how do you teach your toddler to read?

At this stage, Ash only knows her ABCs. She knows them inside out, and even the sound each one makes. Super achievement right for a 4 and half year old?

The next part is a little tricky because she's supposed to blend those letters together to form a word. For instance, BUM. B-U-M. She knows :

B = Buhhh

U = uuhhh

M = mmm

Ok, something like that la.  She knows the sounds invidividually, but she has problems blending the sounds together to make BUM. She gets it sometimes, and she doesn't get it sometimes.

So, what does she do? Is it because she doesn't get enough practice? If I get to to repeat, she almost looks at the words from memory rather than understand the proper way to read. Because, if she has mastered the art of blending, she can read almost any word right? Including something as obscure as Omnia or BUTT.

Perhaps, it hasn't come together for her yet? Gosh, I wonder how she's gong to survive in Primary 1. From what I heard, it's alot tougher than in our days where in Std I, we were still doing the ABCs.

Oh and another thing - she doesn't know simple additions like 1 + 1. I am so dead!!