Getting Started: Why It's Important to Teach Your Kids to Read
As parents, one of the most important gifts we can give our children is the power of literacy. Reading is the foundation of all learning, and mastering this skill at an early age opens up worlds of knowledge, curiosity and imagination for our kids. To celebrate Children's Day, we've put together a fun and interactive guide to help you teach your kids how to read the word \"child\".Step 1: Building Sight Vocabulary
Before we can start any phonetic work, it's important to help our children build a strong bank of sight vocabulary. Sight vocabulary refers to those words that are instantly recognizable to young readers without them having to sound out the letters. \"Child\" is a familiar word that most kids will have encountered in books or in everyday conversation. Here are some fun ways to build sight vocabulary for the word \"child\": - Play a memory game: Write the word \"child\" on a card and place it face down on the table along with other sight words. Turn over two cards at a time and have your child try to find matches. Make it more challenging by timing the game or adding more cards to the mix. - Make vocabulary videos: Use your smartphone to record your child saying different sight words, including \"child\". As a family, watch the videos and have fun identifying the different words.Step 2: Phonics Practice
Once your child has a good grasp of sight vocabulary, we can start to focus on phonics - the relationship between letters and sounds. Phonics is all about teaching kids to decode words by breaking them down into their individual parts. Here are some fun activities to help your child practice phonics and learn the word \"child\": - Word families: \"Child\" is part of the \"-ild\" family, which includes other words like \"wild\", \"mild\" and \"build\". Write these words on cards and encourage your child to sound them out. Once they've mastered the family, try making up new words together. - Bingo: Create a bingo card with different \"ild\" words, including \"child\". Call out the words one at a time and have your child cover the corresponding pictures on their card.Step 3: Putting it All Together
Once your child has a good grasp of sight vocabulary and phonics, we can start to work on comprehension - or the ability to understand what they're reading. Here are some fun ways to help your child read and comprehend the word \"child\": - Create a story: Together, create a short story that includes the word \"child\". Write it out on a piece of paper and have your child read it aloud. Afterwards, ask them questions about the story and see if they can retell it in their own words. - Word hunt: Give your child a short story or book and have them find all the instances of the word \"child\". Encourage them to read each sentence carefully and try to understand how the word is being used in context. By following these simple steps and incorporating fun activities into your daily routine, you can help your child develop a lifelong love of reading. Happy Children's Day!