Each year for the last 28, until I retired as a reading specialist, I would walk into the first grade classrooms during the first week of school and marvel at the task ahead for the teacher. Here are twenty or more pairs of eyes staring, some with apprehension, some with fear, and some ready to give that teacher a run for her money. Most of our first graders came with only a half day of kindergarten behind them, so just the idea of being in school for a full day was something entirely new. It took weeks before they realized the difference between their snack at mid-morning and their lunch. I would watch the teacher run around the room re-wrapping their sandwiches and opening their bags of pretzels.
In between consoling little hearts, opening juice boxes, and keeping track of art smocks, first grade teachers have a vital responsibility: developing the reading skills that will help ensure the academic success of their students in high school, college, and the workplace.
A growing body of research tells us that if children do not read on grade level by grade 3, they are less likely to graduate from high school and attend college. As I have seen so many times, the first critical steps are taken in first grade, when children begin to develop positive identities as confident learners, readers, and thinkers.
As my work took me into first grade classrooms quite a bit during the year, I felt so fortunate to be able to experience this metamorphosis—watching week by week as these little ones blossom into confident first graders who knew the difference between snack and lunch, had a solid phonemic awareness base of the sounds that make up words, and would anxiously covet their book bag in anticipation of exchanging books from the classroom library for new ones to be read and shared the following week.
I will always be in awe of first grade teachers, our true miracle workers.
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Elementary school teachers are in the unique position to identify and correct reading struggles before a child advance to middle and high school, where their struggles will cause them to fall behind their peers. Of course, this assumes that elementary teachers have the resources and supports to do so. Getting twenty plus 6-year-olds adjusted to formal education is a challenge in itself, let alone teaching young ones to reads. I agree with Ms. Goldstein – our elementary teachers are miracle workers who should be supported and celebrated.
As a kindergarten and first great teacher, this article truly resonates with me. Playing a part in teaching children to read is such a privilege.