Teachers of extended day kindergarten classes and regular kindergarten classes are encouraged to help the poor risk child, who demonstrates the potential for having difficulty with the academics of first grade, by identifying the child's levels in reading readiness, developing the hows and whys of learning (teaching the child how to learn), emphasizing language skills that support reading, and always reading to the child. Discussion of these approaches points out additional techniques teachers can use to improve reading readiness. Appended to the discussion is an outline of reading readiness skills with coordinated lists of expectations for student performance and suggested learning activities provided for association, visual, auditory discrimination, and language skills. (RH)