In a recent series about how children learn to read, I described the first two main stages and then gave ideas on how to help children better work with words. The first stage of learning to read is learning the letter names and sounds. The second stage involves blending the sounds together to make words. After children learn some simple words they can then begin to learn how to manipulate the words to create new words.
Once children have mastered working with words, they are ready to begin putting a series or group of words together to create an idea. These groups of words are known as sentences. Children can begin to read simple sentences and books with simple text.
While there are many children’s books out there that are devoted to decodable reading, some very commonly used words are not decodable. Therefore along the way of teaching letters and sounds, we also need to teach sight words. These words are also sometimes called popcorn words or high frequency words.
These are words that are commonly seen in text but cannot be sounded out. We say that they do not follow the rules of the English spelling language. Some of these very common words are the, have, what, my, for, are, to, etc.
After children are able to blend words and know several sigh words they will be able to successfully read many simple text books.
While children are reading at this stage, the process of learning to read is not near complete. There are many other sounds and techniques for children to learn. There will still be many words that the children do not know.
Children should continue to be instructed on diagraphs and consonant blends as well as ways to figure out an unfamiliar word.
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