Kindergarten Reading

Learning new language skills is a hallmark of kindergarten. Your child will learn about the alphabet and it's role in reading. Your child will practice rhyming, matching words with beginning sounds, and blending sounds into words. Practice with these types of activities is a powerful step toward learning to read and spell correctly. The size of your child's vocabulary is another key factor in her ability to read and understand books and stories. Your child also will begin to experiment with writing and will be encouraged to use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing letters to share information, ideas and feelings.

Foundational Skills

Children this age will:

• understand basic print concepts. They will be able to point to the top of the book, bottom of the book, title, beginning of the story, and front and back cover. Children are able to turn one page, know that you read from left to right, and how to hold a book correctly.
• understand rhyming words, blending sounds into words, breaking words into sounds.
• know and apply phonics skills to decode and read.
• read grade level texts with understanding.

Reading

 Children this age will:

• answer questions about details in a story and informational text (with support).
• retell a familiar story (with support).
• identify characters, setting and events in a story (with support).
• compare and contrast  familiar stories.
• identify main topic and details of informational text (with support).
• identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same topic (with support).
• engage in group reading activities.

Writing

Children this age will:

• use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to tell others about their ideas ("My favorite book is...")
• use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to explain something.
• use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to tell about events in order.
• reread and adjust writing with adult support.
• use a variety of tools to produce and publish writing.
• participate in a class research and writing project (explore a number of books on a favorite subject and tell others what they think about them).

Speaking and Listening

Children this age will:

• participate in group conversations about many kindergarten topics.
• verbally ask and answer clarifying questions of a text read aloud.
• ask and answer questions to seek help or get information.
• speak clearly to express thoughts, ideas and feelings.