Page 24 - teachYourChildToRead

24 Teach your child to read

could take months and months of one on one direct instruction. This is
valuable time when three year olds should be learning skills that children
of this age are ready and able to learn quickly and easily. A six year old
child will accomplish the abstract task of learning to tell the time in a
week or so, teaching tasks when the brain is sufficiently developed to
learn is the key to effective education.

Matching objects

The following guided learning activities are designed for two to three
year old children that are ready for basic instructional learning. These
activities are designed to teach the specific skills necessary for successful
reading acquisition. The first play based guided learning activity teaches
children to match identical objects and pictures; this is achieved by
introducing the concept of ‘same’.

Begin by finding objects around the home that are identical and introduce
the concept of ‘same’ by saying “these (bananas, ducks, socks) are the
same, what else can we find that is the same?” It doesn’t matter what the
objects are, only that they are identical. Statements like “my spoon is the
same as your spoon and my plate is the same as yours” will help your
child focus on similarities.

Turn taking

The next step is to introduce turn taking. Teach turn taking using any
type of daily activity such as when you are brushing their teeth e.g. “my
turn to brush, your turn to brush” or when you are reading together
“your turn to select a book, my turn to select one”.

Once your child understands the concept of same and are able to
independently identify objects that are identical and they also
understand turn taking, they are ready to begin the next learning activity
that involves matching identical pictures.