Reading  Developmental Stages  

Emergent Reader

• knows that the text goes from left to right
• can distinguish between lower case and uppper case letters
• can blend phonemes (letter sounds)
• uses pictures for clues
• retells a simple story which is read to them
• recalls some details
• knows names of letters
• indentifies consonant sounds at beginning and end of words
• understands the difference between letters and words
• notices and read environmental print
• reads one word at a time - choppy
• selects simple repetitious books
• reads favorite books over and over
• silent sustained reading 5 - 10 minutes
• has the desire to be a fluent reader
• enjoys retelling stories
• makes predictions and tells why

Early Reader

• sequences events in story
• tells main idea
• makes predictions
• identifies main characters
• identifies setting
• differentiates between fact and fiction
• identifies high frequency words
• some awareness of medial vowel sounds   
• uses context clues
• begins to self correct
• understands the meaning of . ? !
• pauses and uses appropriate inflection for punctuation
• reads phrases
• selects a variety of books
• silent sustained reading 10 - 15 minutes
• begins to feel confident when reading silently or orally

Fluent Reader

• recognizes plot of story
• recognizes problem and solution in a story
• evaluates scharacter's actions or behaviors
• uses a variety of clues to decode unfamiliar words
• indentifies blends, digraphs, dipthongs
• applies vowel rules to sound out words
• understands prefixes and suffixes
• uses punctuations correctly
• reads with expression
• reads smoothly
• selects a wide variety of books
• may select chapter books
• silent sustained reading at least 20 minutes  
• confident
• enjoys sharing favorite books
• enjoys challenges 
• selects reading during free time
• summarizes main events of a story