Which age range corresponds to the Novice/Early Reader Stage?

The Novice/Early Reader Stage typically corresponds to children aged 6-7 years. At this stage, children are beginning to engage with reading in a more focused manner as they transition from pre-reading skills to actual reading. This is when they start to decode simple texts, recognize common sight words, and use context to make predictions about what they are reading.

During this age, children are often in first or second grade depending on their birthdate and school system, thus they are developing their reading fluency and comprehension skills. They begin to explore story elements and are encouraged to express understanding of texts through retelling and answering questions. This is a pivotal time when phonemic awareness and the ability to sound out words becomes more refined, aligning with literacy development benchmarks for this age group. The reading strategies they learn during this stage set the foundation for more advanced reading comprehension in subsequent stages.