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After having taught reading and Phonics both as a tutor and in Christian schools, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to teach excellence in Reading is to combine the two approaches into one. I teach children to read by a combination of memorizing easy words as sight words and by teaching the phonetic sounds, to encourage continued successes. This approach has literally worked in hundreds of cases. The more words a child easily recognizes, the more easily they believe in themselves and develop the confidence which is so vital to a happy well read student. It is very easy to set up a program using this integrated approach. Simply make a list of twenty words commonly referred to as sight words. To start, have the student memorize ten words per week. This approach can be started and used with children as young as four years of age. As you teach the words, you also start teaching the beginning letter sounds. It is amazing how many words your new reader will know in a very short time. As the reader becomes more adept at reading, increase the number of words they learn per week. There are many charts and helps available over the Internet, or you can come up with your own. The most important aspect of this program is continuity and repetition. Rhyming words for younger students bring rapid success at the beginning, as does combining several sounds as blends helps ramp up the level at which a student will learn to read. Creative Writing should be added as soon as the student is able to read several words without difficulty. This generally occurs about halfway through the school year. Having child read daily will keep them focused on their learning goals.Making the experience fun only increases your student's willingness to try harder. For more information on working with your child at home and for charts to start, contact me.

Learn more about this author, Janice Day Sirman.
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