BUILDING BLOCK

4Before children can start reading, an awareness needs to be created that letters differ from each other, like that “a” stands for apple and “b” for bee. Children have to have an understanding that different letters represent different sounds.

Start with the letters of your child's own name. You can also make flashcards with the word underneath the object. In this way, she already starts making certain associations.

Teach her phonological skills and help her understand that small sounds can be put together to make up a word.

Ask her, for instance, which two words rhyme: cat and dog, or cat and mat?

Teach her that some parts of a word can be left out: “What word will we be left with if we take away the ‘hot' from the word hotdog?”

Put words together, such as: “What will we get if we add the word ‘ice' to the word ‘cream'?”