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Memphis teacher writes children's book for students to help them read

“I teach four-year-olds, and even though they’re a lot more computer savvy, I still feel like children desire to have a book in their hand.”

MEMPHIS, Tenn — A Shelby County School teacher turned author is addressing the importance of reading for young children in her recent book. She gifted her book to SCS preschoolers. Angela Sargent has been teaching pre-K kids for the past 10 years. Now she’s helping children excel at reading with her new book.

“I teach four-year-olds and even though they’re a lot more computer savvy I still feel like children desire to have a book in their hand,” said Sargent.

The teacher said her book, “Yes, Indeed, I Can Teach My Preschooler to Read!,” is not just for children. It also gets parents more involved in the learning process.

“Sitting in the classroom realizing I was unable to touch and interact with them not guaranteeing they had a book, I literally sat down talking to my assistant and said, 'let’s write a book with all the sight words,'” explained Sargent.

Sight words are beginner reading words that children need to know without having to sound them out to be successful readers.

“What I noticed in those upper grades they were struggling to sound out words like that and struggling to sound out words like their words that they should be able to know as soon as appear because of that memorization,” said Sargent.

The SCS teacher said getting the fundamentals down early helps feed the whole child, building their self-confidence and making other subjects easier.

“Instead of me deciding 'oh I want to put this book on sale,' I decided that I would like to gift every preschool student who entered school during the pandemic, such a weird way to start, a book,” Sargent explained.

Sargent’s book helps kids realize reading can be fun and builds a foundation for their future success, so they too can be an author of their story.

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