What Is The Best Way To Teach A Child To Read, Write, And Do Basic Kindergarten/first Grade Math?
World Book Encyclopedia offers a typical course study for each grade at this website: http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?cur…
I would suggest “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Engelmann. It’s not very expensive and can be often found at Barnes & Noble or Borders. You might even be able to find it at your library. It is broken down into about 20 minute lessons, and some kids can do as many as two a day in the beginning.
For math, you might want to see how much you can do with objects around your house. I also recommend Kumon’s Number Games 1-70 for teaching number up to 20 and beyond. My four-your-old loved the combination of color by numbers and dot-to-dots and learned a lot. There are a variety of other Kumon workbooks, too, which can be found at most of the big book chains.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – great resource! Someone else already suggested it and so do I. Cost is about $20, plus about 20 minutes a day of direct instruction time. Worked like a charm and all my kids read before they were 4 years old and were fluent at 4.5 ! I would also suggest shutting OFF the TV and turning on your lap
Sit down and read – all kinds of stories. Go to the library and have your child choose some books, ask the librarian for recommendations. I’d also suggest listening to books on tape in the car. A great one to start with is the classic – Charlotte’s Web (read by the author, E.B. White). You’ll enjoy it too!
Enjoy the summer and just live your life, learning comes much more naturally than a lot of people realize. Keep the TV off and the books, nature walks and fun outings going and you’ll be amazed at the results!
The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Readinghttp://ordinaryparents.com/
also check out http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/index.ht…
Next year I hope that you will be more involved with your child’s learning throughout the year. Pay attention to the work that is being done/taught on a daily basis. Then you won’t be playing catch up at the end of the year.
A great way to do this is through volunteering in the classroom.
let them watch sesame street
I use Abeka curriculum. My son just graduated from kindergarten and will be going on to 2nd grade work. He is reading on a 2-3rd grade level and about a mid 1st grade on math. I did not push him and we did school just about 1-2 hours a day. The readoing program is wonderful. I suggest you find a list of the dolche sight words and use flash cards for them This list is the basic words we use every day like you, we, me, look, jump, was, with and so on. Any teacher that does/can not teach a child to read by the end of kindergarten should not be teaching!
Have you thought about homeschooling?
Someone had mentioned abeka already – that is the curriculum for early childhood that I like the most [although there are probably some good 'new' ones out there - I haven't taught reading in a looooong time!]. Abeka has a book for $8.95 called “Handbook for Reading.” It takes learning readers from the beginning sounds to about a second grade level. But this is just a PRACTICE book, not a reader. If you order it, you probably ought to also order the kinder readers, the “Basic Phonics Readers Set” for $11.95. You might want to also get the “Letters and Sounds K5″ and the “Numbers Skills K.” You would not have any problem getting through this kindergarten work in the summer time, since your child is a little older and has already been through kindergarten, so should know some of this stuff. If you want to continue working with your child on reading after school starts in the fall, you probably should check in to some of the first grade readers. Someone had already recommended “Fun With Pets,” which is the first one in first grade.
Use Kumon Books. You can find them on-line or any book store. By age 3 my daughter could read words. There books are great. If you don’t like these there is a book called ” How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons” I have had mothers swear by this one too. Good Luck!!!
Flash cards. Simple arithmetic. Simple letters and words. Start with two and three and four letter words. Words they can relate to.
The purpose of kindergarten is to help the kids prepare for full-fledged schooling. I’ve never seen a kindergarten whose focus was to learn to read and write. They START learning the letters and sounds and copying simple words. That’s about it. Grade 1 is the main focus for reading and writing. So, relax! If you want to do something with her still, look into Reading Reflex. For math, just make sure she can count to at least 20 and can recognize numbers that high. Also, that she can write numbers you tell her from 0-10.
I’d also find out what the new school means by the kids are already reading and writing. You might find it just means to read and write their names.
ADDED: Then I’d still recommend Reading Reflex. Goes from the beginning 3-letter words, through to 4 and more. Even advanced things like the different spellings of the sound a. If you don’t want to fiddle with materials, then try Phonics Pathways. And it just goes to show that what you experienced is not what goes on everywhere.
read to them
talk about the sounds letters make, and that they go
together to make up words
for pre-writers you can buy chalkboard or dry erase books that have the child trace/draw straight lines (balloon strings) or curves (the path of a bouncing ball) to learn the fine motor skills and shapes needed in writing.
play board games which require counting
teach him to count using toys, then after he’s learned his numbers to twenty you can teach place values using dried beans and popscicle sticks. count out 10 together and glue them to a popsicle stick. do this 10 times and you show that 10 tens are one hundred, and you can graphically represent for him all the numbers under 100.
play store and put prices on things, then give him that many pennies when you “shop” for toys in his room/”toystore”
increase his awareness of phonics by challenging him to name things that start with certain sounds
write him notes, and help him write, too.
I like Phonics Pathways for reading. It starts with letter sounds, works into 3 letter words, and moves on from there. It’s very simple, logical and works great!
I love Singapore Maths for the early grades, but a little K or 1st grade math workbook from Target or Wal-mart might be a good resource to work from this summer. Get manipulatives out if necessary to help with the concepts of addition and subtraction. There are usually handwriting workbooks available at those stores that might be helpful in teaching your child to write.
Also, Mardel ( the Christian bookstore) has a large assortment of material to choose from that could be helpful.
A great way to help kids learn to read (or improve their reading skills) is to read to them simple books which involve some repetition or predictability in the storyline. As you read, follow the words with your finger. This allows them to look for and recognize certain words as they hear you reading them. Picture books are useful for helping your child to conceptualize the words they see, but you shouldn’t rely on pictures because then the child will become accustomed to the pictures instead of the words. They might also interpret pictures as an incorrect word. Although they are old-fashioned, if you don’t mind that sort of thing, McGuffy readers or Dick and Jane books are useful for beginning reading. Most bookstores also have a section with books specifically for young readers. The readers are labeled by grade, usually with a K, 1, or 2, etc…depending on the level of comprehension required. They are good practice and are a good confidence booster. With reading, phonics are also important. I suggest that you review not only sounds of letters, but also of letter clusters and of syllables. In the future, when the child encounters odd words, they’ll be able to sound them out, or have an idea of what they’re supposed to sound like, rather than try to recognize them. Learning phonetic properties of words can be much more effective than just learning words themselves.
As for math, it’s always fun to learn/practice counting using M&M’s because afterwards…you get to eat them! Also, everything should be interactive to some degree. Matching games and counting games are fun. Try cutting out little cards with numbers on them and having the child match them to piles with the correct number of a certain kind of object (like the m&m’s…). When they feel comfortable with counting, enough to move onto arithmetic, objects can still be used to demonstrate concepts like adding, subtracting, and place values. Use real money to practice dealing with money.
If you have a computer, there are two excellent games I would recommend for grade school reading and math: Reader Rabbit and Math Blaster. These are interactive, colorful, fun, simple, and the best part is…they’re games! I used these when I was a kid and loved them.
You can get reader rabbit here: http://www.learningcompany.com/jump.jsp?…
And math blaster here: http://shop.knowledgeadventure.com/Depar…
Good luck!
Because each child learns differently, I’ll give you several options:
Reading — Two of the best authors for first time readers are Dr. Seuss and Jane Belk Moncure. Dr. Seuss has a series of books called Beginner Books. These books are filled with simple words and short sentences. Plus, the fact that they rhyme helps kids remember words easily. Two of the books that come to mind are “The B Book” and “The Foot Book.”
Jane Belk Moncure has a series of books that teach phonics. Just like Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Books, her books are filled with simple words and fun pictures. One particular series that is very useful are her “Sound Box” books and books titled “Play With ‘a’ and ‘t’”, “Play With ‘e’ and ‘d’”, etc. Many of her books can be found at your local library or purchased online at the link below.
Just remember one thing: Repetition, Repetition, Repition.
Children learn through repetition. The way I taught my kids to read is by first reading the book to them so they could first hear the story and then having them repeat each word as I say it. With the rhyming and repetition, before you know it your daughter will be trying to read on her own.
For writing — You can help her by first showing her how to “draw” each letter and number and then helping to guide her hand as she copies what you did. Also, LeapPad has a system that teaches kids to write as well.
For Math — Jane Belk Moncure also has a series of books that teach math as well. If she likes playing board games, Chutes and Ladders teaches counting to 100. But one of the best games for counting is Hi-Ho Cherry-O. My daughter’s first grade teacher would use a deck of playing cards to help teach numbers and counting. You can also use the cards to play the simple game of Go Fish. That teaches number recognition. Want to teach matching and classification? Have her help you sort laundry into the different colors. (If you want to make it even more rewarding, stick a few coins or a dollar bill in some pants pockets and tell her that whatever she finds in the pockets, she gets to keep.) I had my daughter help me sort laundry when she was 4. Her kindergarten teacher told me that that task actually helped her in math. Also, a couple of books that teach a fun way of learning math is the “M&M’s Brand Counting Book” and the “Cheerio’s Counting Book.”
Finally, there are many computer games out there that make learning fun. Reader Rabbit, Jumpstart Kindergarten and Jumpstart First Grade, and Disney all have fun programs for kids. Those were some of the games that my kids enjoyed the most. Just be sure that the games you choose are compatible with your system. All of the newer games are compatible with XP and may be compatible with Vista. Some of them may also be compatible with Mac.
But most of all, whatever method you choose, just remember to make learning fun. And also remember these three words: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
The following article may help
http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php?id=2833916
http://www.abeka.com/
These people have a great book called, “Fun with Pets” that will build basic reading.
The learning company has some great computer games that teach Kindergarten concepts. ( Reader Rabbit, Millie & Bailey Classroom, Artur’s Sand Castle Contest and Disney’s Tarzan Activity center) TIP If you do the computer games sit with them so they don’t find the ‘easier way’ to get the prize.
Index cards perhaps? Practice, practice, make it fun though – sometimes – switch it around you dont have to spoil the child. Like show them how to have fun with it – think of how to make it fun. Like they get a treat or a gold star or whatever you can think of maybe a hug lol or a party like give them mini tests or see how they do and reward them. Anywho you can do a combo later on but I would teach them seperately first. Give them an easy read book look for childrens books if your that enthusiastic im sure there are a ton online that you could buy and get them to read.
Also it doesnt have to be on just index cards – but see what he or she likes dont overdo it but show them different ways of learning and how it can be fun to learn it. If they cant multitask different variations maybe they can only be taught to learn one way i.e. the index cards which i mentioned above. if they can attempt to learn different methods that will work their brain a bit better i think.
teach them how it applies to the real world or try to and keep trying to teach them i.e. applying for a job which I suggest they do as soon as they can whether it be a summer job or a regular yearly one…
hope that helps ^_^ good luck!
Why dont you cook with them? You would measure and count and read a recipe and such. Do some fun activity and try to incorporate the things they need to know so they dont realize they are learning and can see it applied to something they like.
Read to her a lot aloud.
If she wants to learn to read than she can….. does she know her letters and their sounds? If not start there. We have used McGuffey’s readers with all our kiddos and they have worked great! Primer is first of course which covers letters, sounds and goes from there. I have also used The Great Saltmine & Hifwip phonics program.
Copy work is great for writing! — have her copy letters and words off signs, out of the dictionary or her favorite book, or the Bible (print out verses in large fonts). This way she learns to copy properly from the best writers! I personally use A Reason for Writing.
Math — developmental math is what we use. But any basic math curriculum will work. Let her help you cook, add stuff together in the house, set the table (how many?), play with beans, count blocks and toys, do patterns — string beads, etc. This is all math!
Blessings!