Reading bill

After reading the new changes to the reading bill I'm left with even more questions. I am a first grade teacher and I would be discouraged to know that my students might be held back if they were not reading at a certain level. We work so hard on learning to read all throughout first grade. Many students come to us with the foundation to make great gains in their reading. Others come to us hardly knowing their sounds and having a very difficult time blending sounds. My project is focusing on increasing language in children 0-5. These are the times that are so crucial to a child's development (especially 0-3). How about we put more funding and resources at this level with many rich early literacy activities so that when they come to pre-k, kindergarten and first grade they have a great foundation for learning to read? I know that teachers play a huge role in teaching students how to read but this really starts in the home when children are young. I understand there are many reasons why families have a difficult time with helping their children be "school ready" but let's tackle that so we as teachers can help extend their learning. I want to teach all students and I want to help all students learn. We've talked in class before about how those that struggle with reading usually get pulled to do extra reading during subjects like science and social studies which they might be very interested in. We only have so many hours during the day and when we are working on those early literacy skills it has to be in place of something else. I'm going to respond to other blogs about this because many of you brought up great questions and thoughts.