4 Year Old Reading

I have a 5 (in 2 months will be 6) year old girl and she loves books. Books are the best thing I belive. we have soo many books. thats great that your four year old likes to read.

Try the hooked on phonics reading program. I hear it is very good. My 4 year old also enjoys the VTech Wiz Kid Learning System. It teaches all things including reading. That is all I can think of for now, will keep thinking for you though.
D.

Dear E.,

I have 3 children, and the middle one is 5 and just learning to read. I've found that providing books that are excellent quality in content, pictures, and ones that hold their attention. Of course, it always helps to get books in a subject that they enjoy. The books I get for my children are Usborne books. They uphold all of the things I mentioned, and they are wonderful. My children particularly enjoy the touchy-feely books, picture books with look and see flaps, and early reading books.

If you are interested, I am enclosing my website (I'm also an independent consultant for Usborne) if you want more information. I hope this helps you finding books that your daughters will enjoy reading!

Take care,

C. Elias
www.ubah.com/N2285

I agree with all the previous advice. My 3 yo little boy is also reading. the library has been our best friend. We choose first reader booksa nd he helps us read them. the other thing I use with him is the reading website www.starfall.com
It is excellent for self motivated kids wanting to learn to read.
Good luck and have fun

T.

Well, Laura gave away my best 'former teacher' reading tip! The best reading program is a library card! Take her to the library and let her read whatever interests her. Go to the half-price bookstore or a yard sale or whatever you can afford and saturate her enviroment with books. Also, be sure that she sees you and her dad reading. If it's important to you, it will be important to her.

Have fun!
--H.

I read this and am answering straight from my email, so it's quite possible that I'm restating someone else's answer. As a teacher and mother of 3, I can say that you have already "expanded her love of reading!" She is already doing what she needs to do. Keep reading to her and supplying her with books that are on her level for her to read on her own. Take her to the library as often as possible and share and talk about books. Let her choose books that she enjoys and if she wants to read the same ones over and over, that's great. It will help her keep her love of reading. If you want to stifle this love, then begin a structured "Program" that includes "work" to go along with it. There are some fun programs, but honestly, they are not necessary to develop a love of reading or the basics she needs to become a better reader. Reading to your child every day, especially books she chooses, is the best way to foster this love! Keep up the good work!

Hi E., best reading program: Take her to the Library 1x per week. Pick out fun books of differing levels of difficulty (some that you/husband read to her, some that she can read herself)
and/OR
Create a squiggle book - draw a squiggle - she turns it into a picture of something and then she writes the story behind the picture. I did taht in 3rd grade with my teacher and it was probably one of my fondest memories of grade school

I read at the age of 4. The cool thing is: you can turn it into a game and practice reading anywhere!

Other things that are fun: you write a word, she has to read it.

don't stress about it, just keep it fun.

I would suggest buying your daughter books about what she likes (whether it be animals or Dora or princesses or whatever). My son is really into (more like obsessed with) Thomas the Tank Engine so we bought him a ton of Thomas books. He tries to make me read all of them every night, but that would take hours so we just limit it to three. He's to the point where he's memorized the words to the more simple books and will "read" the book by himself. He rarely reads something other than Thomas. And it really doesn't matter what she's reading, as long as she's learning to read. Good luck!

M.

I taught my daughter to read using a curriculum called "Sing, Spell, Read and Write" and now she's in Kindergarten reading on a 2nd grade level. But if your daughter is already reading you probably don't need to invest in something like that. We also go to the library regularly and I've been helping my daughter find books about horses which is her passion. Before she started school we went to library storytime every week.

Yes! Go to starfall.com . It's an awesome website for helping kids learn to read, beginning at the alphabet (what sounds each letter makes) up to about a second grade reading level. It's totally free, it works beautifully even if you only have dialup, and kids LOVE it! There are stories, songs, games, and even little movies. The animation is cute, and best of all, it's not annoying for the grownups. You can even order workbooks for your child to practice writing, and they are VERY reasonably priced. My mom was the one who shared this site with me... she's a (recently retired) elementary school reading specialist.
When my 2nd son was 4, we couldn't afford preschool, he was too young for kindergarten, and needed a challenge. Starfall.com was just the thing. My mom had sent us the little books you can order, so I had him work on reading the books to me one at a time, "passing them off" to me. As he finished each set of books we filled out the certificate that comes with them, and he felt so big and smart. He's now in 1st grade, but reads at a 2nd grade level, and LOVES it.

I also had a precocious 4 yr old girl. You don't really need a program! The best thing anyone can do is read to your child every day starting at birth. Pick out books she can read as well as more challenging books to read to her. This is a good age to begin reading some of the famous children's authors like E B White. Read a chapter a night. She will naturally want to hear more.

Don't take this as pesimism, but are you sure she is reading? It is highly possible that she is, but one quesiton I would ask myself is, is she "reading" a book that you read to her a thousand times and knows the words to? To her, reading means looking at the page and saying words, she does not have any understanding that it means to use phonics and sound out words. There is nothing wrong with reading from memory, but it is not reading.
As a reading specialist, I wholeheartedly agree that taking her to the library is the best bet. Expose her to books, all kinds and other places like museums etc.
I am really an advocate AGAINST reading programs for young ones. They get so much more from experiencing the world. Don't stick her in front of a computer or tv, you are only hindering her natural curiosity.
Save your money and your child's attnetion span (which is hindered by these programs0 and let her grown at her own rate. Her motivation will take her far!

My daughter is now 20, an avid reader and writer and majoring in journalism in college. I attribute her love of reading to our promotion of reading beginning very early. We made almost weekly trips to the library to bring home a stack of the easy picture books. Our bedtime ritual always included a story or two snuggled together on the sofa. Sometime she wanted to read the same book more than once. With familiar books where she knew the story by the picture she would often "read" to me by telling me the story using the pictures even tho she did not actually know the words. As she began to learn to read she would read to me and I would help her with the words. Even later into elementary school, we would read aloud as a family, reading a longer chapter book or young person's novel. We read only a chapter or two each night. We looked forward to the continuation of the story each evening. Sometimes at the end of a busy day this may seem like part of the bedtime ritual to shorten but I feel those many blocks of time when I had to sometimes muster my patience have paid off just as much or more than we saving for her college fund!
We always had, and still do, have lots of books in the house. I think it is particularly special when the child actually owns a copy of their favorite story or a special book. Books can be pricey even in paperback but request these for gifts at birthdays and christmas. You can actually go to the books store, review the titles and make suggestions as to those you think appropriate. Relatives may want to give a copy of their favorite story. My daughter now often gives her favorite story to her toddler cousins. I still have the copy of the Fairy tales my sister gave to me and I was able to read it to my children.
Promote reading and books by example. You may not enjoy reading but while at the library with your daughter pick up something for yourself if only it is a book with lots of pictrues you find enjoyable to look through (decorating, crafts, cookbook). Seeing you with a book will show her it's a good thing. You may actually find yourself getting swept up in it if you find something of particular interest. I was definitely not a good or interested reader in high school or my 20's (I'm now in my 50's). I polish off about 2 books and an Oprah magazine a month now. My love of reading grew over time as I found things I wanted to learn more about (crafts, history, the arts). That sort of reading is much different than what we are required to do during school. I find the library the best bargain in town. Any day I can go there and for free bring home a visual or mind's delight.
Promote reading by what you say. Don't share with her that you dislike reading. (You can save that for when she's older and can understand.) Talk about the positives. "That was a good story wasn't it?" "I liked what that little polar bear did in the story?" "My favorite book this week is _____" We always watched Reading Rainbow (don't know if it's still on) and other PBS shows that promote reading.
Take advantage of the local library's reading programs for your daughter. Most branches have story time beginning for very small toddlers. They usually welcome Mom, stroller and baby brother/sister too. This was always a special time for us. The reading programs will change with your daughter's age group. My local branch has something for every child and young adult leading up to the monthy book club and summer reading groups for high school kids and adults. We always took part in the summer reading program which usually involved a reward given at the end of teh summer depending on the number of books read by the child.
There are also "audio" books for toddlers...or there use to be for my child. The child could follow along with the actual book in hand while the audio played. Often the child just listens. Later my child had a small cassettee player in her room she could operate herself to listen to books and music.
Promoting reading will also be one of the most important contributers to your daughter's success in school. My two children, I also have a 17 yr son, routinely score high on vocabulary tests and reading comprehension. While my son does not gravitate toward a book (i.e. fiction), unless it's a fat computer technical manual, he is an avid reader of internet material and research. Reading also contributes to good writing skills.
Just make books and reading a natural part of your daughter's every day activity. Make it enjoyable and fun and she'll go with it. I hope you discover the pleasure of reading too. Maybe like myself, when your daughter is high school you'll want to discuss what she's reading at the time. She recommends titles to me now. The more you read the better it gets!! Good luck,

Hooked on Phonics is great and you can buy it for different ages and reading levels. So once they have mastered one level you can get the next one. They are sold in a lot of stores now. I bought my sons and daughters at Sams club.