Reading is one of the easiest and most rewarding things to teach if the right materials are used — materials designed to reach and build upon the struggling student's current skill level.

To empower them start on the road to becoming successful and confident readers, there are some basic skill building techniques and worksheets available on site:

• Dot Patterns
  Doing dot patterns not only develop thinking skills, but they help a child's brain isolate the individual lines involved in the creation and recognition of a letter. (example of a dot pattern)
• Letter Recognition.
  Basic language arts skills like tracing letters and alphabet matching tasks are additional proven ways to help familiarize students with individual letters.
• Word Decoding
  To give students the confidence to even attempt reading, start with lists of word families. Have the student highlight the word-family letters and then read the whole word. an, can, man, pan
  As they progress to larger words using this technique, they will read more confidently and increase their fluency.
• Beginner Reading Booklets
  It is nearly impossible to find books that use small words for beginning readers. We have provided a series of little booklets, available on site in the teaching resources section that are designed to go with the word decoding lists. To make it more fun, students can decorate them with stickers or color them. These booklets are at just their reading level -- providing a book they can actually successfully and confidently read.

To learn to read and comprehend, students need to master a great number of skills. Parents and educators can be shown how to be better equipped to empower these students to meet the challenges of reading and writing. Proven techniques can enrich your child's learning experience.

See our Teaching Resources for Reading Skills for worksheets, lesson plans, etc.