A Love of Reading in Early Childhood

Learning to read is not as simple as knowing the sounds that letters make. Despite there being just 26 letters in the English language, they create a total of 44 sounds. With there being a variety of ways in which these sounds can be made, it is no wonder that children of a young age find it a challenge to master and apply them all easily to their reading. It is essential that children are supported at the right time and at the right level if we want to promote a love of reading. 

In Early Years, children begin this journey by learning how to listen. Being able to hear sounds around them and tune into what is making the sound can be tricky at first, especially if it is a soft or quiet sound.  

Children need to play lots of games to develop good listening skills that include using songs, instruments and body actions. Children love to have stories shared with them repeatedly and this helps to understand aspects of the story and develop new vocabulary. So much fun can be had with a book when it is being read by an adult as they can model using different voices to represent characters such as the Three Bears or by creating sounds to match events like the breaking of the chair in the same story. Children love joining in with familiar rhymes from their favourite stories or calling out the missing words that rhyme at the end of a sentence. This is all part of early reading as children gain knowledge of playing with words.  

These vital listening skills are put into practice as children begin to learn about the sounds that letters make. Children need to hear and say the sounds, but they also need to recognise the different sounds that go together to make a word. It is not just about identifying an initial letter. Children need to practise blending sounds together to read words. For example, c-a-t is cat, t-r-ai-n is train, b-oy is boy. They also need to segment sounds in words. For example, sheep is sh-ee-p, pie is p-ie.  

To ensure children have a good knowledge of phonemes, digraphs and trigraphs, they practise reading both real and nonsense words. This supports children in recognising sounds in words and ensures they can blend correctly. For children to be successful, they need to have consolidated their knowledge of each phase before they move on to learn new ways of making the same sound. 

As children rely heavily on blending in the early stages, it is often the case that they will read every word in this way. Children need time to practise words they are familiar with so they can spot them on sight when reading. 

When children come across an unfamiliar word, it is important that they try different strategies to work it out. They can break long words into parts, snowball (add a sound at a time to support blending), predict using the pictures and sounds in the word, leave it out and go back to it. Children may need support and encouragement to use different strategies, but they need to practise these skills. 

We want children to become happy, confident readers but unfortunately during the difficult process of learning to read children can lose the enthusiasm and motivation for reading. Therefore, it is so important for adults to model their love of reading to children every day. Try choosing a good book that is beyond their level of reading but will extend their vocabulary and promote opportunities to talk about the story in order to develop a better understanding.  

When children listen to adults read to them, they hear the expression and intonation in their voice. Adults can pause to encourage thinking about what happened and why or to explore new words - this is also an essential part of being a reader. All too often children race through a book, thinking this will make them better readers but spending time delving deeper into a story is priceless.   

Children’s experiences of books are often reflected in their writing. Children use their experiences through their imagination and the exciting vocabulary used.  

Find a good book that you can read with your child at home. Spend time together enjoying it and talking about it and watch the love of reading grow.