Most children, one way or another, begin to read during the ages of 4-8. Educators can help them acquire reading skills by creating an appropriate atmosphere. In particular, they read books aloud to their child every day or almost every day, and look through books together. Once, in an Australian kindergarten, I met a five-year-old boy who confidently spoke and read (!) in three languages – Russian, English, and Hebrew. When asked who taught him to read, he replied, “My grandmother did!” Intrigued, I decided to wait for his grandmother. Chatting with her, I asked what she did to develop speech and reading skills. “Oh, I don’t do anything special… I read a lot and ask questions about what we read.”

Book About Me

When my child first entered an Australian school, his teacher gave him a wonderful little book a week after he started his studies. A book about Misha. The photos (the teacher intentionally took photos of the child in various situations) were accompanied by captions. Misha on the swings, Misha is working, Misha is reading, Misha is playing with friends, Misha is having lunch, Misha is during the break, Misha is with the teacher, etc. I made him the same book in Russian. Today, “book printing” is possible at home, or you can order a photo book at the nearest photo studio. And it will not only be printed on good paper but also formatted. There’s an example of such a book in the “download” section. The plot could be a trip to the zoo, a joint outing, etc. The text of the book should be very short, with one sentence per page consisting of 3-4 words.

My Little Book

Give each child in your room a book with “The Extraordinary Adventures of _____ ” (insert your child’s name). It’s preferable to compose “adventures” from short sentences, leaving space for their drawings. It’s better to cut off the narration at the most interesting place. This way, reading, storytelling, and writing will become a part of the child’s everyday life.

Magic Book

An amazing pedagogical technique worked for the father of five-year-old Sonya. She was cautious about reading, and not interested in letter games. Dad made a book called “Tales About Sonya”, in which Sonya’s name was highlighted with a bright marker. When he took this book from the shelf, he sincerely surprised her: “Sonya, what is this book? How strange… There’s nothing written in it.”

• “Nothing written? But my name is here,” Sonya prompts.
• “I don’t see it. I don’t understand anything, not a single letter.”

Sonya went around the house and made sure that the book was indeed magical. Neither Dad, nor mum, nor grandma could read a single word in this book. And there are letters in it (and it’s obvious!) – they are there.

• “Yes, it’s a magic book,” confirmed Dad. Only the person it’s written about can read it. This is how Sonya’s stubbornness was overcome.

Poetry Posters

When you already have such poems and songs – posters, it’s time to master echo-reading. Echo-reading is when the teacher reads aloud loudly and expressively, and children track the text with their eyes and repeat after him like an echo. While you read aloud, the child reads with their “inner voice”, and this work is very important for them. “To avoid stumbling when reading aloud,” my teacher Zaitsev believed, “you need to learn to look ahead with your eyes, see punctuation marks, not just read the word, but read it with expression.”

“When learning from the mind,” the teacher reads. “When learning from the mind,” the children immediately repeat, looking at the poster. – “Then it’s not a wonder” (“Then it’s not a wonder,” the children repeat) “and it’s useful to seek” (“and it’s useful to seek”); “but to learn without mind” (“but to learn without mind”),” God forbid” (“God forbid”), “how bad!” (“how bad!”). “I’ll give an example of this” (“I’ll give an example of this”) “from distant lands” (“from distant lands”). “Whoever saw monkeys” (“Whoever saw monkeys”), “they know” (“they know”), “how eagerly” (“how eagerly”) “they mimic” (“they mimic”)”. The text should be divided into intonation-semantic pieces, gradually increasing the periods, bringing them to whole sentences. Echo repetition is a wonderful way to master reading not only for children but also for adults learning a foreign language.

After a couple of repetitions, the child knows the text by heart and can demonstrate how they can read “like an adult”. Reading should be done with feeling, meaning, and emphasis. That’s how teachers taught children: “Read with expression, not monotonously”; “Don’t shout, not everyone around is deaf”; “And you, Matthre, read louder, otherwise not everyone can hear you”. They explained where and how long to pause, and so on.

When I was teaching young children to read, we took turns reading the same text. Choose famous children’s poems, and high-quality texts, ideally cheerful and with some humour.

Story Sequencing

Provide picture cards depicting scenes from a story and have children arrange the cards in the correct sequence, then retell the story using the pictures. I often use story stones for that.

Sight Word Scavenger Hunt

I often hide sight words (e.g., “the,” “and,” “is”) around the room or outdoors, and have children find and read them.

Story Retelling

After reading a story together, have children retell the story in their own words, using picture cards or acting out scenes.

These are just some games to play with words and promote reading. What are your favourite games?