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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’d like to teach my child to read.  There seem to be so many methods out there that I was hoping for advice on the best method for a preschooler.

Thank you!  [/quote]
How old is your child? What’s the rush?[/quote]

I’m not the OP but my kid kept asking to learn. He is also a preschooler. [/quote]

Just to chime in that it's highly unusual for kids to be reading in preschool. If you are teaching your child some early literacy skills because they are asking/showing interest - great! But overall, children are not usually developmentally ready to be really "reading" in preschool. Reading is a complex brain activity that requires many fundamentals (not all alphabet/phonics based) to be acquired first. There is no evidence that early teaching of reading equals greater success later in school/life and a lot of evidence that teaching reading too soon can actually be detrimental later on.

So OP, if your child is interested and you just want to support/encourage that interest with some relaxed supplemental activities great. But otherwise, there is no need to be teaching children to read in preschool. (Or in K for that matter)

[/quote]I have a first grader and have been watching several of her friends' parents panic now that they are getting reports that their kid is behind in reading.  They're paying for expensive tutors and canceling summer camps so their kid can go to summer school.  Absolutely meet your kid where they are, but I also wouldn't wait to introduce reading if your kid is ready.

I'm sure many will say that panic about a first grader's reading is unnecessary and their kid will eventuallu catch up, but I'm still glad I bought Bob books and started working with my daughter before it felt like an emergency. (For the record, we did 10 minutes per day of reading practice starting at 4.5 yo.  The rest of her life was play.  I can assure you that it didn't stunt her development.)[/quote]

Hmm...

[b]Well, if your kid is behind in first grade reading, I would guess you would have had some trouble teaching them to read in preschool in the first place. [/b] And getting some extra support in first grade from professionals whose job it is to teach children to read is probably the way to go.  So sounds like it all worked out.

This is what school is for.  This is why teachers have degrees.  The idea that parents need to teach their kids to read before schooling starts just in case they might be behind is really kind of crazy.

I have 2 kids.  They both went to preschool.  One really didn't show any organic interest in reading and letters prior to K.  Fine.  He still learned when he got to school.  The other did show more organic interest and was reading signs and things around her in preschool on her own.  Great.  She was generally ahead of the curve when she got to school.

With both, we read to them a lot at home and followed their lead.

[/quote]I really don't think you're correct.  The parents I know were laid back and expected their kids to learn to read in kindergarten.  The parent read to their kid daily, but didn't explicitly work on reading. But for whatever reason their kid didn't learn in kindergarten.  Now as first graders, the teacher all of the sudden calls it a serious delay and recommends a $500/wk reading specialist (and families are paying for it) and summer school.  That's crazy.  It's entirely reasonable that these kids would be much farther ahead with daily 1:1 reading instruction, even with a parent.

I was literally sitting in a group of six highly educated first time moms listening to them panic with the same issue.  I'm sure that some of these kids do have real issues (dyslexia) and others are just a bit behind, but the parents universally feel deceived by the fiction that they should just let the school teach reading since the school didn't and is now making it their problem.[/quote]

[b]The fiction is that children should be reading by 1st grade.[/b] There is nothing wrong with children who can do this of course. But our push for early academics means that kids are being declared "behind" in reading at ages that are well below what any developmentalist would consider a concerning age. The reality is that there is a HUGE range in when children begin reading. Prior to the beginning of 3rd grade or so...that variation means almost nothing in the long run. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be reading to our kids, providing them print, and when they are in school, helping to support the formal instruction going on in their classrooms. But the reality is that some kids will read early and some will read "late" and that's just normal developmental variation. Not an emergency.[/quote]

Blame it on the school systems.  My child's first grade teacher told me that children are expected to move up from DRA 4 to DRA 16 in first grade.  Is that REALLY realistic?  It's not for my child.  We don't supplement because she doesn't even get home until 4:30 (that's when the bus drops her off, she's not even in aftercare!!), and don't have time, but we do read a TON at home.
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