Most research indicates that about 40% of children have problems learning to read.  This is a picture of my daughter.  My daughter had some problems learning to read even though I read to her all the time and provided her with the same support as I gave her brothers. I noticed she was falling behind her twin brother in first grade. I began to teach her in the same manner I would tutor a

I'm celebrating World Read Aloud Day again this year. You can celebrate World Read Aloud Day too! Here's a link with ideas. I first found out about World Read Aloud Day in 2011. I celebrated by telling my three children about the day, and we read aloud together at home. In 2012 I was asked to be a World Read Aloud Day advocate and spread the word about World Read Aloud Day online and in

There are a ton of published children's books! How do you find good books for kids? Scholastic Book Wizard Kansas Book Connect Find a Book Good Books for Beginning Readers Popular Books for Teens We Give Books (Please share a site you use to find books for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, early readers, preteens, and teens in a comment to help me and readers of this blog find books for

Today is International Book Giving Day!  How will you celebrate?  Visit this link to learn more about International Book Giving Day. I was reminded about this just yesterday. I'm going to share the link with my kids tomorrow and let them each decide how to give books. I can't wait to see how they decide to celebrate this day!  I already have two book donating plans happening. I've

One fun way to teach letter sounds is to have a child sort objects by beginning sounds. The letter sound for x can be taught by ending sound since the real sound for x is not found at the beginning of words. Toys and other small objects can be collected and used for letter sound sorting and practice. Lakeshore Learning sells Alphabet Sounds Teaching Tubs . Here's a link to the teaching

Parents can involve their children while reading books aloud. There's so much more to a book than the words on the page. Children like to talk, share, and ask questions. When you let your kids help with reading a book, it becomes much better than without their help.  Yes, it can be difficult to let this happen when you have more than one child trying to share, or you have limited time. I

Do your kids like non-fiction books? There are many non-fiction books available for children. Some children can't get enough non-fiction books. Many times non-fiction books will motivate a reluctant reader. Smithsonian has non-fiction books for early readers. These popular nonfiction children's books are available for iPads, iPhones, Androids, or in book format. . iPad: Alligator at

Are you learning about Common Core State Standards?   I taught elementary school before Common Core State Standards. I'm not currently teaching in a classroom, but I'm working to learn more about Common Core State Standards since I'm a parent and still involved with education. I found a wonderful webinar today with Pam Allyn, literacy expert and founder of LitWorld. You will learn more

  I've recommended many free sites to teach reading on this blog. There are numerous resources available with advice for parents to teach their children to read.   Are you a parent trying to teach a child to read? Are the resources you find online or in books enough? If not, you are not alone. Many parents find it challenging to teach their children to read.   I believe parents make the

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great 2012. Thank you to all who continue to follow this blog and especially those who have signed up to have Beginning Reading Help posts sent via email. (This can be done in a box in the top right column of this blog.) In 2012 I found myself enjoying my family and friends and working to develop a business doing what I love. I've been developing this

Parents who read to their children and know how to make the most of the time spent reading can make a big impact on their children's ability to learn to read. I have a website with some resources and advice for parents. Please visit Parent and Child Reading Assistance and the Advice by Age page. Here are some guides I've found online: A Guide to Reading With Your Child by Kindercare

Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language. It is important for readers to be able to hear and produce the smallest units of sounds before trying to learn to read or write. Reading is blending small units of sound together and knowing what sounds letters and letter combinations make. Some words will be learned as sight words, but most words will be read by using letter and sound

  I can read. My children can read. We are able to enjoy and learn through this ability. Many children and adults are less fortunate.   Sometimes it's easier not to think about the challenges of others. We think . . . "What can I really do about it?" Here are a few organizations that are helping. We Give Books - You can help by reading stories online. It's easy and free. Better

What is phonological weakness?   I recommend reading a page from Super Hero Reading to see brain activity pictures and learn more about phonological weakness.   Phonological refers to the sounds of language. Here's a definition of phonological awareness from education.com. Phonological weakness means a person has difficulty hearing and producing separate sounds in language. This

  Professor Garfield has free online comics for early readers and free online reading games.   Free Online Comic Books Toon Books are engaging stories for early readers. A selection of Toon Books are available free of charge to read online. These early children's books are available in different languages too. Here's the link to Toon Book's library of free online comic books.      

A big part of learning to read is learning phonics rules. I love to use magnetic letters to practice phonics rules. Kids love magnetic letters too!   Find out how to organize magnetic letters here. Please check out these next videos and consider purchasing a set of magnetic letters and a magnetic easel. There's so much learning that can be done with magnetic letters. Children learn so

October is National Dyslexia Awareness month. Dyslexia is a developmental reading disorder. One in ten people have symptoms of dyslexia.   picture by Phillip Martin The International Dyslexia Association has a must read article to get you started learning more about dyslexia. About the International Dyslexia Association: The International Dyslexia Association is a non-profit,

Give a young child a blank piece of paper, and that child will create something. Here are some examples from my own children when they were young. Luke created this when he was four years old. He called it his book. He folded it in half and would open it and "read it". He was very proud of his book and brought it out often.     Hailey created this picture when she was three. She

Reading Horizons is a systematic way to teach phonics and is available for home use! There are programs geared toward different age groups. You can teach phonics to older readers and younger readers with Reading Horizons. You'll love the features and support! I've known about Reading Horizons for years but never tried it out until this summer. It took getting free access to Reading

I'm very excited to share these next three sites with you to help you teach an early reader! All three online sites for teaching reading are free and without advertisements! Reading Bear Reading Teacher Reading Lessons How is this possible? It's possible, because there are generous people in the world who know what works and want to share it. All sites have a registering option.

Books with simple text or beginner reader books that interest an older reader are sometimes hard to find. It's important to find these books and teach the reading skills an older reader is missing. Reading is a complicated process that requires a combination of skills and thinking to come together. Challenges in learning to read happen to children of all intelligence levels, all economic

Parents can help their children read with understanding. It starts early and continues through teenage years. How can a parent improve a child's reading comprehension?     Clip Art from Phillip Martin      1. Provide books and other reading material. 2. Value reading time . 3. Read together with children of all ages. 4. Show that reading is about getting meaning.   1. Providing

My opinion on this subject is . . . "Parents should only do what feels right and is comfortable for themselves and their children when helping a child learn to read."   This will not be a step by step post. I will not tell you there is only one way to get a child ready to read. You can follow your own path and enjoy the journey. I recently updated a page I wrote at Squidoo. It includes my

Helping a child learn to sound out words can be difficult.   Free sites like Reading Bear or The Reading Teacher are helpful. Purchasing a program from Reading Horizons can be even more helpful. Parents can learn a few phonics rules and tricks to sound out words to help their children sound out words while reading good books. It takes time, patience, good books, and a little knowledge

You can learn about this campaign here. I plan to post some tweets. Please consider joining this campaign or just retweet. I'm not the most savy tweeter, so I could use a little help.  If you are good with Twitter or even a novice like me, please help with this campaign. You can follow Raise A Reader MA on Twitter. You can follow Michelle Breum on Twitter.   Learn about Raise a Reader here