L.PK.1b Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.

L.PK.1a Print some upper and lowercase letters (letters may not be of conventional size or shape).

L.PK.1 Through adult modeling, guidance and support, use complete sentences to express a thought or idea.

This is article #1 in our series of 5 articles about the path to reading. No matter what, as long as you’re reading, talking, and having fun, your child is well on their way to developing a strong foundation for literacy.

Explore letters and sounds in the Letters tab try starting with the letters in your child’s name.

Listen to stories read aloud in the Reading tab, and talk about the questions together as they come up.

Encourage your child to record a story to go along with their art in the Create tab.

Sing along with songs by our partner Super Simple, located in the Videos tab.

This video of Reya talking about the parts of a book is a good example of how Khan Kids reinforces the pre-literacy skills your child is developing. This will give you some ideas for how to talk about and model pre-literacy skills for your learner. In the Videos tab, check out the Early Reading and Language collection.

In the Library, make sure you’ve set the dropdown menu to selected Kindergarten or Pre-K. Great question! The Khan Academy Kids app has activities for children as young as 2 years old and includes lots of pre-literacy practice. How does the Khan Kids app support pre-literacy skills? As long as you're reading, talking, and listening as a family, you are helping your child grow their pre-literacy skills. Setting your child up for success as a reader and writer is easier than you might think. What can I do to help my child develop pre-literacy skills? Knowing that there are different letters that make different sounds.Thinking about and responding to stories.Being excited to read and listen to stories.Following along as a book is read knowing that English print is read from left to right.

Understanding how to hold and handle a book.Knowing what printed words are and noticing them.Making connections between words: for example, comparing the words “big” and “huge” or connecting the word “jump” to the meaning of the word “jumpy”.Participating in conversations and following directions.Pre-literacy can include: Narrative skills Children start developing pre-literacy skills as soon as they are born, and there is a lot of research that shows a strong pre-literacy foundation will lead to long-term success both in and out of school. Pre-literacy is the period of time before a child can read or write on their own.

Khan academy reading kindergarten