5 great tools to teach reading
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Getting an early start on reading is a compelling idea to many parents: reading opens the door for self-directed learning, access to knowledge and academic success. However it’s important to keep in mind that children become developmentally ready to start learning to read at very different ages. In fact, in Finland, widely considered the best education system in the world, many kids don’t even start reading until age 7.
Like math programs, the best tool to support a child’s reading varies considerably according to their learning style (even among siblings). That said, educational specialists widely agree that programs that rely on phonics to teach reading are generally the most successful. It can be difficult to choose from the multitude of reading tools on the market to make the right choice for your child’s reading program. Luckily, we’ve reviewed dozens of popular reading tools and sifted through thousands of reviews from parents who’ve successfully taught their child to read and we concluded that “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” is the best choice for most families seeking a straightforward, effective approach to teaching their young child to read at home.
Editor’s Choice
Teach Your Child to read in 100 easy lessons draws on Direct Instruction and systematic review to help parents teach their child to read. Parents who carefully review the teacher guide and follow the simple script for 20 minutes a day can expect great results in 100 days.
We spent 100 hours reviewing feedback from three thousand parents who had successfully taught their child to read to determine which reading program worked best for most families. While some families find it a bit dry, most parents and educators prefer the simple, straightforward, but timeless “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,” by Siegfried Engelmann and Phyllis Haddox. Originally published in 1983, the book includes a teacher’s guide and 100 scripted lessons that parents can deliver in 20 minutes a day. The book is succinct and effective for gifted early readers as well as children struggling with dyslexia or other special reading needs. This is a particularly good choice for children who like a structured approach to learning with clear milestones. Parents strongly recommend reviewing the teacher’s guide carefully before initiating lessons. It’s worth noting, that though effective, this scripted approach called DISTAR has been criticized for limiting student and teacher creativity. “Teach Your Child to Read costs $14.99 on Amazon.
Most fun alternative to “Teach Your Child to Read”
For a more engaging and colorful approach to learning to read that still draws on phonics, parents can try Reading Eggs which includes a colorful workbook, app and website subscription which teaches children to read in 15 minutes a day over 60 lessons.
For families who find “Teach Your Child to Read” to be too dry and scripted, Reading Eggs is a popular alternative for a more fun, but also effective, mastery-based approach to learning to read. This award-winning program has 60 easy lessons that include activities to build phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It’s used in 12,000 schools and by 10mm parents. The colorful flexibound workbook is available for $19.95 on Amazon and a website subscription costs $9.95 a month (which also includes access to their popular math program -Mathseeds.
Best app and game
The Usborne Foundation funded this engaging Bafta-nominated app with monsters and aliens to teach children to read. Parents find it highly effective and it’s definitely the most fun approach for young learners to build reading skills.
Teach Your Monster to Read is a free app sponsored by the Usborne Foundation whose mission is to teach every child to read. The most fun and easy-to-use reading app we’ve seen, the Teach Your Monster to Read app has taught over 10 million kids to read and includes a series of games that guides children through the first 2 years of reading. Children get to create their own monster and go on magical adventures to foster phonemic awareness and critical reading skills. The app can be used to support another reading game or on its own. And the best part is, it’s free.
Reading by “osmosis”
A casual, but effective method for teaching reading
While phonics is widely considered by educators and researchers to be the best approach to teach reading to children, many parents have found it just as effective to casually and regularly read to their child while following the words with their finger.
Children learn by modeling. And a child’s mind is capable of making so many connections and inferences, just through experience. While each child learns differently and there are certainly children that require a more formal, structured approach, reading to a child regularly can work just as well as direction instruction. For parents seeking a more gentle approach to learning to read that inspires a lifelong love of reading, an approach of reading regularly to their child at bedtime, meals or other free moments during the day while following the text with their finger can work to teach many children to read.
