This document provides parents with guidance and resources to help their children become ready to learn to read. It outlines learning tools like phonics games and apps that are free or low-cost. It also describes activities parents can do with their children, such as matching letters, sequencing the alphabet, and playing guessing games to build phonics skills. The document recommends picture books for reading aloud to young children and beginning reader books for early readers. Finally, it lists additional books for parents on topics like how children learn to read and dyslexia. The overall message is that engaging in these types of activities and using recommended resources can help prepare children for learning to read.

1. Ready, Set, Read!
What Parents Need
to Know and to Do
to Ensure Their
Children are Ready
to Learn to Read

2. Learning Tools
and Resources

3. Games
 MeeGenius! – Free
 Small Talk Phonemes – Free
 Phonics Genius – Free
 Mels Phonics NonPhonics Lite Part 1 & Part 2 – Free
 ABC Magic Phonics – Free
 Zap Phonics Reading Games – Free
 Phonic Soup – Free
 Match Phonics – Free
 Phonics Fun 1, 2 & 3 – Free
 First Words with Phonics Lite – Free
 BaldiMatch:Phonics - $ .99
 Little Reader - $ .99
 Phonics Dojo - $1.99
 Hi! Phonics - $1.99
 Montessori Crosswords – Learn Spelling with Phonics - $2.99

4. Websites
 www.smartyearsapps.com
 www.inov8-ed.com/2011/03/theres-a-special-app-for-that-part-7-apps-that-sup
 www.teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/patti/k-1/activities/phonemic.
 www.proactiveparent.com
 www.colorincolorado.com/families
 www.readingrockets.org

5. Counting, Matching, and Naming Letters
G
F
What You Need
•Set of plastic alphabet letters-preferable capital letters
•Mat that you make on an 11” x 17” piece of firm paper. Trace the plastic letters and fill them in, in an arc
shape, so that the plastic letters will fit over the letters written on the arc. The arc should extend from the
lower left to the lower right corner.
•What You Do
•Ask you child to count how many letters there are.
•Then ask your child to place the plastic letters on the matching letters on the arc of the mat.
•Teach her the name of each letter, introducing about four new letters per day. For example, “This is the
letter A.”
•After she can differentiate the letter shapes and has been taught the names of each letter, ask her to say
the name of the letter as she places it in the position on the arc.
•Repeat often, until your child can recognize each letter, place it over the corresponding symbol on the arc on
the mat, and say the name of each letter. Generally, it takes several weeks for a child to master all the letters.

6. Learning The Sequence of the Alphabet
A
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ F
C
X
E
What You Need
C
 Set of plastic alphabet letters
 A slightly different mat made on an 11” x 17” piece of firm paper. List the letters in order in a straight line
across the top to provide a reference for the child. This time, instead of the letters composing the arc, draw
a line to form the arc. Then provide three “anchors” by writing the letter A at the lower left corner of the
arc, the letter Z at the lower right, and M and N at the midway point at the top of the arc.
What You Do
 Ask your child to take the plastic letters out of the container and place them right side up in the center of
the arc.
 Then ask her to find the A and place it.
 Next find the Z and place it, followed by the M and N.
 The child then begins with B, Then C, and so on, placing all the letters in order along the arc.
 When your child has finished sequencing the letters, ask her to check it by touching and naming each letter,
starting with A and moving to Z. The alphabet across the top of the mat can serve as an additional reminder.
 Repeat this activity frequently until the child can place all the letters in the proper order within two minutes.
Generally, it takes several weeks for a child to master this task.

7. Guess the Letter
What You Need
 Two sets of plastic alphabet letters-preferably capital letters
 Two 11” c 17” mats with or without the letters filled in on the arc
 Two brown paper bags, or cloth bags, big enough to hold the letters
What You Do
 This is a game that two children can play together or you can play with your child. The object is to
try to correctly identify and name the letters based on felling them without looking. The winner is
the first player to fill in all the letters on her arc.
 The first player reaches into a brown paper bag and feels a plastic letter without looking at it. If
she can correctly name it, then she gets to place it on the arc on her mat and choose another letter.
She continues choosing letters until she makes a mistake.
 Once a mistake is made, the turn rotates to the next player
 The player who successfully identifies and places all the letters on her arc is the winner.

8. Snaky Letters
What You Need
 Modeling clay or cookie dough
What You Do
 Roll the pieces of clay or dough into
snake-shaped pieces for your child to use.
 Help your child form the pieces into the shapes of letters.
 If you cookie dough, make sure the letters with enclosed
circles (i.e., o, b, d, q) have plenty of space inside the circle
before baking. This will assure that the circles will not
close up when baked.

9. Straight
Talk About
Reading
Susan L. Hall Ed.D
Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D

10. Parenting a
Struggling
Reader
Susan L. Hall, Ed.D
Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D

11. Road
to
Benita A. Blachman, Ph.D
the
Code
Eileen Wynne Ball, Ph.D
Rochella Black, M.S.
Darlene M. Tangel, Ph. D.

12. EAROBICS

13. PHONEMIC
AWARENESS
in Young Children
Marilyn Jager Adams
Barbara R. Foorman
Ingvar Lundberg
Terri Beeler

14. Bringing
Words
Isabel L. Beck
To
Margaret G. McKeown
Linda Kucan Life

15. Books for a First-Grade Student
Beginning Reader-First Stage
Author Title
Brown, Laura Krasny •Rex and Lilly: Playtime
•Rex and Lilly :Family Time
Eastman, P.D. Go, Dog Go!
Seuss, Dr. Hop on Pop
Ziefert, Harriet •Cat Games
•Harry Goes to Fun Land
•A New House for Mole and
Mouse

16. Picture Books to Read Aloud to an Infant or Toddler
AUTHOR TITLE
Ahlberg, Janet & Allen Each Peach Pear Plum
Arnold, Tedd No Jumping on the Bed
Barton, Byron Trucks
Brown, Margaret Wise Goodnight Moon
Bruna, Dick Miffy
Carlstrom, Nancy White Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear
Gibbons, Gail Trains
Hill, Eric Where’s Spot?
Martin, Bill Jr., & John Archambault Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Martin, Bill, Jr., & Eric Carle Brown, Brown Bear, What Do You
See?
Numeroff, Laura Joffe If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
Oxenbury, Helen Tom and Pippo Make a Friend

17. Other Books
 Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print- A
Summary
by Marilyn Jager Adams
 Help Me Help My Child: A Sourcebook for Parents of
Learning Disabled Children
by Jill Bloom
 Your Child’s Growing Mind: A Practical Guide to Brain
Development and Learning from Birth to Adolescence
by Jane M. Healy, PhD.
 About Dyslexia: Unraveling the Myth
by Priscilla L. Vail
 The Educated Child
by Bennett, Finn, & Cribb