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Preschool is the most crucial part of learning as it is the foundation of education. Every child starts his/her education in preschool specially nowadays where a child needs to go to school as early as two years old. Unlike in the olden days when a child goes to school at the age of six, today is so much different. With the fast pace of life, everything followed suit and even education has changed tremendously. A child has to go to school at a very young age.

Teaching preschoolers to read and write is the hardest part of educating children. Most preschoolers specially the very young ones couldn't write and read yet. Two year old children have motor skills that are still underdeveloped and they cannot grasp the pencils and crayons that much. They have to start learning how to hold a pencil or a crayon first before they are taught how to write. The best way to teach a child to write is give him/her crayons and let him/her practice coloring pictures. As much as possible, the child must be guided accordingly on how to hold a crayon correctly. It is more advisable to use crayons for very young children so that they will not hurt themselves. Pencils are hard and pointed and very young children aren't advised to use them in the first days of school.

Once the child could grasp the crayon and hold it properly, you can start teaching the child how to write. Do not let the child write the letters or numbers. Instead teach the child to trace straight lines. Very young children do not have the knowledge yet about lines, they look at lines as mere lines and nothing else. You will observe that children make crooked lines better than straight lines, so it is important to guide their hands in order for them to be able to make straight lines.

If the child could already make lines, it is time to start teaching him/her to trace the letters. Our practice is to let the child trace one letter for a week until such time that the child already knows how to write without tracing. Once the child has learned the technique of writing, it would be very easy for the child to write all the letters and numbers. The most important thing to note is to teach the child the proper way of writing and everything will be fine.

Like writing, teaching reading to preschoolers must be done in the proper way. You cannot just teach a child who knows nothing about words to read words in a book. The first step is to teach the sounds of the alphabets so that the child will know how to associate the sounds with the alphabets and gradually learn how to read words. You can teach the child phonics and sight reading at the same time but make sure that you aren't confusing the child. Sounds are very important because it is the best way for the child to learn how to read simple words.

When teaching the child how to read, make sure that the child knows how to associate the words he/she is reading with the pictures in the book. Children love pictures and they love stories. When properly taught, the child would easily learn how to read. Teaching reading to young children is easy. Just keep in mind that everything is learned step by step. Keep the children interested by showing them pictures and letting them answer questions about the story. The children would associate the pictures to the words and it is easier for them to read the words.

Always start with the basic when teaching a child how to read and write. If your child had the right foundation then you could be sure that your child will have no problem in reading and writing.

Learn more about this author, Felisa Daskeo.
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