Anonymous wrote:My kid is 6 in K and in the same boat. His teacher is not concerned at all. His siblings were much further along at this age but I know every kid is different.
School is unlikely to offer any intervention unless it continues in later grades. My niece just started getting help in 4th grade even though she was behind for years prior. I got a K curriculum from the good and the beautiful and have just been working on it with him at home. We read a lot of books and he watches things like alphablocks and numberblocks.

4th grade is the usual time when “guess the word” via the discredited 3-cueing method stops working.

It is tragic, but not unusual, that schools/teachers will say “on grade level” before 4th, when actually the child is just guessing using the 3-cueing method, and is not really reading the word printed on the page. This is why OP is quite right to engage now and to reinforce Phonics and phonetic decoding now, and then use phonetic readers initially to build reading fluency, so DC will not mysteriously fall behind in reading at 4th grade.

Sigh. Parents really ought to find the podcast “Sold a Story” if one has not yet done so.

My kid is 6 in K and in the same boat. His teacher is not concerned at all. His siblings were much further along at this age but I know every kid is different.
School is unlikely to offer any intervention unless it continues in later grades. My niece just started getting help in 4th grade even though she was behind for years prior. I got a K curriculum from the good and the beautiful and have just been working on it with him at home. We read a lot of books and he watches things like alphablocks and numberblocks.

I agree with others that it is concerning. Unfortunately, based on my experience you might not get much help from school because he might not be considered behind (k has a wide range for normal|at grade level).

If I were in your shoes get on waitlist now for a private evaluation now because it is is going to take you months (14 months for us). We did a full educational and neurological evaluation.

My kids watched the original Leapfrog Letter Factory video as toddlers and it was a huge help in learning letter sounds (which are critical for learning to read). They also have math videos that are helpful. Make learning fun!

Anonymous wrote:Also try letting the kid watch Number Blocks, it's a british show, but is really great at breaking down numbers.

And Alphablocks too.

We had luck with Hooked on Phonics for all three of my kids. But I agree with the others-- give the school written notice that you want your child evaluated so that you can get that process started asap. If all they need is extra attention on phonics and math and they improve, then great. If they need something more, get that intervention started asap.

I used phonics flash card, along with hooked on phonics learn to read books to teach my the 1st grade behind in reading (dra 4). For math, maybe use duck pic along with number card, then replace duck pic with Cheerios, toy blocks and other things etc to try. After your DC gets familiar with number 1-5 ( counting forward backward and adding subtract within) then move forward, check some Montessori way online to teach math. Some kids are late bloomers or need different way and parent involvement is definitely needed, you should still go get your DC evaluated for learning issue but don’t give up teaching your own.

But she’s not that old

Also try letting the kid watch Number Blocks, it's a british show, but is really great at breaking down numbers.

For math, look into manipulatives - physical objects that stand for numbers. I really like this set, that's what we used - and I used a sharpie marker to write down the number on each block - so on unit blocks I wrote 1, on the next size I wrote 2, etc. https://www.amazon.com/ETA-hand2mind-Assorted-Wooden-Alternative-Cuisenaire/dp/B016DU8UR0/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=QZ0EWE43RHCV&keywords=math%2Bmanipulatives%2Brods&qid=1704896036&sprefix=math%2Bmanipulatives%2Brods%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Anonymous wrote:The “Bob Books” series are phonetic readers and are a very good place to start once a child knows Phonics. Available fromAmazon or B&N. We did all of them, in sequence, 2-4 pages each day, every day. It gives the young reader fluency and confidence, as well as ensuring they get lots of practice decoding phonetic words.

Forgot to mention: Often it is lower cost to buy the whole set of Bob Books as one package, versus buying them one at a time.