Early Reader Books: You Can

Do Better With File Cards

Numerous brands of pre-k to first grade early reading books are prominently displayed at all our local book stores. They’re usually categorized by reading levels such as “My First” to “Level 3.” Many have word banks at the top of each page. Most are backed by a very nurturing-looking website packed with loads of helpful reading tips for parents and educators. Titles are many and sell like hotcakes. Despite this, I believe many of these leveled readers do not live up to their claims. By the way, any opinions expressed here are solely mine alone.

Don’t get me wrong. These books are not going to harm you or your early reader. The books seem to be lead-free and are probably not responsible for any floods or natural disasters, nor do they glamorize anarchy. This being said, there are more effective methods and materials to reinforce reading at the pre-k to first grade levels as well as build on Walden’s reading curriculum.

The main issue I have with the early level is that the series presupposes that your child has mastered phonemic awareness and is in the stages of building vocabulary and fluency through decoding text. The page layouts appear clinical and “classroomish,” but the text and illustrations are often non-linear. Even though your child may be able to decode at this time, the layout and structure of the series promotes sight reading and word memorization. In fact, the books are categorized by “50 Word Vocabulary” and on up. Quantification of vocabulary at this age is misleading, counterproductive and somewhat predatory. Please consider:

1. Your child’s ability to recognize a specific number of commonly-used words is not an accurate measure of his/her reading skills. I’ve been very impressed that my son can “read” the word prime, thanks to many late-night hours of studying his “Optimus Prime” poster. However, words such as time, slime and grime are meaningless symbols to him. Simply learning what a word looks like bypasses the valuable skill of sounding out words to form meaning. A child who is truly reading who can read fifty words should also be able to read hundreds more on top of that. A much more accurate measure of a child’s decoding skills is the ability to recognize nonsense words which have no contextual meaning in our society. Picking out their names on paper is not nearly as telling as the ability to sound out meaningless words such as hlap or plit. The best early readers can decode utter-nonsense words just as easily as “everyday” words. If your child can’t decode a word lacking meaning or context, strengthening word sounds and blends should take precedence over “reading books.”
2. At five bucks a book, it doesn’t take long to spend vast sums and hours of your time making sure your child is up to snuff. Take some time to sit back and take an objective look at our “reading industry.” Publishers are making big money selling the idea that your child can attain a certain level of reading prowess through the use of their books. They substantiate their claims by providing parents with benchmarks such as the “fifty word” series, thereby cementing an arbitrary standard and giving us overworked adults one more way to either compare our children’s abilities, or worse, feel guilty that our children are not performing at a level which many of us could never have attained when we were their age. Marketing to parents has become increasingly focused, and no industry profits more than when it effectively markets to our own insecurities.
3. Teaching sight reading and word memorization not only takes time away from the effective practice of phonics and phonemic awareness, but it masks potential true reading disabilities during a valuable time when the window is still wide-open to diagnose and treat such challenges. Children who struggle long-term with reading do so because of an inherent (often genetic) disability, not because a preschool or parents didn’t teach them to read before age five. Nearly all reading disabilities are rooted in poor phonological awareness, which is not a primary focus of the “I Can Read!” series.

Effective reading instruction at home centers on balancing early reading books with a healthy blend of phonemic reinforcement. Consider the purchase of the lowly 3x5 note card pack as the next sharp tool in your reading shed. Though usually relegated to serving as homemade math and vocabulary flashcards, they can be very effective in phonemic reinforcement. Make of pile of “ending” cards by writing various ap, at, op, ot, it, ip, etc. endings in the middle of the card. On the right-hand side of some more cards, write your “beginning letters” such as t, p, m, f, l, s, etc.

Using an “ending” card as your root, place “beginning” letter cards in front to form various words or sound blends. Mix and match. The goal of this exercise is for your child to be able to carry over pronunciation as beginnings and endings are substituted and deleted. Remember that it is developmentally appropriate for your pre-k/kindergartener to struggle through some, or all, of this. This exercise is also easier to set up as a game and allows the child more leeway in leading the activity. The closer it is to bedtime, the more difficult it is to focus –you may notice your child fading too. Putting the books aside in favor of blending beginning letters with various endings affords you a more accurate view of how your child is progressing. When reading books with your child, mix in a healthy dose of Dr. Seuss for its phonemic progression and rhythmic flow.

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