Reach Out and Read is a national program that seeks to make early literacy an integral part of pediatric primary care. Pediatricians encourage parents to read aloud to their young children and give books to their patients to take home at all pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age. Parents learn that reading aloud is the most important thing they can do to help their children love books and to start school ready to learn.
What do educators and families need to know about how children learn to read? Here you can explore reading “basics” — from oral language to comprehension — as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. You’ll also find our PBS Launching Young Readers series and our self-paced Reading 101 course.
Get the basics on how to support the literacy achievement of your English language learners. You’ll find instructional strategies based on the five components of reading as well as oral language and the role of students’ home language.
Photo by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages
Comprehension is understanding what you read — the goal of reading! It is the thinking process readers use to understand what they read. Strong vocabulary, background knowledge, and an understanding of how language works are keys to comprehension.
Fluency is a child’s ability to read a book or other text with accuracy, at a reasonable rate, and with appropriate expression. Reading fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.
Phonics is a step-by-step way to teach the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language — and that there is a predictable relationship between letters and sounds. “Decoding” is the act of sounding out words using phonics.
Phonological and phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language — including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest units of sound (phonemes).
Print awareness is the understanding that print carries meaning and that in English it reads from left to right. It also means learning that books contain letters and words, have front and back covers, and are handled in a certain way.
What is reading? And what are the core skills that young children need to become successful readers? Learning to read is complex, but this overview can help explain key terms and demystify the process.
Vocabulary is word knowledge — knowing what the words mean. Word learning is an ongoing process — we are always adding to our “word bank.” The goal is to recognize and understand the meaning of spoken and written words.
From handwriting to personal stories to persuasive writing to explaining how to do something, writing is a critical skill. Developing good writing skills strengthens a child’s vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling skills.
Discover the typical literacy milestones for your first grader, and how to support your child’s developing skills in reading and writing. Use the links on the left to find activities, videos, and other resources to build skills in these key areas: recognizing the sounds in speech, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.
Discover the typical literacy milestones for your kindergartener, and how to support your child’s developing skills in reading and writing. Use the links on the left to find activities, videos, and other resources to build skills in these key areas: recognizing the sounds in speech, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.
