How to Make Your Child a Better Reader

If your child can read basic words such as sat or dog, then with a bit of advanced phonics instruction they will be able to read sneakers or doubt.

After the child has learned the basic phonics sounds (the a says /a/), they need to learn that different letter combinations can also make specific sounds. Here is the list of sounds you should teach, in order as recommended by Reading Specialist in The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists.

I would recommend teaching from 3 - 7 new sounds a week, depending on how the child responds. Over a couple weeks you will see their reading ability JUMP!

th (thin)

th (these)

ch (chin)

sh (ship)

wh (when)

y (my)

y (funny)

c (city)

s (his)

g (gym)

x (exam)

ai (pain)

ay (day)

ea (meat)

ee (feet)

oa (boat)

ow (snow)

Beginning Sounds

pr (pram)

tr (trim)

gr (greet)

br (Brad)

cr (crib)

dr

sm

sn

pl

cl

bl

fr

st

sp

sk

sc

sw

fl

sl

gl

tw

str

Ending Sounds

ld (could)

lf (elf)

sk (ask)

st (pest)

nk (ink)

nt (ant)

mb (lamb)

mp (camp)

ng (sing)

Vowels + r

ar

er

ir

or

ur

air (fair)

are (bare)

ear (tear)

eer (steer)

Long O Vowels

aw (awful)

ou (out)

al (also)

o (off)

Other Vowels

ow (owl)

ou (out)

oi (boil)

oy (boy)

Double vowels

oo (pool)

oo (foot)

u (truth)

u (push)

Schwa

a (about)

e (letter)

I (holiday)

o (cannon)

u (circus)

Other/silent

gn (gnat)

ph (phone)

kn (know)

wr (write)

ough (ought)

igh (sight)