kindergartener learning to read

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering if more experienced parents have any advice. My DD is in kinder at a Mo Co public school. She could not read when she started this year and now is reading on grade level. She enjoys school and her teacher says she is doing great. When I go into the classroom to volunteer (about 1 -2 times per month) I'm shocked to see that she is at the very bottom of her class in terms of reading. There are several kids in the class that are reading on a second grade level and some on a first grade level. Is this normal? We aren't in the most prestigious school distric in the county and I'm having a hard time adjusting my expectations. Any advice? Will she catch up? I'm doing a lot of extra reading with her and will continue to do so over the summer (of couse still trying to make it fun for her). Is everyone really above average here?

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

don't worry about where she fits in the rankings.

DD is in Kindergarten and is just now starting to read. Some of her friends read at above grade level. It's not a competition, and I'm confident that she is where she needs to be developmentally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She could not read when she started this year and now is reading on grade level. She enjoys school and her teacher says she is doing great.

Listen to the teacher! She's happy and doing well in school. Keep having her read, and keep reading to her.

[Anonymous]

My son couldn't read entering K and we heard the same "he's reading on grade level" then over the summer it suddenly clicked for him and now he's one of the best readers in his 1st grade class. I think it just comes together for kids at different times.

Just try to keep in mind that reading should stay as fun as possible. Also, maybe for the future it might be worth keeping in mind that there are a lot of books now that are almost like graphic novels/comic books (like babymouse) so those are fun for early readers.

[Anonymous]

i do ed research. kids are all over the place on reading when they first start..things start to level off by 2nd or 3rd grade. only a cause for concern if they are not reading well by third grade. your dd may have started slightly later than some of her classmates but they don't learn on a steady curve. so stay in touch with the teacher...keep reading to her (it's really all about vocabulary and hearing lots of it...she's master the technical stuff sooner or later).

my son learned to read pretty early but then it seemed to plateau for awhile and then all of a sudden he was much more fluent.