But I Already Can

Stressing that children need opportunities to grow and learn according to their own individual needs, this paper discusses appropriate reading objectives for kindergarten children and suggests numerous activities for kindergarten children who know how to read. The first part of the paper deplores the current trend to skip important developmental experiences in kindergarten in order to take children directly to the abstract experiences involved in skill-based reading and workbook lessons; notes that kindergarten should not be thought of as preparation for first grade and that not all kindergarten children should be reading; and suggests ways of setting up an individualized reading program that makes use of self-selected books to encourage and challenge children who are already reading. The major portion of the paper describes a variety of reading-related activities for kindergarten children who can read, including: (1) a child-made game based on a topic in which children are interested; (2) teacher-made games involving matching words and answering riddles and other questions; and (3) activities involving children in making books, writing stories, studying foreign languages, writing captions for comic strips, following directions, making greeting cards, creating secret codes, writing and illustrating stories based on children's picture books, and working with experience charts. (GT)