Teaching Your Child to Read: Our Favorite Curriculum

Jacob is seven years old and in first grade so we are right in the middle of teaching him how to read. The process started on its own when Jacob began to recognize his letters as a toddler. Once Jacob recognized most of his letters, he moved on to learning the letter sounds. After Jacob learned his letter sounds, I taught him how to sound out three letter words with short vowels. I made up some games on my own and also found fun game ideas in the book, Games for Reading. Once Jacob understood the concept of sounding out simple words, we started using Alphaphonics and reading from a variety of beginner readers. In this post, I will share our favorite beginner readers and other resources we have used to teach Jacob how to read.

Before I share our favorite learn to read curriculum and more, I wanted to mention a few things. Jacob is the first child I have taught how to read, although I have helped other children with reading in the past. I did a lot of research on how to teach a child to read and have read many books on the subject. Two important points I read over and over is that children are not all ready to learn how to read at the same age and what works for one child may or may not work for another child. I have also found that some reading materials that did not initially work for Jacob were great for him a year or so later. There are huge debates on whether you should teach your child to read using phonics, whole language, or a combination of both. We have chosen to focus on building a strong foundation in phonics and have added in whole language when necessary to help with learning the tricky sight words.

The base for our reading program has been Alphaphonics. I have found this to be an excellent book for me as a parent. It is a very clear and systematic way to teach phonics and is easy to teach from. The downside is that Alphaphonics is not the most exciting way for kids to learn to read by itself. We remedied this issue by going through the Alphaphonics book slowly over a year and a half period and adding in fun beginner readers, activities, and games. The Alphaphonics book has 128 lessons and we averaged 2 lessons a week. We were able to get the beginner readers through our library which made our reading program very inexpensive. I highly recommend Alphaphonics as a base for your reading program!

We have a number of favorite beginner readers which I will list below.

Favorite Beginner Readers
Now I'm Reading: Playful Pals (Level 1) by Nora Gaydos
Now I'm Reading: Amazing Animals (Level 2) by Nora Gaydos
Now I'm Reading: On the Go (Level 3) by Nora Gaydos
Now I'm Reading: Let's Play (Level 4) by Nora Gaydos
Bob Books (Sets 1-4) by Bobby Lynn Maslen
Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad (series) by Arnold Lobel
Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
Small Pig by Arnold Lobel
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Starfall Learn to Read Phonics Book Set


The last books I mentioned from Starfall can be printed off in black and white for free on their website here. Starfall is a fabulous website and they have lots more free printables here. Jacob and Rosa have enjoyed playing on this site as well. Another great website is The School Bell which has a Dolch Kit of printable flashcards and games using the Dolch list of 220 high frequency sight words. We have also made our own sight word Bingo cards from the Print-Bingo website using the sight words from Alphaphonics.

Jacob has fluctuated in his enthusiasm over learning to read. He really likes the games we have played and he also enjoys using sight word flashcards for some reason. He has progressed steadily over the last year and a half but learning to read has definitely involved work for him. I have also had to work on my level of patience and tone of voice when we are practicing reading aloud. Listening to a child sound out words can get very tedious and it is easy to get an edge to your voice when you are correcting mistakes. When I keep my voice cheerful and relaxed, Jacob enjoys reading a lot more. Sometimes I need to take some deep breaths or take a break from reading practice if my patience starts to deteriorate. We have also used the technique I previously wrote about here in "Learn to Read with Raggedy Ann".

Recently we have added in Explode the Code workbooks. I do these with Jacob out loud so we can reuse the books with Rosa. It also helps me catch his mistakes by having him do the workbooks out loud. They have some really funny sentences and Jacob enjoys these books. We had tried them a year ago and he wasn't into them at the time. I am really glad we tried them again because they are great for reinforcing phonics. We use the words from Explode the Code for spelling as well.

There is lots of different phonics and reading instruction curriculum on the market and I have read good reviews on a number of different programs. I chose what I did because it was the most reasonably priced of all the well reviewed curriculum. You can read reviews of other curriculum at Home School Reviews.

Stages of Reading Checklist

A reading teacher I know handed out this wonderful Stages of Reading checklist at a presentation I attended. I have been using the checklist to track Jacob and Rosa's progress learning to read. Before I received a copy of this checklist, I had no idea there were so many milestones to be reached as a child learns to read. Teaching a child to read can require a great deal of patience and this list has helped me see the progress we are making which I might not have noticed otherwise. This list can also help a parent see where a child might need some extra help.

Stages of Reading

Emerging Reader
Stage One
__Engages briefly with books shared one-on-one
__Relies on others to read or share books
__Begins to recognize some letters
__Recognizes first name
__Recognizes last name
Stage Two
__Enjoys having books read to him/her
__Enjoys looking at books on his/her own
__Repeats words or phrases from familiar books
__Makes up own story with books
__Identifies some letters
__Identifies most letters
__Has an awareness of environmental print (signs, logos, cereal boxes)
Stage Three
__Responds to books read to him/her
__Begins to choose books on his/her own
__Retells a story by looking at pictures after repeated listening experiences
__Knows how a book progresses from beginning to end
__Knows the difference between a letter and a word
__Identifies all the letters
__Begins to hear consonant sounds

Early Reader
Stage Four
__Engages in reading reenactment
__Memorizes some texts
__Shows directionality by running finger along lines of text (left to right and top to bottom)
__Reproduces consonant sounds
__Uses initial consonants to identify words
__Begins to remember a few high frequency sight words
Stage Five
__Matches print words with spoken words in new text
__Rereads familiar stories
__Reads self created written messages
__Retells a familiar story without the book
__Uses pictures as cues when reading text
__Predicts story events, words, and story endings
__Needs encouragement when reading new words or books
__Uses both initial and final consonants to identify words
__Knows what vowels are
Stage Six
__Reads using one-to-one correspondence and self corrects errors
__Begins to develop fluency with familiar books
__Needs help to select appropriate reading material
__Builds on his/her high frequency sight word vocabulary
__Uses beginning, middle, and ending consonants to identify words

Developing Reader
Stage Seven
__Discusses and retells story to demonstrate understanding
__Compares or contrasts own experience with story
__Makes connections with other literature
__Reads new text one word at a time but shows some evidence of phrasing
__Corrects most errors that interfere with meaning
__Uses a variety of strategies when reading
__Comments on character, plot, and setting when prompted
__Chooses new, as well as, previously read books
Begins to analyze words and make connections
__Word family patterns
__Small words within a larger word
__Blends
__Consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ph)
__Short vowels
__Long vowels
__Silent e
__Y as a vowel
__Digraphs (ai, ay, ea, ee ei)
__Diphthongs (au, oi, oy, oo)
__Prefixes/suffixes
__Compound words
__Contractions
__Recognizes high frequency sight words (aprox. 50)
__Is moving toward independence
Stage Eight
__Reads fluently with expression most of the time
__Recognizes which errors are important to self correct
__Demonstrates comprehension of reading material through discussion and retelling
__Changes expression and inflection when reading aloud
__Answers and understands written questions
__Uses prior knowledge to make predictions
__Makes good use of reading time and chooses to read
__Selects appropriate reading material
__Views self as reader
__Retells story including setting, sequence of events, main idea, characters, and conclusion
Stage Nine
__Reads fluently with proper expression
__Rarely makes mistakes
__Demonstrates higher levels of thinking skills in comprehension of reading material
__Picks up on nuances in books (humor, sadness, injustice, etc.)
__Makes informed predictions using prior knowledge
__Makes connections independently
__Chooses to read for a variety of purposes
__Welcomes challenges as a reader
__Reads a variety of reading material (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)

Learn to Read With Raggedy Ann

We love Raggedy Ann and Andy and the original stories written by Johnny Gruelle. In one of the many books I have read, I came upon a great idea to encourage beginning readers to practice reading. The idea was to have the child's doll or stuffed animal do the reading for them. I tweaked the idea a bit and this is how it worked. Jacob and I would sit down so he could practice reading out of his beginner reader books. I would hold Raggedy Ann in my lap and Jacob held his favorite bear. I would start by reading one page of the book as Raggedy Ann with my own made up Raggedy Ann voice. Then Jacob would have his bear read a page of the book. We would go back and forth like this until the story was finished. Jacob absolutely loved practicing his reading this way and would ask to read with Raggedy Ann and his bear. Prior to this, he had not been very interested in practicing reading and considered it a chore as so many little boys often do.

Raggedy Ann acted as a teacher figure during these reading times and she would correct Jacob's bear if he made a mistake. Sometimes she was a little bossy, especially when Jacob's bear got too silly. Jacob thought it was funny when Raggedy Ann reprimanded his bear and told him that reading time would be over if he did not behave. At the end of the story, Raggedy Ann and Jacob's bear would have a short wrestling match.

I admit, this way of teaching beginner reading is pretty funny but it really worked for Jacob. He still asks for me to talk for Raggedy Ann every once in a while even though he has moved beyond the beginner readers. The wrestling between Raggedy Ann and Jacob's bear at the end of the story is probably not something that little girls would be into and probably sounds pretty silly. It was a real motivator for Jacob though! Little boys just seem to have something for wrestling and bigger boys as well. My husband and four younger brothers, who are all out of school now, were doing some wrestling in the snow last Christmas. I should add that my husband and the oldest of my brothers did not actually participate but they wanted to. I told my husband that he has a family to support now and he does not need to get a wrestling injury.

Anyway, this story about wrestling just shows how different boys and girls are. I have never had an urge to wrestle myself although I am sure I would have enjoyed reading with my Raggedy Ann doll when I was a child. I guess I can thank my four brothers for teaching me how boys learn best. You can check out a couple of our favorite original Raggedy Ann and Andy stories below and you can buy your own dolls through the Kids Love Learning Store. Of course, any of your child's favorite dolls or stuffed animals can be substituted for Raggedy Ann.

Learning Letter Sounds

Once your child has learned to recognize all the letters of the alphabet, you can start working on letter sounds. My two children have very individual learning styles so I have used different techniques and resources to help teach them their letter sounds. My son Jacob is a kinesthetic learner which means he learns best through hands on activities. Rosa, on the other hand, is an auditory learner. She learns best through activities that involve listening, especially musical activities.

Rosa recently finished learning all her letters, so I was on the look out for some auditory learning resources to help teach her letter sounds. I came across a wonderful video from Leap Frog called The Letter Factory. This video has become a favorite of Rosa's and after watching it four or five times she knows almost half her letter sounds. I would not usually recommend a video and I want to add that we have an hour a day limit on videos and computer games in our house. This video is a cut above most of the videos that are advertised as being educational. It teaches the letter sounds through cute story lines and songs for each letter. It is the songs that seem to really stick in the kid's heads.

Back when Jacob was learning his letter sounds, I found a book called Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye. This book is a wonderful resource of fun activities to help teach pre-reading and reading skills. We used two games in the book to teach Jacob his letters and his letter sounds. One was an egg carton toss game and the other was a game called "hop on it". This was a game we played outside on our paved driveway. I wrote different letters all over our driveway using sidewalk chalk. I would then call out a letter sound and Jacob would have to go jump on the letter that made that sound. Often I would pretend to race him to the correct letter or try to hold him back so I could win the round. He thought that was hilarious and he wanted to play "hop on it" over and over. This game can also be used to learn the names of letters as well.

There are many ways to teach concepts to a child and what works for one child will not necessarily work well for another. A teacher in public school does not have time to teach each lesson using all the learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). If you see your child falling behind in school, it would be a good idea to supplement his learning with fun activities at home that are geared to his or her learning style.

I should also add that I tried playing "hop on it" with Rosa to help her learn the letters and she wasn't into it. It just wasn't her learning style!