Preschool Reading Readiness

© Everything Family Guide

We are currently reading levelled readers together to get my preschooler ready for school. Levelled readers are a series of books that have age appropriate vocabulary and content. Most levelled readers are marked according to reading levels expected at the end of each grade at school. For example, a "K" levelled book is what may be expected from students in a Kindergarten classroom to master at the end of the school year. On the other hand, some levelled readers are based on reading ability. There is a lot of research that goes into the publishing of such levelled readers. The child is matched to the right level of books at the right time (aka reading readiness).

Levelled readers are the perfect opportunity for parents and educators to spend one-on-one time reading with the child. This can build into reading and recognising certain words or simple sentences. After reading, you can delve into questioning, analysing, summarising or retelling the story. This type of reading exercise using levelled readers is called "Guided Reading". It is also the perfect opportunity for beginning readers.

Remember when choosing a book for your preschooler use a text that has simple sentences, large or bold print, and accompanying parent teaching tips. In the beginning you will be doing most of the reading, while your child follows along. In the course of time, your child will start recognising commonly used words such as I, the, me, my, he, she, is, it, etc. Believe it or not, that's a big milestone for your preschooler! 

© Everything Family Guide

Reading is all about practise; the more you read, the more you will learn. Nowadays, we are reading K levelled readers that allows the parents to read the text on the left hand side and the child to read the large print text on the right side by looking at picture for clues. My son loves it and is able to get it right most of the time. As an elementary teacher, my experience with levelled readers in my classroom has always been beneficial to the students. I highly recommend age and ability appropriate levelled readers along with picture books, for a pre or beginning reader! The best part is that you can find lots of levelled reader series and levelled reader brands/publishers in your local library.

What are some reading strategies that you use with your kids?

Annie