How Kindergartens Learn to Read

A lot of people don’t really know how Kindergarteners learn to read. Years ago people learned to read by sight. They read books that had the same words over and over again until you memorized each word. They used to call these Dick and Jane books. Now, the way children learn is very different. The Kindergarteners at Calvary Christian Schools learn to read by phonics. The dictionary says that Phonics is “the method of teaching reading in which people learn to associate letters with the sounds they represent, instead of learning the whole word as a unit.”

           

 At Calvary Christian Schools, the Kindergarteners first learn all the short vowel sounds. Then they begin learning the consonants. As soon as they learn the first consonant, they begin to learn to put them together as blends. They practice the blends, until then they can add an ending sound and make a short vowel word. When asked how she teaches each letter, Mrs. Van Tine said, “I want the Kindergarteners to use every sense and learning style when they get introduced to a new letter. We write the letters trace the letters under a screen so they can feel the letters, we do crafts that help the children recognize each letter, and sometimes we even cook something that begins with our new letter!” By the time the children are done learning a new letter, it is something they can recognize and they can come up with the sound the letter says. It’s exciting when the Kindergarteners begin to put all the sounds together and start reading words. At Calvary Christian Schools, most of the students are able to do this by Christmas says Mrs. Van Tine.

           

After they get the hang of reading short vowel words, called CVC words, they learn the two vowel rule. “When there are two vowels in a word the first vowel says its long sound, and the second vowel is silent.” When you think of how many phonics blends there are and how many words don’t always follow the phonics rules, it’s amazing to think a young child can ever learn to read!

- Annie VanTine, Sophomore