How ClickNRead makes it easy to teach phonics?

Being an English teacher for students till 4th grade, I realize the importance of phonics and a strong language base for kids. In a class every kid has its own pace of learning, understanding and grasping depending on the level of intelligence, aptitude and alertness. I have come across kids with disorders like dyslexia, autism too and I wanted these kids to be trained on a common platform like other children. The challenging factor for me was to hold the attention of each child as every child is not ready to study at the same time. But, with such interactive and entertaining lessons in ClicknRead, it was no more challenging!

This online reading program has letter sounds, word endings, prefixes, suffixes, word blending, etc. It reinforces listening skills and teaches basic keyboarding and mouse computing skills simultaneously which help in better co-ordination of their eyes and ears. It enhances their speaking skills in terms of fluency, accent, pronounciation etc, and then reading skills, sentence formation and so on.

ClicknRead gives them the freedom of exploring and practicing these skills in a very comfortable environment. Children learn at their own pace as they see and hear letters, words, and sentences on the computer and find them on the keyboard.

What I found as one of the best features in the tool was that it doesn’t have too many mediums to be used like flash cards, CD’s, kits, pieces, puzzles, etc. Here, the child focuses completely on the program which helps in better concentration.

The series of these 100 lessons are put sequentially so that they move ahead step by step. After completion of each lesson by the student, the result appears informing the number of attempts taken by them to respond correctly. I have also made them repeat the lessons until they master it. Also, the scores can be compared with other students for the respective lessons to encourage a competitive spirit amongst each other. The assessment of the reports is comprehensive and accurate. It helps me in judging the progress of every child.

It is overwhelming to see my students grow independently with such high self-confidence and also the smiles on their proud parents!

Other online reading program

Hooked on Phonics Lean to Read is one of the program which includes a variety of original books with colorful illustrations and friendly characters that engage readers, and teach kids the basic skills. But, I found it very expensive at $199.95 and it consumes considerable time during shipping.

I prefer ClickNRead over HOP (Hooked on Phonics) as it is very convenient and usable from anywhere in the world. All you need is an internet connection! Also, it is much cheaper as it costs about $59.

When do kids start learning?

Have you ever thought when does your child start learning to read? Have you ever discussed with your spouse when is the best time to teach our child to read?
Your child starts learning since the time it is born. Reading is one way of communication and you communicate with your child daily. You talk to them; you sing to them, you recite religious verses and good habits to them, you are constantly teaching them the words, their meanings, the sounds.

The key to becoming a good reader is an early and varied exposure to language.
Learning to read for children begins from their ears and not eyes. The foundation for their success in reading is by talking to them, reading books to them and playing auditory games. The more books they read, the bigger their vocabulary becomes.

Tricks to keep up their interest in learning

A book is more than just a story; it’s a magical journey that takes the mind through the creative land of the writer. In addition, reading a book can stimulate the mind in more ways than watching a television program or playing a video game ever could. Yet, with the increase in cable network television, movies, video games and computer games, children are spending less and less time reading and more time getting lost in technology’s slush pile. Watching television has a significant effect on the interaction of family, reading, and schoolwork. Here are some ways help you get your child on the reading wagon.

Motivate him by exposing him to various forms of reading material on several topics such as fables, fairy tales, drawing, crafts and cartoons. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words! The image registers in their mind immediately. Get them books with pictures so that they feel interested in browsing the book and knowing more about the topic.

Allow your children to see you enjoying a book, newspaper or other reading material. Lead by example. Just simply give a short synopsis, even books you read as a child or in the past can make children want to read, “Oh I read this great book about…”

Share bedtime stories with your children nightly. Read as many fairy tales and creative stories as possible. Share stories trying voice modulations, giving a personal touch to them. Let them imagine or ask them to change the story-endings. This will make the story an intimate adventure for you and your child.
Make few visits to the library with your children. And you shall be pleased to see them running to you with a whole bunch of books they want to take home!

Don’t be irritated with the number of questions they ask! It shows the hunger to know more, explore more as their creative side of the mind gets active.
You should be calm and patient with the pace which your child learns. Encourage reading; don’t push it so hard that they entirely lose the interest in reading.

Engaging children with various learning styles

Learning styles are different ways in which children and adults learn best. We not only come from differing localities, abilities, cultures, and home experiences, but we inherently have different learning modalities. We possess varying combinations of these styles. Your own learning style also affects your interaction with children.

The four main modalities are:
•Visual-learn by watching and looking at pictures
•Auditory-learn by being told verbal instructions
•Kinesthetic-learn by being involved and active
•Tactile-learn by doing and handling materials

Most of us expect children to sit quietly and listen to stories. Many children are capable of doing this, but for others it can be a challenge. Say, while reading out stories plan ways in which you can engage the kinesthetic and tactile learners by way of some kind of acting, movement or touch. For instance, ask them how do you dance or walk and then act them out. Visual and auditory learners are engaged during the book reading and discussion.

Difficulties in learning, reading or writing

The main reasons for reading problems are:

1. Ineffective reading instruction
2. Auditory perception difficulties
3. Visual perception difficulties
4. Language processing difficulties

Some children have auditory discrimination problems. It is not unusual for children to reverse letters and words when they read or write. They are unable to differentiate left-right, on self or paper. Lot of times kids find it difficult to pay attention on a subject at a stretch.

Children and adults who do not learn to read through an intensive phonics program often have one or more of the following symptoms:

• Below grade level reading achievement
• Slow reading
• Poor comprehension
• Fatigue after reading only for a short while
• Poor spelling skills
• Lack of enjoyment from reading
• Difficulty repeating what is said to them
• Difficulty understanding or remembering what they have just read
• Difficulty putting their thoughts on paper

Another group of children has difficulty matching the word image on the page with a previously stored image in their brain. Exercises that train the brain to "see" more accurately may help but instruction with phonics is the best approach to overcome this problem.

Importance of phonics

The advantage of phonics over simply teaching the alphabet is that once they have mastered the main sounds, they can then read many English words! It is a method of reading instruction that breaks language down into its simplest components.

Children learn the sounds of individual letters first, then the sounds of letters in combination and in simple words. Simple reading exercises with a controlled vocabulary reinforce the process.

A well-designed phonics program also teaches the most common spelling, pronunciation, and syllable division rules needed to figure out which sound to use when. It can also improve your spelling, even if you manage to read very well.

Phonics helps to develop a good solid sight vocabulary so that they do not need to sound out every single word they come across in their reading.
Signs that you may need phonics:
- Very slow reading

- Dislike of reading
- Poor spelling
- Difficulty reading technical material
- Difficulty reading the following words: Cardiomyopathy, Bibliography, etc