The Committee for the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children has compiled detailed lists of literacy accomplishments for children of different ages. Find out what the typical child can do from birth through age three, from three to four, and in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades.

Below is a set of accomplishments that the successful learner is likely to exhibit. This list is neither exhaustive nor incontestable, but it does capture many highlights of the course of literacy acquisition that have been revealed through several decades of research. The timing of these accomplishments will to some extent depend on maturational and experiential differences between children, and upon the particular curriculum provided by a school.

• Recognizes specific books by cover.
• Pretends to read books.
• Understands that books are handled in particular ways.
• Enters into a book-sharing routine with primary caregivers.
• Vocalization play in crib gives way to enjoyment of rhyming language, nonsense word play, etc.
• Labels objects in books.
• Comments on characters in books.
• Looks at picture in book and realizes it is a symbol for real object.
• Listens to stories.
• Requests/commands adult to read or write.
• May begin attending to specific print such as letters in names.
• Uses increasingly purposive scribbling.
• Occasionally seems to distinguish between drawing and writing.
• Produces some letter-like forms and scribbles with some features of English writing.

By: Catherine Snow, Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin