Apr 11, 2013

How a Reading Program for Children Helps

A reading program for children like Reading Eggs can help your child learn the essential literacy skills they need to become successful readers. Some of the main ways Reading Eggs can benefit your child include:

Learning while having fun

Reading Eggs was created with the idea that children learn best while having fun. The program uses many motivational elements to ensure children stay motivated to learn and progress through all the lessons, including:

• Engaging learning environment – lessons feature colourful visuals and animations, music, sound effects and highly interactive activities.

  ...

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Apr 10, 2013

Phonics Games for Children

One of the most common difficulties children encounter when learning to read is the failure to understand the alphabetic principle, that is, how written spellings represent the sounds of words. Phonics games help children develop the confidence and understanding with phonics they need to be successful readers.

How do Phonics Games help Children?

The most important aspect of phonics games is that they teach children to link sounds with letters. For instance, in Reading Eggs, each lesson focuses on a specific letter, presenting the child with visuals of how the letter looks in written form, then presenting the sound...

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Apr 10, 2013

Online Reading Resources for Kids

Learning to read online is fast becoming the norm in an age where the internet provides an almost limitless range of literacy games, reading material and other learning resources to help children learn to read. While reading real books will never be completely replaced, there are now entire ebooks available online, including those featured in Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress.

Reading Books in Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs features a range of ebooks that help children put to into practice the literacy skills they learn in the Reading Eggs lessons, including the skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and...

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Apr 10, 2013

Learning to Read in Kindergarten

By the time children are in kindergarten they will be developing critical reading skills that will help them throughout their academic life. Some of the most fundamental skills that children will learn in kindergarten include:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and identify the individual sounds that make up words. These individual sounds are called phonemes For example, the word ‘cat’ is made up of three phonemes – c/a/t. By developing phonemic awareness, children are also developing critical listening skills to become aware that speech is made up of different sounds and that these sounds make...

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Apr 10, 2013

How to Teach Children to Read – 4 Tips

Teaching children how to read involves many different instructional methods. Some of the fundamental methods to teach a child to read include:

Rereading books to build fluency

Reading books several times may seem boring to the parent, but to the child it is very beneficial. Children are hard-wired to learn through repetition, and re-reading a book can help them reinforce vocabulary, pronunciations and spelling found in the book. Also, nursery rhymes with repetitive lines can similarly be very beneficial for children.

Keeping your child motivated to learn

Positive reinforcement is critical to children just starting to read. Not...

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Apr 03, 2013

Story Reading for Kids – 5 Tips

Reading stories together with your child is one of the best ways that you can help them develop the confidence and skills to eventually learn to read on their own. Try some of the following tips to make story reading times for kids all the more fun and effective:

1. Regular Reading Time

Make sure you designate a regular reading time and place where you and your child can read in comfort and free from any distractions. Your reading place doesn’t have to be indoors, you can try going outside to the park or maybe even the beach to...

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Apr 03, 2013

Sight Word Games for Children

Learning sight words is one of the first steps that a child needs to take on their learning to read journey. Sight word games are one of the most effective ways to teach children how to automatically identify these words, making learning fun and motivational, and therefore all the more effective.

What are Sight Words?

Sight words are words like ‘it’, ‘the’, ‘and’, ‘is’ etc that appear frequently in early level texts. These words do not have a concrete image that accompanies them, and are highly dependent upon the context in which they are read, therefore they need to...

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Apr 03, 2013

Learning to Read with Phonics Games

Developing phonics skills and an understanding of the alphabetic principle is one of the most fundamental skills a child needs to master on their learning to read journey. Learning to read with phonics games is one of the most effective ways for your child to learn these critical skills.

What are Phonics Skills?

When a child has an understanding of phonics and the alphabetic principle, they understand how letters relate to the small units of sound that make up words, called phonemes. The letters of the English alphabet directly relate to particular sounds, and phonics instruction helps young readers...

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Apr 03, 2013

5 Ways to Teach Children How to Read

Teaching children to read at home can help set them up for literacy success once they start school. Some of the best ways you can teach your child the basics of learning to read at home include:

Developing skills with the Alphabet and Phonics

Understanding the alphabetic principle, that is, that letters and combinations of letters represent particular sounds, is crucial for children to make any inroads towards reading success. Being able to identify and manipulate the individual sounds that make up words, known as phonemes, not only gives kids a firmer understanding of the alphabetic principle, but makes...

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Apr 03, 2013

3 Ways to Teach Children Phonics

One of the most common difficulties a child will encounter when learning to read is the failure to understand phonics, that is, how written spellings represent the sounds of spoken words. To help teach your children phonics skills, try engaging them in activities at home that incorporate the following:

Play

Playing with your child is actually enormously significant to their language development. As you play with them, in whatever activity, whether it’s building Lego, block towers, train tracks, playing with dolls in their dollhouse, or drawing, be intentional about using language. This can feel stilted and unnatural at first,...

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Mar 18, 2013

Kids Phonics Games

What is Phonics?

Phonics is the understanding of how letters are linked to the individual sounds in words, called phonemes. It’s the knowledge of how letters and sounds relate creating their appropriate sound and spelling pattern. This is known as the alphabetic principle, and a thorough understanding of this, especially by playing phonics games, goes a long way toward helping kids learn how to read.

Synthetic and Analytic phonics

There are two approaches to phonics instruction – analytic and synthetic.

Analytic phonics instruction teaches children to recognise entire words by sight. Once they have learnt a word by...

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Mar 18, 2013

Benefits of Using a Program for Reading

Programs for reading like ABC Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress are designed to teach children the core literacy skills needed to be successful at school with a progressive sequence of interactive and motivational lessons. Some of the benefits of the ABC Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress program for reading include:

One-on-one Learning

ABC Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress provide children with a one-on-one learning environment, which means that they can learn at a rate that suits their level of ability and progress. Children are also able to repeat lessons in order to overcome any difficulties.

Focus on core...

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Mar 15, 2013

How to Teach Kids Reading

Develop Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Skills

Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify the individual sounds, known as phonemes, which make up words. Phonics is the ability to link the individual sounds in words, or phonemes, to individual letters – what is also known as the alphabetic principle. Both phonemic awareness and phonics skills can be developed through word games, rhymes, language play and other activities that develop skills with words, syllables and phonemes.

In ABC Reading Eggs, lessons include activities that develop skills with alliteration, splitting and blending syllables and manipulating the individual sounds in words. For example,...

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Mar 14, 2013

Learn to Read Online

ABC Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress make learning to read online enjoyable, effective and highly interactive for children. Based on the idea that children learn best while having fun, both programs combine scientifically based learning activities with highly enjoyable elements that keep kids motivated to learn.

Learn to read online with ABC Reading Eggs

Designed for 3 to 7 year olds, ABC Reading Eggs provides a comprehensive program of 120 reading lessons, 96 spelling lessons and 20 comprehension lessons that cater to children who are new to reading, as well as those who already know the basics.

ABC Reading...

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Mar 11, 2013

How to Learn to Read - 3 Tips

1. Develop Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Skills

Developing phonemic awareness and phonics skills are the first fundamental steps an emerging reader will need to take when starting to read. Phonemic awareness gives children the essential listening skills to become aware that speech is made up of individual sounds and that these sounds make up syllables and words. Phonics skills help children understand the link between certain individual and combination sounds and letters – otherwise known as the alphabetic principle.

2. Learn to recognise Sight Words

Learning to recognise Sight Words is one of the most important first steps...

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Mar 05, 2013

3 Tips for Reading Books to Children

When reading books to children it’s important to make sure they are given all the support they need. Some helpful tips to make sure your child learns to read effectively include:

1. Provide a good reading example

When reading to your child, make sure you read clearly, remembering to modulate your tone and place emphasis when needed. This is important as your reading voice provides your child with a vocal model from which they can learn how to pronounce words correctly and how and when to account for changes in tone and punctuation.

2. Be available to help...

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Mar 04, 2013

Learning to Read Books

When learning to read, children need books that are engaging, provide an adequate challenge to their current reading skills, and most importantly, books that they will enjoy and encourage them to keep reading.

Starting out

Emergent readers are still at the stage where they are developing their phonemic awareness and phonics skills, that is, the awareness of the individual sounds in words (called phonemes) and how these sounds link to individual and combinations of letters. Nursery Rhymes are a great way to build these crucial skills and also introduce your child to rhyme. Learning through repetition is one of...

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Mar 01, 2013

Phonics Games for Kindergarten

Try these three fun phonics games perfect for children just starting to read in kindergarten or pre-school:

Letters Race

You will need a magnetic board or fridge, magnetic letters of the alphabet, and some open space for this game. Set up the magnetic board on one side of the room and the magnetic letters on the other side. Call out the letter name, or sound, or even a word starting or ending in a particular letter, and ask your child (with a ready, set, go!) to pick out the correct magnetic letter and stick it on the board. You...

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Mar 01, 2013

3 Fun Reading Games for Children

Reading games that you can play with your child at home are a great way for them to learn essential literacy skills while having fun. Try playing these 3 fun reading games with your child at home:

Find a Word

Designate a word to your child that they don’t already know and ask them to find that word in a book, newspaper, magazine or other text. Once your child has found their designated word, ask them to choose a word that they already know and to find two examples of this word used in different ways. For example, the...

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Feb 28, 2013

Reading Websites for Kids

With most children having easy access to the internet, either at home, school or the library, reading websites for kids like ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress are increasingly providing children with the reading and literacy skills they need to be successful at school.

ABC Reading Eggs

Designed for children aged 3 to 7, ABC Reading Eggs is based on the idea that kids learn best while having fun. The website includes a comprehensive program of 120 reading lessons, 96 spelling lessons and 20 comprehension lessons that teach children core literacy skills one-on-one, at a pace...

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Feb 21, 2013

5 Everyday Writing Activities for Kids

Learning and applying writing skills during everyday activities is a great way for your child to develop their writing. While writing stories may teach your child to use their imagination, writing for an everyday purpose can teach them to apply writing skills within a practical context. Some great writing activities that kids can try at home include:

Write a Shopping List

Listing grocery items that you would like to purchase will help your child learn the spelling of nouns. Best of all is that your child can come shopping with you and pick out these items together – helping...

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Feb 21, 2013

3 Tips for Teaching Children How to Read

When a child takes the first steps on their learning to read journey there are three key literacy areas that are critical to future success. These include:

1. Phonemic Awareness and Phonics skills

Phonemic awareness and phonics skills are the two most fundamental skills a child needs to acquire when they first set about on their reading journey. The two skills are closely related; phonemic awareness being the ability to hear, identify and manipulate the individual units of sounds in words (otherwise known as phonemes), and phonics the ability to link phonemes or phoneme combinations with letters.

2....

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Feb 20, 2013

Reading Books Online for Kids

Reading books online is fast becoming the norm in an age where the internet provides teachers and parents with innumerable learning resources at the click of a mouse. While it is still highly beneficial for kids to read books at the library or at school, there is now a wealth of reading books and material available on the internet, many of which can be found in online reading programs like ABC Reading Eggspress and ABC Reading Eggspress.

Reading Books as part of online reading programs

Completing reading lessons as part of an online reading program can help...

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Feb 19, 2013

Teach Phonics to Kids with Flashcards

Developing phonics skills is fundamental for young children to learn how to read. Along with an understanding of phonemes, that is, the individual sounds that make up words, phonics is one of the first core literacy skills that children learn on their reading journey.

What is Phonics?

Phonics is the ability to link letters or combinations of letters to units of sounds (otherwise known as phonemes).

Why Use Flashcards?

Flashcards provide an effective, hands-on and most importantly fun way for your child to develop their phonics skills. Phonics flashcards can help children learn the letters of the alphabet,...

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Feb 04, 2013

5 Elements of Learning to Read Online

When learning to read online, there are five key elements that your child needs to master in order to become a fluent reader that reads for meaning. These 5 key elements are:

1.Phonemic Awareness

Phonemes are the units of sound that make up a word. For instance, the word ‘hat’ is made up of three phonemes, /h/a/t/. When a child develops phonemic awareness, they are able to hear, identify and manipulate these individual phonemes. Developing phonemic awareness is the first critical skill young readers need to attain in order to progress on their journey toward reading fluency.

2....

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Feb 01, 2013

Teaching your Child to Read - 5 Tips

Teaching your child to read at home can help them develop the skills and, perhaps more importantly, a positive, self-motivated attitude that will shape their future learning experiences. Try incorporating the following into your child’s reading experience and watch how quickly their reading skills, motivation and confidence develops:

1. Sing Songs and Nursery Rhymes

Simple songs and rhymes like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Eensy Weensy Spider” are not only memorable and fun, but help your child develop phonemic awareness, that is, the ability to identify the individual sounds in words. By reading these rhymes your child will soon...

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Feb 01, 2013

3 Activities for Learning Sight Words

Learning sight words is one of the essential skills needed to become a fluent reader, and there are many sight word activities that can help early readers integrate these crucial words into their vocabulary.

With more than 200 in the English language, sight words are the words that appear most frequently in our reading and writing – words like ‘a’, ‘I’, ‘is’, ‘can’ and so on. Sight words can sometimes be difficult for children to learn as they may not be able to be pictured, with their meaning more contextual. They are also sometimes phonetically irregular, that is, their sound...

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Jan 31, 2013

Online Reading for Kids – Top 3 Skills

For kids to become successful readers they will need to master many skills. Among the most fundamental of these skills that kids can learn by reading online include:

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics

These two skills are essentially two sides of the same coin. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear individual sounds in words, while phonics is the ability to link letters to these individual sounds. These skills are the first that kids will need to master, and learning these reading skills online gives them an advantage over traditional methods of teaching.

For example, ABC Reading Eggs lessons...

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Jan 31, 2013

3 Fun Ways to Help Children with Reading

Playing games is a great way to develop literacy skills and motivate your child to learn. Some fun games that help children with their reading by building vocabulary include:

What’s in the bag?

Fill a bag with a variety of objects and ask your child to close their eyes and describe what they can feel inside the bag. This is a great opportunity to practice their use of adjectives.

20 Questions

Think of a person, a place or a thing. Ask your child to guess what you are thinking of by asking a maximum of 20 questions, e.g....

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Jan 09, 2013

The Best Online Reading Books for Kids

The internet is an invaluable learning resource, with thousands of reading books available online for kids. These online reading books are usually called ebooks, and can be downloaded or viewed online either on their own or as part of a wider reading program. Some of the best online reading books for kids include some of the following features:

1. Match your child’s reading ability

It’s important that the books, found online or otherwise, your child sets out to read match their current reading ability. If they read a book that is too easy it may fail to provide them...

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Dec 18, 2012

3 Ways to Make Spelling Fun for Kids

Spelling for kids can often be far trickier than learning to read. Try these 3 ways to help improve your child’s spelling:

1. Create a word wall

Designate a space easily accessible to your child – whether on a fridge, a whiteboard or a piece of paper hung on the wall – where you can add words they encounter in their reading. With every glance at the word wall your child can reinforce their memory of word spellings, as well as have a handy reference point to check their spelling.

2. Keep a Spelling Journal

Your child might...

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Dec 18, 2012

3 Ways Phonics Games Help Kids

Providing an introduction to the alphabet and reading, phonics games help kids understand the relationship between sounds (also known as phonemes) and letters. As a fun a and highly motivational learning method, phonics games can be found online, usually as part of a wider reading program such as ABC Reading Eggs.

Here follows 3 ways phonics games can help your kids learn to read:

1. Identify Letters

Phonics games will usually introduce the child to each letter of the alphabet, demonstrating what the letter looks like and the name of the letter. In ABC Reading Eggs, each letter...

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Dec 14, 2012

5 Ways to Help Reading Comprehension

1. Use Graphic Organisers

Graphic organisers are a way of organising information visually to help your child’s reading comprehension by illustrating the interrelationships between particular aspects of a story. Many graphic organisers resemble flow charts, with boxes of text and arrows relating each box to the other. There is no single definitive template of a graphic organiser, but there are many different templates available online for free.

2. Answer Questions

Once your child has finished a chapter or an entire story, asking them to answer questions, either verbally or in writing, relating to the “Who”, “What”, “Where”, “Why”...

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Dec 13, 2012

How to Teach Reading - Top 5 Tips

1. Read aloud with your child

Knowing what a fluent reader sounds like is critical for a child to advance their reading towards fluency. By reading aloud to your child you can give them a vocal model of fluent reading of which they can try and emulate. Making sure to keep rhythm with what’s written on the page, pause for full stops and commas, emphasise exclamation points, modulate your tone and inflection to reflect a characters voice or the general mood of a story are all things you need to keep in mind when reading to your child.

Dec 13, 2012

Benefits of Reading Online for Kids

There are many benefits of reading online for kids, including:

One-on-one Learning

Online reading programs like ABC Reading Eggs instruct children in key literacy areas within a one-on-one learning environment. Unlike learning in a classroom setting, lessons and activities are focused on instructing the child alone, therefore they are free to learn and progress at their own pace.

Repeating Lessons

Extending from the above point, since online reading programs provide one-on-one instruction, children are able to repeat lessons when they encounter difficulties, without having to worry about holding up other students, as is typically the case in...

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Dec 11, 2012

Simple Steps to Teach Kids How to Read

Although reading itself is a complex process, involving a number of different literacy skills, the steps taken in order to introduce those skills are relatively simple. In order to teach kids how to read, and how to enjoy the reading that they do, here are some simple and time-tested strategies that that are good to use.

Have books on hand

It’s helpful to have a range of good books available at home for your child to read. If you don’t have them at home, make sure you take regular trips to the library to ensure your child reads different...

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Dec 11, 2012

5 Tips for Teaching Kids to Read

Educators agree that when teaching kids to read there are five core literacy skills that need to be taught: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Here follows five ways that you can develop these skills in your child and put them on track to becoming a successful reader.

1. Read rhymes

Reading books that feature rhyme is one of the most effective ways of developing phonemic awareness in a child. Repetition is key to committing a letter, combination of letters or word into long term memory, and rhymes, by their very nature, have this effect.

2. Create...

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Dec 06, 2012

How to Teach a Child Reading

With a wide array of reading resources touting different methods as the most effective to teach a child reading, it’s often hard to know which is in fact the most effective. Different teaching styles notwithstanding, at the most fundamental level experts will agree that children need to be instructed in five key literacy areas in order to effectively learn to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

The first area of literacy that kids need to master is phonemic awareness, that is, the understanding that words are made up of different sounds, called phonemes. These phonemes, or units of...

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Dec 06, 2012

Fun Ways to Learn to Read and Write

Children usually learn to read and write around the age of five or six, and educators have found that the skills of reading and writing complement one another. The learning of each skill is made both easier and more effective when efforts in reading and writing are purposefully combined rather than separated. Here are some strategies that helps develop both skills:

Read early

The earlier you are able to read to your child, the better. No child is too young to be read to. Every instance of reading to your child feeds his or her mind with letters, sounds...

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Dec 06, 2012

Fun Early Reading Activities

Most children start to read somewhere around age five or six, while some begin even earlier. Regardless of whether or not you have an early reader, the early years are a critical time for developing a love of reading in kids. As such, there are a number of early reading activities you can do with your child to help them get the best possible start.

As Easy as ABC

In many ways, early reading activities are as easy as ABC, as any activity for early reading begins with a knowledge of the alphabet. The English language is made up...

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Nov 14, 2012

What can a Reading Assessment tell you?

Reading assessments form an important part of many reading programs, allowing parents and teachers to determine a child’s reading level, and to therefore cater lessons and activities to their reading ability.

The most effective reading assessments help parents and teachers assess a child’s strengths and weaknesses, highlighting areas in which the child may require more help. Some key ways to assess a child’s reading ability include:

Comprehension Skills

Asking the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions are always a good way to both develop comprehension skills in children and determine how much of a text they understand....

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Nov 14, 2012

Teaching Children Reading Online

Learning to read is one of, if not the most important educational milestone for a child. As such, the internet is now home to countless reading and literacy games, activities and programs that teach children reading online. So, are online reading resources effective?

As with any reading program, the effectiveness of children reading online depends on the educational basis of the online program they are using. The conventional wisdom among early childhood educators seems to agree that effective literacy instruction needs to target five key areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. The best reading programs, including online...

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Nov 14, 2012

Phonics Online

An understanding of phonics is one of the core literacy skills kids need to become fluent readers. As such there is a burgeoning resource of lessons, activities and games that teach kids phonics online. But what is phonics exactly?

Phonics is the ability to link letters or combinations of letters to units of sounds, called phonemes. This is otherwise known as the Alphabetic Principle. There are two types of phonics instruction generally used in early education:

• Analytic Phonics – is a form of inferential learning that teaches children to analyse a particular set of words and recognise the...

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Nov 14, 2012

Learn-to-Read Games make Learning Fun

Educators of young children recognise the great advantage of using play-based teaching techniques as a means of instruction. A child’s first language is play, and if educators use learn-to-read games in order to teach and instruct children, they find that the hard work of learning becomes far more enjoyable for kids.

When they form part of a larger, systematic reading program, learn-to-read games can be very effective for teaching children literacy skills. Effective reading programs that feature such reading games generally provide instruction in five key literacy areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.

It is particularly easy...

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Nov 14, 2012

How to Get Kids Reading Books

While there are countless different ways to get kids reading books, there are three vital constants that you need to provide your child to ensure they become the most effective reader – access to good books, an effective reading program, and making reading as enjoyable as possible.

Access to Good Books

Kids should have access to books even before they learn how to read, as an early familiarity with books is a big part of developing pre-literacy skills. In order to encourage kids reading books, in the classroom or at home, here are a few easy things you can...

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Nov 07, 2012

Teaching Reading to Kids

One of the most important things to teach a child is to read. Teaching reading to kids is essential to their development, giving them the skills necessary to further their education and set them up for future academic success.

But how should one go about teaching reading to kids? Literacy instruction can be very different depending on the age of the child. A preschool child needs something very different to what school-aged children require.

Teaching reading to preschoolers sometimes doesn’t look like reading at all, but educators have found that the more toddlers engage in pre-literacy activities, the better off...

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Nov 06, 2012

Preschool Phonics and Learning to Read

A common stumbling block for children learning to read is difficulty understanding phonics, that is, letters and their corresponding sounds. One of the best ways to overcome this problem and prepare young children for reading is to engage them in pre-literacy activities, such as preschool phonics instruction.

Good phonics instruction helps kids learn, understand and make use of letters and their corresponding sounds in their reading and writing. Preschool phonics activities can start at home. Singing, playing, reading and talking with your child are all ways to help them build great pre-literacy skills. When speaking with your child, ask them...

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Nov 06, 2012

How to Develop Phonics Reading Skills

One of the first literacy skills children need to acquire when learning to read is an understanding of phonics, that is, the ability to recognise letters and the sounds they make. For children to develop and apply phonics reading skills to the act of reading, effective phonics instruction is essential.

Phonics reading skills

Effective phonics instruction is always done for the benefit of reading meaningful text, rather than simply learning the sounds that letters make. When kids understand the alphabetic principle and use their phonics reading skills, they are able to decode words by breaking them apart and sounding...

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Nov 06, 2012

Fun Reading Games for Children

Reading is one of the most important things that children can learn, providing a gateway to a child’s future academic success. For early readers, achieving reading fluency and reading for meaning and comprehension is the ultimate goal.

Reading games are a great place to start for early readers not yet fluent. There are many reading games for children that are easy to play, and take minimal preparation, all you need is a pen, some paper and a little time:

Rhyme search

Have kids search through old magazines or newspapers, cut out pictures of things that rhyme, then glue or...

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Nov 01, 2012

Teaching How To Read

When teaching how to read, it’s great to have some goals in place for your child to work towards. The aim of teaching how to read is never as short-sighted as completing a worksheet or activity, rather it should be to give the child the ability to read for meaning, enjoyment and to further their education.

To ensure that this ultimate goal of learning to read is achieved, it’s helpful to be aware of some of the general truths of teaching how to read:

Teaching how to read is complex.

Learning how to read is actually a complex process...

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Oct 26, 2012

Tips to Get Children Reading

The goal of any reading program should always be to have children reading real books. Reading activities and worksheets have their place, but the goal of any good reading instruction should be getting children reading, as well as understanding and enjoying what they are reading.

Reading is a complex art, one that requires a number of different skill areas, particularly: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Reading instruction that incorporates all five of these key literacy areas teaches kids not only to read, but gives them the tools they need in order to derive meaning from books.

In...

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Oct 26, 2012

Resources for Kids Reading Online

There are innumerable resources available for kids reading online, including reading games, activities and programs that help develop reading skills both in the classroom and at home. But with so much choice can come confusion. Which resources are the most beneficial for young readers?

Where kids reading online is concerned, there is definitely a range of offerings. Here are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind when attempting to find any program for kids reading online.

The best reading programs instruct in five key literacy areas

The five key literacy areas include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary,...

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Oct 26, 2012

Make Learning How to Read Fun

While no one questions the importance of learning how to read, what is up for debate is how enjoyable the process can be. While learning how to read may prove to be more difficult for some children than others, a happy start to reading, as well as a good reading program, can lift the task of reading from onerous to enjoyable.

Educators have found that children learn best through play, and this is certainly true for reading as well. Unlike programs of dry instruction or rote learning, reading activities that infuse playful elements can make learning seem like a game...

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Oct 26, 2012

Interactive Reading How-to

Educators find that the most effective way to teach kids to read is through interactive reading instruction. Kids best learn to read when the instruction and the reading material are aimed directly at their reading ability.

An interactive reading approach enables children to be consistently challenged, but also encourages them to use what they already know. One way of offering interactive reading instruction is through guided reading. Within the classroom, this kind of instruction groups children of similar reading abilities into the same small reading group, where they read and work through the same short story.

The teacher guides them...

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Oct 26, 2012

How to Get Children Reading

Children most often begin reading around five or six years of age. While it may appear that for some children reading is something they just ‘pick up’, this is rarely the case. In order to achieve reading fluency, children must first develop a number of literacy skills that enable them to both decode texts and understand what they are reading. Fluent reading is not simply the ability to sound out words, but rather it is the more complex ability to move quickly through a text, simultaneously pronouncing the words correctly and understanding what they mean.

There are a few things...

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Oct 03, 2012

The Complexity of Reading for Children

The process of reading for children is a complex one, involving a number of reading skills that kids have to learn, develop, and use simultaneously in order to both read and improve their reading. According to Marilyn Adams, an esteemed American educator specialising in early reading development, the complexity of reading can be illustrated in comparison to driving a car – while drivers simply concentrate on the act of driving, readers have to build, maintain, and drive the car, all at the same time.

• Build – readers have to develop systems for identifying and manipulating letters, letter-sound correspondences,...

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Oct 03, 2012

Reading Help for the Struggling Reader

No parent wants their child to struggle with reading, but it’s important to be aware of the signs of reading struggles in order provide your child with effective reading help if necessary. Repeated ear infections as a young child, speech delays, or difficulty with the pronunciation of certain sounds can all signal possible reading difficulties later down the track.

Another sign that your child may struggle with reading is the difficulty to recognise the letters of the alphabet. Any difficulty with the alphabet or the related alphabetic principle, that is, the relation of letters to specific sounds, can lead to...

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Oct 03, 2012

Kids Reading Games

As a means of making learning fun and motivational, kids reading games can be very effective at teaching early literacy skills, especially when they are part of a broader, systematic reading program. In order to be truly effective, a reading program will need to provide instruction in the following core areas of literacy:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Text Comprehension

Phonemic Awareness

A word is rarely just a single sound. Most words are made up of a number of smaller units of sounds, called phonemes. For instance, the simple word ‘cat’ is made up of three phonemes,...

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Oct 03, 2012

Kids Online Reading – How it Helps

The growing awareness of how important structured literacy development is to the educational life of a child has seen a proliferation of reading programs and resources available online. But does kids online reading really help them to read?

As with any reading program, the effectiveness of an online reading program depends on the educational base from which it draws its lessons. Current educational practice with regards to literacy recommends instruction in five key areas – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. The best online reading programs incorporate all five of these essential elements into the structure of their...

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Oct 03, 2012

Interactive Phonics Games

Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is a crucial part of any reading program, and interactive phonics games are one of the most effective and enjoyable ways for kids to learn phonics.

Phonics instruction, that is, the method of teaching how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes), has experienced renewed popularity online, where interactive phonics games are typically found. These games have proved to be great tools to help kids learn the 26 letters of the alphabet and the 44 sounds that they make, both individually and in letter combinations.

Phonics games found online offer a variety of highly interactive tasks,...

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Sep 19, 2012

Phonics Games Online

The internet abounds with literacy activities for kids, with a wide variety of phonics games online. These games offer a great resource for parents and teachers to supplement the reading instruction that kids are already receiving at school. Playing phonics games online can help your child learn how words are made up of individual sounds, known as phonemes. This will help develop their phonemic awareness – a fundamental skill for all reading beginners.

It’s important that skills gained from phonics games online are also developed within a wider learning framework where they can be applied, reinforced, and understood in a...

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Sep 19, 2012

Learn How to Read

To learn how to read is one of, if not the most important rite of passage in a child’s early education, and one that is far more complex and rigourous than seems at first glance.

When kids learn how to read, they must systematically learn and rigourously apply a complex set of literacy skills in order to ultimately achieve reading fluency. Many parents, for whom reading is second nature, may sometimes forget how complex the act of reading is for a young learner. While it is easy to assume that kids will just ‘pick up’ reading innately over time, research...

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Sep 19, 2012

Kids Reading Books

The goal of any reading program should ultimately be to have kids reading books independently, with the ability to comprehend for meaning and communicate meaning to others. As a means to this end, teachers and parents need to provide their children and students with a reading program that systematically teaches the fundamental skills needed to become a fluent reader.

Informed by decades of study into the best ways to teach reading, the most effective reading programs are those that target the five literacy skills that contribute to reading fluency:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Text comprehension

In some...

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Sep 19, 2012

How to Teach Reading to Kids

Reading is both of enormous significance in the educational life of a child, and an incredibly complex skill for young readers to master. While it is easy to assume that kids will just ‘pick up’ reading over time, research has found this far from being the case. While some kids may have an easier time of reading than others, most young readers simply don’t just ‘pick up’ reading. There is a complex set of skills that kids must acquire in order to read and become fluent readers.

The National Reading Panel, a US government initiative that in 2000 conducted extensive...

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Sep 19, 2012

How Kids Learn to Read

The success of a child’s early reading development has been proven as an essential factor in their later academic life, therefore its important that kids learn to read through a systematic process that addresses the core areas of literacy.

As part of this process, motivation plays a key role – the more enjoyable the learning experience, the more effectively kids will learn to read. By associating reading with fun, kids are more likely to be enthusiastic and look forward to reading, and instilling this sense of enjoyment in their early learning experiences will help them develop a positive attitude to...

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Sep 12, 2012

Programs for Reading

Being literate can have an enormous impact on the social and educational life of a child. The importance of literacy remains unquestioned, but the research indicates just how complex the process of learning to read is. Acquiring literacy can be an intricate and difficult process for some children.

While it is easy to assume that kids will just ‘pick up’ reading over time, research has found that that is far from being the case. While some kids may have an easier time of reading than others, no young reader just ‘picks up’ reading. There is a complex set of skills...

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Sep 12, 2012

Phonics for Kids

Anyone beginning the journey of teaching their child to read quickly learns how important phonics is for kids. You’d be hard-pressed to find a reading program that doesn’t place a lot of emphasis on the importance of phonics. But what is phonics anyway, and why is it so important in the wider scheme of literacy?

Although the name sounds complex, the idea of phonics is very simple. The main focus of phonics instruction is to help young readers understand how letters relate to small units of sound, called phonemes, in order to form letter-sound correspondences and spelling patterns. These letter-sound...

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Sep 12, 2012

Phonics Activities

Phonics instruction has received a lot of attention in education circles of late. It is making a much-needed return to literacy instruction after falling out of favour for a time. The particular kind of phonics instruction that has been criticised is the analytic approach to phonics that encouraged rote learning. This method attempted to force-feed whole words to kids learning to read, rather than teach them how to approach words in their more manageable bite-sized parts.

Phonics is simply the understanding of how letters are linked to sounds (also called phonemes). It’s the knowledge of how letters and sounds relate...

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Sep 12, 2012

Learning Phonics

Because literacy is so important to a child’s educational and intellectual life, it’s no wonder that there’s more emphasis than ever on kids learning phonics. While phonics once used to be a popular means of instruction, it fell out of favour for a while in education circles because of a tendency to focus on phonics instruction instead of reading real texts. In some cases, kids seemed to spend more time memorising words and spellings than they did on actually reading real texts.

After spending a few years kicked out of the classroom and wandering the proverbial halls, phonics is back....

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Sep 12, 2012

Learn to Read Tips

The importance of literacy in a child’s educational development and achievement cannot be emphasised enough. It’s a well-known fact that when kids learn to read, they acquire skills that lead to success in school, community and their eventual working life. The ability to read and understand a wide array of texts is essential to any educational pursuit. Students who meet with achievement and success early in their literacy journey are more likely to continue to make steady progress toward the desired end, which is fluency in reading.

The importance of literacy remains in no doubt, but what has become more...

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Aug 29, 2012

Teach Your Child to Read

Reading is the most important skill that kids can have in their educational ‘toolbox’. However kids don’t just ‘pick-up’ reading, they have to be taught it. Learning to read is a complex art, one that requires kids to learn a series of skills in order to both recognise text and understand it. Educators have found that the most effective learning programs that teach your child to read do so in a systematic and organised way that addresses five key literacy skills or areas:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Text comprehension

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness comprises a number...

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Aug 29, 2012

Teach Reading to Kids

Reading is the most important skill that kids can have in their educational ‘toolbox’. However kids don’t just ‘pick-up’ reading, they have to be taught it. Learning to read is a complex art, one that requires kids to learn a series of skills in order to both recognise text and understand it. Educators have found that the most effective learning programs that teach reading do so in a systematic and organised way that addresses five key literacy skills or areas:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Text comprehension

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness comprises a number of skills that...

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Aug 29, 2012

Strategies for Reading

Reading is a complex activity, requiring the reader to use countless skills simultaneously in order to read fluently. For both the child learning to read, and their parents, it can sometimes seem a thoroughly daunting task. And, knowing that a successful start in learning to read leads to further educational success, can make the task seem overwhelming.

It therefore helps to have strategies for reading in place, so that the seemingly insurmountable task of reading can be broken into parts, which somehow always seems less threatening.

According to the National Reading Panel’s report (2000), there are five essential elements to...

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Aug 29, 2012

Reading Software

It seems that there are more resources than ever when it comes to teaching kids how to read and many of them can be found online. From resources for teachers, to tips for parents, the Internet seems to have reading covered. But how can you tell what’s bona fide when there is so much information vying for your attention? And is reading software effective in teaching kids how to read? Well, here are a few things that any reading software worth their salt will have.

Educators have found that reading is best taught in a structured, programmatic way. However when...

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Aug 28, 2012

Online Reading Program

It seems that there are more resources than ever when it comes to teaching kids how to read and many of them can be found online. From resources for teachers, to tips for parents, the Internet seems to have reading covered. But how can you tell what’s bona fide when there is so much information vying for your attention? And are online reading programs effective in teaching kids how to read? Well, here are a few things that any online reading programs worth their salt will have.

Educators have found that reading is best taught in a structured, programmatic way....

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Aug 23, 2012

Teach Toddlers to Read

Reading is the most important skill that children can have in their educational ‘toolbox’, so to speak, and the plain truth is, children don’t just ‘pick-up’ reading, they have to learn how to read. And learning to read begins long before the first day of school. While children usually don’t begin to read until they are five or six, there are a variety of pre-reading and pre-literacy activities that help teach toddlers how to read, before they even enter the classroom.

Sing

Sing songs to your child, recite nursery rhymes, even simple songs and rhymes like “Eensy Weensy Spider”...

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Aug 23, 2012

Reading Websites

There is a wide array of resources for teaching kids how to read, and many of them can be found online. From curriculum for teachers, to tips for parents, the Internet seems to have reading covered. But how can you find what’s bona fide when there is so much information vying for your attention? Here are a few things that any reading website worth its salt will have.

Educators have found that reading is most effectively learned when the instruction is given in a structured, programmatic way. However lessons are delivered, whether in the classroom or through reading websites, lessons...

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Aug 23, 2012

Reading Practice

Not surprisingly, the only way for young readers to develop into fluent readers is to practice reading. The term ‘practice’ makes it sound like young readers are engaging in a parallel activity to reading, related to it, but not exactly reading. However, reading practice is a bit like the practice of a musical instrument, in the sense that the only practice is in the doing of it. In some ways, reading practice is just another way of thinking about guided reading—reading appropriate to the child’s level of ability, so that the young reader can effectively develop the skills that will...

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Aug 22, 2012

Reading Log

Reading logs can be a contentious issue for both educators and parents. For educators a reading log is often the signal of the trench war between enthusiasts for phonics and the devotees of whole language instruction. In a reductive nutshell, teachers who favour phonics tend to work on the literacy skills that help kids break down words into their parts in order to be able to read, while teachers who favour whole language instruction tend to favour the use of reading logs and stress the reading of entire texts. For parents, reading logs can seem like just another box to...

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Aug 22, 2012

Kids Spelling Tips

Kids’ spelling is nothing if not inventive, but sometimes, the funny way kids spell things is a great reminder to parents and teachers that the English language is rather, for lack of a better word, irregular, in its spelling. The very frequent irregularities in English spelling can perplex and baffle students who already struggle to read, much less work out all the hidden rules lying beneath English spelling, such as: ‘I’ before ‘e’, except after ‘c’. However, learning the spelling of words can help kids become better readers.

Researchers have found that spelling and reading are linked in the brain....

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Aug 16, 2012

Reading and Writing

Literacy involves being able to both read and write; reading and writing are sister activities, if you will, in the family of literacy. In writing circles it has become almost commonplace that reading helps you become a better writer. But now, the same can be said for reading. A recent report funded by the Carnegie Corporation has found that writing can help you become a better reader.

Without question, the ability to read is essential for learning as we use the written word to communicate knowledge. But what hasn’t been as clear is how important writing is to the ability...

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Aug 15, 2012

Reading and Autism – Teaching Kids to Read and Comprehend

Reading and Autism: Teaching Kids to Read and Comprehend

Children with autism, including nonverbal children, learn to read and comprehend better with programs that capitalise on their strengths.

Autism is a developmental condition that affects the way a child approaches language, communicates, plays and relates to others.

Because autism affects language, this can have a strong effect on reading comprehension. But this is not to say that reading and autism are mutually exclusive.

There are a number of different conditions that fall within the broader category of pervasive developmental disorder (or...

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Aug 15, 2012

Learning Difficulties

Learning difficulties beset the best efforts of many children learning to read. Learning to read is a complex process in which young readers must engage in a number of literacy skills simultaneously in order to read fluently. Fluent readers must have a handle on the five essential literacy elements:

• Phonemic awareness

• Phonics skills

• Fluency in reading

• Vocabulary building

• Text comprehension

Any hiccup along the way in any of these areas has the potential to cause reading difficulties, and if not caught can lead to learning difficulties.

There are a number of myths that accompany the...

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Aug 07, 2012

Reading Test for Kids

Reading tests can be a useful part a reading program, as long as their aim is to help students become fluent readers who understand what they read. A simple reading test done before a child begins reading has the benefit of placing the child on the appropriate reading level, so that the child does not grow frustrated with lessons that are too difficult, or bored by lessons that are too easy. Reading tests done later along the path of literacy can be used to aid comprehension, even as it assesses it. This helps the child identify his or her strengths,...

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Aug 07, 2012

Reading Assessment

Reading assessments can be a useful part a reading program, as long as their aim is to help students become fluent readers who understand what they read. Reading assessments done before a child begins reading have the benefit of placing the child at the appropriate reading level, so that they do not grow frustrated with lessons that are too difficult, or bored by lessons that are too easy. Reading assessments done later along the path of literacy can be used to aid comprehension, even as it assesses it. This helps the child identify his or her strengths, as well as...

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Aug 06, 2012

What is Guided Reading

Guided Reading is an essential part of any early literacy program. In a guided reading session within the classroom, students are placed into small groups according to their level of reading ability. Of course, even in a small group there are differences in reading ability, as every student is different. These students, who are roughly at the same reading level then read a text that is specifically chosen for their particular group, so that the children are able to read the text independently, without too much difficulty (the aim is about 95% accuracy).

The teacher may model reading the book...

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Aug 06, 2012

What are Sight Words?

Sight words are the words that appear most frequently in our reading and writing. Often these words do not have a concrete image that accompanies them. They are high-frequency words that may not be able to be pictured, and as such, they simply must be memorised and understood. Because of their high frequency, readers need to be able recognise, read, and understand them almost immediately upon seeing them. By easily recognising these sight words, young readers are more likely to approach a text with confidence. They are then able to read with more fluency and better comprehension of the text,...

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Aug 06, 2012

Reading to Children

It’s easy to focus on how important reading to children is. Reading to children is undoubtedly of immense importance to their reading life, as it provides them with opportunities to develop essential pre-reading skills, as well as models for fluent reading of a text. But, what can be forgotten in the rush to explain how important reading is, is how fun reading to children can be as well. It is a fine and simple art. But, if we ourselves have never been read to, or, it’s been a very long time since someone read to us, it can seem trickier...

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Aug 06, 2012

About Reading Skills

Acquiring good reading skills is enormously significant to a child’s education. Educators are very quick to stress that learning good reading skills is an essential part of a child’s education, as literacy affects every part of a child’s learning, both in school as well as in later years.

If the reading skills are strong, then they can use these literacy skills in other learning areas and better their chances of becoming strong students in subjects other than literacy. If they can read well, they can follow the seams of ideas and learning to their source, no matter the subject.

It’s...

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Aug 06, 2012

Reading Books

Reading books is a great adventure. How else could one person enter the land of giants, such as in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, fight a battle with pirates, as in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, or experience a sea voyage from the perspective of a mouse, such as in Richard Peck’s Secrets at Sea? Books have the seemingly miraculous ability take us places that we otherwise would never be able to go.

Reading books can be wonderfully fun, and there is much emphasis placed on children being able to read books as evidence of their literacy. But, it may come...

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Aug 06, 2012

Interactive Reading Games

It should come as no surprise that kids like doing the activities that they find fun and engaging to do. And what seems like commonsense has the weight of research backing it as well: Educators and researchers have found that a student’s enjoyment of learning directly relates to their desire and willingness to learn. The more enjoyable and interactive learning is, the more likely that a student will engage in that activity. Mary Poppins was right: “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game!”

Interactive...

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Aug 06, 2012

Home Reading Tips

In order for kids to make gains in their reading and really excel, they need to experience reading not just at school, but at home as well. Home reading reinforces all the great reading skills kids pick up at school, and cements them in their memory.

Home reading takes a couple different forms. One is the reading that kids do in the home readers they bring home from school, which are based on a guided reading level. The home readers allow kids to take part in guided reading while at home. Guided reading is an activity that educators believe children...

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Aug 06, 2012

Guided Reading Levels

Guided Reading Levels are an essential part of any early literacy program. In a guided reading session within the classroom, students are grouped into small groups according to their level of reading ability. Of course, even in a small group there are differences in reading ability, as every student is different. These students, who are roughly at the same reading level then read a text that is specifically chosen for their particular group, so that the children are able to read the text independently, without too much difficulty (the aim is about 90-95% accuracy).

The goal of any reading instruction...

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Aug 03, 2012

Reading Games for Kids – Fun & Interactive Online Games

Award-Winning Online Reading Games for Kids

ABC Reading Eggs features thousands of fun online reading games for kids, which build essential literacy and phonics skills. Free trial

To most parents, it may seem obvious that children feel more motivated to learn while having fun.

It comes as no surprise then, that there’s a weight of research backing this long-held suspicion—educators and researchers have found that a child's enjoyment of learning directly relates to their desire and willingness to learn.

The more enjoyable learning is, the more likely a child will...

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Aug 03, 2012

Activities for Reading

In order for children to learn to read, it’s helpful to have a proverbial reservoir of activities for reading for them to do. Make that, a resevoir of enjoyable activities. Who wouldn’t rather engage in activities that are enjoyable to do? And what sounds like commonsense has the weight of good research backing it as well. Educators and researchers have found, not surprisingly, that a student’s enjoyment of learning directly relates to their desire and willingness to learn. The more enjoyable and interactive learning is, the more likely that a student will engage in that activity.

But the trick is...

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Jul 23, 2012

Reading Lessons

It’s a truth almost universally acknowledged that the more enjoyable a task is, the more likely it is that anyone will want to do that task. It should come as no surprise, then, that kids like doing the tasks that they find fun to do. And what seems like commonsense has the weight of research backing it as well: Educators and researchers have found that a student’s enjoyment of learning directly relates to their desire and willingness to learn. The more enjoyable learning is, the more likely that a student will engage in that activity. Mary Poppins was right: “In...

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Jul 17, 2012

How Reading Games Help

How Reading Games Help

The more enjoyable a task, the more likely it is that a kid will want to engage in and complete that task. What seems like commonsense has the weight of research backing it as well: Educators and researchers have found that a student’s enjoyment of learning activities directly relates to their desire and willingness to learn. The more enjoyable a learning activity is, the more likely that a student will engage in that activity. Mary Poppins was right: “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and...

Read more…

Jul 17, 2012

Phonics

Children learning to read must acquire a number of complex skills that enable them to make the necessary links between the sound that words make and the way that they appear on the page. Phonics is one of the five key areas in reading instruction, which also include phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension.

The main aim of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand that letters are linked to particular sounds. In English, there are 26 letters used to represent 44 speech sounds. Armed with the knowledge of how letters sound, beginning readers are able to then...

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Jul 17, 2012

Kids Reading Tips

Getting kids reading is enormously significant to their entire education. Educators are very quick to stress that getting kids reading is the most important part of their schooling as literacy affects every part of a child’s learning, both in school as well as in later years.

If a kid’s reading is strong, then they can use their literacy skills in other learning areas and better their chances of becoming strong students in subjects other than literacy. If they can read well, they can follow the seams of ideas and learning to their source, no matter the subject.

It’s been found...

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Jun 22, 2012

Synthetic Phonics – What is Synthetic Phonics?

Synthetic Phonics

What is synthetic phonics?

Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching where words are broken up into the smallest units of sound (phonemes). Children learn to make connections between the letters of written texts (graphemes, or letter symbols) and the sounds of spoken language. Synthetic phonics also teaches children how to identify all the phonemes in a word and match them to a letter in order to be able to spell correctly.