5 years old...cant read, please help

R

rs2000

Registered User
Hi all,

My 5 years old daughter can not read much. She goes to CAIS (started in Sep 2011) and her teacher also mentioned in the meeting that she is a bit behind when compared to her classmates.
Her teacher is also working on it and she has now picked up some words like the, is...

but I want her to be able to read soon. I am thinking of some supplementary program (preferebly at home) that I can use. I see that her phonics are weak. She knows the sounds of alphabets but somehow can not combine them when in words.

there is this (sounds waves close to us www.soundwaves.com.hk). has someone tried it? they are expensive (200$/75 mins lesson) so I want to research a bit before I enroll her

Seperately I have been trying to read books to her and also ask her to read some words for past 2 months but progress has been slow. I have to admit that I am not very well structured into how to make a 5 years old understand the reading. We ordered lots of level 1 reading boosk from US. Is there any home based program that I can use for her (5years age), jolly phonics? leapfrog? letterland? Also please let me know about how can I get the relevant material at reasonable cost?

PS: she speaks english well and has got fair vocabulary as well but that does not translate into reading skills
thanks a lot!
 
Hi there,

I am a NET teacher with my own business called We MAKE Creative Education. I do small classes and 1-1 tutoring, so if you're interested in an "intensive" phonics & reading comprehension class PM me or check out my website for more information http://we-make.hk

Alternatively, if you are looking for some things that you can do with your daughter to improve her reading you should check online for some Montessori activities. I think that one of the best ways that I have taught my students pre-reading skills is with something called a "treasure bag". I have created treasure bags by sound, so in each bag there are about 4-6 items or images inside that represent the sound of the letter. For example "P" would contain pizza, pig, etc.

I believe things like this allow children to tangibly experience objects and associate the sound. Other things you can do is by labeling objects in your home, common things and your daughter will begin recognizing the word and the object.

There are so many things you can do at home, I hope that this helps and you feel that you are able to make progress with her at home and at school!

Best,

Liz
 
My kid's school recommends www.starfall.com. My twins just turned 5 and they started Primary at age 4.

What really helps mine is to know some common sight / high frequency words (they have a book with about 200 in there which they do weekly at school). There are iPhone apps with high frequency words as well.
 
thanks all.

i will check these out. so would you recommend these over jolly phonics/letterland?

also do you think I should be worried ( I am) for my 5 years old not being able to read?

Thanks again
 
I would not be worried. My son is really only just starting to read, he will be 7 in a couple of months. He fell behind his classmates when we moved here as he was out of school for over 2 months and he was not a good reader before we left the previous place. He had a similar "problem" (for want of a better word) where he knew the phonic sounds but couldn't combine. Of course I was concerned (some classmates with older siblings were reading short stories!) but the teachers were relaxed about it. He is catching up now, we haven't forced the issue and he is starting to enjoy reading more.
Just a note - in some countries children don't attend school until age 6.
 
i second starfall and reading eggs. they are entertaining and fun, but i feel only as supplement. jolly phonics is great, it's got rhymes and songs that are catchy and helps very much with blending. (ive never learnt letterland, so i cant comment) i think it takes a few reading "programs", not just one to help a child be literate.

i would check with the school on which reading programs they are on and work with them, so that i can help reinforce what has been learnt at school, at home. there are high frequency words books around, oxford tree books as well as online resources like http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/literacy.html

as a matter of fact. i only learnt to read at 8 years old, at school. before that, everything was a blur :)
 
If you have an iPhone or an iPad, there are TONS of those kinds of apps. My daughter is only 3 so the ones I have are probably not advanced enough for you - but from that (and also from watching Word World), she knows almost all her letter sounds and is already starting to put them together. I've put absolutely no pressure on her at all to learn to read - she DOES go to kindy and they do a little bit in a non-pressure way, but she is just picking it up from educational games and shows. It's not too late to catch up.

The other thing - do you read to her? Having a love for reading and an interest in books is important in learning to read. If you don't have many books, take her to the library and just spend an hour reading to her. It'll be great for her :)
 
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