Reading helps us understand words and sentences and learn what they tell us. After learning to recognise and build simple words, we can begin putting words together to read short sentences.
In this chapter, you will learn how to read words together, read short sentences, understand what a simple sentence means, match sentences with pictures, find important words, read simple questions and follow simple written instructions.
Why This Chapter Matters
Reading individual words is an important first step, but reading also means understanding how words work together. When words are joined in the correct order, they can communicate a complete idea.
Reading becomes more useful when we connect the words we see with the meaning they communicate.
These skills help children read simple stories, understand questions, follow classroom directions and use written English in everyday life.
What You Will Learn
- How to read simple words together.
- How to read short sentences.
- How to understand the meaning of a simple sentence.
- How to match sentences with suitable pictures.
- How to find important words in a sentence.
- How to read simple questions.
- How to understand simple written instructions.
- How words work together to communicate an idea.
Before You Begin
Before starting this chapter, you should be able to recognise and read some simple two-letter and three-letter words and familiar everyday words.
You should also be comfortable blending simple sounds and recognising familiar word patterns. These skills will help you read several words together and understand short sentences.
Understanding the Learning Sequence
The lessons begin with reading individual words together and gradually move towards understanding complete sentences. You will then connect sentences with pictures, identify important words, read questions and finally follow simple written instructions.
This sequence helps you move from recognising separate words to understanding and using simple written sentences.
Lessons in This Chapter
Complete the lessons in the order shown below.
Important Ideas
- Words can be joined together to make sentences.
- Words in a sentence usually follow a meaningful order.
- A simple sentence communicates an idea or tells us something.
- Pictures can help us understand what a sentence means.
- Important words can help us understand the main idea.
- Questions ask us to find or think about information.
- Instructions tell us what to do.
- Good reading means understanding the meaning of what we read.
Chapter Practice
- Read the words The cat.
- Read the sentence The cat is big.
- What does the sentence The dog runs. tell us?
- Which picture would match The boy is eating.?
- Find the important word in The red ball is big.
- What mark usually comes at the end of a question?
- What does a question ask us to do?
- What does an instruction tell us to do?
- Read: Open the book.
- Why should we understand the meaning of a sentence?
Quick Revision
Words can be joined together to make simple sentences. Reading a sentence means more than saying the words aloud; we should also understand what the sentence tells us.
Pictures, important words, questions and instructions can all help us understand written English. These skills make reading useful in school and everyday life.
Continue Learning
Start with Lesson 1 — Reading Words Together and complete the lessons in sequence. Each lesson builds on the reading skills introduced in the previous lesson.