Learning to read is an important milestone for every student. Developing strong reading skills early on helps to build a solid foundation for future learning. Learning to read is a process that occurs gradually as students come to master a number of different steps. Parents should also promote the importance of learning to read by reading to their child on a regular basis and by practicing the steps of learning to read with them at home.
Alphabet
The first step in learning to read is learning the letters of the alphabet. Students must memorize the letters of the alphabet and be able to recognize the capital and lowercase forms of each letter at sight. There are several strategies that are commonly used to help students learn the letters of the alphabet. One of the most popular is the "ABC song" which uses rhyming as a memorization aid. Flash cards are another effective method for learning the alphabet. Each flash card has a picture of a letter on one side of the card and a picture of an object that begins with that letter on the other side.
Phonics
Learning phonics is an essential step in learning to read. Phonics consists of the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds. Once students have memorized the letters of the alphabet, they must then learn the corresponding short and long sounds that each letter makes. Mastering phonics is necessary for students to be able to combine specific sounds to form individual words. Phonics is also helpful for teaching students "sound out" words that they do not recognize immediately. This helps to promote independent reading, since students will be able to figure out words for themselves without asking for help.
Vocabulary
Learning to read involves more than just learning the appearance of letters and their sounds. Once students have the ability to form and recognize words, the next step is to then focus on the meanings of those words. Building a large vocabulary is essential for acquiring good reading comprehension skills. Students obtain a large portion of their vocabulary in their everyday lives. Students pick up vocabulary words from home, at school and on television. One effective way to help increase a student's vocabulary is by reading to her aloud. Being read aloud to helps students to pick up the meanings of words within the context of a story.
Mechanics
The importance of mechanics is an often-overlooked component of learning to read. Once students have learned to form and recognize words and their meanings, they can then move on to reading complete sentences. In order to learn to read sentences, students must understand the different forms of punctuation and the role that it plays in a sentence. Beginning readers will probably only need to learn basic punctuation symbols such as periods, question marks, exclamation points and commas. Learning the mechanics of sentence structure is essential for students to be able to fully understand the meaning of a complete sentence.
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