Learn to Read and Spell: A Guide for Parents Who Want to Help

• Does your child want to learn to read? Is your child struggling to learn to read? This post is dedicated to parents of little ones just starting their reading journey and to the parents of older kids who struggle to read and/or spell.

Learn to Read: Step One:

I want to help my child learn to read and learn to spell. Where do I start?

• Learning to read and spell starts with the most important word in your child’s vocabulary: his or her name!

• Check out the post below for some fun ways to help your child learn to recognize and spell his or her name.

Step 2:

My child can recognize and spell his/her name. What is next?

• After your child has mastered his/her name, it is time to learn to read and spell with short vowel sounds.

• Below is a link to short vowel songs, stories and activities.

Step 3:

Short vowel sounds are easy, now what?

• Once your child has the hang of short vowel sounds it is time to help your child learn to read and spell with word families. Word families include vowels and consonants.

• Letter Sounds:

• Below is a link to word family songs, stories and activities.

Step 4:

Basic word families are a cinch. Now what?

• The next skill to address is one syllable short vowel words. Help your child learn to read and spell with CVC words. After practicing 2 letter word families, it’s time to put those word families into longer words.

Step 5:

My kid can read CVC words. What is the next challenge?

• Hopefully your child is becoming a more confidant reader. Now is the time to help your child learn to read and spell with long vowel spelling patterns. Recognizing long vowel spelling patterns is key to accurate reading and spelling.

• Below are links to songs, stories, and activities for A, E, I, O and U.

Vowel A: https://thevowelcoach.com/how-to-teach-long-vowel-a-different-ways-vowel-a-can-spell-its-name/

Vowel E: https://thevowelcoach.com/how-to-teach-long-vowel-e-different-ways-vowel-e-can-spell-its-name/

Vowel I: https://thevowelcoach.com/how-to-teach-long-vowel-i/

Vowel O: https://thevowelcoach.com/how-to-teach-long-vowel-o/

Vowel U: https://thevowelcoach.com/how-to-teach-long-vowel-u/

Step 6:

We’ve got long vowel spelling patterns down pat. Tell me the next step.

• Reading long vowel spelling patterns is great. Now Help your child learn to read and spell by practicing writing words with long vowel spelling patterns.

• Below is a link to sound box lessons:

Step 7:

My kid understands long vowel patterns, but his/her spelling still needs help. Now what?

• The Golden Rule of Spelling is that every syllable in every word has to have at least one vowel. This skill deserves a lot of attention.

• Below is a link to syllable activities:

My kid is doing great!