How We Read

Here is a simple explanation of learning to read, presented in ten steps. Imagine using building blocks to construct a ten-step stairway to reading success. Envision this stairway when figuring out where your child might be in their process.

Learning to read is one of the most incredible things the human brain does. It is not a natural process, like learning to speak. While children are born with brains that are ready to learn language through conversation, reading must be taught. The brain has to build new pathways that connect what the eyes see with what the ears hear and what the mind understands.

1. Listening and Language

Long before children can read a word, they learn language by listening. They build vocabulary, understand stories, and learn that words have meaning. The more words your child understands, the easier reading will be when they see these words later on in print.

2. Learning that Print has Meaning

Children discover that books are read from left to right, that letters make up words, and that words tell stories and share information. They begin to understand that print represents spoken language.

3. Recognizing Letters

Children learn to identify the letters of the alphabet by name and shape. At first this takes conscious effort, but with practice, letter recognition becomes quick and automatic.

4. Learning Letter Sounds

Next, children connect letters with the sounds they represent. 

For example: - c says /c/ - a says /a/ - t says /t/

These sound-symbol relationships are the foundation of reading.

5. Blending Sounds into Words

Once children know enough letter sounds, they begin blending them together.

c + a + t = cat

This is often a challenging step because the brain is learning to combine separate sounds into one spoken word.

6. Figure-Ground and Visual Discrimination

Figure-ground discrimination is the skill you use when you scan a busy playground, looking for your child. Your child is the figure you are looking for against the background of playground equipment and other children. Visual discrimination is the skill you use when you locate two children with white hats. Which one is your child? Look at the details.

7. Recognizing the Shape of the Words 

Also known as “pattern recognition”, this often overlooked skill helps to build reading fluency.

8. Reading Automatically

With lots of successful practice, children no longer need to sound out familiar words one letter at a time. The brain begins recognizing them instantly, much like recognizing a friend’s face.

This is called automatic word recognition, and it frees the brain to focus on understanding what is being read.

9. Reading Sentences

Once individual words become easier to recognize, children can put them together into sentences. They begin reading with smoother expression and better understanding.

10. Reading for Meaning

Eventually, the focus of reading shifts from figuring out the words to understanding ideas. Good readers ask questions, make predictions, visualize what they read, and connect new information to what they already know. At this point, reading becomes a tool for learning rather than simply a skill being learned. 

How Kids Learn to Read with Fun2Read

This topic explains how Fun2Read helps us through each step:

1. & 2. Listening and Language

Each Fun2Read set includes three books to work on different language skills:

• Reading Book
• Coloring Book
• Workbook

The Reading Book: 

• Before you do anything else, sit down and read our Fun2Read story to your child. It’s a simple and enjoyable part of the process!
• Children need to have lots of words in their “language bank”. 
• We have always thought that learning to read while children’s language centers are at their most active (between the ages of 0 and 8) is the most efficient and effective time to do it. As every parent knows, kids listen to conversations, hear stories, sing songs, and ask lots of questions. Each of those words gets filed away for future reference.
• One of the best ways to get more words into your child’s memory bank is to make reading aloud part of each day. As an added bonus, your child will begin to associate reading with a warm and wonderful experience that they will remember long after they have children of their own!
• Every new word children learn becomes part of a growing vocabulary. The more words a child understands, the easier it will be to recognize those words later in books. 
• The Reading Book comes as a flipbook version with an audio track so that your child can listen to the story while reading it. They can also transition to listening to the audio track while reading the printed book when they are ready to do so.

The Coloring Book:

• Our coloring book is not just about crayons! Each picture is part of an idea or a story. It’s a jumping-off point for a discussion. We have also provided a flipbook version in case you have run out of words at the end of a busy day.
• Need ideas? Along with ideas for discussion, the flipbook provides colors for consideration.
• Rather than providing busy work, our coloring books are designed to keep you chatting away the entire time your child is coloring. More words for their memory bank! 
• The goal for our coloring books is for your child to begin to do the chatting, using new words that they learned in our books.
• Ask your child about what they are coloring. What do they see? What do they think about it? What colors do they prefer? Why? Take a page from the playbook of the child who has 20 questions about everything … who, what, where, how, when, why!
• You can talk about your ideas, or color along with your child using our handy Coloring Book Refill Packs. They are a great shared activity, and are good for relaxation.

The Workbook:

• Our workbooks are a perfect vehicle for discussion. What are we matching up? Why? Tell me about this. What is that? What’s your favorite thing on this page?
• Always practice a workbook page using your index finger first.
• Let’s make the workbook a fun game! Online, you’ll find an interactive PDF for the workbook. Be sure to help your child complete this fun item before moving on to the printed workbook
• Now, let’s borrow some sound effects for our offline workbook session!
• Online, you certainly noticed a “BING” ringing sound for a successful matchup. To purchase the bell, click [LINK]. Your child will have a blast ringing it [LINK]
• We always enjoyed an auditory reward for finishing a page, or finishing the session’s work: The EASY Button. It says: “That was easy!” Here’s where to purchase it [LINK]

3. Recognizing the Letters

• You can begin introducing the letters any time your child seems ready. 
• One of the easiest and most fun ways is to use our book set, ABC with the Click and Pick Kids. It also includes three books for learning and fun, including: Reading, Coloring Book and Workbook.
• To learn the traditional Alphabet Song, you can check out our practice packets in our Fun2Read Music vault. These teach kids the name and the sequence of the letters in the alphabet, along with the fun song! To locate these practice packets, click [LINK].
• Besides knowing the names of the letters, you can also explore capital and lower case letters. Our materials go step-by-step through the process of helping your child to make friends with the letters in all their different forms, including a variety of fonts.
• Our practice sheets include capitals alone, lower case letters alone, capital and lower case letters together, and letters along with a simple picture to represent that letter. [LINK] 
• Our practice sheets are organized with tips to help you select the best ones for your child.

4. Learning Letter Sounds

Once children recognize letters, they can begin learning the sounds they represent. These letter-sound connections are the foundation of reading.

• The time you spend on this is a great investment. You can practice this often, and make it a game. 
• In fact, we have a book set for you, coming soon: ABC with the Pick & Stick Kids. It’s a three-book set with the kids we know and love, plus lots more, and it gives plenty of opportunities for practicing the letter sounds.
• We also have practice packets in our Fun2Read Music Vault. Our practice sheets have simple words to build with lower case letters along with a simple picture for matching. [LINK] 

5. Blending Sounds into Words

• You may have noticed that lots of the kids’ names consist of three letters with a central short vowel sound. Now we start using this pattern. In fact, we have a book set for you, coming soon: The Pick & Stick Kids Get Name Tags! It’s a three-book set with the kids we know and love, plus lots more, and it gives plenty of opportunities for practicing the letter sounds as well as blending them together.
• This book set takes what is often a challenging step and makes it fun, because we’ll get to meet a lot more cute sticker kids!
• Of course, we have another book set for you, coming soon: Bad Al Alligator. It’s a three-book set with the kids we know and love, and it gives lots of opportunities for practicing short, decodable words. It also helps children recognize their feelings and start to draw stick figures to represent their experiences.

6. & 7. Pattern Recognition: Recognizing the Shape of the Words and Figure-Ground

• Little known fact—This step sometimes gets skipped in an effort to get kids learning more words, better, faster. To me, recognition is the key to proficiency.
• Let me ask you this: How many times to do read a book with one word on each page? Aha! I thought so. And yet, everyday, schools ask our beginning readers to sort through all the visual “noise” on a typical page to look for a familiar word.
• Wouldn’t it be nice to have lots of practice sorting out one word from another without the pressure of having to actually read the word unless you want to!
• To get that practice, check out our Fun2Read Music Vault. Our practice sets have lots of pages for matching words, even ones you don’t get to see that often, like “geranium” and “underwear”! [LINK] 
• Surprise! We don’t have to memorize every single word in the English language! The ones we need to know the best are the ones we use the most. High frequency words. The Hot 100. Look for tips to find those if you are picking up a practice packet. Yes, it’s “a thing”.
• Also, check this out [LINK TO THE SIGHT READING TRAP]

8., Reading Words Automatically, 9. Reading Sentences & 10. Reading for Meaning

Now the fun really begins! The focus of reading has shifted from figuring out the words to understanding ideas.  

• Of course, we have more book sets for you, coming soon: Meet the Pick & Stick Kids and 123 with the Pick & Stick Kids. These are three-book sets with the kids we know and love, and they gives lots of opportunities for reading with short, decodable words along with high frequency words, the Hot 100.
• We also have practice packets in our Fun2Read Music Vault. Our practice sheets have simple words to build, of the Hot 100 and plenty of fun! [LINK] 

Practice: Practice Builds Strong Reading

Imagine learning to ride a bicycle. After enough practice, you don’t think about those things anymore. You just ride. Reading works the same way, once you get enough practice. And now, here is some fun reading for you, from our Tipsy Tips collection:

• Just Ask Phil Jackson - the importance of fundamental skills just-ask-phil-jackson
• You Can’t Win if You Don’t Play - the importance of practice for reading and many other things you-cant-win-if-you-dont-play
• The Rule of Three - how many times should we do it? Different ways to learn different things
• The Mad Science of Fun2Read Music - how neuroscience helps us to learn music—and reading
• Wacky Classics - what’s the real title of that song about underwear?
• What in the World is She Playing? - the importance of starting in the right place
• Raised as a Chicken - the importance of having the right self-image
• Do You Have Time for This? - well, do you?
• Where Does the Magic Happen? - it happens in you!