Skills for Reading Readiness

reading readiness skills

12 Skills for Reading Readiness

Make Day by Day New York a part of your daily lives with your child. It offers daily songs, read-alouds, and learning activities on a calendar-type website.

Parents and Teachers! Check out the skills children should learn in preschool!

First, let’s talk about language development.

#1 Reading Readiness: Read to Your Child

Read to your child every day for 15 minutes. There is much research on the importance of reading aloud. Show that reading is FUN! Talk about the pictures, events, and favorite parts. Reading aloud will expose your child to new words, ideas, places, events, and more complex plots and sentences than beginning reading books have to offer. If your child is learning to read, they can read those books. YOU, however, should be reading more difficult picture books to your child, such as the ones in the children’s library. This approach is an effective way to develop listening comprehension (the ability to understand the meaning of words heard and relate them to their context) and to build motivation to read.

Check out the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program!

#2 Reading Readiness: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Play with SOUNDS in words. My Phonemic and Phonological Awareness page has activities.

Blending and segmenting are the most essential phonemic awareness activities because they directly correlate to reading and spelling. You can find these activities by following this link, but you can blend and segment any word! For example, ask your child to blend these sounds into a word: /c/ /a/ /t/. To segment, have your child separate the individual sounds. For example, the word “plant” can be segmented into the sounds /p/, /l/, /a/, /n/, /t/.

It would also be ideal to teach your child nursery rhymes. It is unfortunate that so many children no longer know these classic nursery rhymes. Rhyming helps children experience the rhythm of language, recognize sounds in words, anticipate what is coming next, and more! There are many cute free online videos of nursery rhymes, and the library has beautiful nursery rhyme books.

#3 Reading Readiness: Letter Names

Teach your child the names of the letters of the alphabet. Play games of matching the lowercase letter to the uppercase letter and vice versa. (These are great flashcards!)

Memorizing chants to help recall the letter name and associate its sound is helpful, such as the Wilson Fundations chants.

If your child can point to a letter after hearing its name, that is recognition. This is a simpler skill.

If your child can name the letter YOU point to, that is retrieval.

#4 Reading Readiness: Correctly Print Name

Teach your child to write their name correctly, using an uppercase letter only for the first letter. The other letters should be lowercase. Teach that letters start from the top down. Ensure your child forms letters correctly to avoid developing bad habits. FOLLOW THE CHART BELOW. Children should write with a miniature golf pencil, not a fat preschool pencil.

#5 Reading Readiness: Proper Letter Formation

The above two graphics of the teaching order were posted with permission from https://www.lwtears.com/. Please check out their site!

CORRECT LETTER FORMATION IS IMPORTANT! Students who form letters correctly and fully grasp spelling will have an easier time writing. In combination with poor spelling, poor handwriting can contribute to disability in written expression (Graham, Harris, & Fink, 2000; Graham, MacArthur, Fitzgerald, p. 276). Failure to develop automatic and legible letter and word formation may interfere with content in writing (Jones & Christiansen, 1999; Graham, MacArthur, Fitzgerald, p. 276). Students devoting too much time to letter formation or retrieval have less time for spelling, planning, and expressing themselves.

Letter Formation Teaching Order

Developmental-Teaching-Order.pdf

Capitals are more accessible developmentally, so it is suggested that they be taught first. The capital teaching order helps teach correct formation and orientation while eliminating reversals. In addition, learning capitals first makes it easy to transition to lowercase letters. Wilson Fundations, however, follows a different order.

Wilson Fundations Letter Formation with Chants

#6 Reading Readiness: Letter Sounds—Use this Teaching Order

Above is the Wilson Fundations order for teaching letter names, sounds, and formations. After week 3, start blending t, b, f, n, m, and c with short a to form and combine real and nonsense words such as tac, bam, fan, can, mat. The following week, blend words with “i” and “r”. (Use “r” only as the initial sound until “bossy r” is taught—ar, er, ir, or, ur.) Check out Wilson Fundations at each grade level.

#7 Reading Readiness: Read Words in the World

Point out words seen around the home and neighborhood, such as those on cereal boxes and signs. Children will learn to read the words they frequently see around them.

how do I get my child ready for kindergarten

Image from an unknown source.

#8 Reading Readiness: New Life Experiences

Expose your child to various places, activities, and events. Children who are knowledgeable about various subjects will have an easier time reading.

#9 Reading Readiness: Write a Journal Together and Read It Daily

Sit down with your child and practice telling stories about something that happened recently. Then, write these stories on paper (large print/short sentences/basic words) and have your child practice reading them with you.

#10 Reading Readiness: Love Books

Encourage your child to read. One way your child can read today independently is to “read the pictures.” If the book is familiar, have your child retell the text using the pictures.

Make reading and learning a family event. Model that you are a reader, and provide your child with many books and magazines of interest to read, just as you do.

#11 Reading Readiness: Beginning Reading – Use Decodable Texts

Parents, PLEASE do NOT teach your child to read using predictable books. These are the leveled books, and they go something like this: I like to dance. I like to climb. I like to hike… Children aren’t “reading” but guessing based on the pictures. Don’t encourage guessing! Words like “dance,” “climb,” and “hike” have advanced spelling patterns that young children haven’t yet been taught. Stick to decodable texts so your child can be introduced to phonics systematically and SOUND out words. Decoding the LETTERS is READING!

STEP 1: Once your child knows the consonant sounds and that short a says “a” as in “apple,” start teaching blending VC or CV words (vowel-consonant, consonant-short vowel)—real and nonsense—so your child can practice blending sounds into words, such as ax, ap, ba, ta, ad. Do this with all of the short vowels as you teach them and single consonants. (Teaching CV with V as a short vowel is a little controversial because we teach students that a vowel at the end of a word is an open syllable and makes the long sound as in go.)

STEP 2: CVC ~ real and nonsense—write “consonant vowel consonant” words for your child to read—fiv, pob, duf, kag, sez, etc. In kindergarten and grade 1, children are tested in these short vowel nonsense words—how many can they read in one minute? If your child is having trouble, try this technique. I will use mop as an example.

Show m only and ask, “What sound?” Your child says /m/.
Cover m and show o only and ask, “What sound?” Your child says /o/.
Uncover m and o. Say, “Blend it.” Your child should say /mo/ with the short o sound. (This technique is a little controversial because we teach students that a vowel at the end of a word is an open syllable and makes the long sound as in go.)
Cover m and o and show p only. Ask, “What sound?” Your child says /p/.
Uncover m, o, and p and say, “Blend it.” Your child should read /mop/.

STEP 3: CVCe ~ real and nonsense ~ like, bote, zute, make, etc. The vowel says its name, not its sound. You can follow the above technique. I will use the word bike as an example.

Show b only and ask, “What sound?” Your child says /b/.
Cover b and show i_e only and ask, “What sound?” Your child says the long i sound.
Uncover b. Say, “Blend it.” It should look like bi_e. Your child should say /bi/ with the long i sound.
Cover b and i_e and show k only. Ask, “What sound?” Your child says /k/.
Uncover all letters and say, “Blend it.” Your child should read /bike/.

As your child progresses through the grades, you can do this technique with all consonant (bl, str, ch, etc.) and vowel combinations (eigh, ai, oi, au, etc.).

STEP 4: CCVC and CVCC—real and nonsense short vowel words with blends—spot, list, pred, hosp, etc.

BONUS: CCVCC, CCCVCCC ~ bland, splints, scronst ~ real and nonsense, all short vowel

Multi-syllable words and words with vowel teams, such as ai and oa, come later in grade 1.

#12 Reading Readiness: Sight Words

Teach your child sight words. These must be recognized instantaneously. Some have irregular spellings, but we encourage students to try to sound them out and to memorize their “irregular” parts—for example, the “ai” in the word “said” typically does not make the short “e” sound.

Master a few sight words each day. Kindergarteners should be familiar with the pre-primer (pre-kindergarten) and primer (kindergarten) sight words in isolation. These are best learned in context. They should read, reread, and reread the preprimer and primer stories found here:

Decodable-Dolch-Sight-Word-Stories-Preprimer-Grade-3

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For more practice, write each pre-primer and primer word in your own simple sentence for your child to practice reading.

Here are more sight word stories! indergarten Science of Reading

Parents, consider labeling items in your home, such as the desk, refrigerator, television, and bed. The more print your child encounters, the better! Additionally, you should implement closed captioning on TV and online read-alouds.

What to Expect in Kindergarten!

This link will help your child prepare and grow as a kindergartner! Enjoy this precious time. It goes by way too fast.

Reading Readiness Resources for Families

Preschool Express offers fun, practical activities that address essential preschool skills, including coordination, listening, thinking, and social skills.
Starfall is a great free website for learning the ABCs and beginning reading skills!
If you want an independent computer option that reinforces reading (including decoding and comprehension), spelling, and phonemic awareness, and teaches the exact skills your child needs from preschool through grade 5, I recommend Lexia Core 5. Lexia Core 5 is an evidence-based, well-respected app used in many schools. It is available as a home version and costs $175 for a one-year subscription. My school uses it, and I highly recommend it! Use it for at least 60 minutes each week. Your child takes an online test upon joining, which determines their exact level of proficiency. Your child cannot advance until they have mastered the necessary sequential skills. Do NOT give your child answers on Lexia Core 5. Lexia Core 5 TEACHES your child!
The Key to Early Reading is INVENTED SPELLING! This is a great article.
Please read about the Common Core and how to support it at home: Parent Communication Shifts.