Level K (Kindergarten) - Reading the First 200 Characters

Learning to read Chinese requires pure memorization, there is no getting around it. It's a lot of hard work. I thought there is another way, but there isn't. Just pull out the flash cards and start getting your child to memorize. It's ok, after he/she gets used to memorizing, it's not so bad. (I am really no Tiger Mom! but sorry, if you want to learn to read Chinese, I don't know of another way to learn besides memorizing) Also, with fun storybooks, memorization goes quicker and easier. Another thing that frustrated us is the amount of memorization we have to do before we can read anything meaningful. A child needs a vocabulary of around 200-300 characters before he/she can read even the simplest storybooks. I have searched high and low to find these storybooks below. Some of them are already too baby for a 5-6 year old kindergarten child. By the end of the Kindergarten curriculum (combination of Chinese Made Easy for Kids Level 1 and Si Wu Kuai Du Book 1), my son was able to memorize around 230 characters and write 80 characters. The blue characters are the ones my son also learned to write in addition to recognizing the characters.

First 50 words and 2 storybooks 

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 

日 早 月 用 人 女 又 不 大 小

上 下 口 只 巾 心 老 师 你 好

 再 见 走 对 起 没 谢 数 字 龙 

学 去 很 累 多 少 鼠 妹 看 两

   

Chinese Made Easy for Kids Chapters 1-4
  Numbers and Greetings

Chinese Readers Orange Readers Series C 数  字  

Chinese Readers Blue Readers 多少老鼠

Second 50 words and 3 storybooks

天 几  和 个 白 门 们 了 飞 生
 叫 什 么 名 字 家 有 岁 的 是
我 爸 妈 哥 姐 弟 爷 奶 他 谁
红 蓝 黄 绿 粉 紫 黑 色 气 球
喜 欢 安 还 过 今 要 快 乐 熊

Chinese Made Easy for Kids Chapters 5-8
Family, Age and Color

Chinese Readers Blue Readers 大家好

 Chinese Readers Orange Readers Series C 小龙的气球

过生日

Third 50 words and 3 storybooks

田 力 男 子 目 头 手 耳 朵 牛

羊 水 果 毛 这 都 哪 那 里 最
她 校 穿 衣 服 胖 瘦 高 矮 长
短 吃 眼 睛 嘴 尾 巴 鼻 发 脚
农 场 猴 猫 狗 马 鸡 鸭 猪 兔

Chinese Made Easy for Kids Chapters9-12

  Clothing, Body, Animals and Fruits

Chinese Readers Orange Readers Series C 小龙不见了

Chinese Readers Blue Readers 我是谁?

Chinese Readers Blue Readers 我们去农场

Fourth 50 words and 1 storybook
木 米 土 豆 虫 书 包 本 文 具

 出 来 儿 开 中 山 刀 也 母 每  
草 莓 苹 瓜 菜 香 蕉 食 物 蛋

橡 皮 笔 床 桌 椅 校 面 电 室
在 可 爱 吗 象 找 宝 玩 同 外

Chinese Made Easy for Kids Chapters 13-16

Drinks, Book Bag and Home

找妈妈

Additional 30 words

(complete everything we learned this year)

火 石 叶 明 朋 尖 入 问 工 太

哭 笑 孩 友 鱼 鸟 动 呢 美 国

阳 地 亮 星 云 树 花 风 雨 它

Finally with this set of very basic vocabularies, we can now read the easiest storybooks...