But be aware that children relying on a phonics-based approach to early reading will not be able to decode many of the words here. Parents may choose to watch that kids do not skip the words and encourage them to study the words more carefully in order to remember them. A few simple games can be helpful for assisting early readers to pay attention to the more difficult words in a story. Or you can see what kind of new and silly sentences you and your child can generate from the sentences in the book by using your fingers to block out some of the words. These games helped our tester, who was relying very heavily on picture cues.
Cat plays with a string.
Children want to feel like they have accomplished something and shouldn't feel overwhelmed in their early attempts to read. Brief but sensible instructions for parents are included, and these always encourage them to ensure children are having fun as they learn. My first child learned to read by concentrating on sounding out easily decodable words before moving on to sight words. My second child never really took off using a phonics approach to reading, but did when she started to essentially teach herself to read, attempting a whole-reading approach. Though a combination of both approaches is probably best, it should be no surprise that different children learn to read in different ways.