Reading 101 for Parents: Your Pre-K Child

Literacy milestones

In this sections you’ll get an overview of the reading and writing skills that are typical for 4-year-olds. Remember that kids develop at different rates, so don’t be worried if your child isn’t doing some of these things yet. If you do have concerns, talk to your pediatrician.

Reading

• Enjoys listening to and talking about stories and books.
• Knows how to hold a book and turn pages, and can identify the front and back covers
• Understands that print carries a message, and that print is read in stories.
• Participates in rhyming and alliteration games.
• Makes attempts to “read.”
• Identifies familiar signs and labels.
• Can identify 10 or more alphabet letters, especially the letters in own name.
• Begins to recognize beginning sounds in spoken words and other letter-sound matches.
• Speech is understandable but makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words such as hippopotamus.
• Uses new vocabulary and grammar in their speech.
• Has fun with language. Enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities such as, “Is that an elephant on your head?”
• Uses verbs that end in “ing,” such as walking or talking, and uses some irregular past tense verbs such as ran and fell.
• Understands and follows oral directions.
• Understands and recalls simple sequences of events in stories.
• Understands complex questions, and can answer “why” questions.
• Connects information and events in stories to life experiences.