As I told you a few weeks ago, I’ve been working with our youngest on his reading this summer. We’re using the Bob Book Set I found at Costco and are so excited to see how quickly he’s catching on! If you’re looking for an easy program to begin at your house, I recommend trying this as an easy way to get your feet wet.

One of the features I appreciate is the parent/teacher guide book that was included in the series. Inside are stickers of all the sight words introduced in the series, along with a list of helpful ideas for mom & dad! I thought I’d adapt them and share 7 with you today. My thanks to Lynn Maslen Kertell for the original list of 9 Hints; she deserves the credit for the following as well!

1. Play with magnetic letters, draw letters in sand, shape letters from pipe cleaners. Make the alphabet and reading a part of your everyday life.

2. Read words and identify letters in your environment–spell the STOP sign, talk about the letters in the OPEN sign, read the name of your grocery or hardware store.

3. Encourage your child to scribble, draw, and write letters. Write large letters for him to trace with a crayon or marker.

4. When using flash cards, make your sessions a game, not a test! Nurture his love of learning by noticing the positive and working as a team.

5. Hand sight word cards around your house and send your child on a “sight word hunt.”

6. Send your child on a “word treasure hunt.” Give him one or two sight words and have him look through magazines to find the word as many times as possible. [how about an M&M or frozen blueberry for each find?]

7. For fun, use sight word cards and pictures cut from magazines to create sentences. Keep extra 3×5 cards handy in case you want to add more words.

Q4U: What are some other fun ways to help your child learn to read—and enjoy it?