Reading curriculum helping preschoolers
A relatively new reading curriculum is helping Washington County 4-year-olds learn to read, Salem Avenue Elementary School pre-kindergarten teacher Sherry Koogle told the Board of Education Tuesday night.
Koogle, who spoke during a presentation about a reading program developed by Children's Literacy Initiative, said from the first day of school she has used a word wall to build students' vocabulary.
"And the third day (of school), I had a little boy who was able to tell me, 'That's the title,' and it has just snowballed from there," Koogle said.
Linda Katz, executive director of Children's Literacy Initiative, a nonprofit Philadelphia organization that promotes reading in grades pre-kindergarten through three, showed the board charts documenting the success of a three-year-old program that emphasizes the teaching of literacy through vocabulary. The more words children learn at an early age, the better they do academically, Katz said.