Reading aloud to children is the most important step towards making a child a reader. It exposes them to print and excites their curiosity through intriguing story lines. Parents play an enormous role in this aspect of reading development, because it begins long before a child is in school. In the beginning of school, teachers spend time assessing a child's reading ability. One way to assess phonemic awareness and further develop reading ability is through invented spelling in journal writing. Teachers must keep up the momentum of this development by allowing children plenty of time for reading and writing. Another way to involve students, is through the "Language Experience Approach" which enables children to write and read their own books. Explicit phonics instruction that emphasizes a relationship between letters is also necessary. One technique used to emphasize letters, word patterns, and spelling is a "Making Words Activity." Others include spelling tests (where sounds are exaggerated), rules instruction, and drill. It is evident that beginning readers learn to read in various ways, and therefore a combination of methods and techniques is the best approach. Teachers have to include phonemic awareness, authentic reading and writing and phonics instruction in order to reach all students. The goal is to have a classroom of proficient readers; qualities of proficient readers include: the ability to self-correct, make sense of a reading, predict what will happen, take risks, and challenge themselves. More specifically, a proficient reader will be able to decode unknown words, derive meaning from context, and comprehend main ideas (Sonoma County Reading Institute, 1997). (Contains seven references.) (CR)