What Does the Science of Reading Look Like in Early Childhood Education?

The science of reading can guide how to teach reading for preschoolers. In this article, we’ll define the science of reading and look at some practical research-based strategies that support the early stages of reading development. Plus, access activities and resources to support systematic reading instruction in prekindergarten. 

What the Science of Reading Means for Preschool

When you think of an early childhood classroom, what images come to mind? Perhaps finger painting, playing in the sandbox, or singing a beloved nursery rhyme. What does the science of reading look like in this classroom? If you are worried that the science of reading means reading instruction is being “pushed down” to preschool and rote instruction is going to replace those cherished images, let those worries go. The science of reading is perfectly compatible with finger paint, the sandbox, and nursery rhymes!

Early childhood is a sacred time for learning. Scientists estimate that over a million new neural connections form every second in the first few years of life. Building relationships, navigating feelings, and developing a love of learning are all so important during these early years. It is also an optimal time for creating a strong foundation of early literacy skills.

What is the Science of Reading?

The science of reading has become a hot topic in literacy instruction. At times it feels like there are heroes and villains, good and evil practices. But the science of reading is not a controversy. It is the body of research and knowledge on how students learn to read. Through decades of studies around the world, we have evidence of what works when teaching children to read.

Scarborough’s Reading Rope

The science of reading has been criticized at times for being overly focused on phonics. But the science of reading has never just been about phonics. In 2001, Hollis Scarborough presented the reading rope to show the skills of fluent reading. As you can see, there are many skills woven together to create skilled readers. Language comprehension and word recognition are both integral. 

The science of reading also calls for systematic reading instruction aligned to a scope and sequence. Some have misconstrued these terms to mean boring, lecture-style teaching—the opposite of what we want to see in an early childhood classroom! This just means teachers should understand the stages of reading development and introduce these skills thoughtfully and intentionally.

Leveraging the Science of Reading Before Kindergarten

Many children do not attend formal schooling prior to kindergarten, but that doesn’t mean practices rooted in the science of reading shouldn’t happen. Instruction can happen in any setting, including home. When caregivers embed activities into games and routines, they are setting the foundation for reading. For example, while waiting for the bus, play this twist on the classic game “I Spy”: instead of giving a clue, say the sounds in the word and have students blend together. “I spy a /b/ /ir/ /d/.”

Early childhood teachers and caregivers should focus on exposure to literacy concepts and developing phonological awareness. It is crucial for children to hear the sounds in words and not jump straight to decoding print. By focusing on these building blocks, teachers can prepare students for reading success in kindergarten.

Building Content Knowledge in Early Childhood

Kindergarten teachers expect a wide range of students with different experiences, knowledge, and skills. They will often implement beginning of year assessments to gauge students’ skills and plan instruction accordingly. The role of early childhood educators is not to “push down” kindergarten reading and phonics skills. Rather, the science of reading in early childhood is about leveraging the research and knowledge we have on how children learn to read to support preschoolers in building content knowledge about the world and laying the foundation for word recognition.

Real-World Topics

Students should learn facts, concepts, and vocabulary related to interesting, real-world topics. The skies the limit here, but imagine some of your favorite early childhood topics:

• five senses
• our community
• transportation
• animals
• plants

All these topics have enormous potential for students to learn something new, make connections, and do hands-on activities.

Students can build content knowledge through reading both fiction and nonfiction books. While reading, teachers can engage students through:

• asking comprehension questions
• teaching vocabulary and giving examples
• connecting with students’ prior knowledge and experiences
• using repeated readings to deepen knowledge

Hands-On Exploration

Hands-on exploration can further build content knowledge. For example, in a unit on plants, students might read a book about plants and learn the words seeds, roots, and stem. Later, students could get their hands dirty by planting seeds in soil and discussing what plants need to grow. They could make observations over the next few weeks by drawing and writing in a journal. They can reference books they have read together and find similarities and differences between examples in the book and their own observations.

Through all these explorations, students are building foundational knowledge that is essential for skilled reading. All this knowledge and vocabulary is setting the stage for children to later learn about more complex topics like germination and photosynthesis.

Laying the Foundation for Word Recognition

The science of reading tells us that students need phonological awareness and decoding skills to become skilled readers. Early childhood is the perfect time to start developing these skills. Teachers should introduce skills and have students practice them through fun and collaborative activities.

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness includes noticing, recognizing, and manipulating the sounds of oral language. I like to think of it as playing with words and sounds. What better way to engage young learners! Examples of phonological awareness skills include:

• identifying and producing rhyming words
• segmenting sentences into words
• blending syllables into words
• identifying beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words

Teachers should follow a scope and sequence that guides them on what order to teach these skills. For example, most students master identifying rhyme before producing rhymes. Students will likely be able to blend syllables to make a word (i.e., cup + cake = cupcake) before they can blend sounds to make a word (i.e., /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat).

How can teachers make phonological awareness fun? Here are some ideas to get started.

Decoding Skills

Students can begin to learn letter names and their most common sounds in preschool. Young children are eager and excited to begin to make sense of print. They get so excited when they see a letter they know out in the world.

Decoding involves using letter-sound knowledge to correctly read written words. Decoding requires knowledge of:

• alphabetic principle: understanding that letters represent sounds
• letter-sound correspondences: the relationship between printed letters and sounds

Again, the science of reading informs us that letters should be taught in a systematic way. However, there is no universally agreed-upon order in which to teach the letters. Following a research-based scope and sequence ensures teachers teach each letter and give ample opportunity to practice learned letters and sounds.

Here are some ideas to make letters fun in the preschool classroom.

The science of reading belongs in preschool classrooms. By drawing on the research, teachers can leverage those crucial early years to create exciting and impactful learning experiences. They can build rich content knowledge through fun topics. They can teach word recognition skills to cultivate strong readers. And they can do it all while finger painting, playing in the sandbox, and sharing nursery rhymes!