All children will go through various stages of reading development, and they will do so at their own rate. The first stage of reading development is reading readiness, or rather the process of getting ready to read, which involves learning to recognize the letters of the alphabet and the individual sounds each letter makes. From beginning to recognize letters and sounds, children begin to investigate letter combinations and blending to make short words, such as "the," "dog" or "can," and they memorize these words on sight, leading to the term "sight words," or "high frequency," words.
From their knowledge of sight words and their ability to blend sounds, children begin to sound out more difficult words and move onto easy reader books, where they not only practice the skill of decoding but they begin to focus on comprehension of text as well. Finally, having mastered the art of decoding both familiar and unfamiliar words, children begin to focus solely on comprehension and applying the knowledge they gain from reading.
Emergent readers are those whose reading ability is still emerging. They often require assistance when comprehension and decoding breaks down. Emergent readers have the basic skills necessary to read, such as phonemic and phonological awareness. They know the sounds the letters make and they can recognize high frequency words, but they lack the skills to decode difficult or unfamiliar text, and they do not possess the meta-cognition necessary to recognize when meaning breaks down or how to repair it. Emergent readers can "read" books or passages without understanding anything they just read, and while they may have the ability to comprehend on a basic level, such as predicting and retelling, they often are not able to derive deeper meaning from text necessary for higher-level reading.
Independent readers can read independently, meaning they have the skills to decode difficult or unfamiliar text and they are able to self-monitor their comprehension and fix gaps in their understanding. Independent readers read fluently, which is to say they read at a conversational pace, using proper voice inflection, and they spend the majority of their energy on studying and applying informational text.
Independent readers are able to analyze text and connect it with events in their own lives to create a deeper understanding of an author's intention. Independent readers have the ability to select books appropriate for their level of reading and recognize when a text it too easy or too hard.
Emergent readers are on the path to becoming independent -- with focused instruction and appropriate reading activities. Have emergent readers participate in a fluency reading program that allows for frequent reading of grade-level passages, while offering immediate feedback, such as the Read Naturally program. Focus on vocabulary development and introduce the use of graphic organizers to help comprehend information from stories. Using such things as Venn Diagrams are a great strategy for teaching compare and contrast, while sequencing charts help students understand sequence of events and are also valuable in teaching students how to summarize.
Lastly, teach your emergent readers how to select appropriate level books. If a child reads a page out of book and comes to five or more words he doesn't know how to pronounce, the book is too difficult.