Teaching Toddlers How to Read Using an At Home Curriculum
We are continuing our Teaching Toddlers series by reviewing how to teach toddlers to read. In case you missed it, in the first two posts of this series we discussed teaching toddles math and critical thinking skills using an at home curriculum. We covered teaching a variety of early math concepts such a quantities, numerals, patterns, measurement and more.
In this article we will cover not only how to teach toddlers to read but also the importance of doing so from an early age. Did you know that only 35% of US fourth graders are reading at or above grade level? This means that 65% of US fourth graders are “below proficient” which means they are not reading at grade level. Even more worrisome is that 14%- a jaw dropping 32 million adults- in the United States cannot read. 1. One of our goals at Masterminds Early Learning is maximize the potential of every child and help them be them be their most intelligent and happiest selves.
Benefits of Reading to your Baby
Reading to you baby is one of the best ways to help develop a lifelong love of learning.
Reading to your baby before they even reach toddlerhood has many benefits. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to help your little one develop and grow as well as develop a lifelong love of learning.
- Reading to babies and toddlers promotes early literacy skills- the ability to read and write- and a greater vocabulary. Many studies have proven this time and time again. The benefits of reading to a baby are not to be underestimated.
- During reading time, babies have a chance to bond with the adult reading to them. How often in our busy days do we get the chance to sit down and cuddle with our little one? If your days are anything like mine, that opportunity doesn’t come nearly as often as I wish. Scheduled reading time allows for one on one, uninterrupted time which your child may not get otherwise.
- When we are reading to our infants and toddlers, they are also learning emotional skills. They learn this through two avenues. The first one is through the emotion they hear in our voices while being read to. They learn to hear inflections and a variety of emotions in our voice. They also learn emotions through the different characters they encounter in the books whether it be the princess in love or the mean neighbor down the street. They learn about all the different emotions humans can experience and what they look and sound like.2
How to Read to your Baby
It's never too early to start reading to your little one. With my older daughter, we started reading to her the day we brought her home from the hospital. Of course, she had no idea what we were saying, but it started to immediately build a foundation of language skills for her.
The fun part of reading to an infant or small toddler is that since they have minimal to no language skills, you can read them whatever you want! If you are tired of baby books, feel free to substitute in your favorite read- a news article, a medical journal, or a business aviation magazine. The more variety you can include, the better. As your toddler ages, you can begin to have them point out the different letters and words they recognize.
Importance of Teaching Your Toddler to Read
Once a toddler can read, they have a whole new world opened up to them.
Toddlers are a lot of fun. They say the funniest things and are constantly learning new things. Arguably, one of the best things you can teach your toddler is how to read. Reading is a skill that will serve your toddler for the rest of his or her life because it will open up a whole new world of knowledge and adventure. One of most gratifying moments as a parent was the day my older daughter read me her first book. The excitement in my heart matched the excitement on her face. It’s a moment I hope I never forget! That moment opened up so many new adventures for her. She spends time each evening alone exploring a variety of reading material- animal magazines, books about different dog breeds, and her current favorite series- Captain Underpants. It brought a new sense of independence when she realized she didn’t have to wait on me to read to her but rather could explore and understand the books in her own timing. The earlier you can help your child gain their reading independence, the earlier they can begin to explore the world on their own.
How to Teach Toddlers to Read Using Words
At Masterminds Early Learning, we encourage you to being teaching your child reading words as early as 18 months. We prefer to introduce them just as we discussed introducing quantities and numerals- in a quick, exciting fashion. In our program, we introduce anywhere from 10-30 words per week depending on the child’s age. Words are presented a minimum of two times each day as repetition is key for word recognition. In our program, reading words are presented within topics that last either one or two weeks. During the Kindergarten program we present not only topic specific words but also common reading words- the, she, there, and so on. Sight words are presented in the same manner as topic specific words. The more a child can be exposed to these words, the more likely they are to remember and recognize them.
How to Teach Toddlers to Read Using Phonics
Some might argue that teaching a child to read through sight memorization isn’t beneficial because you can’t expose a child to every word in the English language. While this is a solid argument, we believe that children will begin to develop their own form of phonics style learning. They will learn to connect letters with their sounds. Not only will they learn about letters and their sounds, but they will also begin to understand root words and their meanings. At Masterminds, we find it immensely beneficial to expose children to reading words as well as individual letters and their sounds- or phonics. We begin teaching phonics in our Kindergarten program, but many of the children who started in our Preschool program begin making their own phonics connections simply through word exposure.
Why use Masterminds Early Learning to Teach Your Toddler to Read?
Children who successfully proceed through Mastermind Early Learning’s Reading and Encyclopedic Knowledge program can do more than read simple words and sentences. These children are able to intuit complex words never seen before and are able to read anything independently.
- 2022. The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance. https://thencbla.org/literacy-resources/statistics/
- The Benefits of Reading To Babies. October 27, 2020. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-benefits-of-reading-to-babies/
