A kindergarten teacher once told me the most beautiful experience is watching a child transition from recalling the sounds of individual letters to pulling words and sentences off of a page, or what we formally call reading.

Though we want children to read, ideally, by the end of kindergarten, so many students enter third, fourth, fifth—even middle or high school, having not mastered the foundational skills needed to be successful at their current grade level.

If you are concerned about your child’s lack of reading progress, here are some questions you should discuss with your child’s teacher: 

1. Phonological Awareness: Has my child’s phonological awareness been tested? If so, what were the results? What specific strategy can I do at home that will help my child?

2. Letter Recognition: Is my child able to correctly produce all of the sounds of the alphabet? Does my child know the main 42 letter sounds of the English language?

3. Blending Sounds: Is my child able to blend the sounds of letters into words?

4. Fluency: Does my child receive high frequency word lists in your classroom? How many lists does my child need to master by the end of the school year?

5. Comprehension: Does my child understand what is happening in a story? Can my child retell the most important parts of a story?

6. Reading Level: What is my child’s current reading level? How can I use this information to purchase or check out books for my child to read at home?

Asking these types of questions of your child’s reading teacher will give you details about exactly where your child struggles with reading.

Want to make sure your child has a strong reading foundation so they can easily move up in reading levels quickly and without you having to feel like you’re forcing them to read? Learning to read is fun in the Raising Readers program. Click here to learn more.