Native Reading

Timothy Kailing's book Native Reading: Teach Your Child to Read Easily and Naturally Before the Age of 3 has really inspired me to create a text-rich environment for my children. I know some of you are thinking "How artificial and stiff!"

I’m not talking about taping a label on every object in the house, though. That would be artificial and stiff. I’m talking about learning to read without explicitly being taught, through sharing books and playing games.

The major methods to “teaching” reading in the Native Reading method are text pointing, letter play, and word assembly. This is what is meant by creating a text-rich environment.

There should be letters and words in the child’s environment. There should be a shelf filled with sturdy books, available to be read. Parents should read with the child. Letter toys like blocks, foam bath letters that stick when wet, and refrigerator magnet letters should be openly accessible.

Text pointing is running your finger under the text while reading, as fluidly as possible, making sure to smoothly keep even with each word as you pronounce it. This is harder than it sounds, but it becomes easy with practice! You should also do this with some of the text you encounter outside of books, like signs and labels.

Letter play is using those letter toys to play games. Name the letters on each block as you build a tower. When it topples point out which letter made it fall. Put letter magnets in the right order and then sing the alphabet song. Search for letters, by making a big silly production out of hunting through the bubbles for certain foam bath letters and proudly exclaiming when you find them.

Word assembly is using those letter toys to make words. Spell “bubbles” with the foam letters in the bath. Line up the ABC blocks to spell “blocks”. Use the magnets to spell “chicken”, “bread”, “spoon” and “juice” while you’re cooking dinner.

These methods can also be combined together, with different books and letter toys, to make as many games as you can imagine. Build a block tower that spells your child’s name. Buy a bath-safe book and use the foam letters to form a word or two from the book as you read it. Assemble the word “fork” in the kitchen with magnets, then remove the k and point out the new word “for”. Add a t and make “fort”. The possibilities are endless.