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I purchased Hooked on Phonics and it does wonders as long as you are willing to work with your child. My daughter was reading at 4years old. It also helps older children.
Read to them, every day, every night. Let them take the lead in finishing sentences. Do the alphabet together by doing the letter sounds then find words that start with those sounds.
Start with a list of sight words....the, and, it, if, etc. teach them sight words, then when you are reading with them they read the sight words along with you.
It starts with you being a good role model. If you child never sees you read he will not sense the importance. Read for your self, read to him and let him read to you.
I remember when I was in the first grade. One thing that left an impression on me was that I was in the lowest reading group. My mom spent time with me every day on my reading skills. I remember one of the things that she did was I would read one word and then she would read the next. It wasn't long before I was in the highest level reading group.
I went to a public school in first grade, and it was so big that the teachers used microphones for their classes. I was such a bad reader, they wanted to put me in special ed. Instead of that, i went to a private school, and they did phonics there and the classes were of 12 or less. I went there for 6 years and then i went to a public junior high. Now i can read good, and could be in honors english if i wanted to be as i got all A's in English now.
Consider how your kid's school is, and im sure as others have said, read to your kid, and just him him or her feel awsome when they accomplish reading pages and books
Writing is a big part of reading. Ask your child to help you with your grocery list. You and he discuss what you need and he prints the words on grocery-list paper. If he doesn't know how to spell something, sound it out for him. Maybe he could even draw a picture too for some of the items.
Play word and spelling and memory games such as "I see something in this room [or on this table or in this car] that starts with "P" (or "B" or "F" etc.). Start with objects that are easy to guess. When we played this at our evening supper table, my father started us out slow, then gradually got into harder words like "C" - "condensation" (on the iced tea glasses). Play the Memory Game with picture tiles or playing cards lying in rows and columns, and take turns to match two (and later, with experience, match four).
Of course, like someone earlier said, read to him, read together, and also let your child read to you. Make words and reading fun!
All of the previous are good answers. I recommend working on rhyme. Read rhyming stories and sometimes see if your child can supply the rhyme. The cat sat on the ___.
Mat of course. Nursery rhymes are good for this. So is Dr. Seuss.
Hooked on Phonics can be a plus. Some children are not phonetic learners though. Many times children with speech errors have difficulty with phonics.
Verbal word games are very good. Changing the first sound of words is a great skill. This can be done with word families. hat, mat, sat etc.
Continue to read with your child. Always ask them questions, even during a regular day such as what is that? can you spell it? what does it sound like?
Also, find books that your child likes to read. If they find it interesting they will want to read it more, which will improve their reading skills.