Reading by the Ages
Newborns are calmed by the rhythmic sounds of lullabies and nursery rhymes. These will be their first stories. Your baby may even begin to recognize a song or rhyme if you repeat it often. By the time she is 4 months old, your baby will show an interest in books and start to explore them by chewing or throwing them. At this age, your baby needs sturdy vinyl or cloth books that can survive chewing and are not easily torn.
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6 TO 12 MONTHS OLD
During this period, babies become less interested in mouthing books and more interested in the story. You can promote your baby's interest in books by looking at books with him and talking about the pictures, especially those that interest your baby. Invite your 8- or 9-month-old baby to turn the pages. If you are raising your baby to become bilingual, this is a good time to introduce objects to your baby and tell her the words for them in both languages.0-6 mo.
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12 TO 18 MONTHS OLD
Babies delight in reading together with adults. Your baby will turn pages and name pictures of fams of familiar objects. She may begin to enjoy books that tell simple stories. Because babies are natural explorers, they love books like Pat the Bunny, which they can touch and sniff while listening to the story.Encouraging Your Baby
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18-36 Months: Learning to Love Books
When toddlers are introduced to the magic of books, they develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime. Language is the foundation for literacy, and you can help your toddler get ready for reading by incorporating listening and talking into everyday activities. Even though children are still developing language, reading is very important at this age. When you read to your toddler, you help her to learn about new words and concepts, learn letters, and learn about the way the printed word works. Reading to your toddler, talking about books and the printed word as much as possible, and providing many opportunities for her to experiment with writing will help her get ready to read.Your toddler is a natural explorer, and his curiosity sparks the development of language, reading, and writing. He listens intently to adults in order to learn new words, is interested in the way language works, and experiments with using new grammar when he speaks. Toddlers love adults to read stories aloud, and they especially like to hear the same stories repeatedly. By listening to stories over and over again, your toddler learns about the way stories are built, which will help him as he gets closer to being a reader and writer.
You can help your toddler become a reader and writer by incorporating talking and reading into everyday activities. Simple actions like looking at signs as you ride the bus, looking for letters at the grocery store, reading a rhyming book together, or making a books of photos and talking about the pictures will help your child develop the language skills on which literacy is built. Learn more ways you can support your toddler as he moves towards literacy.
Reading Milestones
At this stage, your toddler learns about reading through everyday experiences with books. Simply through reading with adults, your toddler learns that books contain lots of interesting pictures and words and that stories show her worlds to explore.Toddlers who have been read to will invite others to read to them. When adults stop and talk about the pictures, label objects on the page, and describe what they see, they are also promoting the child's language development. As his language develops, your toddler will do these same things when he looks at books.
Toddlers learn that books are special. Your toddler's experiences interacting with books teach her how to handle books. She learns that there is a front and a back to the book. She also learns how to hold a book and how to turn its pages.
Toddlers may use "storybook language" in their everyday conversations. For example, over a bowl of hot macaroni, you may hear your toddler say, "I'm gonna huff and I'm gonna puff." Some toddlers may also incorporate reading into their fantasy play. For example, your child may read stories to his stuffed animals as he puts them down for a nap.
Toddlers learn about the structure of stories from books. Through reading different books, toddlers learn that most stories contain the same parts: a setting, characters, a series of events that lead to a problem, and a solution to the problem. When your toddler understands the way most stories are built, it helps her to understand new stories that are read aloud to her. Years later, this will help her to understand stories she reads independently.
Toddlers often show clear preferences and will ask to have a book read over and over again. Although parents may not want to read the same book, rereading is useful for toddlers. Reading a favorite book like Goodnight Moon for the one hundredth time will actually help your child relate what he hears to the words and letters on the page.
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2nd Grade
Encouraging Your Toddler
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2nd Grade
3-4 Years: Weaving Worlds With Words
At this stage, your child uses her ever-increasing language skills to become a "big talker" and develops an awareness of the power of the written word. Parents and caregivers of preschoolers can help them develop into readers and writers by playing with letters and their sounds, promoting dramatic play using characters from books, and reading lots of books together.Through his own daily experiences, your preschooler learns more and more about the way things work in the world and his place in it. At the same time, he is able to use his ever-increasing vocabulary and language skills to share his observations, ideas, and imaginary worlds with other children and adults. Young children can be entertaining storytellers, engaging conversational partners, and frustrating negotiators. During the preschool years, your child will become aware that the world is filled with letters and may begin to recognize familiar words.
You can help your preschooler become an eager reader and writer through simple conversations and reading together. It helps to plan regular times to read with your young child and talk together daily about things that interest him. You can turn everyday experiences such as waiting in lines, doing errands, and riding the bus into conversation starters. By talking about your child's ideas, observations, and feelings, you prepare your young child for reading and writing about the world.
Reading Milestones
Young children begin to recognize familiar words.Your young child may learn whole words that she can see, like STOP signs, before she learns individual letters. Young children may also learn logos and symbols, so, as they pass familiar restaurants, they may point out a known letter, such as "big M."Young children learn that stories have a clear structure and specific elements. As your young child listens to stories, he learns that all good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. He also learns to predict, based on the book cover, what the story will be about, as well as what might happen next or how the story will end. Young children learn that there are characters in stories and that the setting (where and when it takes place) is something that a listener would want to know. Your child will enjoy comparing the characters in a book to himself and to other real life people he knows.
Your young child may "pretend" to read. Children who have been read to frequently will pretend to read books to themselves or to their toy dolls and animals, using their own words or phrases from the story. Parents and caregivers may also observe young children incorporating pretend reading into their play—"reading" a recipe as they make a cake or "reading" a shopping list as they put groceries in their basket.
Young children become aware that the world is filled with letters. During the preschool years, many young children will be able to recite or sing the alphabet. They may begin to recognize familiar letters, especially letters in their own names, followed by letters from parents', siblings', and friends' names. Finding familiar letters in their homes, at preschool, or in the grocery store is very exciting for young children, and they will let parents and caregivers know when "I found another big N!" or "Hey, there is the little t!"
Encouraging Your Preschooler
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Discovering the Written Word
Most kindergartners are on the threshold of becoming readers. At this stage, children typically "read" by looking at the printed word, but they often rely on their memory of the story and on the pictures. Kindergarten teachers immerse children in the world of the printed word so that many read some simple books by the end of the year. At home, you can extend your child's budding literacy skills by reading and writing together as much as possible, by encouraging your child to read, by playing language and letter games, and by introducing new words when talking together.In just five years, the typical kindergartner has learned to understand all of the grammatical structures in her native language. She can listen to and tell complex stories. She can play with language by rhyming and listing words that begin with the same sound. Kindergartners begin to explore the relationships between listening and speaking and reading and writing. They learn which letters and sounds go together, recognize some common words, remember and create stories, and use all of these skills to read simple books and write simple messages.
Weaving language and literacy into everyday activities at home helps your kindergartner develop as a reader and writer. Simple projects like writing a grocery list together, making words with magnetic refrigerator letters, or just talking about what you see as you ride the bus can become important moments in your child's literacy development. Learn more ways you can support and inspire your kindergartner as he inches towards literacy.
Reading Milestones
By the end of kindergarten, most children can recognize and write upper and lower case letters. They also learn the sounds associated with most of the letters of the alphabet. Most kindergartners can tell you that B says "b" and M says "m" and can incorporate letters and sounds into games they play like "The Name Game" and "I Spy." Children typically master consonant sounds before vowel sounds because it is harder to hear the small differences among some vowel sounds.Most kindergartners can read some words and simple books. Children in kindergarten recognize some words by sight or by looking at them and recognizing them as wholes. Kindergartners' "sight words" often include their own names, the names of classmates, and words they use frequently in their writing, such as "Mom," "love, " and "the." They also learn words they see around them, such as "STOP" and "EXIT." Many can read "families" of words such as "cat," "bat," and "mat." By the end of the year, many kindergartners are able to "read" familiar books by recognizing a few words, remembering what the story says, and looking at the picture.
Kindergartners learn that writing goes from left to right. They learn that we read to the end of a line and return to the left to read another line. They learn where a printed word begins and ends and learn the difference between a word and a letter. Many can match spoken words to the words in books. They even begin to recognize and learn the purpose of common punctuation marks such as periods and question marks. Having a solid understanding of what print is and the way it works is necessary for learning to read.
Kindergartners can understand more than just the plot of a story.They are able to extend their thinking and discuss why events happened and why characters acted as they did. They can also make reasonable predictions about what will happen next and relate the story events to events in their own lives. Being able to discuss stories they listen to now will help children make meaning later on when they are able to read independently.
Encouraging Your Kindergartner
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Cracking the Code of Words
The number of words your first grader can read and spell increases dramatically during this year. Children can achieve this through lots of practice, at school and at home. Through talking with adults, listening to books read aloud, and discussing everyday experiences, they continue to develop the language skills that help them learn to read and write. Most importantly, your first grader starts to "crack the code" of written language, as he sounds out words, learns to identify them, and understands their meaning.First graders develop the tools for reading the printed word. They learn to recognize many common words by sight, and they develop strategies for "decoding," or figuring out, words as they read. By the end of the year, most first graders are able to read easy books all by themselves. Writing daily helps your first grader learn to read by reinforcing the relationships between sounds and letters. At the same time, through talking and listening, she continues to develop new vocabulary and knowledge about the world that will help her understand what she reads.
First graders spend a large part of their day at school reading and writing. However, parents still have a huge effect on a child's literacy development. When you talk to your first grader about new words, listen to her read books aloud, and communicate with her teacher on a regular basis, you take simple but important steps in supporting her reading and writing. Learn more ways you can encourage and inspire your first grader as she learns to read and write.
Reading Milestones
Your first grader is learning to "crack the code" of the written word. First graders learn phonics, the sounds of all letters and letter combinations. They apply phonics knowledge to figuring out or "decoding" words that they do not know by sight. Learning how to crack the code of reading also helps your first grader spell words he wants to use in his writing.First graders know many words by sight. At the end of first grade, children typically know at least 150 "sight words," or common words, such as "the" and "no," that they recognize with ease. They learn sight words through repeated exposure in reading and by using these words over and over again in their own writing. When a first grader has a strong store of sight words, she can use her "known words" to help her figure out new words. For example, she can use "in" to help her figure out "chin" and "thin."
First graders can read simple books smoothly, but generally read word-by-word. By the end of the year, the typical first grader can read simple books such as Eat Your Peas, Louise! or Little Bear accurately, by identifying all the words correctly. Most first graders read word-by-word instead of in phrases, and they read fairly slowly, especially if they are reading a book for the first time. They become smoother readers by reading the same books over and over again. Although some first graders read to themselves, it is easier for most to read aloud. When your first grader reads aloud, he can hear himself as he tries to decode new words.
First graders can detect their reading mistakes. The typical first grader knows when he has made a reading error when the story suddenly does not make sense. While your first grader cannot correct all the errors she makes in reading, she is beginning to learn some strategies to "fix" her mistakes. Common strategies include rereading lines of a book to try it again, looking for a known word within a new word, and asking a friend or grown-up when she can't figure it out.
Encouraging Your First Grader
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2nd Grade
Talking and Reading to Learn
Most second and third graders are able to read independently. The more they practice, the more fluent they become. At this stage, your child begins to focus in depth on the meaning of what she reads, and she uses reading as a way to help her learn many new vocabulary words and concepts. Second and third graders use writing and talking to help them further develop their understanding of the books and the concepts they are exploring at school and in the world. Although second and third graders can do much on their own, parents can still help them to develop as readers and writers simply by reading aloud, talking with them about the books they read, helping to set up a homework routine, and communicating with teachers.Your second or third grader is becoming a more fluent, efficient, and skilled reader. With lots of practice reading, he recognizes more and more words instantly, and he begins to read with expression that approaches normal speech. As they become more proficient readers, second and third graders are able to think about the deeper meanings in stories, learn new vocabulary words through reading, and gather new information from books. As writing becomes easier for them, they begin to use it as a way to clarify and extend their understanding of what they read. Likewise, they use discussion to make meaning out of what they read.
Even though second and third graders read and write independently, parents can still help them develop their abilities through regular, daily activities. You can extend the "school" experience at home by establishing good homework habits, helping with homework only when needed, and reading what your child has written. In addition, you can read and talk about books that are not part of homework assignments together and take trips to the library to find books your child likes to read. Learn more ways to help your child become a more fluent and independent reader and use writing as a way to understand what he reads and observes in the world around him.
Reading Milestones>
At this stage, children make meaning when reading by relating new information to what they already know. For instance, when reading an informational book about sharks, a child may try to picture the sharks he's seen in books and in the aquarium to help him understand a new piece of information -- that sharks actually have two sets of teeth. Children who have been read to a lot and who have had many opportunities to discuss ideas with their parents usually have a lot of knowledge about many topics. This background knowledge helps them to understand what they read.Your second or third grader still uses "decoding" skills to sound out some words. Most children at this age recognize many words by sight, and this helps them be fluent readers. At the same time, all second and third graders still need to have the "decoding" skills necessary for sounding out the long, unfamiliar words they encounter in books. They also use these decoding skills to help them spell words.
Most second and third graders are becoming smoother, more efficient, more fluent readers. They begin to read faster, to read in meaningful phrases as opposed to word-by-word, and to read with greater expression. Their reading begins to resemble normal speech. Becoming a fluent reader is important because fluent readers tend to read more on their own and tend to understand more of what they read.
Reading a lot independently helps your second or third grader become fluent. When they read on their own, children not only increase their reading fluency, but they learn new vocabulary words, learn about different ways of telling stories and presenting information, and gain exposure to new concepts and information.
Readers and writers develop different strategies for reading fiction and nonfiction. Second and third graders learn that nonfiction text has a different structure from fiction. Nonfiction is also often more difficult to comprehend because it presents so many new facts and ideas. To help them understand nonfiction text, children learn specific strategies in school such as previewing the table of contents, the chapter headings, and the words in bold letters. They also learn to slow their reading pace if they need to and to read the captions below pictures in the text to help them.
There is a wide range of reading levels in second and third grade. Even among children who are not experiencing difficulty in reading, there is a wide range of reading abilities at this age. Some children will read books typical of their age, while others will be able to read books above their grade level. Children who are still struggling to read fluently in third grade may need extra help or some testing to pinpoint the source of the difficulty.
Encouraging Your Second & Third Grader
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12-18 mo.
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18-36 mo.
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Toddler
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3-4 yr.
Kindergartner
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1st Grade
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2nd Grade
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