ABC Jesus Loves Me

Reading:
• The local library is a wonderful place to visit and increase a child’s repertoire of books.  Be sure to look into the library’s Read Aloud times for the various ages as well as any programs that may be occurring for the preschool age. 
• Always make reading time fun and full of love.  Never allow reading time to be a negative experience. 
• A child will pick up on your attitude toward reading.  If the child sees you enjoying to read, they will be more likely to enjoy it as well.
• Draw attention to words throughout the day on signs, labels, and while driving. 

When reading new books:
• Ask the child what they think will happen next
• Point out various items in pictures
• With new words – ask the child what they think the word means
• Review the book after reading and throughout the day
• Talk about favorite, sad, or funny parts of the story
• Point under the words as you read them.  Point to items in the picture as they are talked about in the story
• Look at the title and front cover to guess what the story will be about
• Following the story, talk about what the child liked or disliked about the story
• Look at the cover and guess what the book is about.
• Picture walk through the book before reading it.  By looking at the pictures figure out what is going to happen.
• Stories can be a great time to discuss positive and negative choices that characters made throughout the story
• Make sure you read using different voices.  Kids love this! 

When reading familiar books:
• Have the child fill in key words, especially rhyming words
• Have your child read predictable words
• Have the child read the book to you

Teaching your child how to read:
• When it comes times to start putting together and separating sounds, remember this list of difficulty - from easiest to most challenging -
1.  Compound words:  cow...boy  [cowboy]
2.  Syllables:  pen...cil  [pencil]
3.  The first sound with all of the others: b...ag  [bag]
4.  All but the last sound plus the last sound:  mea...t  [meat]
5.  Each sound separately:  c..l..a..p  [clap]

Taken from Wow! I'm Reading! 

When your child is ready to read:
 Bob Books are also excellent books for Beginner Readers.  We use these with our children.  Be sure to read the back cover to get the jest of what the overall story is about. 

Starfall is an excellent website with a "Learning to Read" section.  The sequence moves pretty quickly but can be a good supplement.