How do I help a kindergartener improve in reading?

January 21st, 2009

Sandi P. wrote:

I have a friend whose kindergartener (just turned 6) is having trouble reading. She hasn’t obtained EL and EL4 is the goal for the year and the year is ½ over in Kentucky.Would “Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills” be a good place to start?

Thanks for the question. Yes, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills will make a big difference. It starts with 3 letter words so she should do well with it. Sometimes we make a copy of the sheet for the younger students – enlarging the print for them. This works really well!

I would also use Making Spelling Sense because she will see how letters (sounds) come together to make words. The beginning lessons all use short vowel words and you give a sound at a time to make the words, so she would be able to succeed and improve rather quickly. This is helping her phonics, phonemic awareness skills, and other areas of auditory processing. The special method is explained in a step-by-step process in the book. You can also do just 1/2 of the words per list to shorten the length of time for a kindergartner – doing only 5 words at a time.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

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Thanks!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET