Teaching Your Baby to Read

Why can't we all be gifted? Your baby has spoken his or her first word. Was it “mama” or “papa?” Was it the name of the family pet? Do you wish to give your baby a jump-start with reading? Have you ever thought about teaching your baby to read? It is possible.

Based upon the Whole Language Philosophy (Weaver, Constance, Understanding Whole Language: From Principle to Practice, 1990) the article is a Reading activity geared for ages 2-4, non-exclusive. It discusses aspects of this approach to teaching and how it has proven to be effective. In addition, it would mention my personal experience of having applied the above reading activity with preschool learners.

After reading this article, I believe you would be convinced and thrilled to learn your child as early as they begin to speak could learn to read.

As an educator, writer and parent, I am fascinated by the young mind's ability to grasp the written word. I love sharing my knowledge with other educators and parents.

The principle of teaching your baby to read through the concept of the Whole Language Approach to Reading can be used with any of your baby's favorite books. You do not have to be a teacher with a formal objective and procedures as I have created. As a parent, you can be creative with your child. Make home made flash cards. Write the familiar words your baby is speaking onto cards. Don't forget to use his or her favorite words from his or her favorite book.

It is preferred that you use the words from your child's favorite Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme, or any other Lullaby's that was sung to him or her from the time of their birth.

Children are expected to read and write as they learn to talk. This is a concept of the Whole Language Philosophy to learning. Reading, Writing and Oral language are not in essence taught in isolation. For what is read, was written and what is written was spoken. Children learn to speak gradually with great effort from direct instruction.

Direct instruction refers to the teacher directing 90 per cent of the instruction/learning time with minimum interaction amongst the learners. The learning environment is very rigid. The focus of attention is primarily on the teacher as opposed to on the learners.

With the Whole Language approach the learners are to be taught by means of indirect instruction. There are frequent interaction between the teacher and learner. The classroom is functional where the learners are engaged in active learning. Ninety percent of the attention is therefore on the learners and a mere 10 percent is on the teacher. The teacher encourages oral discussion with questions as he/she guides the learners to achieve the lesson's objective.

The following is a Reading activity for parents, teachers and administrators. Administrators are encouraged to share this with their Language Arts teachers as well as their Reading teachers. The activity is based upon the Whole Language Philosophy to learning. This philosophy is based upon children's natural language development.

Preschoolers through Kindergarteners have heard numerous Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes from the time they are born. As a result they enter the educational system with a pre-existing schemata of words familiar to them. In order to associate their oral language to reading in a formal structure, the following activity is designed to teach a Reading lesson. The words being taught are from the nursery rhyme, Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and familiar to most babies. You may substitute this with any other nursery rhyme to which your child is most familiar.

Reading /Language Arts Activity

Objective:

By the end of the lesson learners would be able to recognize, identify and read the following basic sight words: “and,” “its,” “the,” and “on.” (These basic sight words are the most difficult words for beginning readers.) The lesson is intended for the 2-4 age groups. For the pre-toddlers, nouns of people, places, and things should be used.

Materials:

1. A 1st poster board, of Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed in print. Using only the rhyme for the first monkey. (One little monkey jumping on the bed. It fell down and bumped its head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”)
2. A 2nd poster board with the same nursery rhyme written. However, having applied the cloze technique of omitting the basic sight words for the rhyme: "and," "the," "its" and "on." A line is to be drawn representing a blank space in their place. (One little monkey jumping ___ the bed. It fell down ___ bumped ___ head. Mama called ___ doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”)
3. A 3rd poster board with only the omitted basic sight words listed (on, and, its, the,)
4. Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, children's book. (Search the school or public library.)

Procedure:

1. The teacher begins by singing the Nursery Rhyme to the learners. Then he/she must have the learners sing it as a group. Explain to the learners that the words we sing or speak are also the words we read. Today you are going to be able to identify, recognize and read the following words.
2. The teacher then presents the 3rd poster board of the basic sight words listed to the learners and explains that most times the most difficult word to read is the smallest. He/She then test this fact by having the students read them in isolation. Some would be able to while most wouldn't.
3. The teacher then presents the 2nd poster board in addition to the 3rd with the list of basic sight words. Then ask, who can tell which word from the list goes into the 1st blank?
4. It is imperative to encourage oral language development by asking other learners whether the selected answer is correct and further ask what they think.
5. The teacher then repeats this process until all of the basic sight words are correctly read and written onto the blank spaces.
6. Continue to engage in oral discussion
7. To conclude the lesson, allow learners to read the book The Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed in front of their peers.

As soon as parents apply the above activity with their child, a sense of self-esteem and confidence would be evident, not excluding the parent. This would encourage many more ideas for creative activities at home based upon the Whole Language Philosophy to learning. Such activities would foster oral language and reading from their child.

As an educator while working with preschoolers ages 2-4, I have used this activity with the learners during circle time. The result was an astounding success. The learners were able to identify with The Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, nursery rhyme. So much so, that the entire lesson was fun for them. They interacted with each other telling personal stories of when their mother sang that song to them. For some teachers, this may seem to be a disruption to the lesson. However, such is not the case. I remember being delighted observing the learners while they exercised oral language in context with the lesson.