This is part 2 of an instructional series to teach your child how to read.

There is a definitive art to teaching a young child or toddler to read successfully. This is an easy step-by-step guide to teaching your child to read. In my over twenty years of experience in teaching young children, this is the method I have used to be successful. I have taught children as young as 2 and 3 years old to read and comprehend complete books, and these are the steps I have taken. There is no trick to teaching young children to read, but it does require consistency; young minds learn quickest by having information presented repetitively.

Here is the link to Step 1: Letter Sounds … Teach Your Child to Read! Step 1: Letter Sounds – My Brilliant Child

Here is the link to another great post which teaches you how to have your toddler/child read a complete book in 30 days … 4 Steps to Teach Your Child to Read in 30 Days – My Brilliant Child

LONG VOWEL SOUNDS

At this time, it is not important that your child fully knows the difference between vowels and consonants. You should teach vowels …. a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y & w. But other than memorizing that little rhyme, children do not yet need to understand what a vowel is. Also, it is not yet important to teach a child in what instance a vowel will yield a short or long sound.

When teaching the letter sounds from step 1, we can now start to incorporate:

• A says Ahh or it says its name A
• B says Buh
• C says Cuh
• D says Duh
• E says Ehhh or it says its name E
• F says Fuh
• G says Guh
• H says Huh
• I says Ihhh or it says its name I
• J says Juh
• K says Kuh
• L says Lll
• M says Mmm
• N says Nnn
• O says Ohhh or it says its name O
• P says Puh
• Q says Kwah
• R says Rrr
• S says Suh
• T says Tuh
• U says Uhhh or it says its name U
• V says Vuh
• W says Wuh
• X says Ks or says its name X
• Y says Yuh
• Z says Zuh

Remember, when your child begins sounding out words and gets to a long vowel sound … you can remind them that it is a long vowel and that it “says its name”. We will not explain to them at this step the reason the vowel is long.

The easiest way to have your child learn long vowels is to incorporate saying all letters in alphabetical order while looking at the letter presented on a flashcard. As you show your child each individual letter, he or she will repeat after you, saying the name of the letter and its sound(s). This should first be done in alphabetical order, but as you see your child gaining familiarity with the letter and corresponding sounds, feel free to present out of order.

CONSONANT BLENDS

A consonant blend is two or three consonants next to each other with each consonant representing a different sound. The most common, and the ones that are most important for your child to learn at this step are:

“L” Blends “R” Blends

1. BL says bluh – BR says Bruh
2. CL says cluh – CR says Cruh
3. FL says fluh – DR says Druh
4. GL says gluh – FR says Fruh
5. PL says pluh – GR says Gruh
6. SL says sluh – PR says Pruh

“S” Blends

1. SC says scuh
2. SL says sluh
3. SM says smuh
4. SN says snuh
5. SP says spuh
6. SW says swuh

These two skills, long vowel sounds and consonant blends, can be taught at the same time.

Step 1, letter sounds, can be focused on alone for 1-2 weeks. Letter sounds do not have completely mastered before beginning to incorporate step 2 skills. The skills presented here in step 2 should be added to the skills in step 1 for approximately a week before moving on to step 3.

Next: Step 3 … Phonics! CVC Words

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