Secrets of How to Teach 3-5 Year Olds to Read By Bev Jaremko When teaching grade nine, I noticed several kids reluctant to read aloud. I soon discovered why––they could barely read. Their low marks in all subjects and their later dropout were now explained. I vowed to spare my own baby that heartbreak. At three, he wanted to know what those marks were on the page. I figured if he could name 26 toys he could identify the 26 letters. But I knew that I would have to break the task down into pieces. I decided to teach lower case letters only so it would not confuse him. I would teach one sound per letter for the same reason and I would make the letter's name that same sound. H was huh, m was muh. I entered into his world by explaining the shape of the letters in stories––s was a snake, w was waves, m was mittens, h was a house with a chimney. These memory clues made it easy to recall the letters. We studied one every few days, felt it on signs, in wood, in plastic, in cardboard, ate it in cheese. This was tactile experience. After 6 letters I added 'a' which I said was half an 'apple' and it said ah. Then we put the letters into rows and sounded out results––huh ah muh became ham. I recall vividly the first time he put the letters together and sounded them out, nonchalantly. He was reading! I rearranged them. He read the new set––pat, pam, hat. We added new letters, stories and poems and then more combinations. The process took about a year and he could read over 600 words. He wanted more so I invented stories of how the letters grew up––b got a new bump, h got a new chimney. And I created stories explaining how some letters yell "get out of the way, ay" while others stay quiet––and he could read "pail, aid." We continued until I had four volumes of books making even exceptions logical, and he now had a reading vocabulary of several thousand words. Best of all, he was equipped to enter school feeling competent and excited about learning. Here is the poem the child learns, combining rhyme, rhythm, visual clues and logic for the alphabet: huh is for house muh is for mittens puh––pretty flower suh––snake is bitten wuh is for waves tuh for traintracks ruh––round the corner ah––apple stacks buh––bump on bottom cuh is for curl duh is for doorknob guh––long-haired girl nuh––nail got bent ih––it jumped up eh––egg fell open right into a cup oh is for octopus uh––under umbrella fuh has a funny top––he's a strange fella. juh––just a jet's trail kuh––kite on string luh is for ladder––you climb it in spring vuh is for very good yuh––yarn with tail you see zuh is for zigzag––you draw when you feel happy x is for crossing the street where you've been q (kwuh) is a lady with a long dress, a queen. If anyone is interested in this method, its step by step rationale is given on my website at http://www.telusplanet.net/public/bjaremko My website to teach preschoolers math is at http://anchorsailsmath.tripod.com Check out our message boards in Peer Perspectives. Back to Experts' Advice Legal Stuff You Should Know