My son was so excited to read when he first cracked the code but now sees it as a chore. I let him pick out as many books and whichever books he wanted at the library last week and he became interested in the Biscuit series but other than having it be on his terms, he doesn’t love reading and will often times try to squirm out of it. I want to develop a genuine love of reading so he eventually does it unprompted. There are certain decoding rules we are working through so that he has more fluid success when reading and hopefully is more enjoyable for him (ie., “c” is pronounced like the letter not “k” when proceeded by an e, etc.)…but any advice to motivate? What worked for you??
My baby is only 12 months old, so I don’t have any advice on how to motivate a child that’s reading books already. Indo have some advice about learning certain decoding rules. I’ve found that Preschool Prep Meet the Phonics DVDs tend to have fun, catchy songs such as the silent e song. The song includes the rule about the sound of c and g changing when they precede letter e. Here’s a link to a YouTube video of the song. Check it out. It might be a fun way for your son learn and retain those decoding rules.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTqgFj-gWek
Time… and lots and lots of reading aloud to your child - especially of books that are very exciting and that your child could manage and then read and stop at an exciting point - if he/she picks it up and reads great, if not then you keep reading the book the next day again stopping at a good point.
I still read aloud to both my children - books of every level even below their reading level, but especially above their level.
Provide your child with loads of books, but young children do sometimes need fewer choices rather than too many. I expected my child to read to me daily - it was part of the routine and while there were days she complained, she still read to me - to increase fluency, to work on vocabulary, for her to realise that she can read almost anything. Now that my child reads a lot independently I have stopped weekend reading (she reads to herself then) but she continues to read aloud to me every week day from books at a more challenging level for her (at this point more challenging means they will have a high degree of more difficult vocabulary or will contain foreign words or the sentence structure in the book is more challenging or the book is from an era where some history explanation is needed or the book is about a different country and some explanation of the culture or the types of plants/animals listed are needed etc)
Finally don’t worry - you can’t make someone love something - all you can do is find what it is your child enjoys while still providing variety.
Here’s what we did in addition with YBCR until they were 1. We didn’t discuss phonics. A couple of suggestions:
Do exaggerated voices of the characters in the books you read to them, they’ll probably think it’s funny and look forward to it.
If your child is already reading, you can sometimes read the words out of order and let them correct you, they will also enjoy this. ‘The cat went to the cat,’ or ‘The store went to the cat.’ Froodle is a good book with made up words that is a fun read.
If your child is currently learning to read, always follow the words with your finger when reading to them.
Always use subtitles when watching anything. Martha Speaks, Guess How Much I Love You and Arthur are a few books that became television shows. You can see them on Netflix to avoid advertising.
If they love dinosaurs, you can read to them dinos. If they love cats, get anything cat related etc. Get books about things they are currently interested in.
Go to the library or book store on a weekly basis, you don’t have to buy anything. Most libraries have a weekly story time and check out their other fun events too. Sign them up for their own library card, have them ask the librarian for help finding books and have them checkout too. They will be in control and learn their way around.
Get a stuffed animal or a similar one to one of their favorite books. They sell Elephant and Piggie and Knuffle Bunny stuffed animals for example.
Read books you like. Your child will see and model your behavior. If you’re reading on your phone it looks different, so use a book. When you’re at the library, get books for yourself too.
Get music related to books they like. Super Why has a cd and so does Go Diego Go.
Get audio books and follow along with the book.
For older children, you could get magnetic poetry or words and leave them on the fridge. Leave each other messages and see what they come up with.
Get some placemats about things they like, painlesslearning.com and rainbowresource.com are good places to find them.
Have books within reach and read to them daily. If they lose interest quickly, read to them during the day and at bedtime too.