Do you depend on your school to teach your child how to read?

[Anonymous]

Just a kind of survey.
If you would please note what school system your child is in.
If you do teach your child on your own, or with tutors, please explain why.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I did, but we read to him every day/night at home which I think made a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

My DC is in PreK headed to an independent next year. We read every day, but I am not teaching DC to read. Over the last two months, DC has moved from being a sponge to asking us to define every word DC doesn't know and spelling words DC sees when driving around town. There are so many fundamentals that go into ensuring a child is a good, proficient reader. I don't have that background. We hope, however, that we are instilling a love for books and that DC will be ripe for learning when DC enters K next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is in PreK headed to an independent next year. We read every day, but I am not teaching DC to read. Over the last two months, DC has moved from being a sponge to asking us to define every word DC doesn't know and spelling words DC sees when driving around town. There are so many fundamentals that go into ensuring a child is a good, proficient reader. I don't have that background. We hope, however, that we are instilling a love for books and that DC will be ripe for learning when DC enters K next year.

No, the child entered DCPS reading. Teacher attempts to meet her reading level have been limited.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We read to her (and still do) and encouraged her to read simple books on her own but did not attempt any focused instruction. She entered K at a private school not really reading this fall and has been reading chapter books easily since around December.

[Anonymous]

My child learned at home, even though preschool definitely helped out, especially her montessori program.

[Anonymous]

No. Child attends Catholic school. He showed no interest in reading in kindergarten, but did learn letters and sounds there. In first grade, he made fairly slow progress, and was showing IMO very signs of very confused spelling. So I just started teaching him, using Phongraphix method, to pell correctly and read fluently.

In general I do not think it is necessary to push early reading, especially if a child isn't interested; but I do not think it is wise to wait until much later than first grade to be sure children have the basics down.

[Anonymous]

DC is in Pre-K at a well-regarded charter school. They are learning the building blocks at school and lots of pre-reading skills (phonemic awareness, textual awareness, letter & numeral recognition). At home, we read to DC every night and have DC practice reading skills.

DC is clearly ahead of peers in ability to decode written language, but probably slightly behind in fine motor ability to write/print neatly.

We aim for pushing just enough to make it a fun challenge but not so far as to make it a chore.

[Anonymous]

We have always read with DD and had lots of books around. I tried to get her reading and DD was not interested. We ended up fighting, so I gave it up and left it to the school. When she was about to enter first grade and was still not reading, I took matters into my own hands and worked with her using an incentive chart to get her interested (ie.e bribery). It worked and she reads above grade level now (although she's not that confident and doesn't seem to enjo it). I think some kids become interested earlier than others and if your child is not interested, it's not worth it to push it. They really do learn when they are ready. I say encourage but not push.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we depend on the school to teach DS to read. He will enter private K next year in D.C.

I think he has the mental power to read at this point, but my attempts to teach him at home have been met with resistance so I have backed the heck off.

[Anonymous]

MCPS mom here. I also depend on the school to teach my kids to read. They recommend having your kids read for a certain amount of time each night, which turned into an awful battle in my house. Frankly, I suck at teaching my kids how to read. So, I put them in an after school reading club with people who actually can help my kids made progress. As I see it, it's money well spent.

[Anonymous]

DC began to read on her own while in preschool. Is in pre-k now at a private school and reads way beyond what they do in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

We depend on the school to teach DC to read. We read to them sometimes, but did not push them to read.

[Anonymous]

DS will be in K in fall, he shows some interest but not really reading books. He will ask about signs on the street and can remember them.
We recently brought him Brand New Reader books and he has been able to read those books (15 of them) but not sure if he just memories them. But either way, it is still nice to see him being excited.

So yeah, we are depending on our school and teachers to teach him to read regular books and phonics. I was told I had articulations issues in college so I do not feel confident in phonics. DH reads to kids all the time and our nanny brings home new books from the library weekly.
All the above should help, we hope!

[Anonymous]

When we toured private schools last year, I was struck by the fact that several of them said "we don't teach reading in pre-K and we urge you not to push your kids to learn to read until kindergarten."

The rationale was that pre-k would be spent learning letters and phonics -- and that the child's motivation to read would come naturally by kindergarten. One teacher said, "don't substitute your motivation for theirs."

That really resonated with us. So, we continue to read every night to DC, but I have never tried to teach him to read or pushed him to. And now, I do see the first stirrings of his interest in reading.

I'm going to let the schools do their job. I'll just continue to respond to DC's questions and interests -- at his pace.