Reading in kindergarten

I know it's early in the year, but I have been bombarded with questions from parents about their child's reading.

I am still going over sounds and letters.
They are all so concerned that their kids are not reading and fully expect that they be reading novels by the end of the year.


I am working in a new private school. In this school they do not do running records or have the books for leveling or guided reading.

Our reading program is a very traditonal shared reading/phonics program.

My questions are: How can I accurately assess their reading?

Is there a way I can do guided reading even though I do not have leveled books? Are there free resources out there?

What is the bench mark for reading in kindergarten? Is it still knowing 30 sight words?

This all very new too me. I came from a school that did TC and Fundations.


Despite the reading program's short comings, I think if I can supplement certain things I can get them to eventually start reading.

Can anyone help?


Thank You

Re: Reading in kindergarten

there is a website that has leveled books. I will try to do a search or ask at school on monday. you could use those and then do running records etc. with them. scholastic also sales leveled books. hth

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Look up "benchmark books" and you should be able to get some titles to help you assess where the kids are at..they are not going to be fully reading for a while..tell the parents you are building blocks to their reading and they will read soon enough..you can also start with books and other reading where there is a sight word and a picture and make sure they are matching..these are all ways to assess reading readiness...letters, sounds, sight words, one to one matching, left to right, etc., etc..many steps to reading, its a complicated thing!

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Re: Reading in kindergarten

You can also remind the parents that in the K, 1 and 2, they are learning to read while from 3 up, they are reading to learn. Also remind the parents that decoding and actual reading are two different things. Decoding is NOT understanding and that is more important than being able to read a word.

Re: Reading in kindergarten

i agree w/all the pps. use readinga-z if you don't have many leveled books or hubbardscupboard for sight word readers/family word books

hubbards is free, reading has a mem fee but some downloads are free

they'll get it at the end - let the parents know, a good foundation is better than a shotty one. :)

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Also..I am wary of Scholastic's levelling-be careful! If you do not have the yellow book by Fountas and Pinnell with reading levels, see if there is a copy in your school-it will give you an idea of what each level should look like..I also love what MissJones said..I always tell the kids that if they don't understand what they are reading, they are not really reading! (yes, I tell kindergartners this..it's never too early!)

Re: Reading in kindergarten

UGH. As someone with a Masters from TC, I find it very frustrating that there are schools out there that are still using basal readers. I may get flamed for that, but there is SO much research and evidence that shows that kids NEED to be reading books that are on THEIR level!!! UGH, but anyway...

...as some of the other posters said, definitely get yourself some benchmark texts to have on hand. I taught Kindergarten in a Catholic school where basals were used, and I basically told the principal that I WOULD be doing guided and leveled reading. He was ok with that--it was just extra work for me, but I felt it was VERY important. I used to do running records on my kids all the time, just on a blank sheet of paper.

I really don't understand the mentality in 2008 that "one size fits all"...

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Posted by MrsRivera

UGH. As someone with a Masters from TC, I find it very frustrating that there are schools out there that are still using basal readers. I may get flamed for that, but there is SO much research and evidence that shows that kids NEED to be reading books that are on THEIR level!!! UGH, but anyway...

...as some of the other posters said, definitely get yourself some benchmark texts to have on hand. I taught Kindergarten in a Catholic school where basals were used, and I basically told the principal that I WOULD be doing guided and leveled reading. He was ok with that--it was just extra work for me, but I felt it was VERY important. I used to do running records on my kids all the time, just on a blank sheet of paper.

I really don't understand the mentality in 2008 that "one size fits all"...

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Get Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnel. Google guided reading.

Re: Reading in kindergarten

I totally agree with you and the other posters about basals and traditional reading programs not being so great for kids.
Just wanted to mention two things:
1. If you are in a new school this year, be careful about changing too much and offending administration. You mentioned that your school doesn't do guided reading but are they open to you doing that? You may have to balance what the school wants you to do and some guided reading. It's really hard to come into a new school and not agree with the philosophy of how to teach reading. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, just adivsing you to be cautious about it

2. Guided reading books can be really expensive. If your school is open to it you may want to see if they would purchase some books for you. Especially at the lower levels, A, B, C the kids go through books really fast!

Good luck

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Posted by MrsRivera

UGH. As someone with a Masters from TC, I find it very frustrating that there are schools out there that are still using basal readers. I may get flamed for that, but there is SO much research and evidence that shows that kids NEED to be reading books that are on THEIR level!!! UGH, but anyway...

...as some of the other posters said, definitely get yourself some benchmark texts to have on hand. I taught Kindergarten in a Catholic school where basals were used, and I basically told the principal that I WOULD be doing guided and leveled reading. He was ok with that--it was just extra work for me, but I felt it was VERY important. I used to do running records on my kids all the time, just on a blank sheet of paper.

I really don't understand the mentality in 2008 that "one size fits all"...

Re: Reading in kindergarten

I just did a search for reproducible leveled readers & came up with this site: kinderreaders.com It says they are free. Maybe you'll find something there?

If you can send home book orders, Scholastic is offering $10/month in free books, so you can also build a leveled library (albeit slowly) that way...

Good luck!

Re: Reading in kindergarten

Re: Reading in kindergarten

www.readinga-z.com You can get a lot of free stuff from there but honestly you may want to sign up for it. Our school is a member and it is an amazing site for guided reading and printing books.

Re: Reading in kindergarten

you can buy 20 log ins to the fountas pinell site for guided level http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/

this site has a ton of info on guided reading as well


or you can set up a free account with titlewave for free grade levels
http://www.flr.follett.com/login/