Home » Misc » Reading skills kindergarten

Reading skills kindergarten


10 Reading Readiness Skills for Kindergarten Kids

As the parent of a soon-to-be kindergartener, you might be a bit astounded by the reading goals your school has set for your child. Today's parents are often shocked when they come to school for orientation and see what's on the docket when it comes to reading. What happened to a full day of crayons? What happened to unlimited time in the sand box?

Download Article

Without a doubt, the skills taught in kindergarten today look more like the skills taught in first grade a decade or two ago, especially when it comes to reading.  But fret not, because these high reading expectations for young students are accompanied by very strategic teaching methods, and a meticulous progression of skills that build upon one another. Your child can meet the reading goals set by his teacher, especially if he's on track when he first enters kindergarten. So, is he?

While every teacher and school has their own set of “prerequisites,” there's a set of general reading expectations that most teachers share, when it comes to kids entering kindergarten. Before entering kindergarten, a student well prepared for reading should be able to:

  1. Read her name
  2. Recite the alphabet
  3. Recognize some or all of the letters in the alphabet
  4. Correspond some or all letters with their correct sound
  5. Make rhymes
  6. Hold a book right side up with the spine on the left, front cover showing
  7. Recognize that the progression of text is left to right, top to bottom
  8. Echo simple text that is read to them
  9. Recognize that text holds meaning
  10. Re-tell a favorite story

If your child is not quite steady in all of these areas, don't panic! Every child enters kindergarten at a different level and teachers expect a huge variation in the skills each student brings. They're trained to optimize success for each individual, no matter what. According to Lesley M. Morrow, Ph.D. and Distinguished Professor of Literacy at Rutgers University in New Jersey, one of the main reasons kindergarten reading is taught in small groups, is so teachers can easily cater to different levels of reading readiness. More advanced readers can be taught in a way that limits boredom, and more beginning readers at a pace that minimizes frustration.

On top of utilizing small-group time, the teacher will "scaffold" the reading skills she teaches. In other words, reading skills will be taught in a systematic way that allows skills to build upon one another: The kindergarten year will start out strong with an intense teaching of letter recognition and sounds. This lends itself to beginning phonemic awareness skills, like sounding out words. Once a child can sound out simple words, teachers move on to showing them how to recognize patterns in words, such as rhyming, vowel/consonant patterns, and word families. If a kindergartener can recognize letters and sounds, use phonetic skills to sound out words, and use word patterns to figure out unknown words, she's ready to read sentences and simple books! Hold onto your hat as teachers move emerging readers on to this final, and very exciting, part of the learning process.

From there it's all a matter of reading as much as possible. So be sure to encourage your child to practice, practice, practice. Keep lots of books around and offer plenty of encouragement. Skill-building in preparation for your child’s first year of formal schooling is important, but it's even more important to foster a love for reading. By all means, play rhyming games with your child. Ask him to re-tell a story after you read it together. Practice reading words around the neighborhood, like stop signs, or logos. But if your little one experiences frustration, take a break, or rework your plan in order to get her buy-in. 

Most of all, keep in mind that kindergarten-age kids are going through huge developmental changes. While some reading skills may seem impossible for your child to grasp one day, he may have them down pat the next. Therein lays the beauty of kindergarten!

So keep the pressure low, and the book list heavy. “If a parent loves reading and reads to their child, the child is likely to assimilate that behavior,” says Morrow. She suggests getting into a reading schedule—setting a specific time each day for reading, and talking afterward about what you’ve read together. The leap in reading from pre-kindergarten to first-grade-ready is huge. But keep those books in hand, and have confidence that your little reader will progress steadily as he builds his skills, one on top of the other.

Check out Education.com's kindergarten activities page for tons of ideas on how to work skill-building into playful activities. The more fun you make things, the more eager she'll be to participate.

Next Article: First Grade Summer Reading List

Your Kindergartener | Reading Rockets

Reading 101: A Guide for Parents

Discover the typical literacy milestones for your kindergartener, and how to support your child's developing skills in reading and writing. Use the links on the left to find activities, videos, and other resources to build skills in these key areas: recognizing the sounds in speech, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

Get an overview of the reading and writing skills that are typical for 5-year-olds. Remember that kids develop at different rates, so don't be worried if your child isn’t doing some of these things yet. If you do have concerns, talk to your pediatrician, your child's teacher, or the reading specialist at school.

Reading

  • Understands left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientation for books and print.
  • Knows the parts of a book and their functions.
  • Recognizes and can name all uppercase and lowercase letters.
  • Enjoys being read to and can retell simple stories or what they learned in informational texts.
  • Uses descriptive language to explain and explore.
  • Recognizes letters and letter sounds.
  • Begins to match spoken words with written ones.
  • Identifies and uses rhyming words.
  • Can recognize beginning sounds and sometimes middle and end sounds in simple words.
  • Recognizes and uses “word families” (words that share certain letters and may also rhyme, for example: bat, hat, rat, sat).
  • Identifies the sounds of each letter in simple, one-syllable words.
  • Recognizes some "sight words," common words kids have to recognize instantly without sounding them out. A few examples are a, the, I, my, you, is, are.
  • Sound like they are reading when pretending to read (or reading a familiar book they've memorized).
  • Uses new vocabulary and grammar in own speech.
  • Connects information and events in texts to life and life to text experiences.
  • Likes to dramatize stories or parts of stories.
  • Can name some book titles and authors.
  • Correctly answers questions about stories read aloud.
  • Makes predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories.

Writing

  • Independently writes many uppercase and lowercase letters (although they may not be clearly written).
  • Writes own name (first and last) and the first names of some friends or classmates.
  • Begins to write some words they use and hear often.
  • Uses invented spelling — children at this age are translating the sounds of spoken words into writing.
  • Begins to build a bank of correctly spelled words.
  • Draws a picture that tells a story and adds labels to the picture.
  • Writes (unconventionally) to express own meaning.
  • Begins to write stories with some readable parts.

Looking at Writing

See examples of real writing from kindergarteners in our interactive resource, Looking at Writing.

More resources

goals, benefits, program with exercises

After the child has learned to read in syllables, he will have to master the skill of reading full-fledged texts. Teaching children to read is a complex and time-consuming process that requires the right approach. This article will cover all the important issues. concerning the introduction of children to literature.

The importance and purpose of reading for preschoolers

Reading is a skill that every adult needs. The sooner the kid starts learning to work with texts, the sooner he will be able to take advantage of all the benefits that will become available to him. nine0003

Learning to read is best with parents

Reading is responsible for the development of such skills as the analysis of the text read, the perception and retelling of the information received. It replenishes vocabulary and develops logical thinking. Working with fiction already at an early age forms a competent, beautiful and correct speech, and the child himself learns to freely express his thoughts in his native language.

Reading is also responsible for the formation of moral and cultural values, character and worldview. With its help, the baby indirectly gets acquainted with the past, future and present. The most important spiritual qualities, such as mercy, compassion, the joy of someone else's success, children also often draw from books. nine0003

The goal of reading fiction in kindergarten is to master all of the above skills, and most importantly, to instill in children a love of reading. All this can be achieved with the help of works of Russian folklore. Interesting and fascinating stories of fairy tales will teach the younger generation to see the plot, climax, denouement in the work. On a subconscious level, they will catch what the plot is and will be able to divide the characters into "good" and "bad". All this develops logical thinking and contributes to comprehensive development. nine0003

Important! Literary education plays a huge role for preschoolers, because it is one of the key factors in their upbringing. The book will become a means of understanding the surrounding world, its way of life and foundations.

At what age can you start learning

Each kid needs an individual approach, so there is no clear age when you need to start teaching him to read. There are generally accepted age limits, but even here there are many pitfalls.

Modern realities force inexperienced parents to chase time, and this often affects their children. Ambitious adults try to invest in the child all the skills as early as possible: knowledge of foreign languages ​​(often English), reading and much more. Now a child who came to the first grade, being able to read, is not uncommon. But is it necessary to take away their childhood from preschool children for what they will be taught anyway in the future? Each parent decides for himself.

Every parent decides when to teach a child to read

Determining the optimal age to start reading classes ends with the fact that the best time is when the child reaches for literature on his own. As a rule, this is a period between six and seven years.

Important! A child cannot just pick up and want to learn to read. Everything should come from the family. In order for the baby to independently take the initiative, he must learn this from adults. Parents should read aloud to him before going to bed, be able to turn spending time together into a game. nine0003

It is unlikely that a child of 3-4 years old will want to read a book on his own. At this age, he can be taught to mechanically add syllables into words, but he will not understand the meaning of what he read. This practice often leads to the formation of an internal barrier to further learning, and there is no benefit from it.

When a child begins to be interested in books, parents need to be able not to take this interest away from him.

Please note! When the kid nevertheless reached for literature, he did not become an adult. All learning should not take much time - at this age, it is difficult for children to focus on long-term perception of information, and even more so on its comprehension. nine0003

The ideal option is to turn reading for toddlers into an entertaining game. Then the learning process will not be perceived with rejection, which is a normal reaction of the brain to something new.

However, even if a child of 6-7 years old cannot read, this is not backwardness, but a normal phenomenon. It's time to start teaching him this. The GEF program offers tasks for learning to read from scratch at this age. Often, audio lessons are sold as an app for textbooks.

How to start your first reading

There are a huge number of methods that offer parents the most sophisticated options for gently teaching children to read. But is it worth it to surround the child with cards with words from 5-6 months?

Parents also learn in the process

In order for reading to children aged 5-6 not to become news, it is necessary to surround the child with written information from childhood. The alphabet on the wall, books in the house, cubes with letters - the kid must get used to the fact that textual information is an indispensable part of life. nine0003

Everything should go from simple to complex. First letters, then syllables, then words, sentences, and text. Learning letters with a child is not difficult if you turn everything into a game. For example, you can print coloring pictures with letters on cards, and in the process of coloring invent which words begin with this letter.

Important! We must not forget about the most important component of the Russian language - sounds. It is necessary to teach the child to understand and pronounce sounds in a timely manner. This will help him master reading much faster. nine0003

When the child has mastered the letters, syllables and sounds, you can move on to reading words. It is important to be patient with classes and make sure that the child does not feel discomfort. Do not rush him if he thought about the name of the next letter. Each lesson is the work of two, but the main task lies with an adult.

Additional information. Do not exercise with your child for more than 15-20 minutes a day. This is the optimal time for which the baby can concentrate, subject to interest. Fast learning to read does not depend on the duration of the lessons, but on their regularity and quality. nine0003

Reading short stories or fairy tales before bed is a good option for the first group activities. This is suitable for those cases when the baby has already mastered the letters and syllables. At this time, the parent reads the text on his own, occasionally inviting the child to try to read this or that word. It is worth choosing words that make sense, but not too complicated.

For example, if the story is about a snail, you can ask the child to read the word "snail" and show it in the picture. The main thing is to make sure that the child does not learn to guess the words by the connection of the first letter and the picture. How to avoid this will be discussed below. nine0003

If a parent really wants to teach a child to read, but absolutely does not know how to approach this matter, it makes sense to purchase a special manual in a bookstore. It can also be found online in the form of a presentation. This literature is aimed at educating parents.

How teaching should be done

Despite the lack of a single methodology for teaching reading, there are rules that will help parents learn to read for preschoolers.

Important! Each parent can independently determine the algorithm by which he will introduce his child to literature. The main thing to remember is that the entire responsibility for the educational process lies with the teacher, in this case, the parent.

Those who doubt their own abilities can seek the help of a specialist. The modern service market offers a huge number of teachers who are ready to teach a child to read at least at five, at least at six or seven years.

It is better for parents to take care of a child

But will it be interesting for a child to engage in an unfamiliar business with a stranger? Most likely no. Therefore, adults should carefully consider everything and honestly answer the question, do they want to take away the carefree time of childish pranks from their child and spend it studying?

Reading simulators

It is customary to start learning to read from books where words are accompanied by pictures. However, it is often easier for children to read the first letter and, by comparing it with the picture, guess the word. To avoid this, it is proposed to use a card index with words. nine0003

First, the child is given cards with three-letter words: house, cat, garden….. When he has learned to read such words freely, you can move on to cards with four-letter words. Next - words, where three, four syllables.

Important! Such a simulator assumes the absence of a word-picture-object association, so you cannot focus only on classes with it. But the practice of "only words" is sometimes helpful.

Another good reading simulator for preschoolers that develops the child's ability to think logically and increases the speed of reading - anagrams. It is worth offering to make a word out of a set of letters, and help the kid understand the essence of the game, and it will definitely drag him out. For clarity, the letters can be printed on a sheet of paper and cut out. For example, from "yarub" the child will have to collect the word "storm". nine0003

An example of a simulator with cards

Useful exercises

An interesting exercise that helps develop a child's interest in reading and quickly consolidate the already mastered skill - "half a word". It is necessary to close the words in the sentence exactly halfway with a ruler, and invite the child to read them.

You can also print simple words on the cards, cut the papers in half, and invite the child to collect the words piece by piece. Such an interesting task will cause excitement in the kid. And the presence of passion implies the presence of interest, which is one of the key factors in the process of teaching preschoolers to read. nine0003

Reading by syllables

At the initial stages of teaching preschool children to read, the most important moment is reading by syllables. This is what will become the basis for reading words in the future.

When the preschooler has finished learning the letters, the usual alphabet can be replaced with the “alphabet with syllables”. It will help the child to visualize the sounds and syllables from which these sounds are obtained. It also assumes the existence of rules on some syllables (there is no combination “chya” - it is replaced by “write thicker with the letter a”). nine0003

Important! It is better to start teaching your baby to read with repeated syllables. For example, ma-ma, pa-pa, uncle-dya and others. This exercise will help the child comprehend the connection of syllables and words.

How often should you study with a child

The key to success in mastering any skill lies in regularity. The more regular the classes, the better. But it is not in vain that they say that repetition is the mother of learning. So do not forget about the importance of repeating the previously studied material.

Most of the manuals offer 15-20 minutes of lessons with children of primary preschool age daily, but this scenario is not suitable for everyone. nine0003

Some children find reading difficult, both in the process and in general. We must not forget that every child is an individual with their own tastes, preferences, hobbies. A child may not like reading, and this is not scary.

In order for the child to like classes, he needs to be interested

In cases where the child finds it difficult to study, it is too early to give up. It makes sense to take breaks between classes in 1-2 days.

Important! Also, parents should remember that in the preparatory groups of the preschool educational institution, educators also work with children. You should not overload the child when he did a good job in kindergarten, otherwise he will quickly get bored. nine0003

Books for independent reading at 6-7 years old

Independent reading for children involves the selection of the correct literature. After all, the key factor in the question of a preschooler's interest in a particular book will be its content.

Unfortunately, the modern market is full of books with interesting content, but an absolutely perverted concept of morality. The first literary experience of a child should be not only entertaining, but also useful. After all, as mentioned earlier, books form not only the mental skills of a person, but also engage in his spiritual education. nine0003

In order not to make a mistake with the choice of a book, then a list of suitable literature for self-reading of children of primary preschool age will be compiled.

Family reading classes

  • The Little Humpbacked Horse (Peter Ershov).
  • Scarlet Flower (Sergey Aksakov).
  • Silver Hoof (Pavel Bazhov).
  • Pushkin's Tales ("The Tale of the Golden Cockerel", "The Tale of the Orybak and the Fish").
  • The Wizard of the Emerald City (Alexander Volkov). nine0144
  • "Old Man Hottabych" (L. Lagin).
  • "Three fat men" (Yu. Olesha).
  • "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (A. Tolstoy).
  • "Deniska's stories" (V. Dragunsky).
  • The Little Prince (A. Saint-Exupery).
  • "Mowgli" (R. Kipling).
  • "Winnie the Pooh and all-all-all" (A. Milne).

In conclusion, it is worth noting that it is important, but not necessary, to teach a child to read at preschool age. The right approach to classes and the right choice of literature for joint or independent reading will be the key to success. And all parents should remember that the baby will love them equally, regardless of the age at which they taught him to read. nine0003

Formation of expressive reading skills in preschoolers.

| Consultation on the development of speech on the topic:

Municipal budgetary preschool educational institution - Kindergarten of the combined type No. 7 "Forget-Me-Not"

Formation of expressive reading skills in preschoolers.

Consultations for teachers and parents.

Evgenia Ivanovna Maslova

Educator, higher

qualification category

MBDOU No. 7 "Forget-me-not"

Ust-ilimsk

2014-2015

Formation of expressive reading skills in preschoolers

As you know, the recitation of poetry includes three main qualities: correctness, expressiveness and awareness. The formation of these qualities is closely interconnected and is quite difficult for some preschoolers due to the peculiarities of their speech development. As children grow older, their speech improves, but a number of problems still remain. Let us dwell in more detail on the development of expressive reading skills in preschoolers. nine0003

Expressive reading is understood as the correct, meaningful and emotional (if necessary) reading of a work of art. Expressive reading involves the development of a certain minimum of skills in a child related to the pronunciation culture of speech. This minimum includes the following components:

  • tone of voice,
  • strength of voice,
  • timbre of utterance,
  • rhythm of speech,
  • tempo of speech (speeding up and slowing down),
  • pauses (stops, breaks in speech),
  • melodic tone (raising and lowering voice), logical and syntagmatic stresses.

All means of intonation, expressiveness of speech and reading

are supported by the general technique of speech - diction, breathing, orthoepically correct pronunciation.

Work on the expressiveness of reading must begin at an early age. The teacher at the speech warm-up gives the children special tasks for breathing, onomatopoeia, tongue twisters and tongue twisters are repeated, articulatory gymnastics is performed, choral reading of individual fragments of the text, etc. As children get older, they become uninterested in completing tasks that were offered before. Gradually, teachers stop using special exercises in and out of the classroom and limit themselves to working on expressive reading only on the eve of holidays, leisure, entertainment ...

Teaching expressive reading should be carried out in the system, and, if possible, should not be separated from the study of program material on the development of speech. In order for the work to be systematic, and not episodic, the educator should include speech warm-ups in each lesson. Speech warm-up can take place in an interesting, playful way, for example, in the older group - in the form of a competition.

Logical stresses

The ability to read correctly is of great importance for expressive reading,

exactly (in full accordance with the meaning) to make logical stresses.

In order for a poem to acquire a definite and precise meaning,

it is necessary to single out an important word among other words with the power of the voice. The meaning of the sentence changes depending on where the logical stress is placed. It is this idea that is important to convey to children through simple exercises. Here are some examples: Children are asked to repeat after the teacher

The children will go to the cinema tomorrow.

Children will go to the cinema tomorrow.

Children will go to the cinema tomorrow.

The children will go to the cinema tomorrow.

Children take turns repeating sentences, trying to focus on the underlined word. After reading, the teacher asks to say what the sentence says.

Pauses

In addition to logical stresses, pauses play a huge role in live speech and reading. A speech pause is a stop that divides the sound stream into separate parts, within which sounds follow one after another continuously. The role of a pause in a sentence is especially clear when the combination of the same words in the same order, being differently separated by pauses, acquires a different meaning. Pauses can be artistic and psychological. Artistic pauses are pauses before words and phrases to which the speaker wants to give special meaning, special power. The greater the meaning of the word, the longer the pause observed before it. Speech warm-ups when working on artistic pauses are best done with proverbs. nine0003

A psychological pause most often coincides in the text with an ellipsis, which signals some great emotional excitement. Acquaintance with this kind of pauses is carried out when reading various works of art. The teacher expressively reads the sentence, then there is a joint analysis of what was read with the children: where is the pause? Why? what happens if we pause after another word? Etc. Children repeat variants of sentences with different placement of pauses. nine0003

Old // poplar at the porch,

Ice-covered river

Old poplar // at the porch,

Ice-covered river

Old poplar at the porch//

Ice-covered river.

You can offer the children to remember the proverbs, observing the necessary

pauses.

Good Brotherhood | better than wealth.

One in the field | not a warrior.

Consent | stronger than stone walls.

One bee | does not bring much honey. Good Brotherhood | better than wealth. Alone in the field | not a warrior. nine0003

Consent | stronger than stone walls.

One bee | does not bring much honey. The truth is brighter than the sun.

Truth is more precious than gold.

Stand boldly for a just cause.

Intonation, raising and lowering the voice

Intonation is one of the aspects of speech culture and plays an important role in the formation of declarative, interrogative and exclamatory sentences. An expressive reading of a sentence with a punctuation mark at the end is impossible without observing logical stress, pauses, raising and lowering the voice. Children's awareness of the role of these sentences and the practical mastery of various intonations is of great * importance for the development of expressive reading skills. Intonation is of particular importance when reading poems and fables. For speech warm-ups, you can take sentences from already familiar works or come up with your own. Here are examples:

Exercises for raising and lowering the tone of the voice

a) Exercise "Jump"

This exercise helps to develop the flexibility of the voice. The teacher asks the children to imagine that they are watching high jump competitions on TV. The athlete's jump is always repeated in slow motion, so the jumper's movements are smoother. You need to try to draw a jump line with your voice. The voice should rise and fall freely and easily.

I turn my head...

now I need

and now I'm flying

to go down,

to put

a jump.

point

run

learn

c) Exercise "Cave"

The exercise promotes the development of voice flexibility, the ability to raise and lower the voice. Children sit comfortably, close their eyes and imagine themselves in a cave. Any sound (word) resounds under the vaults of the cave. You need to try to reproduce the "sounds", "words" in the cave, going further and further. nine0003

With the help of training exercises during a speech warm-up, it is necessary to develop in children the skill of observing clear pauses between direct speech and the author's words, regardless of whether the author's words are before, after or in the middle of direct speech. It is necessary to teach preschoolers to correctly intonate the words of the author and the words of the hero, emphasizing direct speech with his voice. After repeating the poems, you can invite yourself to come up with sentences with direct or indirect speech.