Last year, I stood in front of a room full of thoughtful, engaged adults and asked a simple question:

“What is reading?”

Hands went up.

“Empowerment.” “Freedom.” “Escape.” “Exploration.” “Learning.”

Beautiful answers. True answers.

But those aren’t what reading is.

They’re what reading does. They’re how it feels.

If we want to help our children become strong readers, we need to understand what reading actually is—at its core. Once we’re clear about that, we start seeing opportunities everywhere.

The Idea that Makes Teaching Reading Simple

Years ago, in a University of Virginia course on the foundations of reading instruction, I learned about something called the “Simple View of Reading.”

It’s not flashy. It’s not trendy. It’s not a program.

It’s a simple conceptual model that explains how reading works. I return to it again and again, because it gives me a clear picture I can hang everything else on.

Reading comprehension (understanding what you read) happens when two things come together:

1. Oral language comprehension—understanding spoken words and ideas
2. Written word recognition—being able to look at printed letters and turn them into spoken words (sometimes called “decoding” or “understanding the alphabetic principle”)

You can picture it like this:

Spoken Language × Written Word Recognition = Reading

Both parts matter. If either one is weak, understanding suffers.

Here’s the line I often share with parents:

Your child can’t understand anything in writing that they wouldn’t understand if you said it out loud to them.

Sit with that for a moment.

If a word like astonished or enormous or responsibility isn’t in your child’s spoken vocabulary, seeing it on a page won’t magically create understanding. Similarly, if they have never seen an armadillo or a microscope, sounding it out won’t get them far.

This means that if a child can perfectly sound out every word on a page but doesn’t know what those words mean, they aren’t truly reading. They’re reciting.

Reading happens when we know words in speech and in writing.

Why This Changes Everything at Home

Once you think about reading in these two buckets—spoken language and written word recognition—you see your day differently.

Conversations at breakfast build oral language.

Explaining what you’re doing while cooking builds knowledge and vocabulary.

Telling stories from your own childhood builds narrative skills.

Singing songs and nursery rhymes builds awareness of the sounds inside words.

Pointing to a stop sign and saying “S-T-O-P. Those letters spell stop” builds print awareness.

Noticing letters on cereal boxes or describing the straight lines and curves in an M builds familiarity with the alphabetic code.

None of that requires a special curriculum. It requires attention.

When you understand that letters represent the sounds we hear in speech—that written words are a code for spoken language—you see why rhymes, alliteration, and playful word games matter. They tune your child’s ear to the sounds inside words, which supports decoding later.

And when you understand that comprehension depends on spoken language, it never feels optional to spend time in rich, back-and-forth conversation with your child. It’s not “extra.” It’s foundational.

What’s more, all this doesn’t just make it easier to understand how reading develops. It makes it easy to seed literacy and teach reading at home, through everyday moments with your child.

Reading Is Rooted in Relationships

Reading grows through relationships.

Before a child can decode a sentence, they need thousands of warm, responsive conversations.

Before they can understand a story on paper, they need experience understanding stories told aloud.

• When you chat in the car …
• When you narrate bath time …
• When you laugh over a silly rhyme …
• When you answer their endless why questions …

You build the spoken language half of reading.

• When you trace letters with your finger …
• When you point to words as you read …
• When you help your child hear the /b/ sound at the beginning of ball …

You build the written word recognition half.

When those two parts grow together, comprehension follows.

Why I Love This Model

The Simple View isn’t earth-shattering. It’s not complicated. But it gives you a powerful mental image.

It keeps literacy from shrinking down to a single activity like bedtime storytime.

It reminds you that reading is the culmination of:

• Talking
• Listening
• Explaining
• Singing
• Playing with sounds
• Noticing print
• Connecting meaning to symbols
• Sharing books and stories

All woven together.

Understanding this matters from the beginning, as you lay the foundation for your child’s reading.

It also matters long-term, as you support your child’s development into a budding and then skilled and then better and better reader. 

With schools focusing on phonics, decoding, and language comprehension, parents who understand this framework can better support and advocate for their children. You’ll recognize what your child’s teachers are asking them to do—and why.

A Simple Way to Start

Tonight, try this:

Ask yourself: What did we do today that built my child’s spoken language?

Ask: What did we do that connected letters to sounds?

You might be surprised by how much you’re already doing.

If you want one small next step, add one more back-and-forth conversation tomorrow. Or point out one word you see together and talk about its letters and sounds.

That’s it.

When you understand what reading is, you stop seeing literacy as something that only happens when you open a book.

You see it as something that grows all day long—through language, connection, and shared attention.

And that shift? That’s when you realize you’ve been teaching reading all along.

School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.

Lon Watters

In my book, Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six, I’ve endeavored to show parents why and how to play an active, hands-on role in helping their children become thriving readers.

But that’s not meant to suggest that parents should go it alone when it comes to turning their kids into readers. No one does. Every child’s road to reading is supported by a range of people, from the librarians who stock children’s books and host story time to the pediatricians who monitor developmental milestones and refer patients for additional assessment and care. Schools and teachers, in particular, are major contributors to reading development, when they are well-trained and well-supported in delivering high-quality instruction. 

So part of the work of parenting for reading is being intentional about the formal learning spaces that we place our kids in. Fortunately, if you engage in the kind of everyday teaching and intentional conversation with kids around literacy that I advocate for in Reading for Our Lives, you’ll naturally acquire deep, first-hand knowledge of reading instruction. This will inform how you consider and select early childhood education centers and schools for your children. 

When you have worked to build connection, vocabulary, and IQ through conversation; to bolster awareness of the sounds within words and the print in books and the environment; to teach letter names, shapes, and sounds; and to connect sounds to print and print to sounds, you can better recognize the education and childcare settings that will do the same. You’ll be able to spot the spaces and personnel that will help take your children’s reading to new heights. 

This article will share a short list of items to look and listen for—and reflect upon—when you research and tour schools or childcare settings. However, I want to emphasize that you’ll best grasp all of these considerations if you’ve done the other talking, reading, and teaching work that I recommend. As Dr. Judson Brewer puts it, “Concepts don’t magically become wisdom with the wave of a wand. You actually have to do the work so the concepts translate into know-how through your own experience.”  

It’s our everyday interactions with our kids, not studying reading instruction, that make us their best literacy advocates. What we do to engage our kids and what we learn about how they learn informs every other educational decision we make on their behalf. 

How to Pick a Preschool or School That Boosts Literacy 

Academic researchers look to things like teacher quality, curriculum, class size, environmental  stimulation, and an array of other factors when assessing preschool quality. But I find that most parents typically have a much shorter list of selection criteria. Moms and dads focus on how close the options are to home or work, what the hours of operation are, and whether or not the places look clean and safe. 

Only after those basic criteria are met (and if they have more than one viable option), do most then delve into the nuances of different curriculum and education philosophies, from Montessori and Reggio Emilia to Waldorf and HighScope. 

When assessing options, I urge parents to tune into the sounds of the classroom and listen for the responsiveness, kindness, and knowledge on display. Just as children’s back-and-forth exchanges with their parents have a lasting impact on the kids’ brain development and academic prospects, dialogue and nurturing relationships with teachers matter greatly, too. 

So, whether checking out in-home childcare, public-school pre-K programs, Head Start, or private preschool, here are a few things to look and listen for. All of these apply across the board when thinking about literacy in early learning spaces. 

Back-and-Forth Conversation with Kids

Look for settings in which teachers have dynamic, nurturing verbal exchanges with each and every child. Just as parents provide critical language nutrition for their children, educators in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms also spur vital nurturing, brain-building conversations.

So, when visiting classrooms or observing them via virtual tours, pay attention to how much teachers are talking with children; how well they are listening for kids’ responses, whether words, coos, or babbles; and whether or not each child in the space gets attention and conversation.  

Class size, teacher inclinations and beliefs, and school culture can all affect word counts and conversational turns, and research has found vast disparities in how much talk different children within a space receive and give. Make sure your child is in a school where every child’s voice and participation is valued and encouraged.  

Questions to Ponder 

• Are teachers having nurturing one-on-one conversations with children, in addition to addressing small groups or the whole classroom? 
• Are teachers pausing to listen for and respond to the children’s speech, whether words or babbles?  
• What’s the ratio of direction/commands (e.g. sit down, be quiet) to conversation? 
• Do the teachers speak to students with respect and value their expressions and classroom contributions? 

Intentional Programming

Look for settings in which teachers can state what skills they intend to build, how they will nurture and assess them, and when and how they’ll communicate progress to families. The preliteracy and literacy skills that kids should be cultivating at different ages and stages vary widely, so be sure that the programs under consideration have a clear sense of what they’re teaching, why, and how.  

For example, with infants, a teacher might share that they prioritize care, nurturing, and brain-building conversation—plus introduce books as objects of exploration, allowing babies to pat, chew, and turn the pages without expectation of great attention to the print or stories. 

A teacher of toddlers might say they focus on giving children a variety of materials, letting them lead their own play, and encouraging them to create in their own way. The teacher might aim to provide a great deal of individual attention while also encouraging kids to try things on their own to see how far they get.  

In a preschool program, you might expect more explicit discussion of the sounds within words and of letter names, shapes, and sounds, paving the way for formal instruction in phonics and spelling in kindergarten and beyond.  

Beyond hearing the teachers’ intentions and method, also look for signs that they view parents as partners in educating children. Listen for assurances that they will keep you posted on what’s happening with your child throughout the year, so that you can continue to provide timely, responsive literacy support at home.  

Questions to Ponder 

• Do the teachers seem to enjoy their work and interactions with children? 
• What curriculum or philosophy does the school follow? Is it accredited in the approach? 
• What programs, degrees, certifications, or experience do the teachers bring to their positions? 
• What blocks, toys, books, and other learning materials are on display? Do they seem to support the kind of learning the school says it emphasizes? How accessible are they to children?  

A Joyful, Playful Environment

Look for settings in which kids are joyful, playful, active learners. When kids are deeply engaged in activities, and they have the freedom to play and explore the materials in their environment, good things will happen. During site visits, listen for the laughter and squeals of delight that characterize little kids’ engagement and discovery. 

And, because we’re focused on reading, books and print should be an integral part of the fun of the learning environment. Look for books shelved in baskets, bins, and other spots that are visible and accessible to crawlers and walkers. 

Watch to see if kids are given ample opportunity to handle books themselves. And observe how enthusiastic teachers are about discussing the stories, pointing out illustrations and print, asking questions of their little listeners, and fostering book love. 

Questions to Ponder 

• How happy and engaged do the children seem to be? 
• Does the classroom or school foster a sense of community and connection? 
• Are there age-appropriate materials to stimulate imagination, exploration, and discovery? 

There is no perfect school, so it’s important to get clear about your highest priorities for your child’s learning environment and to listen to your gut feelings about the staff and spaces you visit. Tour schools with an open mind, open eyes, and open ears to find the options that will best serve your child and family.

Join my newsletter to get my best advice, recommendations, and resources straight to your inbox!