It’s not just the fuel that powers the world’s fastest high-performance race cars – it’s the additives that are part of the mix. Even machines built for speed need a boost once in a while, as do kindergarten students learning to read. To put young readers on the fast-track for success, it’s important to incorporate the right mix of educational tools, and that includes evidence-based reading programs for kindergarten.
Strategies You Can Use to Supercharge Your Kindergarten Reading Program
Developing strong reading skills is a critical objective for both teachers and educators and the students they are tasked with teaching. Having the ability to read competently builds confidence along with the foundational skills required to succeed as a student progresses through school and into the workforce. Here are a few of the “additives” teachers can put into the mix to help supercharge the development of reading skills.
- Choral reading or reading with a partner. This tool is often the better alternative to traditional round-robin reading aloud in front of the class exercises. If a student has poor fluency skills, comprehension skills, or pronunciation skills, that student could experience deep anxiety from reading in front of an entire group of fellow students. Reading a text aloud with the teacher and an entire classroom reading together takes the stress away from being singled out in class. Online kindergarten reading programs can also be incorporated into this exercise to help students improve reading fluency and expand their vocabulary. Partner reading is a simple exercise that brings a pair of students on the same reading level together. In other situations, this exercise can be completed with cross-grade reading buddies, which helps older kids who are struggling and provides younger kids with a role model who can help inspire confidence in a young kindergarten-age reader.
- Online reading programs for kindergarten students can be an essential tool for educators teaching at this level. Most kindergarten students arrive in class with at least some experience with digital devices so transitioning to online learning platforms to help them read would be a natural addition to the weekly in-class curriculum.
- Incorporate opportunity for ear reading. Youth are well acquainted with the joys of earphones. Having students read along while listening to an audiobook is a great alternative to reading aloud as a class. Students often make significant gains in reading accuracy, improved behavior, and overall performance when exposed to ear reading activities. There are a variety of exceptional audiobooks available for kindergarten level readers. Many online reading programs for kindergarten also include a substantial auditory component to help support this learning style.
- Empowering young students to invest in their own reading development is easier when they are given the choice in the materials they read. When choosing books that reflect their experiences, their culture, or their personal interests, students are more apt to be engaged in the materials. Teachers can monitor those choices to ensure students regularly choose books that challenge them and aid in their ongoing development.
- Using multiple modalities, a teacher can encourage students to read the same text to assist in the development of better reading comprehension.
Incorporate Essential Skills Reading Programs for Kindergarten
Accelerating the reading skills of your kindergarten students requires patience, a great curriculum, and the right tools. Essential Skills offers a variety of exceptional online learning products that can help supercharge your kindergarten reading program.