A fluent reader instantly recognizes words as she reads them. When children are beginning to read, they often sound out each word, and may miss out on fully comprehending what they are reading. Some of the most common words, such as "to," "go," "said" and "the," do not follow basic rules of phonics, making them difficult to sound out. Encourage your child to learn to instantly recognize words with activities that you can do at home.
Word Families
Help your child to identify word families as you read rhyming text. The International Reading Association suggests using nursery rhymes to introduce the child to the concept of word families, and expanding upon that. For example, read "Jack and Jill went up the hill," and talk about other words that rhyme with "Jill" and "hill." Write them down and show the child that these words all end in "-ill." Once the child can recognize that particular word family, she will easily be able to recognize any word ending in "-ill."
Labels, Labels, Everywhere
Use index cards and a marker to label objects around your home. Label appliances, furniture and favorite toys. Soon your child will begin to recognize the shape of the words "chair," "mirror" and "door." Another idea is to label drawers and bins with the name of the item that belongs in the particular receptacle. This will help your child with word recognition as well as learning to put items away.
Picture Matching
Write the names of objects and people on index cards, recommends Family Education. Encourage your child to glue photographs and pictures cut from magazines to match the words written. Once you have a set of cards, play a matching game. As he becomes familiar with which words match with which picture, turn the cards over and play a game of memory with the cards. Take turns flipping over any two cards. If the word and photo on the cards match, keep the pair. If not, flip them back over and the other person takes his turn. The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins.
Repetition
K12 Reader points out that children do not learn sight words by being exposed to them only a few times. A child needs to write, read and say the words over and over again to commit them to memory. Choose 10 sight words at a time, and make flashcards with them. Encourage the child to write the words out. Point them out when you see them on signs or in books that you read together. Once the child begins to recognize the word, write it on a strip of paper and tape it to the wall, so that she sees it regularly. Once these 10 words have been committed to memory, choose another 10 words.
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