Reading tutorials for kindergarten

Teaching children to read isn’t easy. How do kids actually learn to read?

Teaching kids to read isn’t easy; educators often feel strongly about what they think is the “right” way to teach this essential skill. Though teachers’ approaches may differ, the research is pretty clear on how best to help kids learn to read. Here’s what parents should look for in their children’s classroom.

How do kids actually learn how to read?

Research shows kids learn to read when they are able to identify letters or combinations of letters and connect those letters to sounds. There’s more to it, of course, like attaching meaning to words and phrases, but phonemic awareness (understanding sounds in spoken words) and an understanding of phonics (knowing that letters in print correspond to sounds) are the most basic first steps to becoming a reader.

If children can’t master phonics, they are more likely to struggle to read. That’s why researchers say explicit, systematic instruction in phonics is important: Teachers must lead students step by step through a specific sequence of letters and sounds. Kids who learn how to decode words can then apply that skill to more challenging words and ultimately read with fluency. Some kids may not need much help with phonics, especially as they get older, but experts say phonics instruction can be essential for young children and struggling readers “We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs,” said Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York, who recently led the transformation of his schools’ reading program to a research-based, structured approach. “But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it.”

How should your child’s school teach reading?

Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an expert on reading instruction, said phonics are important in kindergarten through second grade and phonemic awareness should be explicitly taught in kindergarten and first grade. This view has been underscored by experts in recent years as the debate over reading instruction has intensified. But teaching kids how to read should include more than phonics, said Shanahan. They should also be exposed to oral reading, reading comprehension and writing.

The wars over how to teach reading are back. Here’s the four things you need to know.

Wiley Blevins, an author and expert on phonics, said a good test parents can use to determine whether a child is receiving research-based reading instruction is to ask their child’s teacher how reading is taught. “They should be able to tell you something more than ‘by reading lots of books’ and ‘developing a love of reading.’ ” Blevins said. Along with time dedicated to teaching phonics, Blevins said children should participate in read-alouds with their teacher to build vocabulary and content knowledge. “These read-alouds must involve interactive conversations to engage students in thinking about the content and using the vocabulary,” he said. “Too often, when time is limited, the daily read-alouds are the first thing left out of the reading time. We undervalue its impact on reading growth and must change that.”

Rasmussen’s school uses a structured approach: Children receive lessons in phonemic awareness, phonics, pre-writing and writing, vocabulary and repeated readings. Research shows this type of “systematic and intensive” approach in several aspects of literacy can turn children who struggle to read into average or above-average readers.

What should schools avoid when teaching reading?

Educators and experts say kids should be encouraged to sound out words, instead of guessing. “We really want to make sure that no kid is guessing,” Rasmussen said. “You really want … your own kid sounding out words and blending words from the earliest level on.” That means children are not told to guess an unfamiliar word by looking at a picture in the book, for example. As children encounter more challenging texts in later grades, avoiding reliance on visual cues also supports fluent reading. “When they get to ninth grade and they have to read “Of Mice and Men,” there are no picture cues,” Rasmussen said.

Related: Teacher Voice: We need phonics, along with other supports, for reading

Blevins and Shanahan caution against organizing books by different reading levels and keeping students at one level until they read with enough fluency to move up to the next level. Although many people may think keeping students at one level will help prevent them from getting frustrated and discouraged by difficult texts, research shows that students actually learn more when they are challenged by reading materials.

Blevins said reliance on “leveled books” can contribute to “a bad habit in readers.” Because students can’t sound out many of the words, they rely on memorizing repeated words and sentence patterns, or on using picture clues to guess words. Rasmussen said making kids stick with one reading level — and, especially, consistently giving some kids texts that are below grade level, rather than giving them supports to bring them to grade level — can also lead to larger gaps in reading ability.

How do I know if a reading curriculum is effective?

Some reading curricula cover more aspects of literacy than others. While almost all programs have some research-based components, the structure of a program can make a big difference, said Rasmussen. Watching children read is the best way to tell if they are receiving proper instruction — explicit, systematic instruction in phonics to establish a foundation for reading, coupled with the use of grade-level texts, offered to all kids.

Parents who are curious about what’s included in the curriculum in their child’s classroom can find sources online, like a chart included in an article by Readingrockets.org which summarizes the various aspects of literacy, including phonics, writing and comprehension strategies, in some of the most popular reading curricula.

Blevins also suggested some questions parents can ask their child’s teacher:

• What is your phonics scope and sequence?

“If research-based, the curriculum must have a clearly defined phonics scope and sequence that serves as the spine of the instruction. ” Blevins said.

• Do you have decodable readers (short books with words composed of the letters and sounds students are learning) to practice phonics?

“If no decodable or phonics readers are used, students are unlikely to get the amount of practice and application to get to mastery so they can then transfer these skills to all reading and writing experiences,” Blevins said. “If teachers say they are using leveled books, ask how many words can students sound out based on the phonics skills (teachers) have taught … Can these words be fully sounded out based on the phonics skills you taught or are children only using pieces of the word? They should be fully sounding out the words — not using just the first or first and last letters and guessing at the rest.”

• What are you doing to build students’ vocabulary and background knowledge? How frequent is this instruction? How much time is spent each day doing this?

“It should be a lot,” Blevins said, “and much of it happens during read-alouds, especially informational texts, and science and social studies lessons. ”

• Is the research used to support your reading curriculum just about the actual materials, or does it draw from a larger body of research on how children learn to read? How does it connect to the science of reading?

Teachers should be able to answer these questions, said Blevins.

What should I do if my child isn’t progressing in reading?

When a child isn’t progressing, Blevins said, the key is to find out why. “Is it a learning challenge or is your child a curriculum casualty? This is a tough one.” Blevins suggested that parents of kindergarteners and first graders ask their child’s school to test the child’s phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency.

Parents of older children should ask for a test of vocabulary. “These tests will locate some underlying issues as to why your child is struggling reading and understanding what they read,” Blevins said. “Once underlying issues are found, they can be systematically addressed. ”

“We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs. But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it.”

Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York

Rasmussen recommended parents work with their school if they are concerned about their children’s progress. By sitting and reading with their children, parents can see the kind of literacy instruction the kids are receiving. If children are trying to guess based on pictures, parents can talk to teachers about increasing phonics instruction.

“Teachers aren’t there doing necessarily bad things or disadvantaging kids purposefully or willfully,” Rasmussen said. “You have many great reading teachers using some effective strategies and some ineffective strategies.”

What can parents do at home to help their children learn to read?

Parents want to help their kids learn how to read but don’t want to push them to the point where they hate reading. “Parents at home can fall into the trap of thinking this is about drilling their kid,” said Cindy Jiban, a former educator and current principal academic lead at NWEA, a research-based non-profit focused on assessments and professional learning opportunities. “This is unfortunate,” Jiban said. “It sets up a parent-child interaction that makes it, ‘Ugh, there’s this thing that’s not fun.’” Instead, Jiban advises making decoding playful. Here are some ideas:

• Challenge kids to find everything in the house that starts with a specific sound.
• Stretch out one word in a sentence. Ask your child to “pass the salt” but say the individual sounds in the word “salt” instead of the word itself.
• Ask your child to figure out what every family member’s name would be if it started with a “b” sound.
• Sing that annoying “Banana fana fo fanna song.” Jiban said that kind of playful activity can actually help a kid think about the sounds that correspond with letters even if they’re not looking at a letter right in front of them.
• Read your child’s favorite book over and over again. For books that children know well, Jiban suggests that children use their finger to follow along as each word is read. Parents can do the same, or come up with another strategy to help kids follow which words they’re reading on a page.

Giving a child diverse experiences that seem to have nothing to do with reading can also help a child’s reading ability. By having a variety of experiences, Rasmussen said, children will be able to apply their own knowledge to better comprehend texts about various topics.

This story about teaching children to read was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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Tutorials - Reading Strategy | Struggling Readers | Kindergarten | Elementary

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How to use the Reading Kingdom

How to get started using the Reading Kingdom — the easy-to-use and fun-filled program that teaches all the skills a child needs to learn to read and write. The program provides reading strategies for elementary readers as well as reading strategies for struggling readers. It’s the only program that’s completely customized to each child, and will teach each child the reading strategies they need to learn.

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An overview of how the Reading Kingdom is organized for elementary and struggling readers

The Reading Kingdom empowers children to learn using simple and easy-to-follow techniques that leverage the tremendous skills they have mastered in learning spoken language. This tutorial reviews the basic components that make up the Reading Kingdom program.

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A helping hand: what to do when an elementary, struggling or kindergarten child needs help with the mouse and keyboard

Short, simple exercises for children who need help using the keyboard and mouse

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How to follow a child's progress in the Reading Kingdom

Our online reading program offers extensive reporting that allows you to view specific information on the results for each level in the program and for each word a child learns. You can easily follow a child's progress through preschool, kindergarten, first, second and third grade reading.

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How long does the program take?

The Reading Kingdom is a comprehensive program that teaches a child the total range of skills needed for reading and writing success from Pre-K and kindergarten reading to approximately a third grade level. It teaches reading strategies for elementary readers and reading strategies for struggling readers. Learn how long the reading program will take depending on a child's skill level.

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How the Reading Kingdom is different from other reading strategies

The Reading Kingdom is fundamentally different from other reading systems available today in both the skills it teaches and in the methods for teaching those skills.

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Tips for Using the Reading Kingdom

12 tips for how to get the most out of the program.

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How to access Reading Kingdom's extensive student reporting features.

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Using a keyboard can be challenging for many students. These are some suggestions for how to make it easier

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The importance of books in the development of preschool children

The importance of books for a child is very great. Books serve to expand the child's understanding of the world, to acquaint him with things, nature, everything that surrounds him.

It is the parents who read the child's first books and influence the formation of his preferences and reading tastes.

You need to read with your child: take a book, sit down and read. When systematically books are read aloud, then over time the child begins to understand the structure of the work: where the beginning and end of the work, how the plot develops. The child develops logical thinking. Thanks to reading, the child learns to correctly compose sentences, his vocabulary expands, and his imagination develops. In addition, the child develops the ability to listen, and this is a very important quality. nine0003

Experience shows that those children who were read books in childhood, told fairy tales, becoming adults, they read a lot. Reading helps the child to better understand the native language, develops imagination.

It is believed that those children do not like to read, in whose families there was no tradition of reading aloud. It is also bad when a child is forced to read in early childhood, great success is expected of him, this can discourage the child from reading. Do not refuse the child when he asks to listen to how he reads. nine0003

Why read books to children?

Children have a great need for their parents to read aloud to them. For the successful development of the child, family reading is very important, and not only until the child himself can read, but also at a later age. Children look forward to when mom or dad has time for them.

In order for a child to grow up mentally healthy, he needs full communication with his parents, personal communication, when attention is paid to him completely. And reading together makes that possible. nine0003

The first reason to read books is to satisfy the child's need for security

and security. A single space is created, a sense of belonging. Such moments have a strong influence on the formation of a comfortable sense of the world.

The second reason is the feeling of value and significance of one's "I" .

When parents read what is interesting to the child and are ready to discuss topics that are significant to him, strive to understand his views as best as possible, the child develops an idea of ​​himself as a significant person whose needs and interests are important (because they pay attention to such important people - parents).

The third reason is the formation of values ​​

The book affects the moral ideals of the child, forming his values. The heroes of the books perform various actions, experience various life situations, consonant with the world of the child or unknown to him. Using the examples of situations in which the heroes of the books find themselves, the child learns to understand what good and evil, friendship and betrayal, sympathy, duty, honor are. And the task of parents is to help see the reflection of these values ​​in the life of the child. nine0003

Release from fears

The book is also a means of defusing experiences that are painful or frightening for a child, which it is not always possible to cope with in a familiar situation. The child, together with the hero, experiences his failures and victories, overcomes fears and difficulties on the way to the goal. Thus, freeing yourself from your own fears and negative experiences. That is why a child can re-read a story (or a whole book) many times if it is consonant with his life situation. The child again and again experiences what he cannot yet cope with in reality. nine0003

Teaching new patterns of behavior

Through the book, the child perceives different patterns of behavior (how to make friends, how to achieve goals, how to resolve conflicts) that can be effective in various life situations. The greatest effect can be achieved if the reading is also supplemented by a joint discussion of who and what took out for themselves, what they liked, what was close, frightened, amused. Parents can help the child to see the analogies of what they read with his own life. nine0003

A book is the best teacher of a child.

With its help, he will be able to find answers to his questions, learn about the world and himself, experience the stories of heroes, fantasize the development of further events of a particular work.

The kid is growing, which means that every day more and more new experiences await him, he actively explores the world and makes many discoveries. He receives more and more diverse information he needs for further correct physical, mental and mental development. Children receive new knowledge from the people around them, primarily from their parents, as well as from books. nine0003

It's no secret that today's children read little, preferring books to watching TV programs and videos, computer films. This sad reality should make us parents think and try to somehow correct the situation.

From a very young age, babies need to read as many books as possible. It is very important that he loves this activity. The book may be of interest to both boys and girls, the main thing is to find an option that the child will like. nine0003

Scientists have found that a child who is read to systematically accumulates a rich vocabulary.

Reading with the mother, the child actively develops imagination and memory.

It is reading that performs not only a cognitive, aesthetic, but also an educational function. Therefore, parents need to read books to their children from early childhood.

The variety of children's books surprises, but not always pleases. It is important to remember that in any book, including children's, the most important thing is the content. nine0077

Recommendations for purchasing literature:

Children 2-3 years old love books with large pictures, love to look at them. Here Russian folk tales come to the rescue: "Turnip", "Gingerbread Man", "Ryaba Hen", "Teremok".
It is always easier for a small child to perceive a story than reading. Therefore, tell him fairy tales in your own words and at the same time look at the pictures for the book.
In the third year of life, the vocabulary increases rapidly, and the child can already read poems. Introduce the work of A. Barto, Z. Alexandrova. nine0003

In children 4-5 years old, vocabulary is activated, coherent speech is developing. When reading literary works to a child, you need to pay attention to individual words and expressions. You can learn to retell short texts of Russian folk tales.

Slowly start memorizing poems. At this age, you can introduce the child to the tales of foreign authors, heroic folk tales, stories about nature and animals, and the work of K. Chukovsky. nine0003

For children 6-7 years old among all genres of fiction, fairy tales are still in the first place, only author's ones are added to the folk ones. Therefore, they can be introduced to the work of Eduard Uspensky, with the funny stories of N. Nosov. Children of this age should buy bright books with large print and many beautiful pictures, the plot of the book should be interesting so that the child wants to read to the end. A book at that age should be fun. When choosing a book, pay attention to the number of dialogues in the works, because you can read by roles. nine0003

In order for a child to love a book, parents need to work hard.

Advice for parents

• Talk about the value of the book more often;
• Cultivate a respect for the book by displaying your family's book heirlooms;
• You are the main example for the child, and if you want your child to read, then it is worth spending some time with the book too;
• Visit the library together, bookstores; nine0111
• Buy books that are bright in design and interesting in content;
• Rejoice in the successes of the child, but do not focus on mistakes;
• Discuss the book you have read among family members;
• Tell your child about the author of the book you read;
• Have family readings more often.
• Reading for children should become a daily habit, a necessity.

"Introducing children to reading fiction in preschool"

Introducing children to reading or

a system of work to introduce children to reading

Reading, as a part of leisure, a person now shares with television, music, theater, the Internet. Today's reader, of course, is different from the reader of past years. First of all, because he has less time to read, and often, there is no desire.

The process of communication between a preschool child and a book - is the process of becoming a personality in him. nine0016 The book should enter the child's world as early as possible, enrich this world, make it interesting, full of extraordinary discoveries. The child should love the book, reach out to it, perceive communication with it as a holiday. Preschool child is a kind of reader . The word "reader" in relation to preschool age is conditional. In reality, is a listener whose encounter with the book is completely determined by the adult, from the choice of text to read to the duration of the interaction with the book. nine0016 Taste, interest in the work, its interpretation, the ability to navigate in the circle of children's reading, the creation of a reading system - all this is in the power of an adult. It also depends to a large extent on the adult whether the child will become a real, enthusiastic reader or whether an encounter with a book in preschool childhood will flash by a random, meaningless episode in his life.