How to Teach Children to Read Without Memorization

If you have ever stayed up past midnight to watch television, then you have most likely seen the latest infomercials that promote literacy at a young age. In these infomercials babies as young as 8 months can be seen reading flash cards with words on them, and children as young as 3 can be seen reading chapter books.

Now while this behavior is quite impressive, it is also a behavior that would seem to put kids at a disadvantage as they get older, because they are learning to read through memorization. What happens when these children come across a word in school that they don't memorize? These children, accustomed to learning to read through memorization (as opposed to phonetically learning to read) would most likely disregard the word and refuse to learn it.

It is impossible and grueling to learn every single word in the human language through basic memorization. The best way for children to learn how to read is by learning the sound that each letter in the alphabet makes. Learning the sounds of letters will give children the advantage when it comes to sounding out words and building them. With enough patience, children as young as one can learn to do this.

Below are some great ways to teach your children how to read without memorization.

Practice name writing with your children. Teach children how to write the letters in their name. Start off with one letter at a time, and do not move on to the next letter in their name until they can confidently write the first letter and so on. Once children see that they can write their own name, this will give them the enthusiasm needed to learn how to read and to learn letters and the sounds they make.

Start with three letters of the alphabet. Teach children the sound that each letter makes. Have them say the sound of the letter out loud with you. I would suggest choosing two consonants and a vowel such as B T A or C T A, (these grouping of letters can be used to spell words.)

Let children hear some of the words that start with those three letters, have them repeat after you.

Once your children learn these three letters and the sound they make, try forming words together. For instance, write out the word cat and together sound out the word with your child.

Give children a visual aid; this can be flash cards, actual toys or objects. Set toys or flash cards upon the table that begin with the same letter, have children pronounce each object and see if they can tell you what letter each object begins with. Once they seem confident enough, mix a handful of objects (that start with those three different letters) upon the table and ask them to find the object that starts with a given letter.

Try the cookie song, there is a song that Cookie Monster (from Sesame Street) sings, called the cookie song. The lyrics are concise but effective;

C is for cookie that's good enough for me
C is for cookie that's good enough for me
C is for cookie that's good enough for me
Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with c.

You can replace the letter c in the song with any letter in the alphabet. The song is quite catchy and will help children to recognize objects and the letters that they start with.

Play the alphabet game- Sit down with your children and place three or more letters of the alphabet in a hat. Take turns picking a letter out of the hat and guess out loud, objects that start with that letter. Be sure to have a timer on and set it for one minute. If you have been practicing three letters then you should only play this game using those three letters.

Read Signs- While walking around the neighborhood point out signs and take a look at the letters in them, and the words they form such as NO! Dogs Etc....

Remember to make learning fun, and don't place too much expectation on the child. Never move on to another letter, or a group of letters until your child can figure what sound they make, recognize it, and name a few objects that begin with that letter.

Praise your children for their progress.

When a child writes her name don't expect the letters to be perfectly aligned or going in the correct direction. When children first learn to write their name they might start off writing some of the letters backwards and this is especially true for letters like b and s. Do not correct this at first, continue to praise them. However, if children start their name off with the letter A, when they are supposed to start off with the letter B then you should kindly show them which letter to place first.

Make sure a child understands how to hold a pencil.

Use stickers and overall encouragement like handclapping and verbal praise such as Good job! And Wow! This will make children feel so proud.

Read stories together and see if they can point out letters that you have learned and the sounds they make.