Parents spend a lot of time looking for the best reading program for kids – with good reason. Raising a child with excellent reading skills – from a strong vocabulary to reading with fluency and comprehension – is truly setting him or her up for a successful academic career and successful life beyond school. Reading serves as the base for all learning: How can a student learn about history or science or philosophy if they can’t read about it?
Developing skilled readers begins at an early age. Even the youngest children enjoy sitting on a parent’s lap and listening to stories from their favorite books – sometimes more frequently than a parent can imagine! You may be amazed at how much joy your child finds in being able to recite lines from familiar stories. Although they don’t know it, this fun activity builds a fundamental pre-reading skill, phonemic awareness – the ability to identify the individual sounds in words. That’s why so many kids’ books rhyme. And reading fun stories with playful language instills a love for reading that will serve a child well in the future.
So, how do you find a reading program for kids that will help them develop great skills and learn to love to read?
What is a Reading Program for Kids?
Let’s start with the basics: What is a reading program for kids? A reading program is simply the tool that teachers (and parents or others) use to teach kids to read. There are many types of programs available, from public school curricula such as Common Core in the U.S. to tutoring and enrichment programs offered by private companies like Kumon.
School curricula are built around the standards set for a particular grade level. Struggling readers will likely need additional help to catch up. Enrichment programs can help struggling readers catch up and get ahead as well as challenge kids whose skills are ahead of their peers to help them excel instead of getting bored and tuning out in class. Many school districts and private organizations offer summer reading programs to help kids keep skills sharp when school is out – or to help them catch up if they fall behind.
Reading programs for preschoolers begin with pre-reading skills, such as vocabulary building, and then move into helping children identify the sounds letters make (phonemic awareness) and phonics. School-age children start by learning simple sight words, then begin putting words together to form sentences and sentences together to form paragraphs.
Almost all reading programs include some similar elements, such as reading logs that entail what books were read and for how long and answering questions about the book. Younger children are encouraged to practice reading out loud to a parent or older sibling, while older kids may be allowed to read silently if they demonstrate that they are retaining what they read.
Every program has a different way of doing things and may use different methodologies, but the goal is always to help children become skilled readers.
What Are the 5 Basic Reading Skills?
To become skilled readers, children must master five components of the reading process: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Phonemic Awareness:
Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize the individual sounds that form words. For example, a child with phonemic awareness understands that “boy” and “ball” both start with the same B sound that can be found in the middle of the word “cable.” Phonemic awareness is considered a pre-reading skill, as children must understand that words are composed of sounds before they can sound out a word. Kids developing phonemic awareness might create new rhyming words by changing the first sound in a word, such as making “bat” into “cat.”
Phonics:
Phonics is a scientific method of teaching children to read based on the sounds that different letters make, or by sounding out a word. So, a child who knows what “at” sounds like can read a host of words containing the letters A and T by learning the sounds associated with the first letter, such as C + AT = cat, and B + AT = bat. With phonics, kids can also learn to blend sounds, like the CH sound at the beginning of the word “chicken,” and add it to other words they know to form new words. For example, CH + AT = chat.
Fluency:
Fluency is the ability to express yourself easily. We say that a person who speaks a foreign language well is “fluent.” In reading, fluency refers to being able to read a passage accurately at a reasonable pace, and with natural expression so that a listener easily understands what you are saying. Fluency is important because it helps a student better comprehend what they are reading, especially with longer or more complicated pieces.
Vocabulary:
Vocabulary is the set of words that a student knows. There is a strong relationship between having a large vocabulary and reading comprehension; likewise, children with a small vocabulary tend to do poorly on reading comprehension tests. Helping a student build a large vocabulary is important because the more words that a student can read and understand, the more likely they are to grasp what they are reading, whether it’s in a storybook or a textbook.
Comprehension:
Comprehension is the bottom line in a reading program. If a student can recognize a word but does not understand what it means, their effort has been wasted. The other components of reading build toward comprehension. To comprehend what they read, a student must decipher the letters on a page to figure out words (phonics), use their vocabulary to match the words to their meaning and understand the topic being discussed (fluency).
Choosing a Reading Program
It’s important to choose a reading program that helps your child develop the skills they need right now and in the future. You may want to read reviews from other parents online as you research options.
You should ensure that a program covers the five components of the reading process: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
To determine whether a program is right for your child, you might ask whether the program:
- Teaches children to recognize the sounds that letters make. This is the basis for phonemic awareness.
- Teaches children to “sound out” words using scientifically proven, phonics-based methods.
- Incorporates reading aloud by the teacher or students. This encourages fluency and builds vocabulary.
- Asks children about the stories they are listening to or reading to help them practice comprehension.
- Teaches early sight words, which is a logical next step for children who are starting to read.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Reading Program
As a parent, your primary concern should be finding a program that will work for your child. You should consider whether the program is proven, covers all five components of reading, evaluates students, personalizes content, fits into your family’s schedule and can grow with your child.
Has it been proven to work?
Using phonics to teach reading has gone in and out of fashion several times since the 1950s, but the bottom line is phonics has been scientifically proven to work. As schools and parents now are trying to address low reading scores and close education gaps, phonics is getting a fresh look. Textbooks are integrating phonics more and schools are moving to replace reading curricula and programs that do not use a phonics-based approach.
Does it include the five components of reading?
Again, the five components of the reading process are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Ideally, the reading program you choose will cover all five.
Are students evaluated?
Children should be assessed at the beginning to find out their reading level and again periodically to ensure they are mastering essential skills. Otherwise, how will you know if they are progressing like they should?
Does the program use a personalized approach?
Ideally, the program you choose should be tailored to your individual child’s needs. Otherwise, you could run into the same challenges that public school curricula have, with struggling readers left behind and advanced readers getting bored. It’s reasonable to expect a supplemental reading program – such as one for preschoolers or an after-school program – to do more.
Does the program work for your family?
It’s important to find a program that works for you and your family. Adding an extra thing to your routine can be challenging, especially when your child is young. Your chosen program should accommodate your family’s needs to be long lasting.
Can the program grow with your child?
The program should be able to provide an outline of concepts and skills that students are expected to learn at every level. Make sure you understand what your child will learn in this first session or year and what happens next, whether that is next year or in a month. The program should be flexible and challenging enough to keep students engaged and learning for a long time to come.
By selecting a reading program that takes a scientific approach to learning – and specifically one that teaches all five components of reading – you should be able to find a reading program that helps your child not only enjoy reading but also learn to read well, setting him or her up for success in school and beyond.
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