Hi Hillary, I guess it all depends on what the parents mean by "reading". If parents mean their child can read a string of words without understanding then they are not reading. Memorization is a stage in beginning reading that should not be ignored. This means children have been listening to a story and are starting to recognize that words on the page have permanence. This would be a good time to actually point out some words or talk about sounds, letters, lengths of words etc, whatever the child seems to be interested in. If parents mean their child can read with understanding even if they can't read word for word, then that is reading. My son, who just started kindergarten, can read. And, lately he is noticing when he comes across a word or phrase that he doesn't know. I work with him on using the pictures as cues and what would make sense and how the word starts, etc. He has not had formal reading instruction other than being read to a lot and learning to use the computer a lot. He's not yet writing a whole lot and I'm looking forward to his feeling comfortable with writing this year so that it takes him wherever and as far as it takes him. When I would read to my son he would often ask where does it say that or what does that word say and I would do a lot of oral cloze prompts as we were reading to help him "read". I also ran my finger along the bottom of a line on a page when he started to show more interest in the text. My experience working with the early childhood grades is that many children start writing before they start reading and this becomes the path to learning to read. At the same time, just because children are good readers doesn't necessarily mean that they can get their ideas down on the page easily - motor skills and all that. However, good readers do have good stories to tell and in that sense they are good writers; they are familiar with story conventions, themes, etc. Sometimes, children will need some scaffolding to get them physically writing independently. Make sense? Elisa
Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. —Helen Keller Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ More food for thought. Ok, I have readers in my kindergarten classroom. Parents are for ever telling me their children can read. My focus is to to have the children enjoy reading and to teach all the facets of comprehension to all my students. Some questions.............Any opinions about a guided reading program in kindergarten? Is it just memorization ( their fortunate to have someone reading to them so they have memorized the words) at this level when parents say their child can read? If a child is a good reader wouldn't he be a good writer? One is decoding and the other recoding. What does it say if the child is not a good writer but a real good reader? Thanks for your kind responses. Hillary
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