The process of understanding to read materializes using a systematic and linear program. Knowledge is gradually layered on through many years of teaching to produce a proficient reader. Even though each child learns differently, the levels of reading primarily follow each other the same way for all students, as cognitive progress plays a part in the development of reading capabilities as well.

Proceeding through each phase of reading development is primarily based on mastering the previous stage. Some children may take more time to understand each skill level, while others breeze right through. It's possible you'll see some students get "stuck" in one stage and need additional instruction to move on to more abstract skills.

Some continuums of reading development describe the intensity of skills according to age or grade levels. Other reading curriculums stay away from leveling children by age or grade and devise a distinctive method of leveling literature. This can be successful for people who teach using a homeschool curriculum.

Pre-emergent Reading

Parents can get started working on pre-emergent reading skills with their children at birth. Is a newborn really going to attach meaning to the pictures? Probably not. However, this is the best time to get started developing a reading regimen as a household through use of books and educational toys. Make sure kids have access to a variety of books. Show your little one how to gently turn pages working from left to right. Beginning around age 2, your young preschooler will start to connect pictures to the words in the story. You might hear him reciting a story that you frequently read together or making a small prediction about what will occur next. These are all ideal examples of children developing pre-literacy skills.

Early Emergent

Children in the Early Emergent stage of literacy can identify upper and lower case letters. They are beginning to determine corresponding sounds that go with each letter. Present your little one with books where images are an essential component of the story. Teachers may integrate their classroom decorations to display letters, letter blends, and examples of items that appropriately use each letter. The text will be repetitive, predictable, and will probably focus on specific letter combinations. This is the stage where kids begin understanding to blend letter sounds with each other to make words.

Emergent Readers

The Emergent Reader has gained more confidence with letters and their corresponding sounds. They are working to utilize simple phonics rules to decode words in their reading. At this point, essential comprehension skills are starting to be introduced. Pictures still play a vital part in literature that is appropriate for this level.

Early Fluent Stage

Children begin reading independently in the Early Fluent stage of reading. The vocabulary in the literature becomes more varied and descriptive. The goal of reading shifts to focus more on comprehension as opposed to decoding words and self confidence starts to grow. Students start to recognize their own errors in reading and may self-correct if a sentence does not make sense. They also begin to use their own knowledge to relate to the text.

Fluent Readers

Students in the Fluent stage of reading continue developing their vocabulary to give meaning to more complex sentence structures. With regards to grade level, children are performing around grade four at this point. More details are integrated in literature and children begin to remember additional facts from the reading. They become more comfortable reading non-fiction and using reading for the purpose of learning. Their expression while reading becomes more particular instead of using a monotone voice when reading aloud. Students have furthermore gained the capacity to use context clues to learn unfamiliar vocabulary.

Transitional Reading

Transitional readers have started reading lengthier pieces of literature for meaning. They are ready to connect new ideas from prior readings to the text they are currently reading. This skill plays an important part of subject specific comprehension when reading information in science and history textbooks. These students will stop to determine unfamiliar words in their reading without losing meaning of the information. They are also progressively able to exhibit comprehension through writing.

Proficient and Critical Reading

Of course, the ultimate intent is to create proficient readers who read for knowledge. This reader can determine literature from an pertinent genre for their reading level and will have fluent word flow while reading silent and aloud. They can extend and analyze new knowledge from the reading, past their own previous knowledge. The primary idea is quickly discovered with details to support the content. The student understands cause and effect, is able to sequence story events correctly, and compare and contrast the events or characters.

Critical reading is built from skills such as reading from higher level textbooks with the ability to take pertinent notes from the text. The reader can demonstrate comprehension through detailed writing and is able to discuss the reading with others. While most children will at some point become proficient readers, not all will perform critical reading skills. Critical reading should be worked on well into the high school years to prepare students for post-secondary education and up coming careers.