Kindergartner has made no reading progress

[Anonymous]

I think the OP should be concerned. These levels are meant to go pretty quickly and if they are not, something is not clicking. If a kid stalls it does not help them to just stay there, they get frustrated and reading becomes a lot more difficult and scary.

[Anonymous]

OP, I recommend that you get the following book out of the library or order it:

http://www.amazon.com/READING-REFLEX-FOOLPROOF-PHONO-GRAPHIX-TEACHING/dp/0684853671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303761960&sr=8-1

After you have read the book, you can administer the beginning reading assessment to your child.

This assessment measures the four foundational skills of beginning reading:

1) Basic Code: Is the child able to say a sound (the most common one at first) for each letter of the alphabet? (At this stage letter names are not important but letter sounds are.)

2) Blending orally: If you give the child three sounds, separated by a pause of a second, can the child blend those three sounds into a word? /h/.../a/.../t/ = /hat/

3) Segmenting orally: If given the word /kat? can the child separate the word into three distinct sounds, /h/ /a/ /t/ ?

4) Phonemic manipulation: If given a word orally, can the child add or delete sounds from the word? Say /hat/ without the /h/.....answer /at?

By administering this assessment you will be able to see clearly where you child is having difficulty, and the book will let you know what to do to help him.

[Anonymous]

WHAT? The child is in KINDERGARTEN for goodness sake! This sounds emblematic of this area... must assess, must compare, must compete...

If the child knows that letters have sounds and connects the right letters with the right sounds, I'd call it good and wait until he has developed enough to take more steps into reading. Getting sight word recognition = good. Expecting a kindergartener to "read," to me, that's just putting pressure where there doesn't need to be any.

FWIW, my older child is in first grade and reading at a DRA 20/Level K presently. I never stressed about "reading" in kindergarten. Last spring they sent home books that had two words on a page. We sight read most of them and called it good.

Kindergarten is too early to stress about "reading" or levels. It will be o.k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If the child knows that letters have sounds and connects the right letters with the right sounds, I'd call it good and wait until he has developed enough to take more steps into reading. Getting sight word recognition = good. Expecting a kindergartener to "read," to me, that's just putting pressure where there doesn't need to be any.

In my opinion it is fine not to stress about a child reading until he or she is older, even seven years of age. In fact many countries don't start formal reading instruction until a child is around 7.

However, if this is your thinking, I believe it is best to choose a school that shares your philosophy. Otherwise, if you end up having a child who has trouble learning to read in an environment where early reading is important, your child will just fall further and further behind his classmates and you won't be concerend about it.

FWIW, my older child is in first grade and reading at a DRA 20/Level K presently. I never stressed about "reading" in kindergarten. Last spring they sent home books that had two words on a page. We sight read most of them and called it good.

Well, here's the scope and sequence of the program it sounds like OP's child's school uses.

http://www.fcps1.org/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=TEJEX1Bob25Bd2FyZVNjb3BlX0stMi5wZGY6Ojovd3d3L3NjaG9vbHMvc2MvcmVtb3RlL2ltYWdlcy9kb2NtZ3IvQUxMZmlsZTE5NDE3LnBkZg==

By the end of K, the kids are suppoosed to know all their basic letter sounds. I don't know what "Level 2" means in regard to this, but it sounds as if OP's child entered at Level 2 and now after a year of instruction, remains at Level 2. meanwhile, the expectatino is that K kids will have moved up to Level 4. I presume this means that those kids will enter Grade 1 ith full knowledge of their letter sounds. They will start K learning to decode words, but OP's child will either have to be in the lowest reading group to learn his letter sounds, or will be placed in the grade level group and asked to decode or use other strategies to read words (guess, visual memory, predict, context cues, memorize from choral reading, etc.). In my experience this type of situatino is where kids start to develop inefficient reading strategies, which can take a long time to correct.

Kindergarten is too early to stress about "reading" or levels. It will be o.k.

[Anonymous]

My son is in the same boat. I personally am not worried about it. I have heard from many people that kids struggle, then make a big leap at some point that varies from kid to kid. It seems boys pick up reading a little slower too, but I say that anecdotally. My son is verbal, a good listener of stories, understands plots and characters and he is doing fine in his math work. We read to him every night and he really seems to like the more advanced, novel type books. The big problem is that he thinks he is dumb because the other kids can read. I constantly tell him that he is fine and it will come. I worry more about the pressure he feels, then about his own progress. My son also has an older sibling who is vey smart. I do everything I can to let him be a 6 year old and not stress about his struggle. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: My son is in the same boat. I personally am not worried about it. I have heard from many people that kids struggle, then make a big leap at some point that varies from kid to kid. It seems boys pick up reading a little slower too, but I say that anecdotally. My son is verbal, a good listener of stories, understands plots and characters and he is doing fine in his math work. We read to him every night and he really seems to like the more advanced, novel type books. The big problem is that he thinks he is dumb because the other kids can read. I constantly tell him that he is fine and it will come. I worry more about the pressure he feels, then about his own progress. My son also has an older sibling who is vey smart. I do everything I can to let him be a 6 year old and not stress about his struggle. Good luck.

OP here-it is interesting that you say your son like the more advanced, novel type stories because mine does too.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

my daughter is a September child, which makes her one of the youngest kids in the class. She was not reading independently at the end of Kindergarten. She began reading independently in about the second month of first grade, and then made the leap that so many people here have written about. She is now in one of the highest reading level groups in her class.

Literacy is so much more than decoding. DD has always been much more focused on the comprehension of what she is reading, or what is being read to her. Some kids are great a decoding, but don't take in what they are reading.

[Anonymous]

What is Reading Recovery? Rehab for little kids?

[Anonymous]

I'm the "don't stress" poster (22:57). My first grader IS in Ffx county public schools, so I know what is normal and expected. I wonder where the OP's child goes to school. Some schools put a higher pressure on kids (which is beyond ridiculous when it gets to pressuring kindergarteners) and sometimes it's just parents feeling pressure to stay ahead of the pack.

To the OP, if your child seems like he's clicking along mentally and interested in learning in general (like the more complicated stories you mentioned), then really, please, do not stress. If he's at a DRA level 6 at this time next year... ok, I would stress and then take more concrete action. I volunteer in my first grader's reading class, so I know where every kid is in terms of their reading. Up to level 10-12, it is very hard for kids. Then they pick up steam and have more fun with it b/c they can easily read a lot of the words on the page. Just work on site words right now so that when he sees a sentence he will know some of the words already without doing the heavy work of sounding out and putting sounds together.

As our principle likes to say, not all kids walk at the same age and not all kids read at the same age, but they will get there.

[Anonymous]

In my day we didn't even learn to read (look Jane, see Spot, see Spot run) until first grade.
Relax. The kid has a long way to go until Jr. year in high school when it comes time to apply for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my daughter is a September child, which makes her one of the youngest kids in the class. She was not reading independently at the end of Kindergarten. She began reading independently in about the second month of first grade, and then made the leap that so many people here have written about. She is now in one of the highest reading level groups in her class.

Literacy is so much more than decoding. DD has always been much more focused on the comprehension of what she is reading, or what is being read to her. Some kids are great a decoding, but don't take in what they are reading.

It is absolutely true that reading is much more than just decoding. However, it is a bit concerning to see that a child has made NO progress since starting Kindergarten.

If the parents have chosen a school for kindergarten that does not stress reading in the early years, than you would not expect much progress in reading -- nor would the teachers. But if the parents have chosen a school that teaches reading for 2 hours or more each day, and still the child has not made progress in reading this is a concern.

It is particularly a concern if the child is beginning to think he is not smart or is bad at reading. I think it is fine to take a "relax, he'll catch up, he'll get there" attitude BUT you need to be sure that the teachers and child are also taking that attitude. what you don't want is to be relaxed about failure to progress in reading, while the child is seeing himself as bad or dumb, and while the teachers are writing the child off as being in the "low" group and unable to read or do any better.

[Anonymous]

I have a similar issue with our daughter. Could anyone recommend a source (outside of the school system per se) to get a good elementary reading tutor? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

PP-

I posted earlier in this thread.
I am a reading teacher/tutor for pre-school/elementary.
If you would like more information, please contact me at:

[e-mail]

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. Our youngest wasn't reading in kindergarten. And he wasn't reading on grade level in 1st. I was concerned because he is the youngest of five and all my others were very good readers by the beginning of 1st grade.

We are now nearing the end of his second grade year. His teacher told me yesterday that he is the strongest reader in her class.

Some kids just take a little longer to really get it. I certainly wouldn't worry about too much at this point.

[Anonymous]

Waiting Rarely Works: "Late Boomers" Usually Just Wilt


"In the simplest terms, these studies ask: Do struggling readers catch up? The data from the studies are clear: Late bloomers are rare; skill deficits are almost always what prevent children from blooming as readers. This research may be counter-intuitive to elementary teachers who have seen late-bloomers in their own classes or heard about them from colleagues. But statistically speaking, such students are rare. (Actually, as we'll see, there is nearly a 90 percent chance that a poor reader in first grade will remain a poor reader.)


http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/fall2004/editorssb1.cfm