Is your kindergartener reading well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, whatever. I wouldn't worry about it until 2nd grade. Just keep working on it in a low-stress day.

THIS. A sane response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. My K DD can read very basic things like “the cat sat on the mat,” but not much more. And when she tries to guess words she doesn’t recognize she can be surprisingly far off (i.e. guessing words that have no letters in common with the actual word). She knows letter sounds, but combining them hasn’t quite clicked. It’s frustrating to me because by K I was reading at a 4th grade level, but it just ‘clicked’ for me instantly and I don’t know how to help her get past this point. [/quote


You need to relax. Your child is not you. Repeat that. Phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of future reading so make sure she is solid in those skills first.

[Anonymous]

My K son is not reading "well" but I'm not too worried. He's a little behind on recognizing sight words according to the benchmark his teacher (or FCPS?) sets but he is good at decoding short words, understands beginning vs. end sounds, and is great at rhyming. He is on the younger side (late May bday) so I think he just needs a little more time for things to click. I purposely sent him to a preschool that was not overly academic because he has years to do worksheets and I didn't want to kill a love of learning. I would be concerned if he wasn't connecting the letters to the sounds they make. For now I'm just trying to do a combo of him reading BOB books and me reading him longer books during our nightly routine. I'm trying not to transfer any stress or pressure I might feel (which I wouldn't feel if it weren't for the expectations the school seems to have) onto him.

[Anonymous]

There’s a big variation in kindergarten in terms of literacy. Some are not reading at all, some are advanced. DD was not reading at all when she started, and was starting to by the end. She advanced a lot in 1st grade. Started enjoying in 2nd. Now I can’t stop her from reading.

DS is in pre-k and he already reads BOB books and has started writing. A lot of it is developmental, and for my children, very dependent on level of interest.

[Anonymous]

No, he is not, and he is fairly old for K (a winter birthday). I think he can read (like he will often read chapter titles to me in the books we read together), but he does not want to read whole books. He prefers that I read to him, which I think is fine for now, and which is fine with his K teachers. They do not push child reading at home until first grade. My older child was the same and she's a great reader in 4th grade. What's more important is that they enjoy books and have good understanding/comprehension.

[Anonymous]

No way! He can read CVC and some consonant blends, but does all of that slowly. He sounds out each letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My K son is not reading "well" but I'm not too worried. He's a little behind on recognizing sight words according to the benchmark his teacher (or FCPS?) sets but he is good at decoding short words, understands beginning vs. end sounds, and is great at rhyming. He is on the younger side (late May bday) so I think he just needs a little more time for things to click. I purposely sent him to a preschool that was not overly academic because he has years to do worksheets and I didn't want to kill a love of learning. I would be concerned if he wasn't connecting the letters to the sounds they make. For now I'm just trying to do a combo of him reading BOB books and me reading him longer books during our nightly routine. I'm trying not to transfer any stress or pressure I might feel (which I wouldn't feel if it weren't for the expectations the school seems to have) onto him.

I have a July girl and we're in a similar place. She has all the building blocks down, so I am not worried about it all eventually clicking. I know it will. I DO know that if I start to put pressure on her to do this faster, it will back fire. So we read a lot together, some with her reading to me, some with me reading to her. I feel completely confidant she'll get there.

[Anonymous]

We were told not to worry about it until 2nd grade. The teacher told us she is following closely in 1st grade because there is outside pressure on her to do that, but she knows it's really 2nd grade that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were told not to worry about it until 2nd grade. The teacher told us she is following closely in 1st grade because there is outside pressure on her to do that, but she knows it's really 2nd grade that matters.

That is way too late to get help! All the research points to getting help early for literacy or you can set them up for a lifetime of frustration. Waiting until seocnd grade to address reading issues? Definitely not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was in the exact same place as the Ops child in K.

If I could go back, l would go out and get a good phonics based workbook and work though each day with my child. And if by the end of the school year there was no improvement or little improvement, I would sign up for Kumon or similar for the summer. And if there were still slow progress, private testing.

I regret that I let myself feel shamed by people who told me I was being silly, kids all learn at different paces, you are being so pushy, and so on

My child was eventually diagnosed with mild dyslexia. The intervention that helped her read was an intensive course of phonics based instruction. Since she could read ok and made it to grade level at testing time in first garage (which by the way is a low bar), the school didn’t consider it a big deal but it was.

+1,000 Don’t wait and see. Worst thing you can do with reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS isn’t at all.

My son’s kindergarten teacher never said my son was behind.

DS had a play date this morning with a boy in his class who is reading well.

Don't compare your kid to others. You could have Kindergartners who read at at a 7th grade level, which is not at all indicative of how your kid is doing. Ask the teacher where your child is. If they're behind grade level, then ask what you can do to help. If they're at grade level, the don't fret about it. I have twins and they have rarely reached the same milestone at the same time but they've always evened out at the end.

[Anonymous]

Not at all. Had problems learning letters and letter sounds and after scoring low in several areas on an assessment is receiving reading intervention pullouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way! He can read CVC and some consonant blends, but does all of that slowly. He sounds out each letter.

Normal. To give you an idea, we expect first graders in the middle of the year (now) to be able to read 10 whole CVC words. Not just the individual sounds but the whole word. 10 is the benchmark for the middle of the year for first graders.

[Anonymous]

Late July DD K’er is not reading at all right now.

Her mid July brother didn’t read until Christmas his first grade year. Be now is a great reader and has excellent comprehension.

[Anonymous]

My (MCPS) K student was marked as a level 9 on the most recent report card, 2nd marking period. Is this common?