HOW TO TEACH

YO U R C H I L D
TO R E A D
a quick guide for parents

by Anna Geiger, M.Ed.

Creator of The Measured Mom
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How to Teach Your Child to Read: A Quick Guide for Parents

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 Table of Contents

Introduction … 4
Chapter 1: The Big Picture … 5
Chapter 2: Pre-Reading Skills … 6
Chapter 3: All About Phonics … 11
Chapter 4: What about Sight Words? … 15
Chapter 5: Comprehension is Key! … 18
Chapter 6: Building Fluency … 25
Chapter 7: Be a Reading Coach … 26
Chapter 8: Don’t Forget This! … 28
Chapter 9: Putting it All Together … 29
Conclusion … 33

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 Introduction

I get emails from parents every week. They want to teach their children to read, but they don’t
know where to start. They’ve heard about phonics, sight words, and comprehension. But how do
the pieces fit together? Where do they begin?

This ebook is my answer.

Before we get started, let me say three things.

First, there are many different approaches to teaching reading. In this ebook, I’ll share the method
that I promote. It’s not the only method that works; in my opinion, however, it’s the best.

Second, I want to remind you that people go to college for years to learn to teach kids how to
read. Then they go to graduate school to learn even more. And they keep learning, over decades
of teaching. All of that information cannot be compressed into a single ebook. My goal with this
ebook is not to tell you everything there is to know about teaching kids to read. Instead, my goal
is to clear the fog and help you see both the big picture and where to begin.

Third, please note that I wrote this ebook for parents teaching children with “normal” reading
development. Children with specific learning disabilities may benefit from other methods. If you
feel that you’ve given these techniques a good try – and your child isn’t catching on – please talk
to a local teacher, tutor, or reading specialist.

Let’s get started!

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 Chapter 1 - The Big Picture

Primary teachers know that there are five essential elements of effective reading instruction. They
include the following:

1 - Phonological & Phonemic Awareness

2 – Phonics
3 – Fluency
4 – Comprehension
5 – Vocabulary

Let’s break those down – and I promise I’ll finish describing them before we get to to the next
page!

PHONOLOGICAL AND PHONEMIC AWARENESS have to do with sounds. Think of these as

things kids know before they learn to read. Phonological awareness includes rhyming, an
awareness of word, the ability to count syllables, and phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness
is the ability to play with sounds in words.

PHONICS has to to do with letters and the sounds they make, either alone or in combination with
other letters to form words.

FLUENCY refers to children reading accurately, at a good pace, and with good expression.

COMPREHENSION is about understanding what is read.

VOCABULARY refers to the meanings of the words within a text.

See, we finished Chapter 1 already! I told you this would be quick.

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 Chapter 2 – Pre-Reading Skills

Many parents try to teach their kids to sound out words, only to be met with frustration. This may
be because the child is too young or not developmentally ready. That’s why this chapter is so
important.

Even though I know you want to jump to the good stuff, please don’t skip this chapter. I’ll try to
make it quick – promise!

Let’s break it down into five things your kids need before you should dive into teaching reading.

1 – BEFORE THEY READ, KIDS NEED CONCEPTS OF PRINT

Most kids will learn concepts of print naturally as their parents or caregivers read to them. They
will learn things like how to hold a book, how to turn the page, and that print begins on the left
and goes to the right.

You can develop concepts of print by asking your child to open the book before you read aloud.
You’ll see if s/he can identify the cover and turn the pages in the proper way. This is pretty easy
for most kids.

What gets trickier is the concept of word – which basically means saying one word for each word
in print. Did you know you can actually teach this before kids recognize words in isolation?

There are a few simple ways to teach the concept of word at home. One thing you can do is buy a
pocket chart. Then you can write repetitive sentences or rhymes on long strips of paper, put them
in the pocket chart, and help your child practice “reading” them using a simple pointer. I have a lot
of free pocket chart sentences you can print and use. Grab them here:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/tag/pocket-chart-sentences/

Pocket chart sentences require buying a pocket chart and doing a lot of printing (or writing) and
cutting. If you want something quicker, try my voice to print cards.

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I created my voice to print cards to help my third son track words. Even though he wasn’t actually
reading yet, this was a skill he’d need as soon as he started. I won’t go into details about how they
work (since this is a quick guide), but you can learn more and get a free set here:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/toys-concept-of-print-pack/

My free voice to print cards will help your child learn

the following pre-reading skills:

ü Each word I say is a word on the page.

ü I read from left to right.
ü I can track words by pointing to them. voice to print cards

2 – BEFORE THEY READ, KIDS NEED PHONOLOGICAL & PHONEMIC AWARENESS

We’ll talk about three things in this section: rhyming, syllables, and phonemic awareness.

Rhyming

I can almost guarantee that if your child can’t rhyme, learning to read is going to be hard. If your
learner struggles with producing or identifying rhyming words, read lots of rhyming books aloud.
Then have him/her fill in missing rhyming words when s/he is familiar with the book.

Get the ultimate list of rhyming books here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/the-ultimate-list-

of-books-that-rhyme/

If you need more ways to practice rhyming, check out this post on my blog:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/activities-for-learning-rhyming-words/

Syllables

This isn’t as complicated as it sounds. We’re not talking about kids dividing words into syllables on
paper – just clapping the syllables of a word. Start with your child’s name. Show him/her how to clap
the syllables. If your child can’t do it, try some of the simple syllable activities from this post:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/6-syllable-activities/

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Phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is somewhat challenging to teach, so I want to break down exactly what it is
and give you some places to start.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to play with sounds in words. It does NOT have to do with
connecting letter names to the sounds they make. So … if your child can tell you that “sun” starts
with /s/, he or she is doing great. And by the way, those brackets around the “s” (as in /s/) mean that
I am referring to the sound ssssss, not the letter “s.” It’s an important distinction.

So how do you teach phonemic awareness? You start simple. You have your child identify the
beginning sounds of words using something like my free games (pictured at the bottom of this page).
Don’t overdo it if the game is hard for your learner. 1-2 games per day will do it.
Grab the whole set here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/phonemic-awareness-games/

The games pictured below worked great for my younger daughter, but you don’t have to use a
printable to teach phonemic awareness. It can be done through completely oral activities. Turn the
page for a quick list of simple ways to build phonemic awareness (no printables required).

phonemic awareness games

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Quick games to build phonemic awareness

1- Put Them Together

“I have a mystery word. See if you can put the two parts together to figure it out. Here we go… /f/
/ish/. That’s right, the word is fish! Let’s try another one. /b/ /all/. You got it – ball!”

2 – I Spy

“I spy something on our table that starts with /p/. What do you think it is?”

3 – Stretch It

“What do you think it would sound like if snakes could talk? I think they would say their words
veeerrryyyy ssssllooooowwwwlllyyy. Let’s try to talk like a snake. Say the word cat like a snake
would. Caaaaaaat. Let’s try another one – man. Mmmmmmaaaaannnnnnn.”

4 – Break it apart

“I’m going to say a word. I want you to break it apart. Say the first sound, and then the rest of the
word. Let me show you what I mean. Let’s do horse. /h/, /orse/. Now you try one – pig. That’s
right, /p/, /ig/.”

5 – What sound do you hear?

“I’m going to say a word. Tell me what sound you hear at the beginning. The word is pen. Yes, the
beginning sound is /p/. What sound do you hear at the end? Yes, the sound is /n/.”

Also see this helpful video about teaching phonological and phonemic awareness:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/5-things-about-phonological-and-phonemic-awareness/

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3- BEFORE THEY READ, KIDS NEED LANGUAGE AND LISTENING SKILLS

Can you guess how these develop? Yup – through you reading aloud to your child A LOT. When
you read (and discuss) books with your child regularly, encourage him or her to:

ü retell the story in his/her own words

ü engage with the story as you read by asking questions and making personal connections
ü answer simple questions about the story
ü make an educated guess at the meanings of new words

Definitely read this post with more details about how to make the most of your read aloud time:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/get-ready-for-kindergarten-with-interactive-read-alouds/

4 – BEFORE THEY READ, KIDS NEED TO KNOW LETTERS AND SOUNDS

Now, let me say that kids do not necessarily need to know all their letters and sounds before they
learn to read. For example, one method of teaching phonics includes teaching a few letters and
sounds each week. Then kids put just those letters together to read words. So for example … with
the letters m, t, p, and a, kids can read mat, tap, and pan.

If you are teaching a kindergartner who still doesn’t know all the letters and sounds, it may be best
to teach a few new letters each week as you also teach him/her to sound out words (as described
above). However, if your child is still in preschool, learning to read will be much easier if you nail
down those letters and sounds first.

If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration for teaching the alphabet, check out this page on my
blog: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/learning/

5 - BEFORE THEY READ, KIDS NEED TO WANT TO LEARN TO READ

If you’re attempting to teach your child to sound out words and one or both of you are
consistently frustrated, it will not end well. It may be that your child simply isn’t ready for this skill
(see pre-reading skills #1-4), or it may be that it’s not on his/her list of priorities. If children are

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motivated to learn to read, you can expect the following to be true:

ü They enjoy being read to.

ü They frequently ask you to read aloud.
ü They pretend to read.

If your child doesn’t enjoy books yet, don’t give up! Reduce screen time, and read aloud as often
as your child will listen. You can check out our favorite books here:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/the-best-book-lists-for-early-childhood/

Okay, I kept the chapter about pre-reading skills to six pages. Not bad, right? Let’s move on to a
biggie … phonics.

Chapter 3 – All about Phonics

There are two extreme camps when it comes to teaching phonics.

One camp says that children need to learn phonics in a strictly regimented manner. And they
should not try to read any words whose phonics patterns they haven’t studied.

On the other side, you have people who believe that all phonics teaching should be implicit –
that is, students pick it up naturally when exposed to a variety of words.

My view is somewhere between the two camps.

Yes, I believe phonics is important. Yes, I believe that following a sequence of phonics skills is
important.

No, I do not believe phonics should be the primary focus of teaching children to read. Nor do I
think that children should read all decodable text based solely on phonics patterns they’ve
learned. But we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s dive into the question I hear most …

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WHAT ORDER SHOULD YOU TEACH PHONICS SKILLS?

I recommend following a sequence of phonics skills that goes like this:

• consonant and short vowel sounds

• CVC words (such as hat, pig, bug, etc.)
• Short vowel words with blends and digraphs (such as flat, chip, etc.)
• Long vowel CVCe words (like, bake, rode, etc.)
• Other single syllable long vowel words (coat, pay, rain, etc.)
• Words with r-controlled vowels (farm, her, bird, curl, horn, etc.)
• Words with complex vowels (walk, worm, cold, etc.)
• Words with diphthongs (cow, couch, toy, join, saw, sauce, etc.)
• Simple multi-syllable words with common prefixes and suffixes
• More complex multis-yllable words using common syllable type

For a fantastic guidebook about teaching phonics – including word lists and more - I recommend
Wiley Blevins’ book, Phonics From A to Z.

HOW TO GET STARTED TEACHING PHONICS

I just gave you the list of phonics skills – in order. Now let’s talk about how to get started.

One method includes teaching a few letters and sounds each week and then putting them
together to form words. In that case, this may be a helpful sequence for teaching letters along
with their sounds: m, a, s, p, t, n, i, d, r, c, f, b, o, h, g, e, l, k, w, u, j, x, v, y, q, z

If you teach the first four letters the first week, you can teach your child to sound out the
following words: mat, Sam, pan, map, sap, and Pam. Each week, as you add more letters, you have
more CVC words your child can learn to read.

Another method – and the one I’ve used with my own children – is to teach all the letters and
sounds first, and then teach reading using short vowel word families. For example, if your child
knows all the letters and sounds, you can teach him/her to read the “at” word family: cat, rat, bat,
hat, sat, mat, and vat.

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If you want to use the word family method, here are some common short vowel word families:

Short a: ab, at, ad, an, ag, ap, am

Short e: ed, eg, et, en
Short i: it, id, ig, im, ip, in
Short o: ot, ob, op, og
Short u: ut, ub, ug, um, un, ud

Here’s a link with a free printable list of CVC words that you can print and use as you design your
phonics activities with CVC words:

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-printable-cvc-word-list/

Favorite resources for teaching phonics with word families

I created these word family mats when I was teaching my own children to read. While older
versions are available for free on my blog, I recommend the new and improved version from my
shop. You have a lot more printing options, the images are higher quality, AND the mats come
with no-prep games that aren’t part of the free version.

Learn more here:

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/product/short-vowel-word-family-mats/

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These word family houses take a bit of assembly, but they were KEY in helping my kids learn to blend
words. They’re fun to use, too!

Get them here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/teach-word-families-with-word-family-houses/

Most of all, I recommend my collection of CVC books and games. You can learn more about them
in my shop: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/product/phonics-books-games-cvc-words/

HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR PHONICS LESSONS

So – I gave you the sequence of phonics skills. And I gave you two options for how to approach
CVC words. What about as you move farther down the list? What should your phonics lessons
look like? Try this:

1 – First, do a phonemic awareness warm-up.

2 – Next, explicitly teach the new phonics pattern. For example: “Today we’re going to learn about
the digraph sh. The letters “sh” make the sound /sh/.”

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3 – Give your child practice blending words with the featured sound. For example, ship, shun, shed,
and sham.
4 – Give your child magnetic letters or letter tiles. Name words with the featured pattern, and have
him/her build words.
5 – Give your child practice reading the new phonics pattern using decodable text. Here are some
decodable books to try: Dr. Maggie’s Phonics Readers, Now I’m Reading! by Nora Gaydos, BOB
Books, Primary Phonics story books or my complete set of phonics books:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/product/phonics-books/ Another option is to look for decodable
passages and books on the Teachers Pay Teachers website.
6 - If time allows, do guided writing practice. Say words, and have your learner spell them alone or in
sentences.

Will all your phonics lessons have all the above elements? Nope – and that’s perfectly fine. Your
phonics lesson will be part of a larger reading lesson, so you don’t want to go too long. 10-15
minutes a day for focused phonics instruction is enough.

Chapter 4 – What about Sight Words?

Sight words are words that our learners recognize by sight – without having to sound them out.
Many words must be sight words because they can’t be sounded out – words like the and what.
Others become sight words rather quickly because of how often they appear in print (such as a and
I). Still others can be sounded out, but children can learn to read them by sight before they’ve learned
their phonics patterns (such as see and play).

I’m often asked, “Which should I teach first, phonics or sight words?”

The answer is … you teach them side by side. The good news is that learning sight words can actually
be easier for kids than blending sounds together – at least at first. Teach your child his/her name, the
names of family members, and basic sight words from the following lists.

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Start with the preprimer list:

a, and, away, big, blue, can come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look,
make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you

Move on to the primer list:

all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like,
must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they,
this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with yes

Keep going with the first and second grade words:

after, again, always, an, any, around, as, ask, because, been, before, best, both, buy, by, call, cold, could,
does, don’t, every, fast, first, five, fly, found, from, gave, give, goes, going, green, had, has, her, him, his,
how, its, just, know, let, live, made, many, may, of, off, old, once, open, or, over, pull, put, read, right,
round, sing, sit, sleep, some, stop, take, tell, thank, their, them, then, these, think, those, upon, us, use,
very, walk, wash, were, when, which, why, wish, work, would, write, you

HOW TO INTRODUCE SIGHT WORDS

I know, I know. I just threw a bunch of word lists at you without any tips for how to teach sight
words. So let’s get practical.

One thing I don’t recommend is flash cards alone. Yes, they have their place, but you need to
teach sight words in a multisensory way at first. Here’s a good method, adapted from Jan
Richardson’s recommendation in her book, The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading.

Introducing new sight words

(Materials: small dry erase board, dry erase marker, index card, magnetic letters)

1 – Write the new sight word in full view on a dry erase board. Read it aloud.
2 – Cover it with an index card, and reveal it letter by letter. Have your child say each letter as it’s
uncovered.

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3 – Write the word again, but this time leave a blank for a missing letter. Have your learner fill in
the missing letter using a magnetic letter. Do this several times, each time with a different
letter missing.
4 – Give your learner all the magnetic letters of the word, mixed up. Have him/her use them to
form the word. Do this several times.
5 – After s/he has formed the word, have your child name each magnetic letter, pushing it up one
at a time.
6 – Have your child ”finger write” the word while looking at it.
7 – Cover the word with the index card, and have your child attempt to write it from memory.

For more about this method, read this post: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/how-to-teach-

sight-words/

WAYS TO REVIEW SIGHT WORDS

After you teach the sight words, you’ll need to find fun ways to review them as often as possible.
This doesn’t have to take long, but it does need to be hands-on and engaging as often as possible.
Here are some things to try:

1 – Concentration

Print each word on two index cards. Turn them upside down, and take turns drawing two cards,
reading them aloud, and trying to find a match.

2 – Stamp the words

Grab some alphabet stamps and an ink pad, and have your child stamp sight words.

3 – Go on a word hunt

Put the featured words on a large grid (six spaces) on a piece of paper. Give your child a copy of
the grid, and then hunt for the words you’ve written on sticky notes and placed around the room.
H/she should put them in the proper spaces on the grid.

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4 – Zap it!

Write one sight word each on the end of jumbo craft sticks. Color the end of one stick red.
Students take turns pulling the craft sticks and reading the words. If they get the red Zap it! stick,
they have to put all the sticks back. Whoever has the most sticks at the end of 10 minutes (or
however long you choose), wins the game.

5 – Sight word badge

Have your child wear a name badge with a sight word written on it. Make sure it’s printed so that
when your child lifts up the badge, s/he can read it right side up. Have him/her read the word at
different times of the day.

6 – Flash cards

Yes, I said it. Flash cards. But please use them in moderation. Promise?

Chapter 5 – Comprehension is Key!

Phonics and sight words are important because without them, kids can’t read the words in a text.
(Obviously.) But what happens when kids read the words in a text but don’t understand? Are they
really reading?

Not really. They’re word-calling. For kids to be actually reading a text, they need to understand it.

Even with very easy books, you want kids to be able to tell you what they learned (from a
nonfiction text) or about the beginning, middle, and end (of a fiction text).

The next thing I’m going to say is super important… ready? I’ll even put it in bold print.

Kids need more than decodable books when they’re learning to read, or they won’t get much
practice building comprehension.

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You see, if all you have your child read is books with words h/she can sound out (along with basic
sight words), many of the texts will look something like this:

Sam sat.
Sam sat on the mat.
The mat is flat.
Sam is glad.

Even if the text is more story-like, there’s not much an author can do with a limited set of phonetic
words. As a result, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for deep discussion after reading decodable
books.

USE LEVELED BOOKS FOR TEACHING COMPREHENSION

That’s why I also recommend using leveled books. While books can be leveled in many different
ways, I strongly recommend the guided reading levels. They go from A to Z. Check out the page at
the end of this chapter for an overview.

In addition to the chart (which I created for teachers and may feel a bit “much”), I also put together
a blog post about the guided reading levels for parents. You can read it here:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/leveled-books-you-can-find-at-your-library-with-a-printable-
leveled-book-list/

WHERE TO FIND LEVELED BOOKS

Have you ever been to the library and asked for books for early readers?

What a headache!

There are a million (or so) easy reader series, and they’re all different. Step Into Reading’s level 1
may be different from Green Light Reader’s level 1, which is different from I Can Read! which is
different from Let’s Read! and on and on.

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The fact is that most of these easy reader books are too hard for the beginning reader.

Leveled books are the answer – but it’s not easy to find affordable leveled books for the early
levels (A-H). That’s why I recommend a yearly subscription to Reading A to Z.

Print books from Reading A to Z

Yes, Reading A to Z is a little expensive (at just over $100/year). But if you are not spending
money on a reading curriculum, then this makes perfect sense. You can download (and then print)
as many books as you want with your subscription. These are high quality, high interest books and
VERY WORTH IT.

Not sure if it’s for you? Start with the free trial. You can check it out here: https://www.readinga-
z.com/ *

*To find the leveled books, go to Resources … Books … Leveled Books.

Get Holiday House books from the library

If you don’t want to get a subscription to Reading A to Z, you can find Holiday House books at
your library. They are wonderful leveled books that offer a lot for the early levels. You can also
check out their website.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as printing books from Reading A to Z. It used to be easier to find a
list of books for each level on Holiday House’s website. If you can’t find it (I couldn’t!), send them
an email and ask for help. It’s worth getting a list and then reserving the books for a particular level
at your library. Here’s the website:

https://holidayhouse.com/

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Purchase leveled books and passages on Teachers Pay Teachers

This is another option, but it’s a distant third because quality varies. Some sellers on TPT sell
amazing resources that I’d recommend in a heartbeat. And others sell garbage. It’s just what you
get with an open marketplace. If you’re looking for leveled books or passages on Teachers Pay
Teachers and think you’ve found something good, feel free to send me an email with a link. I’ll let
you know if I think it’s worth a purchase.

OR… search for a “just right book”

I don’t really recommend this, because it’s SO hard to do when you’re a beginning reader. But if
you really can’t get ahold of leveled books, you can try helping your child to find “just right books”
by asking him/herself some questions.

• Is this book interesting to me?

• Do I know most of the words?
• Can I figure out the tricky words?
• Do I understand the story?

HOW TO BUILD COMPREHENSION WITH LEVELED TEXTS

Before your child reads the text, you can …

• Briefly introduce the text with a one or two sentence introduction.
• Have your child do a “picture walk” by turning the pages and talking about what s/he sees on
each page.
• Have your child make a prediction about the text.
• Set a purpose for reading.

As your child reads the text, you can …

• Encourage him/her to
• pause to ask questions (“I wonder why …”)
• pause to make predictions (“I think that _____ will happen because …”)

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 • pause to make inferences (“I think she’s sad because …” or “I think this word means …
because …”)
• pause to make connections (“Hey, something like this happened to me when …”

After your child is finished reading the text, you can ask meaningful questions …

• After reading a fiction text:

• Name the characters in the story.

• Who do you think is the most important character? Why?
• What does the main character want to happen?
• How did (this character) feel at (this part) of the story?
• How did the character change from the beginning of the story to the end?
• Which character would you choose for a friend? Why?
• What clues in the picture show you how the character is feeling?
• If you could ask the main character a question, what would it be?
• Point to a clue in the picture that shows the setting of the story.
• Would you like to live where the story takes place? Why or why not?
• What is the story mainly about?
• What is the problem of the story?

• After reading a nonfiction text:

• What is the text mainly about?

• Name two facts the author wanted you to learn.
• Find a caption or label that helped you understand the text.
• Can you explain … ?
• How would you define … in your own words?
• What did you already know about … before reading this text?
• What were the main events that happened in the story?
• What happened after … ?
• What happened at the beginning / middle / end of the story?
• What in this story reminded you of something from your own life?
• Tell about the story in 2-3 sentences.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 22

 • What did you learn from the pictures that you didn’t learn form the words?
• How did the author organize the text to help you understand it?

After reading, you might also assign an open-ended reading response activity.

Please stay away from any activity that takes much more time than it took your child to read the
book. While dioramas and the like may be fun, they often do not contribute to reading
comprehension. Make sure that the reading response activities you choose make your child think
more deeply about the text.

I would only recommend assigning a written response to a text 1-2 times per week. You can assign
them more often as your child becomes a more fluent reader and writer.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 23

 Overview of the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™
commonly called the guided reading levels

Level Approximate Description of Text

Grade Level

One line of text per page

A •
• Predictable language patterns with mostly one-syllable words
• Many simple sight words
Very much like level A
B •
• Up to 2 lines of text per page
Kindergarten Similar to levels A & B
C •
• 2-5 lines of text per page
•
•
Mostly one and two-syllable words
Many easy decodable words
Similar to level C
D •
• Slightly more complex stories
• May have sentences with 6+ words
2-8 lines of text per page
E •
• More complex stories
• May have sentences that carry over more
than one line
• Fewer repeating patterns • Books may be up to 16 pages long
Similar to level E Stories have a clear beginning, middle,
F •
• Sentences may have 10+ words
•
and end
• May have a slightly smaller font
Similar to level F • Have more challenging ideas and
G •
• Have one, two, and three-syllable words vocabulary
1st Grade
Similar to level F • Slightly more challenging ideas and
H •
• Include decodable 2+ syllable words vocabulary
• May have a smaller font • More literary and less repetitive

Similar to level H • Have more complex stories with varied

I •
• Include complex and compound sentences themes

3-12 lines of text per page • Include words with complex spelling
J •
• May have short chapters patterns
• May have minimal illustrations

Similar to level J
K • • Still have a reader-friendly layout

5-24 lines of print per page Are often simple chapter books with short
L •
• Have a more challenging layout
•
chapters
2nd Grade • May have no or minimal illustrations • May have 15+ lines per page
• May be 60-100 page long chapter books • Include two, three, and four-syllable words
Include longer, more complex sentences • May have no illustrations
M •
• Have elaborate plots and multiple characters
Similar to level M, but slightly more challenging
N •

Similar to level N, but slightly more challenging

O •

3rd Grade
Similar to level O
P •
• Slightly more complex themes
• Greater use of figurative language

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 24

 Chapter 6 – Building Fluency

In Chapter 1, I named three components of fluency.

ü reading accurately
ü reading at a good rate
ü reading with proper expression

The truth is that you don’t need to worry about fluency at first. Brand new readers simply aren’t
ready to read fluently. But as your child gets to guided reading level D or E, fluency will start to
come into play.

WAYS TO BUILD FLUENCY

• Read aloud to your child to provide a model of fluent reading.

• Have your child follow (and read) along with audio books.

• Practice sight words with playful activities.

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/25-low-prep-sight-word-activities/

• Do choral reading, in which you read a familiar text together.

• Do echo reading, in which you read aloud a line of text and have your child read the same line
after you’re finished. This works especially well with funny poetry.

• Have your child do repeated reading. Choose an engaging text no more than 100-200 words
in length. Have your child read through it several times. You might time him/her to see if
reading rate improves.

• Give your child lots of time to read on his/her own. Make sure your child is reading books at
his independent level.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. –themeasuredmom.com - 25

 Chapter 7 – Be a Reading Coach

As your child is reading phonetic or leveled books, your job is to offer support as needed. Here are
prompts that you can use when your child needs help.

When your child reads a word incorrectly or stops because s/he doesn’t know a word, you might
say …

• I like the way you stopped when that didn’t sound right.
• Check to see if that looks right.
• What other word do you know like that?
• Do you see a part that can help?
• That sounds right, but does it look right?
• That makes sense, but does it look right?
• You almost got that. Try again.
• Check the picture and the first letter. Try again.
• What sound does this vowel (or these letters) make?
• Cover up the ending and read the first part. Can you add the ending now?
• Move your finger under the word as you say all the sounds.
• Look all the way to the end of the word when you read.
• Cover the beginning/ending. Now what word you see? Put the parts together.

When you are helping your child with comprehension, you might say …

• What have you read about so far?

• What do you already know about ________?
• Can you make a picture in your mind as you read this?
• What might happen next?
• Tell about the most important parts.
• What do you think you’ll learn in this book?
• Show me where it says that.
• What might the character be thinking?

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 26

• Why do you think the character said that?
• Show me the part that’s confusing.
• How do they solve the problem?
• What’s the most important event in this book?
• Tell me about what happened, in order.
• Tell me about what you read in just one sentence.

When you are helping your child with new vocabulary, you might say …

• What can you do to figure out what that word means?

• Use the picture to help you figure out what the word means.
• Keep reading. See if you can find clues to help you know what that word means.
• What do you think it means? Why?

When you are helping your child improve fluency, you might say …

• Stop at the periods.

• Make your voice show that this is interesting.
• Make your voice sound like the character who is talking.
• Make your voice go up at the end if there’s a question mark.
• Put your words together so that it sounds like you’re talking.
• Read it all smoothly.
• Slow down when you’re reading a lot of information. That will make it easier for you to
remember it.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 27

 Chapter 8 – Don’t Forget This!

Many parents think that once kids start to read, it’s less important for them to listen to books.
They stop reading aloud to their children most days, or they even quit altogether.

Please don’t!

Reading aloud to your child has SO many benefits. Here are just a few!

ü Reading aloud helps build a stronger relationship between parent and child.
ü Listening to books can extend your child’s attention span.
ü Certain books may provide a natural time for important (and sometimes difficult)
conversations.
ü Reading aloud to children instills a love of literature.
ü Read alouds can introduce children to wonderful books they wouldn’t have chosen to read on
their own.
ü Listening to books increases vocabulary and aids in language development – which means
your child will be a better speaker and writer.
ü Reading aloud builds comprehension.

Did you catch that last one? “Reading aloud builds comprehension.” I can’t say this enough! Make
your read alouds interactive by asking questions and starting conversations. I have a helpful post
(with suggested read alouds) that I highly recommend. Even though it was written for parents of
preschoolers, the general concepts apply all grade levels.

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/get-ready-for-kindergarten-with-interactive-read-alouds/

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 28

 Chapter 9 – Putting it All Together

Now you’re ready to put the pieces together! Here’s what I suggest.

Each day, plan a reading lesson. If you are teaching a preschooler, follow your child’s lead. 10-15
minutes may be plenty. If you’re teaching a kindergartner or first grader, your lesson may be 20-60
minutes, depending on how long you read to your child and how long h/she reads to you.

SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR YOUR READING LESSONS*

5-20 minutes Read aloud to your child; make it interactive with a teaching point.
5-10 minutes Give a focused phonics lesson.
3-5 minutes Teach a new sight word, and review those you’ve taught.
5-10 minutes Teach a reading skill.
5-20 minutes Listen (and coach) as your child reads leveled books.

*You may not be able to fit all these elements into each day’s lesson. That’s perfectly fine.

On page 31, you’ll find more You’ll get a list of possible Page 32 is a blank lesson plan
details abouut each part of teaching points on page 31. you can print and fill in.
the above format.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 29

 Reading Lesson Plan

Interactive read Choose a picture book or chapter book to read aloud to your child
aloud each day as an interactive read aloud (see the link at the end of
Chapter 8 for more about interactive read alouds). Use this space to
write the name of the book and note how you will make the read
aloud an interactive teaching time. This can be a great time to model
the skill(s) you’ll be teaching down below in the “Teaching point.”

Phonics lesson Jot down the phonics skill you’re going to teach. Also list any
materials (games, worksheets, decodable books, etc.) that you will
use in your phonics lesson.

Sight words Choose some sight words for the week, and jot them in this space.
Find creative ways to teach them, and jot down what you plan to do.
You might aim for 2-5 new sight words per week, depending on how
quickly your child retains them. Remember to review previously
learned words each week as well.

Teaching point Jot down skill(s) you’ll be teaching as your child reads his/her leveled
books. For ideas, see the chart on the following page: Ideas for a
Teaching Points.

Title(s) of the In this space, write down the names of the leveled book(s) your child
leveled book(s) will read to you during the day’s lesson. Remember that you’ll be
your child will using these books to reinforce the teaching point.
read
I recommend getting a subscription to Reading A to Z and printing
out a bunch of the level A and B books to start. Put them in plastic
shoeboxes with lids. Label the outside “level A” and “level B.” Choose
from these bins for your lessons, and after the lesson let your child
review the books you’ve read together and read others on his/her
own.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 30

 Ideas for Teaching Points
• Concepts of print: reading from left to right, reading to the end of the line and returning to the
beginning of the next, matching the spoken word to print, difference between a letter and a word

• Phonological & phonemic awareness: hearing syllables, hearing rhyming words, hearing initial
consonants, blending and segmenting phonemes, substituting and manipulating phonemes
Levels A-C

• Phonics: learning letter names and sounds, using beginning and ending consonant sounds when
reading, using short vowel sounds when reading

• Beginning fluency: learning more sight words, putting words together in phrases, paying attention to
end punctuation

• Comprehension: using the picture as a clue, making personal connections, self-correcting when
reading doesn’t make sense, look right or sound right, remembering details from a story, retelling with
prompting

• Phonological & phonemic awareness: blending and segmenting phonemes, substituting and
manipulating phonemes

• Phonics: using consonants, digraphs, and blends to solve words, blending the sounds in small
words, using familiar chunks to solve words, using short and long vowel sounds to solve
words, taking apart compound words to read them, removing the ending from a base word to
read new words, decoding longer words, decoding words with vowel+r, words with silent
Levels D-I

letters

• Fluency: Learning more sight words, reading in phrases, reading dialogue with expression,
using proper intonation according to the punctuation, reading with more expression,
stressing words when appropriate, changing one’s voice for different characters

• Comprehension: making and confirming predictions, retelling with support, describing

characters, making connections, making inferences, using text features, summarizing a longer
story, reporting concepts in an organized way, naming the beginning/middle/end, naming the
problem/solution, using a graphic organizer to retell with detail

• Phonics: using known words and word chunks to solve words, using a variety of strategies to
solve new words, reading multisyllabic words, decoding longer words with more challenging
spelling patterns

• Fluency: reading dialogue with phrasing and expression, applying appropriate stress to
words, reading silently, adjusting reading rate as needed, using proper pausing and intonation
Levels J-P

according to the punctuation

• Comprehension: making and confirming predictions, using background knowledge to

understand a text, using text features, pausing to summarize a longer text at intervals to aid
comprehension, summarizing chapters, reporting important concepts in an organized way,
making inferences, identifying nonfiction text structure, stating and justifying an opinion
about a text, using a fix-up strategy when meaning breaks down, understanding
problem/solution, comparing and contrasting characters, events or ideas, describing the
author’s point of view
©themeasuredmom.com
 Reading Lesson Plan
Interactive read
aloud

Phonics lesson

Sight words

Teaching point

Title(s) of the
leveled book(s)
your child will
read

©themeasuredmom.com
 Conclusion

I hope this guide has given you the confidence to teach your child to read! Be sure to visit my blog for
many accompanying resources.

Check out the free printables library: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/print-2/

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I’m just an email away! While I don’t offer coaching services, I try to answer all my messages in as
much detail as time allows. You can reach me here: anna@themeasuredmom.com

Anna Geiger, M.Ed.

How to Teach Your Child to Read, © Anna Geiger, M.Ed. – themeasuredmom.com - 33

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