Helping a 4 Year Who Is Trying to Read and Write

My son will be 5 in Nov. & has always been interested in words. My husband works at Home Depot & I discovered long ago that it is the perfect place for reading lessons. The letters on all of there signs are large, bold, capitals in bright orange. They tend to be simple & label the items to which they are atached, creating a word association. I have also found that boys love the store & get easily excited by most of the merchandise so expect to be there for quite a while. The questions never seem to end.
Hope this helps,
K.

A great book that helps is Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Everyone who has used it really likes it. You can go at your own pace and he will learn phonics as well. You can get it just about anywhere (bookstore, teacher store, internet)

I think there's a little kids' version of Scrabble, which is a very "big person" game. My kids also like the magnet alpha bet letters on the refrigerator. I put them up last year for the (then) 4 year old, but our 7 and 10 year old get into spelling with them too. Get two sets because there are never enough letters. Plus eventually, a lot of them end up under the refrigerator!

Sounds like you are off to a good start. My daughter started with old school books I had picked up at a garage sale. We would read one page a night, building until the whole story was done. For writing, I would print sentences on paper, quadruple spaced, and let her copy them, reading as she went.

I would keep doing what you are doing. Does he have a leapster? My 4 year old has it and loves it. She loves spelling words and finding letters but doesn't care to spell!!!

I would suggest that you check out the homeschooling sites online for
> more ideas and ways to challenge him. Also, if you have a gifted
> program in your area schools, have him tested. My son was in this
> program (he is an adult now) and it is great for those ahead of their
> age group and grade level. If he is advanced and you put him in a
> classroom where he is not challenged,even in kindergarten, it will be very difficult for
> him and the teacher. Good luck!
> B.

Hi Kristina, I have a little boy age 3.When he turned three,we bought him the Leapster L-Max. This is wonderful.My son loves it! I also by him preshool and kindergarten workbooks. He loves to trace and write. He can write and say all the alphabet. He also likes Leapfrog,let's learn to read. I go over letters and words,and we read a lot of books. He just participated in Paws and Claws at the local library. He has received 4 free books and recives the last one Saturday. I am also planning to enroll him in preschool for socialization, and to learn more skills.Have fun! I'm sure your son will do great! Stephanie

I am going through the exact same thing with one of my boys, who is 4. It sounds to me like you are doing all of right things. Find ways to let him help you write if that what he enjoys doing because he will learn so much faster if he is having fun. My son loves the workbooks you can get at Wal-Mart. We buy the Bid Kindergarten Workbook from School Zone Publishing (they're only $1.00!) but this book has math too. My son also likes Reader Rabbit computer software. Just get reading/writing curriculum that fits his level of comprehension, rather than his age. Find other ways to let him help you write. I have my son help me make birthday and anniversary cards, write chore lists or just jot a note to dad. We also make books. For example, we wrote The Tractor Book. We just cut out pictures of tractors from magazines, pasted each one to a piece of paper and stapled them all together between two pieces of construction paper. Then, I helped him write one short sentence on each page and we decorated the cover. Now he thinks he's a real author and we make books all the time.

Get some books that have the letters in it and you can help him write that way you could also get some flash cards that have letters and words on them

My son read at a very early age also. One writing thing he liked to do was write out the menu every night for supper. He would name is cafe/restaurant and then want to know what we were having for dinner. He would write it all out with some spelling help from us and then add drink choices at the bottom. He especially like to do this when we would have company. He would then take his "menu" around and ask what everyone would be having. Sometimes he wrote down drink orders (tea, milk, water, etc.) and turned them back into me to fill.

For games you might try a scrabble junior or something like that. It is a little more "adult".

Keep up the great work. My now 6 year old is reading chapter books every evening to himself before he goes to sleep. I just have to convince him he doesn't need to read the whole book in one night.

Hi Kristina,

My son is starting Kindergarten this year and has been reading for over a year. (He will be 6 in December). He started off with Scholastic Phonics Readers (1-800-SCHOLASTIC) or they have a set of these books at Lend & Learn (off Bus. Loop here in Columbia). I also have the alphabet hanging on the wall in our living room, along with the colors, and at one time I even had everything in the house labeled (door, window, lamp, wall, etc.) His favorite toy was a MagnaDoodle. He would write simple words like mom, dad, dog, cat, and eventually was spelling everyone's name. He loves to read Dr. Seuss books and Dick and Jane books.

S.

I am a married mother of a 5 year old son and 4 year old twin daughters.

Keep doing what you have been. It sounds like you are on the right track. Have him write his own book. Help his with spelling words out if that is what he needs help with and let him make illustrations for each page. Buy his some easy reader books, they have one or two words per page, and help him sound out the words. Buy him an early language dictionary. The dictionary has simple words with pictures so that he can find how to spell words on his own. Make up a matching game where the words are printed on an index card and a picture of the item is on another index card. What ever you do make sure it is fun so that he will continue to what to learn.

A little about me:

I am a mother of 2 boys, ages 5 and 10. I have been married to a wonderful man for 10 years. I have been teaching preschool for 5 years.

I am a teacher and having a child that loves to write is a wonderful thing. If he wants to do something "adult" then buy him a journal. At school I have my kids use compostion notebooks for their journals. He can write anything he wants in the journal and as many times as he wants. You may have to give him ideas at first. For example, ask him about the things he did during the day and have it write about it. This is a wonderful time to get him into writing stories. Don't worry about him staying on topic or using correct sentence form. Journaling will help to foster his love for sounding out words and writing them. Be very proud and continue to encourage him. By-the-way, what he is doing is called "inventive spelling". It is a very important step in the writing process that most children go through in Kindergarten or 1st grade.

There is some good computer software like Jump start and other learning games geared towards reading that he might enjoy.
S.

it sound like you have a very smart little boy and you are doing everything right my son is 5 and just started kindergarden this year he love it and I hope it help him want to learn to write he has never had in interest in learn to write his letters. Maybe you could try some of the work book you can buy them at walmart or the book store for a couple of book and since he does not like the childish level try maybe frist grade level and see how he does