In elementary school, an important goal of reading instruction is to enable children to read most words automatically by sight so that they can focus on learning from and enjoying what they are reading. But becoming a strong reader takes several years. Parents and caregivers need to know if a child is making good progress in learning to read. Along with many colleagues, the author has been studying how children learn to read for more than 50 years. Her research suggests that children move through four phases on their way to becoming joyful, confident readers. The four phases are presented in this article: (1) Pre-Alphabetic Phase; (2) Partial Alphabetic Phase; (3) Full Alphabetic Phase; and (4) Consolidated Alphabetic Phase.