Kindergarten: Reading Milestones

Encourage Your Kindergartener

• Let your child read the words and offer help only when it's needed. By the end of kindergarten, many children can read simple books containing short, common words and books that follow a predictable pattern. Most children rely heavily on pictures and their memory of the story to help them read. Young readers benefit from practice, and they take great pride in showing off their new skills to adults. As your child reads to you, you can help out and provide words if he gets stuck, but try not to step in before you are needed. 

• Let your child "share" the reading with you. Not all children can read books independently at the end of kindergarten, but all can share reading with an adult. The child who recognizes only a few words can chime in and read those words in the text. Most can fill in a rhyming word in a shared reading. For example, if you read, "Have you ever seen a bear combing his _______?" your child will probably provide "hair" as the correct rhyme.

• Keep reading sessions short. Reading can be hard work for kindergarteners. It is a complex activity that requires a delicate orchestration of skills, including paying attention, looking carefully at print, remembering sounds of letters, and using language prediction skills. Kindergarteners expend a lot of energy reading, so if your child shows signs of frustration, it is definitely time to stop. 

• Encourage your child to track the print with a finger, pointing to each word as she says it. This habit will reinforce the idea that printed words represent spoken words and that print goes from left to right in English. You can also ask your child to find words she knows in the text or to find a word that starts with a certain beginning sound. Asking your child how she knew the word was "kitten" and not "cat," for example, will help improve her awareness of the strategies she is beginning to use in reading. 

• Don't limit reading to books. Reading is a skill that we use regularly in our everyday lives, so encourage your child to read at times other than at book time. Having your kindergartener read street signs, look over your shopping list, follow a simple recipe with you, and read a menu with you are all ways that you can extend reading beyond books.

Copyright 2002-2007 Public Broadcasting Service. Reprinted from www.pbsparents.org with persmission of the Public Broadcasting Service.

For other reading and language articles, please see http://www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/