24/06/2023
What are the other resources like?
Learn More: https://tinyurl.com/Child-Reading-Head-Start
Decodable Readers
This is a great addition to the program, to have decodable readers to support your child through their reading journey. These readers can be downloaded in PDF format too.
The problem I have with them is they are great for the later parts of the program, but not well suited to the first stages. Yes, they are illustrated nicely, but all the text is bunched up on one page. This doesn’t make them easy for early readers to follow. And the text starts in a pretty complex way, meaning they are only really good for children that have learned all their phonic sounds already.
The way to get around this, is to read the books to your child and only ask them to read the words you know they are capable of. The problem is, unless your are a trained teacher, it may be hard for you to judge this.
I would also recommend that you type out the words from the readers again yourself. Enlarge the text and print out strips of one sentence at a time. This would make these readers much easier to follow for early readers.
In general, a major part of teaching a child to read is to also develop a love of reading alongside. This will give the child a natural motivation to read their favourite books, making the task of teaching reading to them a lot easier! These readers will likely not develop that, so I would recommend that you read to your child on a daily basis outside of this program. Buy your child a bank of excellent children’s books that they will grow to love.
I have articles on this website that give ideas for children’s books, for example this one giving suggestions among recently released books (at the time of writing) is a good place to start.
I don’t see any guidance on how to use these readers within the program either. It would be much more helpful to parents if you marked clearly when to use each book within the lessons provided.
Flashcards
Reading Headstart does provide you with all the flashcards and word cards you would likely need. The idea is to download them and print them out.
I particularly like the phonic sound flashcards, which have been beautifully illustrated in a hand drawn art style similar to the readers above.
Other tools and resources
Some of the lessons included in Reading Headstart mention a pronunciation guide. However, the link is dead and I can’t find this guide anywhere within the website.
I feel this guide should be re-instated as soon as possible, as it would help a lot of parents hear how some of the phonic sounds should be spoken. For example, I am sure a lot of parents don’t know how to say the phonic sound “ai” or would not be confident until they heard it.
At the moment, the only option is to look the sound up online yourself.
Learn More: https://tinyurl.com/Child-Reading-Head-Start
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