The need to read

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
“We know that if a child has difficulty reading, the earlier we catch it, the earlier we can remediate. Some research says we can remediate in 30 minutes a day in kindergarten, but it takes three hours in third grade. We want kids to hit the ground running and be ready to read in kindergarten,” said Mary Myers, a literacy professional at Newcastle Elementary School. 
Because of these studies and beliefs about exposure to reading in the early ages of childhood, Weston County School District No. 1 recently purchased a reading program to be implemented in the preschools throughout the district. 
According to Sonya Tysdal, curriculum coordinator for the district, the Pre-K program is Super Kids, part of the K-2 literacy program the district has adopted, is called “Happily Ever After.” The program is a readiness program designed to give young children the foundation they need to be successful when they begin formal reading instruction in kindergarten, Tysdal said. 
“Well-known, beautifully illustrated selections of children’s literature are the basis of the 10 units in the program (i.e., ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ ‘The City Mouse’ and ‘The Country Mouse’). ‘Happily Ever After’ teaches a rich curriculum of early literacy skills through a highly motivating multimodal approach,” Tysdal said. 
According to Tysdal, the approach includes story structure and appreciation, print and book awareness, letter recognition and naming, auditory discrimination, phonological and phonemic awareness, listening and direction following, fine motor skills, instructional concepts and vocabulary, oral language development and emerging writing through children’s dictation. 
“The most effective way to teach early reading skills is in an integrated approach with explicit instruction. This is the key component to a good readiness program, and this program does that,” Tysdal said. “Reading instruction works best when it keeps children constantly engaged in writing, spelling, listening and speaking. This is the integrated approach used by ‘Happily Ever After.’” 
Children will listen to stories and discuss them, she said, seeing the teacher write and writing themselves by dictating their ideas to the teacher. 
“Children begin to understand that written words stand for spoken thoughts and that communication is the goal of all language arts,” Tysdal said. “In addition to the early literacy skills, there is a lasting lesson built into each unit. The lasting lessons focus on behavioral choices children make. Children participate in activities and discussions that tie the lasting lessons to the story and informational text that are read within each unit.” 
According to Tysdal, the earlier this foundation is embedded in young children helps them be able to fluently read down the line. She said that the intent of the program is to give kids a semester’s worth of the program at the age of 4 or 5, right before kindergarten, with the purpose of solidifying some skills within them, building that foundation. 
“We have gotten the program for all of
the preschools in the district. If there are any that we missed, the offer is open to them,” Tysdal said, noting that it is for those early childhood facilities with a preschool program, not just day cares. 
“This just puts everything in a nice little package and is very age appropriate,” Tysdal said. 
Myers said that the school district sharing of the program helps to spread the curriculum to all children in preschool. 
“We want the kids to arrive at a level playing field. We want them to be able to arrive at school ready to step into our curriculum,” Myers said. 
Sometime ago, she said, the U.S. surgeon general named illiteracy as the No. 1 health issue in the country. She said that being illiterate has a direct correlation with crime rates, low graduation rates and general health troubles. 
“Reading has the power to change society,” Myers said. “Reading is one of those life skills that you can teach 96% of the population, and we are in the range of 25% of people not being able to read. It is important to expose children to books, reading and sounds, even if they are not in a preschool setting. Our local library is a wonderful free resource.”