Draper Preschools
N.A.E.Y.C. Joint Position Statement on Reading
...about reading during the preschool years.

Young children need developmentally appropriate experiences and teaching to support literacy learning.
These include but are not limited to

  • positive, nurturing relationships with adults who engage in responsive conversations with individual
    children, model reading and writing behavior, and foster children's interest in and enjoyment of
    reading and writing;
  • print-rich environments that provide opportunities and tools for children to see and use written
    language for a variety of purposes, with teachers drawing children's attention to specific letters and
    words;
  • adults' daily reading of high-quality books to individual children or small groups, including books that
    positively reflect children's identity, home language, and culture;
  • opportunities for children to talk about what is read and to focus on the sounds and parts of language
    as well as the meaning;
  • teaching strategies and experiences that develop phonemic awareness, such as songs, fingerplays,
    games, poems, and stories in which phonemic patterns such as rhyme and alliteration are salient;
  • opportunities to engage in play that incorporates literacy tools, such as writing grocery lists in dramatic
    play, making signs in block building, and using icons and words in exploring a computer game; and
  • firsthand experiences that expand children's vocabulary, such as trips in the community and exposure
    to various tools, objects, and materials.

http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/psread0.asp
Age 3-5 Preschool Reading: What do the Experts Say?
At age 5, most upcoming kindergartners become able to:
US Dept. Of Education

Andrea DeBruin-Parecki|Kathryn Perkinson|Lance Ferderer
Source: U.S. Department of Education

At age 5, most kindergartners become able to:

  • Sound as if they are reading when they pretend to read.
  • Enjoy being read to.
  • Retell simple stories.
  • Use descriptive language to explain or to ask questions.
  • Recognize letters and letter-sound matches.
  • Show familiarity with rhyming and beginning sounds.
  • Understand that print is read left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
  • Begin to match spoken words with written ones.
  • Begin to write letters of the alphabet and some words they use and hear often.
  • Begin to write stories with some readable parts.

Link to full article
What should your child know before Kindergarten?
Utah Office of Education: Preschool Standards

1. Demonstrate a positive learning attitude. Display a sense of curiosity. Practice personal responsibility for
learning. Demonstrate persistence in completing tasks. Apply prior knowledge and processes to construct
new knowledge. Voluntarily use a variety of resources to investigate topics of interest.

2. Develop social skills and ethical responsibility. Respect similarities and differences in others. Treat others
with kindness and fairness. Follow rules. Include others in learning and play activities. Function positively as
a member of a family, learning group, school, and community. Initiate and respond to social interactions with
peers and adults.

3. Demonstrate responsible emotional behaviors. Recognize own values, talents, and skills. Express self in
positive ways. Demonstrate behavior appropriate to the situation. Express feelings appropriately. Meet and
respect needs of self and others.

4. Develop physical skills and personal hygiene. Learn proper care of the body for health and fitness. Develop
knowledge that enhances participation in physical activities and healthy food choices. Display persistence in
learning motor skills and developing fitness. Use physical activity for self-expression.

5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills. Develop phonological and phonemic awareness. Develop
expressive and receptive vocabulary. Develop reasoning and sequencing skills. Demonstrate
problem-solving skills. Observe, sort, and classify objects. Make connections from content areas to
application in real life.
Elements of an Effective Reading Program

From long-term studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health, it is known that an effective reading
program should include the following components.

  • Recognize that students learn to read in a certain order: first they must understand that words are
    made up of different sounds, then associate sounds with written words, and finally they can decode
    words and read groups of words.

  • Students who have trouble learning to read need to be specifically taught the relationships of letters,
    words and sounds. (Awareness of letter/sound relationships is the main tool good readers use to
    decode unfamiliar words.)

  • Each child needs a different amount of practice to be a fluent reader.

  • Phonics instruction should be based on individual student needs and taught as part of a
    comprehensive, literature-based reading program.

  • Abundant opportunities for children to read at their own reading level help them to learn to read for
    meaning and enjoy reading.

  • Highly trained teachers can help children develop good, overall literacy skills: good vocabularies,
    knowledge of correct syntax and spelling, reasoning skills and questioning skills.
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Newcastle
Preschool
Enhanced Reading and
Language Arts Curriculum

A "balanced" approach can help all children learn to read
Decades of research shows us that there is no one best way to build students’ literacy skills. A balanced
approach to teaching reading combines a strong foundation in phonics with whole language methods. Only
through more than one kind of instruction can students gain the skills to recognize and manipulate the
sounds of letters and words and the skills to understand what they read. Since all children learn differently,
only a balanced approach to teaching reading can give all children the skills they need to read well.
The surest way to help your child to become a competent reader is to read to
him during infancy and early childhood.  It's that simple.  The science has
continually backed that up for a hundred years.

Children begin to read individually as they are ready. It's counterproductive to
pressure or push to accelerate children. Instead each child progresses at his
or her own appropriate pace.  

A good preschool reading program has also been shown to be beneficial to
developing reading skills.  Children can develop language and
comprehension skills through activities that teach phonemic awareness,
sequencing, rhyming, classification, same/different, and opposites.