pre-literacy skills at the toddler stage. This can be done by reading books to little ones and asking questions about the story as you read. To take it a step further, you can ask a child to re-tell the story in the proper order. Do the same with a child’s day, have them retell what they did during the day, in the proper order. A teacher can create a daily schedule and end the preschool day with an afternoon circle time where students tell their favorite part of the day. Ask questions like “What did you do before, we played outside?” This builds sequencing skills. Check out our Unabashed Kids sequencing worksheets for kids age 2 and above.
  5. Develop Rhyming and Language Skills
    • Children may know how to speak their native language but may not recognize some phonemes (sounds) that make up the English vocabulary. Silly songs and rhymes can help draw their attention to these phonemes. Check out the activities below to help build phonemic awareness in toddlers.
Advertisements

Posted in Reading

10 Painless Ways to Get Children to Read Books

Develop a love for reading with these 10 easy tips.

You see children at the library with their faces buried in a book or maybe you see them reading when you pick your child up from school.  Have you ever felt that your kids should love books just as much as the other children? Do not worry, most parents have felt this way before.  Many parents are consumed with hectic routines that they don’t get enough time to sit down and read with their children.

Here are some great activities on how to encourage your preschooler to read more and enjoy it. Even if your kid doesn’t like reading, these tips will make them a reader in no time! Develop a love for reading with these 10 creative and painless tips to get your child to pick up a book.

1. Create a reading routine.

Setting a routine is the best way to get your kids reading more. If you have a book reading routine before bedtime, in the morning, or during afternoon quiet time, your kids will expect the same every day. Take a look at our Unabashed List of bedtime stories, you’ll find a book that your child will love. Preschool teachers can read bedtime stories before naptime, to expose children to books daily. Create a reading routine in-school and at home.

Advertisements

2. Kids should have fun when reading.

We all choose to do things more often when we know it is fun. So before you ask your child to read a book, ask yourself if you are offering them a fun time or a forced time? Reading shouldn’t be a chore, but instead, it should feel like playtime. Kids should have fun when reading. Try these fun activities during reading time:

  • Speak about the characters in funny voices.
  • Let children dress up like the characters in the book.
  • Let them read in fun spots around the house, i.e. the bathtub, a closet, blanket tent, outside on the grass, etc.
  • Give them a fun new reading gadget, i.e. a new bookmark, a reading headlamp, a book cover, a pointer or reading guider, etc.

3. Do you as an adult set a good reading example for the children around you?

I love reading! My love for reading comes from my father. As I child, I saw him read every day. He read the bible, newspapers, and novels. Every morning, while he read the newspaper, I would sit next to him and read Winnie the Pooh books. If you show your child how much you love reading books, they will love it too. Kids love following other’s actions, especially mom and dad. Share your favorite childhood stories and books with them. My mother read Anansi stories to me when I was little; they were stories she was introduced to during her childhood.

Reading with a father
Photo by Picsea on Unsplash

Advertisements

Do you as an adult set a good reading example for the children around you? Show children what you are reading and how you started loving books. Tell them that no matter your age, you can always read books and love them at the same time.  This creates a positive reading example and they will be more inclined to like book reading. If you are not an devoted reader, now is a great time to build that habit.

4. Have you ever tried playing make-believe when reading a book?

Kids enjoy playing make-believe. Encourage a child to express emotions just like the characters in the storybook you are reading. This is a great social-emotional activity that teaches empathy. You can even use props and dress up for the show. Children will love the storybook even more after acting it out. So, have you ever tried playing make-believe when reading a book to with or to your children? If not, what are you waiting for?

5. Read the same book more than once.

Sometimes, us adults get stuck on diversifying and introducing our kids to new things. Doing this is great, but we have to give kids time to enjoy the things that have taken interest in. If a child is interested in one book and doesn’t want to move on, that’s ok! Let them continue to read the book that they love. Repetition can help improve their reading skills. This also helps them think deeper about the book’s little details that they may have not noticed before. Read the same book more than once.

6. Do you have a reading corner in your classroom or home?

Build a little library or a reading corner in your classroom or home. Set all the books so that they are within a child’s reach. Have a seating area next to the bookshelf, so that children can get comfortable while reading. If you want to get creative, use a tent, teepee, or fort as their reading space. They’ll feel like they are living an adventure in some fantasy land. Do you have a reading corner in your classroom or home? Do the children like that area? If not, ask them to help you decorate their reading corner. Make it a fun and comfortable place to be.

Kids who see books most of the time tend to become better readers than those who don’t see books. The results of a 20 year study led by University of Nevada sociology professor Mariah Evans, conclude that books in the home are more important to a child’s success than a parents education level or career. If your child spends most of the time in the living room, make sure your living room has a lot of books to read. If he or she spends more time in their room, make a reading corner inside the room. Add magazines and books related to their age group.

girl child reading
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Child Reading
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Advertisements

7. Have a child that loves T.V. and movies but won’t pick up a book? Read books that are available as movies.

Have a child that loves T.V. and movies but won’t pick up a book? Pick a book that has been turned into a movie or a movie that has been turned into a book. Reading books that are available as movies will show a child that their imaginations can be just as entertaining as the television.

Fall in love with the movie first then read the book. Is there a t.v. show or movie that your child or the children in your classroom loves? The kids in my preschool were obsessed with Frozen. So, whenever I could find a Frozen book at the library, I read it to the class. 

Read the book first and then watch the movie. This will give them the motivation to complete the book and get to see if their imagination and creative thinking were what is acted out in the movie.

8. Start a children’s book club

Another awesome way to get children to love reading is to start a new book club. Ask the kids to pick a name for the club. Include as many friends as you can, and encourage them all to read books. Make it a social activity and if a physical club isn’t possible host a virtual club.

For preschoolers and lower elementary: choose a book that all club members will read in one meeting and then discuss it. Your preschoolers will love that and having a club is such a cool thing! 

For older kids: Discuss chapters of the book once a week for about a month. Have snacks, let them talk, and play during this time. This is a great way to build positive friendships with other children.

Develop a love for reading in black girls
Photo by Suad Kamardeen on Unsplash

9. When it comes to reading, let kids have the last say on what to read.

Reading is much more than just handing kids a book. Let them explore their own interest. You can offer a lot of options and ask kids to pick whatever they like. 

Advertisements

Kids love choices as it gives them a feeling that they are in charge. Having a choice will encourage them to read about their favorite characters. They will love reading when they pick something on their own. Don’t take the choices away from your kids. As a preschool teacher, I would take a few books out of the library a week. The books are based on the week’s theme that I planned lessons around. I would lay the books out and let the class vote on what we were going to read at the end of circle time. Kids are told what to do and how to do it all the time. When it comes to reading, let kids have the last say on what to read.

10. Teach your child phonics.

Children enjoy learning. Reading becomes frustrating to a child who is making no improvements in developing literacy skills. Teach your child phonics to get them more engaged in reading. Encourage them as they read, even if you hear errors in pronunciation. Have them repeat after you to pronounce words correctly. Tell children why words are spelled and pronounced a certain way. Define words for them and if you do not know the definition, be honest. Teach your child how to us a physical or online dictionary.

Unabashed Kids is an affiliate for Amazon. If you use the links found on our blog to make a purchase, we receive a small percentage of the purchase price. It never changes the price you pay and we select every item mentioned on the blog!