November 3, 2025 • 14 mins
Research Associates and Developmental Therapist Kayla O'Neill talks to Research Associate, Developmental Therapist, and former preschool teacher Lynne Hall about different was to enhance reading and language development in children age 5-6.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:07):
Welcome to the EarlyChildhood on the Go
podcast. I'm your host,Kayla O'Neill, and
today we're divinginto the early reading
and writing stages forchildren ages five to
six. This is when kidsstart unlocking the
code of print. It's areally exciting leap
into their literacyjourney. So joining
me again is my colleagueand friend, Lynn
Hall. She's a researchassociate at the Early
Childhood Center andan early literacy
(00:30):
expert. Lynn, I'm soglad that you're here.
Thanks, Kayla.
The early readingand writing stage
is so exciting.
Children are actuallymoving from pretend
reading into actuallydecoding. It's so full of
breakthroughs and soexciting for families.
I'm really excitedto talk about this
one because I havea seven-year-old, so
(00:50):
we kind of just wentthrough this stage.
So let's just startwith the basics. What
are the big milestonesat this stage.
Yeah, so at five tosix, kids enter what
we kind of call thenovice reader stage.
They realize thatprint carries meaning
and that lettersconnect to sounds.
So the brain's makinga big shift. Exactly.
(01:13):
Areas like the visualword form area begin
recognizing letterswhile the left
hemisphere that linkssounds to symbols.
It's the brain wiringitself for reading.
So how do kids showthis in everyday life?
Well, children startmemorizing sight
words. I don't know. Iknow my kindergartners
(01:35):
all came home withsight words and they
might use picturecues to read familiar
books. So thatcontextual awareness and
their phonologicalawareness kicks in. They
start to notice rhymes,and they can break
words into sounds.
What about writing?
So at this stage,writing gets a lot more
intentionals. Thosescribbles actually turn
(01:56):
into recognizableletters, and many children
use invented spellinglike KT for cat.
That's clever, and I'm surethey're really proud of it.
They are so proud, andthey should be. Many
children this age canalso write their names,
which strongly protectsfuture literacy
(02:16):
they may mix drawingand labeling blending
pictures with text toshare ideas have you um
did your kids do thisI know all of mine did
where they did theykind of had these little
writing workshopswhere they would write
about a story that theyhad just heard and then
they would um drawa little picture and
then maybe put somelabels in that picture did
(02:36):
your kids do that yeahwell and I was making
me to think of oneof the things that my
kids still like to dois like make a comic
book where they'll drawpictures and put words
and they just have somuch fun doing that.
Absolutely. Yes. So whatyou're saying really
is both that readingand writing are
emerging side by side.
Exactly. And the childrenare making so many
connections whenthey're doing these two
(02:57):
tasks simultaneously.
So print richenvironments with labels,
signs, writing centers,just accelerate that
progress. And by agesix, many children
can read simple patternsentences, though
they still lean onpictures quite a bit.
And all kids kind ofprogress at different
(03:19):
rates, right?
Absolutely. So we haveto be patient. Some
just zoom ahead,especially if they've
had lots of exposureat home and others move
more slowly and needextra support. And
that's totally normal.
So how can parents and teachersreally help kids to fall in
love with reading at this stage?
(03:41):
Focus on the joy, notthe drills. And this
can be hard, especiallyfor our classroom
practitioners, whichsometimes feel like they
have a lot of pressureon teaching all of those
skills, right? But themost important thing
is to keep it joyful.
So daily read alouds,expand vocabulary,
and just light up theChildren's Brain Reward
(04:02):
Center. You want tomake it interactive.
So just because ourchildren are getting a
little bit older, theystill want to have that
engagement by talkingabout what's happening
in the story, askingthem, what do you think
is going to happennext? And then kind of
finding out together.
So really keep itconversational.
(04:23):
Exactly.
Be enthusiastic.
Share your ownexcitement. talk about the
books that you lovemodeling is really important
create again thosecozy reading spaces
regular family readingtimes even using
silly voices all of thatmakes reading fun and
remember as childrenstart to read on their
(04:45):
own many of themhaving some kind of
assignments around readingkeep reading to them
yes it's importantthat they're learning
to read themselves butthose read alouds keep
that excitementalive yeah that's so
interesting that a coupleof things that really
kind of I was thinkingabout as you said
them was um you knowthat modeling modeling
(05:05):
for reading I feellike that's something I
try to really do beintentional with like
instead of picking upmy phone and you know
scrolling or somethinglike pick up a book
so that they learnthat habit too of like
when I need somethingto do I can sit and read
um I just think that'sso simple, but yet,
you know, when I lookaround the world,
you know, a lot of peoplearen't just bringing
their books everywhere.
And I try to likebring my book with me
(05:26):
when I'm, you know,I just, I think that's
really important.
Yeah. It makes adifference. You know,
even when I was teachingmy preschoolers,
we had a time ofday, it was school
-wide. It was calleddeer drop everything
and read. Oh mygosh. I love that.
Yeah. So even inpreschool, We had our drop
everything and readdeer time where children
(05:48):
would look at booksindependently that
they had chosen fromthe library. And I would
have a book and Iwould literally be
sitting up front lookingat my book while they
were enjoying theirsto get some of that
modeling and duringthe school day as well.
And that other thingyou touched on too, was
just that continue toread aloud. Like my
kids are seven andnine and they still at
(06:09):
night, I read to themaloud. Like we have a
big chapter book andwe're going through it.
and they still likeit even at this older
stage when they canboth read independently
they still like thoseread alouds yeah
it's such a specialbonding time that
has all kinds ofresearch support for the
positive impactthat it has on their
literacy scales as wellso you're getting a
(06:31):
lot of bang for yourbuck with that with
that shared readingtime that's great to
know I'll keep doingit because I enjoy
it too yes so whatabout play does that
still matter at thisstage Oh, definitely.
Using rhymes,songs, or including
books in pretendplay. These are all
going to buildphonemic awareness while keeping
things lighthearted.
(06:53):
What about choosing topics?
Follow yourchildren's interests.
I have to tell you, I haveone daughter and three sons.
Okay. All three ofmy sons were dinosaur
fanatics. And by thethird one, if I had to
read one more dinosaurbook but we did it
because you have tofollow their interests
dinosaurs fairiessuperheroes whatever
(07:15):
sparks their joy myoldest son was a um uh
open water animalfanatic we were sure to
be a marine biologistbut if they didn't
have a shark a whalesome kind of exotic
fish in it he didn'twant to look at it but
again anything thatsparks their joy kids
(07:35):
stay engaged whenbooks connect to their
passions. And we asteachers and family
members support thosepassions and interests.
I think that's greatinformation. How
about any tips forkeeping kids confident?
I would say rememberingto teach them simple strategies,
like summarizing whatthey've just read,
(07:56):
asking questions,celebrating their small
wins, and rememberingto prioritize books
over screens becausethat's how important
practice is. The morewe do something, the
better we get at it.
And when we're lookingat screens, we're
having less time toreally look at our books
(08:16):
and our print andbuild that confidence.
Reading buddies canalso be super helpful.
So it sounds like it's aboutconnection, not pressure.
Exactly, Kayla.
Snuggle up, makeit relational, make
it comforting, andconnect stories to their lives.
That's what's reallygoing to build lifelong readers.
(08:40):
So let's talk about practical.
How do parents pick the rightbooks for a five
to six-year-old?
Generally speaking,we want to look for
predictable texts withrhymes and repetition.
Strong picture supporthelps children at
this stage to decodewhat those words might
(09:00):
be. And again, storieswith engaging narratives
that are going tospark some conversation
and discussion. Shouldthe books reflect
on the kids' lives?
i say yes but notalways we you know
reading books about umfantasies and you know
unreal worlds can besuper exciting too
(09:22):
but keeping some booksaround that have stories
about school and friendsand family are not
only meaningful butthey support children
to develop socialemotional skills that
are still budding at thisstage um using the
five finger rule opena page, and if there
are more than fiveunknown words, it may
be too hard of a book.
(09:43):
Okay, well, you taughtme something new
today because I hadnever heard of the
five-finger rule,but that is super
helpful and such aguideline to follow.
Another thing to keepin mind is having diverse books.
Those are also goingto build empathy and
curiosity. So startwith picture books
and then move onto early readers
like Magic Treehouse.
(10:06):
School and librarylists are great
resources for gettingthe right books.
We loved Magic TreeHouse at my house.
Such a good seriesto work through.
So the goal is not to reallychallenge them, or
it is to challenge them, but notfrustrate them.
Yeah, Kayla, so you'vegot to find that
(10:26):
sweet spot, right?
We want to, theycall that the zone of
proximal development,where they need just a little
bit of a challenge,but not so much that
they're frustrated.
Books shouldstretch skills while
building confidence.
So before we wrap up,Lynn, what are your
top takeaways forparents at this stage?
Remember to readinteractively every day.
(10:49):
Even though ourchildren are starting
to read someindependently, keeping
that interactivecomponent going.
Celebrate progress,no matter how small.
Model reading forthem. And then pick
engaging, level-appropriatebooks and be patient.
Every child learnsat their own pace.
(11:09):
That's wonderful.
Thank you so much for walkingus through this stage.
Yes, of course,Kayla. Thank you.
And that's our episodeof Early Childhood
on the Go. Thankyou for listening.
Don't forget tosubscribe and share.
Welcome to the EarlyChildhood on the Go
podcast. I'm your host,Kayla O'Neill, and
today we're divinginto the early reading
and writing stages forchildren ages five to
six. This is when kidsstart unlocking the
code of print. It's areally exciting leap
into their literacyjourney. So joining
me again is my colleagueand friend, Lynn
Hall. She's a researchassociate at the Early
Childhood Center andan early literacy
(00:30):
expert. Lynn, I'm soglad that you're here.
Thanks, Kayla.
The early readingand writing stage
is so exciting.
Children are actuallymoving from pretend
reading into actuallydecoding. It's so full of
breakthroughs and soexciting for families.
I'm really excitedto talk about this
one because I havea seven-year-old, so
(00:50):
we kind of just wentthrough this stage.
So let's just startwith the basics. What
are the big milestonesat this stage.
Yeah, so at five tosix, kids enter what
we kind of call thenovice reader stage.
They realize thatprint carries meaning
and that lettersconnect to sounds.
So the brain's makinga big shift. Exactly.
(01:13):
Areas like the visualword form area begin
recognizing letterswhile the left
hemisphere that linkssounds to symbols.
It's the brain wiringitself for reading.
So how do kids showthis in everyday life?
Well, children startmemorizing sight
words. I don't know. Iknow my kindergartners
(01:35):
all came home withsight words and they
might use picturecues to read familiar
books. So thatcontextual awareness and
their phonologicalawareness kicks in. They
start to notice rhymes,and they can break
words into sounds.
What about writing?
So at this stage,writing gets a lot more
intentionals. Thosescribbles actually turn
(01:56):
into recognizableletters, and many children
use invented spellinglike KT for cat.
That's clever, and I'm surethey're really proud of it.
They are so proud, andthey should be. Many
children this age canalso write their names,
which strongly protectsfuture literacy
(02:16):
they may mix drawingand labeling blending
pictures with text toshare ideas have you um
did your kids do thisI know all of mine did
where they did theykind of had these little
writing workshopswhere they would write
about a story that theyhad just heard and then
they would um drawa little picture and
then maybe put somelabels in that picture did
(02:36):
your kids do that yeahwell and I was making
me to think of oneof the things that my
kids still like to dois like make a comic
book where they'll drawpictures and put words
and they just have somuch fun doing that.
Absolutely. Yes. So whatyou're saying really
is both that readingand writing are
emerging side by side.
Exactly. And the childrenare making so many
connections whenthey're doing these two
(02:57):
tasks simultaneously.
So print richenvironments with labels,
signs, writing centers,just accelerate that
progress. And by agesix, many children
can read simple patternsentences, though
they still lean onpictures quite a bit.
And all kids kind ofprogress at different
(03:19):
rates, right?
Absolutely. So we haveto be patient. Some
just zoom ahead,especially if they've
had lots of exposureat home and others move
more slowly and needextra support. And
that's totally normal.
So how can parents and teachersreally help kids to fall in
love with reading at this stage?
(03:41):
Focus on the joy, notthe drills. And this
can be hard, especiallyfor our classroom
practitioners, whichsometimes feel like they
have a lot of pressureon teaching all of those
skills, right? But themost important thing
is to keep it joyful.
So daily read alouds,expand vocabulary,
and just light up theChildren's Brain Reward
(04:02):
Center. You want tomake it interactive.
So just because ourchildren are getting a
little bit older, theystill want to have that
engagement by talkingabout what's happening
in the story, askingthem, what do you think
is going to happennext? And then kind of
finding out together.
So really keep itconversational.
(04:23):
Exactly.
Be enthusiastic.
Share your ownexcitement. talk about the
books that you lovemodeling is really important
create again thosecozy reading spaces
regular family readingtimes even using
silly voices all of thatmakes reading fun and
remember as childrenstart to read on their
(04:45):
own many of themhaving some kind of
assignments around readingkeep reading to them
yes it's importantthat they're learning
to read themselves butthose read alouds keep
that excitementalive yeah that's so
interesting that a coupleof things that really
kind of I was thinkingabout as you said
them was um you knowthat modeling modeling
(05:05):
for reading I feellike that's something I
try to really do beintentional with like
instead of picking upmy phone and you know
scrolling or somethinglike pick up a book
so that they learnthat habit too of like
when I need somethingto do I can sit and read
um I just think that'sso simple, but yet,
you know, when I lookaround the world,
you know, a lot of peoplearen't just bringing
their books everywhere.
And I try to likebring my book with me
(05:26):
when I'm, you know,I just, I think that's
really important.
Yeah. It makes adifference. You know,
even when I was teachingmy preschoolers,
we had a time ofday, it was school
-wide. It was calleddeer drop everything
and read. Oh mygosh. I love that.
Yeah. So even inpreschool, We had our drop
everything and readdeer time where children
(05:48):
would look at booksindependently that
they had chosen fromthe library. And I would
have a book and Iwould literally be
sitting up front lookingat my book while they
were enjoying theirsto get some of that
modeling and duringthe school day as well.
And that other thingyou touched on too, was
just that continue toread aloud. Like my
kids are seven andnine and they still at
(06:09):
night, I read to themaloud. Like we have a
big chapter book andwe're going through it.
and they still likeit even at this older
stage when they canboth read independently
they still like thoseread alouds yeah
it's such a specialbonding time that
has all kinds ofresearch support for the
positive impactthat it has on their
literacy scales as wellso you're getting a
(06:31):
lot of bang for yourbuck with that with
that shared readingtime that's great to
know I'll keep doingit because I enjoy
it too yes so whatabout play does that
still matter at thisstage Oh, definitely.
Using rhymes,songs, or including
books in pretendplay. These are all
going to buildphonemic awareness while keeping
things lighthearted.
(06:53):
What about choosing topics?
Follow yourchildren's interests.
I have to tell you, I haveone daughter and three sons.
Okay. All three ofmy sons were dinosaur
fanatics. And by thethird one, if I had to
read one more dinosaurbook but we did it
because you have tofollow their interests
dinosaurs fairiessuperheroes whatever
(07:15):
sparks their joy myoldest son was a um uh
open water animalfanatic we were sure to
be a marine biologistbut if they didn't
have a shark a whalesome kind of exotic
fish in it he didn'twant to look at it but
again anything thatsparks their joy kids
(07:35):
stay engaged whenbooks connect to their
passions. And we asteachers and family
members support thosepassions and interests.
I think that's greatinformation. How
about any tips forkeeping kids confident?
I would say rememberingto teach them simple strategies,
like summarizing whatthey've just read,
(07:56):
asking questions,celebrating their small
wins, and rememberingto prioritize books
over screens becausethat's how important
practice is. The morewe do something, the
better we get at it.
And when we're lookingat screens, we're
having less time toreally look at our books
(08:16):
and our print andbuild that confidence.
Reading buddies canalso be super helpful.
So it sounds like it's aboutconnection, not pressure.
Exactly, Kayla.
Snuggle up, makeit relational, make
it comforting, andconnect stories to their lives.
That's what's reallygoing to build lifelong readers.
(08:40):
So let's talk about practical.
How do parents pick the rightbooks for a five
to six-year-old?
Generally speaking,we want to look for
predictable texts withrhymes and repetition.
Strong picture supporthelps children at
this stage to decodewhat those words might
(09:00):
be. And again, storieswith engaging narratives
that are going tospark some conversation
and discussion. Shouldthe books reflect
on the kids' lives?
i say yes but notalways we you know
reading books about umfantasies and you know
unreal worlds can besuper exciting too
(09:22):
but keeping some booksaround that have stories
about school and friendsand family are not
only meaningful butthey support children
to develop socialemotional skills that
are still budding at thisstage um using the
five finger rule opena page, and if there
are more than fiveunknown words, it may
be too hard of a book.
(09:43):
Okay, well, you taughtme something new
today because I hadnever heard of the
five-finger rule,but that is super
helpful and such aguideline to follow.
Another thing to keepin mind is having diverse books.
Those are also goingto build empathy and
curiosity. So startwith picture books
and then move onto early readers
like Magic Treehouse.
(10:06):
School and librarylists are great
resources for gettingthe right books.
We loved Magic TreeHouse at my house.
Such a good seriesto work through.
So the goal is not to reallychallenge them, or
it is to challenge them, but notfrustrate them.
Yeah, Kayla, so you'vegot to find that
(10:26):
sweet spot, right?
We want to, theycall that the zone of
proximal development,where they need just a little
bit of a challenge,but not so much that
they're frustrated.
Books shouldstretch skills while
building confidence.
So before we wrap up,Lynn, what are your
top takeaways forparents at this stage?
Remember to readinteractively every day.
(10:49):
Even though ourchildren are starting
to read someindependently, keeping
that interactivecomponent going.
Celebrate progress,no matter how small.
Model reading forthem. And then pick
engaging, level-appropriatebooks and be patient.
Every child learnsat their own pace.
(11:09):
That's wonderful.
Thank you so much for walkingus through this stage.
Yes, of course,Kayla. Thank you.
And that's our episodeof Early Childhood
on the Go. Thankyou for listening.
Don't forget tosubscribe and share.
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