A Parent's Guide 
to 
Reading in Kindergarten
What is Reading?
     Very simply, reading is getting meaning from the printed word. Though the definition may sound very simple, the act of reading is a very complex one. The brain must do many things, quickly and simultaneously. When children are learning to read, they must learn the language, have background knowledge (at least enough for the reading task they are involved in) and learn what the symbols represent.
     Beginning reading involves getting meaning from simple text. The text is almost always far below the child's listening comprehension ability. The focus is generally on having students work on instantaneous word recognition. When children can instantaneously read words they encounter frequently in text, they build their comprehension levels and begin to read fluently.
     In kindergarten, a balanced approach to reading is stressed. A "balanced approach" takes the child at his or her ability level and design instruction with those levels in mind. (Click here for information on reading stages) There are five major areas of instruction: 
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Phonics Instruction
  • Sight Word Recognition (words found frequently in the English language)
  • Print Concept (punctuation, sentence construction, mechanics)
  • Spelling
Phonemic Awareness (click here for more information)
      In the past few years, reading research has focused on the importance of phonemic awareness in learning to read. simply stated, phonemic awareness is the understanding that letters represent individual sounds in the spoken language. Without this understanding, phonics instruction will make little sense. 
     A child who has phonemic awareness can rhyme words, engage in word play and give the letters that represent sounds at the beginning, middle and end of a word. The child who posses phonemic awareness can also blend sounds to make words c-a-t/cat and they can segment sounds in words cat/c-a-t.
     All through the school year, children are involved in phonemic awareness activities as they engage in name activities, songs, poems, literature and other types of word play. 

Phonics Instruction
     Phonics, simply defined, is instruction that teaches students the relationship between printed symbols and the words they represent. "Balanced phonics instruction" includes two types on instruction: analytic and synthetic.
      In analytic instruction the teacher instructs children to look at the whole word as a means to understanding its parts or generalizing it to other words. For example, the teacher teaches the word cat, has students find the word "at" in the word and then brainstorms other words that contain "at."
      In synthetic instruction, the child is taught to join sounds together to make whole words. For example, /c/-/a/-/t/ blended together makes the word cat.
     Both forms of instruction are equally important, though "decoding" (the synthetic approach) is a critical concept for the beginning reader.

Sight Word Recognition
      Sight words are those words found most often in the English language, some obvious examples are: the, and, I , is, ....) They often have irregular spelling patterns. It's important that children learn to recognize these words instantly. 

Print Concept
      Grammar, sentence construction, punctuation, etc. are taught during language arts instruction time. These concepts are taught as students and teacher "write together."

Spelling
      In kindergarten, spelling is taught on a daily basis. For example, as we "write together" we spell high frequency words together. As the year progresses, students will be introduced to word families and their spelling patterns. Spelling, as a subject, is not formally taught in kindergarten. 

What reading activities are the children involved in during the kindergarten day?

Direct Instruction 
   *working with letters and sounds
   *word construction
   *"writing"  mini lessons
   *phonemic awareness
   *phonics

Shared Reading (whole group)
   *Read alouds
   *Big books
   *Rhymes and poems
   *songs

Guided Reading (click here for more information)

Independent Reading

Literacy Centers (click here for more information)

References
Guided Reading by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
The Teacher's Guide to Building Blocks by Patricia Cunningham
Month by Month Reading and Writing in Kindergarten by Dot Hall
Invitations by Regie Routman