what should a pre-k child's reading level be?

[Anonymous]

my DC is 4.5 years old and he will be starting Kindergarten in the fall of 2013. He knows a dozen 3-letter words, like hat, cat, etc. We haven't taught him reading specifically even though he knows the basics of phonics. When I asked his pre-K teacher, she said there is a wide range of reading levels amongst kids of his age, and he doesn't necessarily need to be able to read at any level in order to start Kindergarten. Just out of curiosity, what's your child reading level when he is/was at around 4 years old? Do I need to teach him how to read? If yes, what materials should I use (Hooked on Phonics)? Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous]

My dd can read really well at just turned 5 (chapter books) but its not something we did to teach her besides read to her a ton and buy her age appropriate learning books (like BOB books) when she started to show the ability to read around age 3. It was just something that clicked with her. Most of her friends around the same age are not reading or reading like your child--hat cat, etc. I wouldn't worry about it all, just keep reading with your child and developing a love of books, that's way more important right now. Let the teachers handle the phonics stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd can read really well at just turned 5 (chapter books) but its not something we did to teach her besides read to her a ton and buy her age appropriate learning books (like BOB books) when she started to show the ability to read around age 3. It was just something that clicked with her. Most of her friends around the same age are not reading or reading like your child--hat cat, etc. I wouldn't worry about it all, just keep reading with your child and developing a love of books, that's way more important right now. Let the teachers handle the phonics stuff.

We are in the same situation. And I would echo this PPs advice. I know that's easy for us to say as the parents of readers, but I really do think it's true.

[Anonymous]

OP here....thank you both for sharing your experiences. That is really helpful. I guess I will just keep reading to him...

I am amazed by your children's ability to read! And they learned on their own! WOW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here....thank you both for sharing your experiences. That is really helpful. I guess I will just keep reading to him...

I am amazed by your children's ability to read! And they learned on their own! WOW.

2nd PP. well, it was somewhat on her own and somewhat electronically aided. When #2 came along she was allowed more screen time, and I made myself feel better about it by having her use educational sites. starfall.com in particular was a big hit, and I do think time spent there helped her learn to read earlier. (I've heard from other parents with similar experiences).

[Anonymous]

My daughter just turned 5 and does not know how to read. She can recognize a handful of words, but not much beyond that. We are intentionally not using any "educational" media (videos, computer games, worksheets, etc) -- really just reading a ton of books with her and helping her when she asks specific questions about letters, words, writing, etc.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. Just keep reading to him, and talking about letters and words when they come up naturally. Don't stress about it. He's right on target. The most important thing is to never make it seem like a chore. Reading great books to him is all you need to do right now.

[Anonymous]

Pre K kids are all over the spectrum, from just learning letters to reading early chapter books. The same phenomenon exists in K, and starts to level out in first when most kids can read.

Just keep reading and let it happen when it will. Many in this are think it's a race, but don't let them fool you. In all of my college applications and job interviews, I have never once been asked at what age I started reading

[Anonymous]

My son is in kindergarten. He entered kinder reading at a second grade level. I formally started teaching him to read when he turned four. I used to teach first grade and I wanted the joy in teaching him how to read. It is amazing to see the progress. I also wanted to make sure he was taught using phonics and not taught to rely on learning sight words. By 4 1/2 he could read easy readers like Are You My Mother? / Go, Dog, Go / Fly Guy etc. If you want to teach him and he wants to learn, go for it. It is a lot easier to teach reading one-to-one as compared to teaching a whole class. Hooked on Phonics will work, you can also get the Bob Books too.

[Anonymous]

My dd is in k in fcps. There are four reading groups in her class. Based on your description, your son would be in the third group in herhclass. Assuming he doesn't improve at all in a year. He will be fine

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher for this age group. Agree w/ the previous poster who said that "pre-kids are all over the spectrum." I think the most important thing is that 4 year old children are deriving JOY from reading- whether it is by being read aloud to or by reading/looking at books on their own.

We are working on the following in reafing literacy (pre-K
* Letter/sound association
(Emphasis on lower-case letters.)
* Rhyming
* Decoding phonetic 3 and 4-letter words
* Introducing phonograms/word chunks (oo-sh-ee......)
* Appreciation of books/poems/fiction versus non-fiction
* Story comprehension
* Vocabulary

[Anonymous]

*reading

[Anonymous]

Agree with the teacher. Don't teach or expect your child to read at 4. Help foster a love of reading instead. There's no correlation between early reading and later academic success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in kindergarten. He entered kinder reading at a second grade level. I formally started teaching him to read when he turned four. I used to teach first grade and I wanted the joy in teaching him how to read. It is amazing to see the progress. I also wanted to make sure he was taught using phonics and not taught to rely on learning sight words. By 4 1/2 he could read easy readers like Are You My Mother? / Go, Dog, Go / Fly Guy etc. If you want to teach him and he wants to learn, go for it. It is a lot easier to teach reading one-to-one as compared to teaching a whole class. Hooked on Phonics will work, you can also get the Bob Books too.

I think it's good to balance sight words with phonics because there are some high-frequency words that it just helps to know so kids can build up their reading fluency.

[Anonymous]

Everything I have seen says make sure your kid has books available, looks in his envrionment at print ie recongnizes the cheerios box at home is the same at the store and is read to regularly.