Reading means understanding a passage, understanding the vocabulary, making connections with life, and decoding words like c-a-t. Before a child can get to that, though, he needs oral language, alphabet knowledge, book knowledge, phonics, and phonological awareness. Phonics, which you hear everyone talking about, means recognizing symbols and connecting them…
The process a child undergoes to learn to speak, read, and write is interesting to consider in light of how oral and written language have evolved throughout history. Our little kids will master the basics of written language in three or so years. Yet it…