How to teach my son to write and read.,..

Heather - posted on 04/26/2012

My website is a free way to teach your child how to read. www.FirstStepReading.com There are step by step animated instructional videos to teach your child how to read. It starts with Letter Identification (Alphabet), moves to Letter Sounds, Sight Words, Phonics, Lessons of putting sounds together, Vowels, Long Vowels...etc and the over 50 videos are all online for FREE.

Erin - posted on 04/14/2010

My son doesn't like to use pens/pencils. I try to get him to even color w/crayons and he tells me "no, you do it" Occassionally he'll take my crosswords & scribble in them but thats about it! I want him to go to preschool because I feel like he won't take instruction from me...he's being so independant now and he just gets soo mad if i try helping him with anything! I got a packet from the library that teaches letters and he was NOT interested AT ALL :( so i feel ya! Atleast your son will make lines!!!

Dawn - posted on 04/09/2010

don't worry. my 4 yo can count to 10 , count items to 10 and can read numbers1-5. she also recognizes the alphabet but has trouble writting. your child will get it done when he is ready. just have him practice every so often

Missy - posted on 03/11/2010

Leap Pad has a fun toy that he might enjoy. It has games that encourage him to trace letters and to recognize sounds. It's called the "Scribble and Write". It's not very expensive and it's small enough to travel anywhere! The advice from the preschool teacher is good. I wouldn't worry about it until he's in 1st grade.

Lena - posted on 03/11/2010

We bought books and toys that taught her how to trace and that'/s how she learned on her own. She just turned 4 and came now write every letter of the alphabet.

Rebecca - posted on 03/10/2010

my three year old is mad about stringing her beads ... it seems to hold endless fascination for her lol! she also has these cards -- you can get different sorts, hers have fairies on them -- with holes around the picture and long laces --- you have to thread them through the holes, in a stitch like fashion. she tires easily with this activity, because it requires concentration and co-ordination, but she enjoys it. this is also building up her hand eye co-ordination for writing.

i love the idea with the cars, Abbigail, --- i'm fairly sure my girls will enjoy it too!

Abbigail - posted on 03/08/2010

I agree with Rebecca, start with small fine motor activities, play-doh, stringing beads, using tweezers, etc. One thing i have found boys like is to have large printouts of the letters and let them drive a toy car over the letter. There are many things a child must know before actually moving on to reading, and if they are bypasses, it could slow down the process, or backfire. If he knows the letters, make sure he knows the sounds they make. Many kindergarteners are still not reading or writing letters great at 5 and 6 years old. While i understand wanting your child to excell, sometimes I think we are forcing them to grow up to early. Don't forget to let them be kids too!!

Rebecca - posted on 03/07/2010

at my daughter's pre-school, they use a number of different techniques to develop fine motor co-ordination and hand eye co-ordination BEFORE they move on to handwriting. these include things like unscrewing small jars, spooning beads from one bowl to another -- always going left to right as you do with writing, pouring activities with funnels and turkey basters, etc. then they move onto learning the shapes of letters in a very tactile way ... they use felt letters and letters cut out of sandpaper and stuck on wooden blocks, and first get the kids familiar with tracing the shapes with their finger as this is easier than writing. once they get familiar and comfortable with the shapes of letters in a tactile way, and develop the co-ordination to trace the letters properly, they move onto handwriting. also before they start reading, they get kids identifying the letter at the start of the word -- you can do this using eye-spy games, as well as just asking about every day objects -- what sound does this start with? always praise a lot when they get it right, but it may take a while before they get it -- then one day it just clicks and they've got it. once they are recognising sounds at the start of words they move onto sounds at the end of words. then using three letter words, they identify the sound in the middle of the word, and then they move onto seeing if they can form the three letter words themselves.

my eldest daughter (who went to the same preschool, but is now in grade 1) has exceptionally neat handwriting and a great deal of confidence with reading and writing, compared with other children i've encountered.

Sydonnie - posted on 03/06/2010

i started with him tracing over pre-printed letters on washable board in the shape of a thomas train his favorite toy, then move on to the Scholastic Phonics Reader program that comes with games, cds, workbooks. Now he is building his own words

Laura - posted on 03/05/2010

My son just turned 4, but I've been teaching him to write letters...I don't how other people do it, but I am starting with his name. His name is Haydn so one day I started with the H showed him what it looked like. and we started with straight lines..(i am doing capital letters as it seems easier.) What works for him with the letter H is saying line, line, across..it's been about a month and he's gotten the H, A and Y down pat...he's also recognizing letters on billboards, signs..

Ashita - posted on 02/14/2010

I feel young boys R a little non-interested in writing activity. I draw dashed lines of all the letters, and he has to run crayons on those lines. with little demonstration he finds it worth a try. :)

Amy - posted on 02/13/2010

Dont worry it will come, my son was the same way and now hes 8 reads well above the other kids in his class. His printing is still very messy but he loves to write his own stories. I found a book called You Read to me and Ill read to you. this is a two person book with very short shories that you read together. Have fun with it and he will come around.

Jennifer - posted on 02/11/2010

I am a prescool teaher and a mother of three. Being able to recognize the alphabet is awsome, writing the letters is a different story. It takes a lot of concentration and hand-eye coordination. I would start the writing with simple letters like T, F, E, V. These letters are straight lines just going in different directions. Once he's mastered these i would move on to others that are just straight lines, and save the curvy letters for last. As for the reading you need to teach him the correct sound that each letter makes and once he's learned that you can start sounding out words together. They make flash cards for sight words you can try those once he knows the sounds of each letter. Sight words are the words that you can sound out, you have to memorize them, like the, and, to and other words.good luck.