Built on the science of reading
Children learn to read when someone shows them how sounds and letters connect, then gives them reading worth doing. At KindleWood that reading is the book your child just made, and the ones their friends made too.
The scienceHow children learn to read
Decoding×Language comprehensionReading comprehension
Decoding is turning letters into sounds. Language comprehension is knowing what those words mean. They are multiplied, not added. A child who sounds out every word but knows none of them still cannot read the page.
Word recognition
- Phonological awareness
- Decoding
- Sight recognition
Language comprehension
- Background knowledge
- Vocabulary
- Language structures
- Verbal reasoning
- Literacy knowledge
Skilled reading
Both sets of strands twist together for years, until reading is automatic.
What the evidence agrees on
- Teach letter-sound patterns explicitly, in a planned order
- Sound out every letter of every word
- Practice first with decodable text
- Then read a lot, every day
- Teach vocabulary directly, and come back to it
- Write, and spell the words out by hand
The practiceHow KindleWood puts it to work
Children care about a story they or their friends made. We use that to drive the practice the research calls for.
Ages 3 to 6 · Little reader and author
Your child invents the story
They choose the characters, the setting and what happens. Parents and teachers guide along the way.
Their story takes shape
KindleWood helps expand their words into full pages, in a tone that fits their age and what they are learning. The story stays theirs.
Practice comes from their story
- Phonics from letter patterns they know
- Sounding out their own sentences
- New words with kid friendly meanings
- Quizzes about what happens, and why
Ages 7 to 12 · Big writer
Full creator mode
Your child owns the whole book now: the words, the pictures and the voice. KindleWood steps back to coaching grammar, sentence logic and story arc.
The research behind this page(22)
- APM Reports. Sold a Story (2022–2026), hosted by Emily Hanford.
- National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching Children to Read. NICHD.
- Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
- Rayner, K., Foorman, B., Perfetti, C., Pesetsky, D., & Seidenberg, M. (2001). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
- Rayner, K. (1998). Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research. Psychological Bulletin.
- Seidenberg, M. (2017). Language at the Speed of Sight. Basic Books.
- Gough, P., & Tunmer, W. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education.
- Scarborough, H. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities. Handbook of Early Literacy Research.
- Ehri, L. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading. Scientific Studies of Reading.
- Share, D. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching. Cognition.
- Cheatham, J., & Allor, J. (2012). The influence of decodability in early reading text. Reading and Writing.
- Swanborn, M., & de Glopper, K. (1999). Incidental word learning while reading: a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research.
- Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life. Guilford Press.
- Marulis, L., & Neuman, S. (2010). The effects of vocabulary intervention on young children’s word learning. Review of Educational Research.
- Mol, S., & Bus, A. (2011). To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure. Psychological Bulletin.
- Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing to read. Harvard Educational Review.
- Ouellette, G., & Sénéchal, M. (2008). Pathways to literacy: a study of invented spelling and its role in learning to read. Child Development.
- Takacs, Z., Swart, E., & Bus, A. (2015). Benefits and pitfalls of multimedia and interactive features in technology-enhanced storybooks. Review of Educational Research.
- Pearson, P. D., & Gallagher, M. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology.
- Berninger, V., & Winn, W. (2006). Implications of advancements in brain research and technology for writing development. Handbook of Writing Research.
- Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next. Alliance for Excellent Education.
- Graham, S., Hebert, M., & Harris, K. (2015). Formative assessment and writing: a meta-analysis. The Elementary School Journal.
See the skills your child builds along the way, or read the books kids have already made.