ready to read??

lovemydog

DS is 3 years old.  when he sees words he's been asking how to say them/what the letter combinations spell, and when we spell things out (to keep them a secret from him!) he'll ask what it spells, etc.  i'm thinking that i'd like to try to start teaching him to read - but i have no idea how to go about doing it.  i did some google searching and mostly what came up were different reading programs i could buy.

if you taught your child to read, how did you do it? start using sight words?  having them sound out words in books?  he does know the alphabet (upper and lower case) and what sound each letter makes.  but am i deluding myself that he could be ready to start learning? 

ec3under4

He is probably in the beginning stages of learning to read, prereading. I wouldn't push too hard, too fast but I would explore his curiosity.

Start by teaching him both upper and lower case letters, how to write the letters and then teach him the sounds for each letter. After he learns that then you could start teaching him to identify the beginning and ending sounds/letter of words. For example, what sound does dog start with? What letter does dog start with? What sound does dog end with? What letter does dog end with? After he has mastered those they you could teach site words and/or letter/sound combinations such as "sh".

I wouldn't push too fast or before he has all the prereading criteria otherwise it will just be a frustrating mess! 

A&Jmom

If he already know the letter sounds I would go to word families and rhymes next.  Like what sound does "in," "et" etc make.  (there are some great word family games on Pinterest) Also kids love rhyming games and it is a big step in reading. I personally would not start sight words/flash cards this early. 

Once A had all this down and was ready to read I did use the Kinder set of Hooked on Phonics with her.  It was more for the organization aspect of all of it. It is a mix of reading skills like rhyming, word families and such and sight words. We like the program- started her on it at around 4.5 years and within a few months she was truly reading.