Post 209
The New Year is here and hopefully things have settled down a bit at your home after the excitement of the holidays.😀 I have always loved January in school because of the calmness. The students are glad to be back with their friends and routines. They know what to expect and so do I. I guess you could say we are all comfortable with each other. Lol. A lot of learning goes on this month!
Reading is the single most important subject in the primary grades. As I’ve mentioned before, children learn to read at different speeds but in general all are reading well by Second Grade unless there is an underlying problem. The school day includes reading in lots of different ways. Some are guided reading (small groups of students on the same level with a teacher),independent reading, and read alouds (sharing a book with the whole class). And, of course, reading is highlighted in all other lessons or themes throughout the day. It is constantly emphasized.
Where should your child be in reading at this time of the year in Kindergarten? Different districts use different programs but each has a way of tracking students’ reading progress. Mine uses one called Fundations which has reading levels based on the type of book a child can read independently. But whatever program your child’s school uses, by now most students have learned letter sounds and are blending them together to figure out words. They have learned certain sight words such as I, me, my, you, we, is, etc. and are able to recognize them in print. They have also learned that looking at an illustration will help them figure out the words that go with it. (I once had a parent who would hide the illustration because he thought it was “cheating” if his daughter looked at it. It’s not!).
Generally speaking, your child should be able to read a simple text independently by now. But that is very general. At this time in Kindergarten the range for a “simple text” is everything from “the cat’ to “I see the cat” to “I can see a big red cat playing with a ball” and everything in between. That’s a huge range. And, of course, there are some students still learning letter sounds and some reading at a more advanced level.
So where should your child be right now? I think the biggest thing to see is progress. Look at where they were in September and where they are now in reading. Try not to compare them to their best friend or the neighbor’s child.(That’s hard! 🙂 ) Encourage them by continuing to read with them at home. If you want to do more to strengthen your child’s reading, check with their teacher for ways to help at home. (These can be as simple as sounding out the names of stores as you drive by or playing rhyming games with word families (-at, -in, -ike, etc.).) I have found that Kindergarteners usually make a big leap in reading around March when it suddenly all comes together. That’s what we are aiming for. Working together, you and your child’s teacher will see that happen. Remember, you are your child’s biggest inspiration and motivator. Let them know how proud you are of them when they read and they will!
Take Care. 🙂
*Please feel free to post any thoughts, questions, or ideas in the comments. 🙂
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