by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and patlambchristianauthor.com)

Train up a child…

Encouraging Young Readers

         Getting a child interested in reading at an early age is imperative to producing good readers for a lifetime.  Most children are eager to learn to read unless something has happened to discourage them. It makes them feel “big” and like older sisters and brothers or their mom and dad.  When this eagerness is present, teaching reading is easy. Some children, however, need some extra “oomph” to get them started reading or to stimulate them to want to read more and more.

         Of course, the first thing for any reader is to learn the alphabet and the sounds of the letters.  I remember teaching kindergarten near the Navajo reservation when I had the children say the letters of the alphabet each morning as I pointed to them.  We also said sounds for the letters.  Then, each day during rest time, I allowed the children to take books to their mats.  By the end of the school year, children were popping up like popcorn and excitedly exclaiming, “Teacher, I can read!”  I had also had group times with the children and put together words in the word families such as “cat, hat, sat, mat, pat, rat, bat, fat, rat, tat, and vat”.  I was careful to put no pressure on them to force them to learn to read. Had I tried to force them to read, they would not have enjoyed it so much.  I was privileged to have this same group of children to teach in second grade and they tested well above the national average in spelling.  One little Navajo boy always kept a book on the corner of his desk. As soon as he finished his math or other work, he would grab his book and start reading. Two years before, when he started kindergarten, he did not know how to speak English.  Reading helped him speak English as he learned about the things written in the books. 

         One way to stimulate interest in reading is to sit with the child and write a story that the child dictates and make it into a book.  It should be a real life story.  I did this with my three-yr.-old granddaughter about picking raspberries.  She illustrated the book with crude pictures.  We read the book together several times.  She soon had it memorized.  She would sit on the couch with her legs crossed under her and read the book aloud over and over by herself.  

         For children who have learned to read and like to read a great deal, it is important to see that the correct reading material is provided.  In my opinion, many children’s books have little or no value other that saying words.  There are many good books that can help shape the character of a child.  

         A good rule of thumb for any reading material selected for children is to have the child read one page of the selected book.  If five words are missed on that page, the book is too difficult and an easier book should be selected.  It is important that children have books on an easy enough level to enjoy reading.  It is human nature to want to repeat those things that are enjoyable.  It is also human nature to want to avoid those things that are difficult or unpleasant.  

         A child who can read fluently discovers a whole new world.  It is easy to teach a child to read if we are patient and reflect the joy of reading through our own actions.