DD3 keeps asking me to teach her how to read.

She knows her letter sounds.

What's the best way to go about teaching her how to read?

TIA

While not claiming it as the best way to go about teaching a child to read, a common method is simply to ask a child to choose a book, and read aloud to him/her.

Pointing to the words as you read them is common. Children may begin sounding out words as you read together. Sometimes the child may like to point to words, or say a word they may recognize or know is coming next due to familiarity with the book.

Pausing to talk about the pictures and the story line, or relating something in the book to other books or to the child's lived experiences helps make connections and also role models internal conversation about what is being read.

We liked the "Elephant and Piggie" books by Mo Willems.

There are tons of them and they are very new reader friendly (lots of short words and lots of repetition).

At that age, I would just add a bit of fuel and see what happens. Like sound through a few three letter words with magnetic letters and show her how they combine to make a word. If she is totally ready, she'll piece it largely together herself from there.

I would get some very simple easy readers (we used the BOB books) and teach her how to blend the letter sounds to make words. We only used 1-2 sets of BOB books and then my kids took off with reading. DS seemed to absorb it magically and I really don't know how he learned. He hardly spent any time reading and acted like he didn't care. I think DD learned a lot from listening to audiobooks and following along in the books. They both could read fluently by the time they started kindergarten. Some schools are hung up with sight words and flash cards. Maybe this works for some kids but neither one of mine ever used them.

Not sure what kind of reaction I will get here for this BUT we did "Hooked on Phonics." Both boys love(d) it. My first kid hated BOB books - he thought they were "boring" and "stupid" but he liked the "Hooked on Phonics" books because he thought they were hysterical - even the simple ones. Also because he could reach word in the book - they used each word taught in the lesson in the subsequent book/story.... I highly recommend the series! And my first one was liked yours - he kept asking to be taught to read because he wanted it so badly but couldn't pick it up on his own. Now he reads several grad levels ahead and will read every night (all night if I let him!)

They both also seem to like seeing their progress and their building on each lesson ... which the hooked on phonics does well.

DS2.10 loves a phonics-type game we made up where we write nonsense words with magnetic letters and sound them out. Every third or fourth word, I'll throw in a real word and watch his delight as he discovers it has a meaning. Keep it brief and keep her wanting more. Stop while you're still laughing.

The closer the "words" sound to real words--especially silly ones--the more laughs you'll elicit. Give her a real word, and switch out one consonant or vowel to make jibberish words.

E.g. Farm --> farp, yarm, fark, zarm

We also liked the "Brand New Readers" series. There are a ton to choose from with lots of different characters (like "Termite and Ostrich"). They are similar to the BOB books except they are in color and the stores are a little funnier. DS did read the BOB books at first but quickly grew to despise them.

I really think that simply reading TO your DC at this age is the key. If you are already doing this, you may one day be surprised...that your DC is actually following along, not simply listening. Focusing on books that contain quite a few sight words and that are engaging to your DC helps too. DD and DS had different preferences, but the way I started to notice each one could read was WHILE I was reading to them...DS, in particular, started to CORRECT me if I missed something.

When they got started and were a bit reluctant, I would usually tell them to take turns with me or complain that I was loosing my voice and that I needed their help.

DS8 and DD5 taught themselves to read at ages 2 and 3. (We never read to them.) DD3 isn't showing any signs of reading yet, though she knows the alphabet. We sometimes see older siblings explaining schooly things to younger siblings, so maybe DD5 will teach DD3 to read as part of their playing. Has anyone had older siblings teaching younger siblings to read?

I've always just read with my kids (or in the case of my younger ones, my oldest has read with them), pointing to each word as I read it. I make a point to read clearly, not too quickly, and with marked expression. As they've shown facility with letter sounds, I have had them sound out the occasional cvc word, or read familiar sight words. As their decoding ability and reading vocabulary increases, I read less and less of it (just inserting the more challenging words necessary to maintain the flow of the narrative), until they reach a level of proficiency that allows them to read it all independently.

With my first, we started off with old favorites like Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman. The younger children have shifted to add Mo Willems and BOB books. I also do the above strategy with books well above their independent reading level, which gives access to a much wider range of topics and vocabulary. And because I predominantly have them read aloud the words that they don't have to puzzle over for too long, we can maintain prosody, and build fluency.

Yes. That's why my post mentions my oldest reading to my younger ones. #1 asked to be taught to read at 3, and was. #1 has gone on to do much more explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, word attack, and blending with the younger siblings than I had planned to do myself!

I am *so* not an expert at this - each of my kids basically just suddenly started reading - we read to them a ton but none of them asked to be taught to read. However, fwiw, their preschool had a philosophy of teaching children to write letters and then words as a precursor to reading, so that's something that may be fun to add in to the mix.

polarbear

One reason I suggested word making self-discovery is because we did reading and pointing as well as having Closed Captioned on TV and DS8 has a wicked memory and he remembers all these whole words to read, but not the construction of words. Recovering spelling after being a voracious whole word reader since he was 2 has been challenging.

It could be his vision issues were key to his not deconstructing words, but I also think in retrospect that earlier grapheme type awareness might've made things easier on him now.

Ok so here's my take on it. I haven't read the other posts yet. I am a former Special Education teacher. Fast forward a few years later and I had a two year old begging me to teach him to read. I was like, "No, you'll learn in Kindergarten." For six months straight, he obsessed over letters and books and begged me to teach him.
Met a wonderful mother of a son who is gifted, entered K at a 3rd grade self taught reading level. She said to me, "You can't stop that train, might as well get on board."
So I did, told him the sounds whenever he asked. A few days later, he told me he knew them all, and sure enough he did. So I said, "Ok I'll teach you to read." Here and there, he'd ask me to teach him, so I would. He was SIGNIFICANTLY happier.
My now friend's son, although read at a 3rd grade level, does have holes in his reading ability due to being self taught.
I thought about this thoroughly and I think if your child is begging to learn to read, they are ready. If you start to teach them how to blend the sounds and they aren't interested then you have your answer, they weren't ready-on that day atleast. When they know the sounds and hear you sound out words, usually they will try start reading themselves-good indicator that they are ready for direct instruction. BOB books are perfect for this time or any first readers. I just bought another box set for my son at COSTCO. I feel bad that I didn't "listen" to him before when he was asking me. For the first few months, I would feel like I was just contributing to his future boredom in school. But the truth is, I couldn't stop it and still can't. He's happier reading.

GGG, agree with you, when they ask for learning, we can't stop it :P My son ask me to teach him reading too, and I just bought two set of BOB books from costco too :P and he loves it !!! My DS3 is not that into reading, sometimes he refuse to have story time... glad that the BOB books have numbers on each page and on each bk, i think this is why my number obsessive son want me to read these book with him. He also tried to read the words out too. He can read the words out phonically, however, i don't know how much he can understand it as we are not speaking english at home, anyways as long as he think reading is fun, that's good enough for his age.
Other than BOB books, fantastic phonics is useful too, and it is more easy for my son to follow, he can read the sentence out but he seems like BOB bks more. You can try some free download (I didn't learn phonics before, so somehow it is a bit hard for me to teach my son, but glad that i have a chance to learn it now ^^)
http://www.early-reading.com/