What Do They Learn in Literacy?

Reading is the cornerstone of all learning and developing strong reading skills early sets children up for academic success. Understanding the progression of reading skills helps parents, teachers, and caregivers guide students on their literacy journey.

Here's a peek into what children typically learn in reading from kindergarten to third grade.

Kindergarten: Building Foundations for Reading

At the kindergarten level, the focus is on laying a strong foundation for reading. Students are introduced to the basic building blocks of reading, including letters, sounds, and simple words. Here's what you can expect from the kindergarten reading curriculum:

• Phonics: This is the starting point for connecting letters to their sounds. Kindergartners will learn the basic phonetic sounds of letters (e.g., “b” as in “bat,” “c” as in “cat”)

• Rhyming and Sound Awareness: Rhyming words and sound patterns help children develop phonemic awareness, which is crucial for reading success.

• Alphabet Recognition: Children begin by learning both the uppercase and lowercase letters. They practice identifying and writing letters, and associating them with their sounds.

• Early Vocabulary: Students begin to build their vocabulary through simple books and daily reading activities. Picture books are essential at this stage to help children understand how stories work and to expand their word recognition.

By the end of kindergarten, children should be able to recognize letters, produce letter sounds, and begin to blend sounds together to form simple words.

Pre-1 : Strengthening Early Skills

Now, the focus is on reinforcing and expanding the skills they learned in kindergarten.

• Phonics and Word Families: Pre-1 students will build on phonics by learning about word families (e.g., “-at” words like cat, hat, and bat). This helps them decode new words more easily.

• Blending and Segmenting: Students practice blending sounds together to form words and segmenting words into individual sounds. For example, they might be asked to say the sounds of "cat" /c/ /a/ /t/ and then blend them together to say the word. they are introduced to simple letter combinations like “sh” and “ch.”

• Building Fluency: The focus is on becoming more fluent with familiar words and reading simple sentences. Pre-1 students might begin reading short, simple books independently.

• Sight Words: These are high-frequency words that children will start to recognize by sight, such as “the,” “and,” and “it,” which often don’t follow basic phonetic rules.

• Sentence Structure: Students will start understanding the basics of sentence structure and how words come together to form meaning.

• Sight Words: These are high-frequency words that children will start to recognize by sight, such as “the,” “and,” and “it,” which often don’t follow basic phonetic rules.

• Vocabulary: Teachers can enrich the vocabulary of their students by using 'adult' words throughout the day and explaining the word in a kid-friendly way.

By the end of Pre-1, children should be able to read short, predictable books and sentences with increasing fluency and accuracy.

First Grade: Expanding Reading and Fluency

First grade is a pivotal year in reading development. By this stage, they should be able to read simple texts independently and begin to focus on comprehension.

• Fluency Development: First graders work on reading with expression and understanding punctuation. They start reading with more fluency, meaning they can read at a steady pace without having to pause to decode every word.

• Phonics and Spelling Patterns: Students dive deeper into phonics by exploring more complex patterns (e.g., vowel digraphs like "ea" in “leaf” or “oo” in “book”). They also start learning about syllables and how to break words into parts.

• Sight Words and Word Recognition: Sight words continue to be a big focus, but children also start recognizing longer words and multisyllabic words by using phonics and context clues.

• Comprehension Skills: In addition to reading, first graders work on understanding what they read. They begin to answer simple questions about the main idea, characters, and events in a story.

By the end of first grade, students should be able to read simple books with confidence, decode unfamiliar words using phonics, and comprehend basic story elements.

Second Grade: Developing Stronger Comprehension and Vocabulary

Second grade reading is about refining skills and expanding vocabulary. Students will be expected to read more complex texts and answer questions that require deeper understanding.

• Advanced Phonics and Word Study: Second graders continue working on complex phonetic patterns (e.g., “ou” as in “cloud” or “oi” as in “coin”). They also start learning about affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and how they change word meanings.

• Fluency and Expression: Students will read longer and more challenging texts with fluency and better expression, paying attention to punctuation and phrasing.

• Vocabulary Expansion: Children in second grade are expected to use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words. Vocabulary instruction also includes learning about synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meanings of words.

• Comprehension Strategies: By now, students should be able to retell stories in their own words, recognize the main idea, and describe characters and settings in detail. They also begin answering “how” and “why” questions about the text.

By the end of second grade, children should be reading more independently, with a stronger grasp of vocabulary and comprehension.

Third Grade: Mastering Reading and Critical Thinking

Third grade is the year where students move from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Reading becomes an essential tool for acquiring information across subjects.

• Fluency and Comprehension: Third graders focus on reading more complex texts with greater fluency and comprehension. They will encounter chapter books and nonfiction texts that require them to use more critical thinking skills.

• Word Analysis: Students analyze the structure of words by breaking them into roots, prefixes, and suffixes. They learn to use these skills to decode new words and expand their vocabulary.

• Reading for Information: Third grade introduces more nonfiction reading. Children learn to extract key details from informational texts and answer questions based on the text.

• Critical Thinking: Third graders begin to compare and contrast stories, identify themes, and make inferences. They use evidence from the text to support their ideas and opinions.

By the end of third grade, students are expected to read with understanding, analyze both fiction and nonfiction texts, and apply their reading skills to other subject areas.

Overview:

The journey from kindergarten through third grade is an exciting one, filled with growth and development in reading. Each year builds on the last, moving from basic letter sounds and word recognition to complex reading strategies and critical thinking skills.

As parents, teachers, and caregivers, it's important to support children through this process by providing a positive, encouraging environment for reading. When students have the tools and skills to become confident readers, they will be equipped to tackle more advanced learning in the years ahead.