DS1 could read really well when he entered K.

DS2 couldn't read when he started K and still couldn't read when he left K. He wasn't reading until the end of 1st grade.

My kid is one of those who can read in PK. We didn't work with her much, but we did read a lot to her and help her along for 5 or 10 minutes many nights with Dick and Jane, which is an oldie but a goodie! Now she is reading those Level 1 paperbacks fairly well, and I expect when she starts K in the Fall she'll be really reading. Just the luck of the draw, plus the benefit of being an only child and in a preschool classroom situation where she gets lots of individual attention.

Yes. I taught my first son to read before he entered kindergarten. He could read fluently books like Magic Tree House, Mercy Watson, the I Can Read level 3 books, so around a second grade level. I taught him because he had speech and language delays and intermittent hearing loss due to fluid in his ears, and I was really worried he would have difficulty learning how to read. My second son is about to enter kinder and I haven't taught him to read. He goes o a play based preschool and I am not even sure he knows all of his letters. I am not worried because he has an amazing vocabulary, fantastic phonemic awareness (rhyming, orally blending), is great at noticing visual details, and has a good memory. He has zero risk factors for having difficulty learning how to read. I have no doubt that he will quickly learn to read in kinder or first grade.

Can't read unless they've been red-shirted - very few anyway.

Anonymous wrote:My preschooler is a proficient reader; currently at Montessori, where I think they make reading one of the academic priorities. When DC enters kindergarten next year, I'm concerned about him becoming bored, but I'm told they separate the kids out into ability levels, whatever that means. I'm planning to pay careful attention to what goes on in terms of reading education and I'll talk with the teacher about the details of the teaching approach.

PP, I was worried about this too. But as it turned out, there was a good handful of children in my child's kindergarten class who could read. They were in their own reading group.

My preschooler is a proficient reader; currently at Montessori, where I think they make reading one of the academic priorities. When DC enters kindergarten next year, I'm concerned about him becoming bored, but I'm told they separate the kids out into ability levels, whatever that means. I'm planning to pay careful attention to what goes on in terms of reading education and I'll talk with the teacher about the details of the teaching approach.

I think a lot of kids can recognize certain words - like "dog" and of course their name - but most kids aren't reading full sentences yet.

I'm from California and in the 90s, we had the "reading by 8" campaign so I'm surprised how often reading by KG comes up around here. Where I'm from, if you were reading by the end of 2nd grade, that was considered success.

some can, some can't.

Some kids can, some kids can't. My kid's kindergarten teacher had reading groups.

my son will be in K in the fall and I highly doubt he will be able to read anything by then. He knows letters, can write all letters well, but he has no clue how to sound out words, it just hasn't clicked for him yet.

I was reading before I was 3 and didn't understand why some of my classmates couldn't read at 5 or 6. Luckily it was a small enough class (8 students, IIRC), that the teacher had time to work with kids individually at their various levels. I have no idea how it works with bigger classes.

Granted I taught east of the river so I am sure that this isn't true for all schools, but it was extremely rare for k students to come in really reading. Now some had good pre-reading skills but very few could actually decode reliably

We deal with this by testing the students and putting them in small groups during literacy instruction. Also the kids who are way far behind get pulled out for extra instruction. For my highest group in first grade I would give them extra projects and books to work on.

Neither of my kids could read at the start of K. We did play-based preschool.

However, firstborn was reading at a 3rd grade level by the end of K (June of K year) and is now in an advanced reading group in 2nd grade.

Second born--currently in K--is reading tiny starter books but recognizing new words and spelling correctly at an amazing pace.

Some kids are coached and go to academic preschools, do Kumon, etc. They aren't smarter--just being introduced to concepts at an earlier age. It is not indicative of their future rankings.

Some kids (a very minute few) pick it up completely on their own without a preschool or parent teaching reading to them.

Schools handle it just fine. They give different type books to different abilities. We have a reading teacher that works with each K kid in the class. It is amazing how it evens out by the end of the year.

Our DS was not able to read when he started K. He could read and write his name, as well as all the letters and numbers, but not actually read. Now that K is halfway over, he can read!!

His teacher separates the kids into reading groups based on their reading level, as assessed during the first weeks of school.

I'm curious if your kid, or kids generally, can read when they enter kindergarten.

How do teachers balance their teaching between kids who can't read at all, and those who can?