Learning to Read...

I am so excited to announce that we will be beginning our phonics progression this week! Beginning with the letter M, we will begin explicit lessons teaching letters and their sounds. We will also start learning how to divide sentences into words, words into syllables, and syllables into sounds.We will learn how to identify the first and last sound in a word, words that rhyme, and words that begin with the same sound. Here is a guide that will help to explain the skills and concepts being taught so that you can practice them at home.

Understanding Reporting of

Kindergarten Performance Standards

Area Related to Standard	Explanation
Reading
Phonological awareness	Phonological awareness refers to the child’s ability to realize that sentences are made up of words and that they can separate and identify these words; that words are made up of syllables which they can hear, clap, and blend; and that syllables are made up of individual sounds which they can hear, rhyme, and blend.
Phonemic awareness	Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language (i.e.- ch- says /ch/,). Phonemic awareness refers to a child’s ability to hear, identify, separate, and blend the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words (example- bag has 3 sounds- /b/- /a/- /g/).
Applies letter/sound relationships	This standard refers to the child’s ability to match all 26 letters to their sounds, plus read and write these sounds. It also refers to the child’s ability to match letters to their sounds to read new words. Lastly, it includes the child’s understanding that print is read from left to right and that when the end of the line is reached that the reader must return to the left side of the page (i.e. “return sweep”).
Identifies upper and lower case letters.	Ability to name upper and lower case letters.
Demonstrates listening comprehension	This standard refers to a child’s ability to think about and retell a story including a beginning, middle and end. It also includes a child’s ability to make reasonable predictions before reading and to respond to reading by asking questions, talking about what was read, and connecting what read to their own lives.
Applies vocabulary	This standard refers to a child’s ability to express their thoughts and ideas clearly, in sentences, using vocabulary words they have learned in class.
High frequency words	High frequency words are words that occur many times in print. These words are directly taught to students. This standard measures a child’s ability to recognize and read these words in lists as well as in texts (stories, poems, nonfiction books, etc.).