We make learning to read so easy, you can do it in under five minutes a day.

We built Ready to Read specifically for three, four, and five-year-olds, to help them fall in love with reading (and learning!).

Utilize the tools and strategies we'll outline within this course to ignite a love of reading in your child. Our course curriculum is entirely pre-recorded, so you can work through all ten lessons at you and your child’s own unique pace. Each lesson includes read alouds with miss beth, songs and rhymes, tips to incorporate into your routine, sensory activities, downloadable worksheets and printables, and so much more!

 
 

Did you know?

80% of brain development happens by age three and 90% by age five.

The gaps in learning that can cause struggles in third, fourth, and fifth grade, can be prevented in the first five years of development.

Attempting to start the reading journey at age five is like trying to run a marathon before you learn to walk.

 

 What’s included in Ready to Read:

  • Ten full, guided video lessons with miss beth—featuring read alouds from multiple books, songs and rhymes, wiggle breaks, and more!

  • The video lessons are designed to watch with your child, and you can work through them at your own pace! All the lessons are pre-recorded, meaning you can schedule watch time when it best works for you and your family. We recommend one or two lessons a week, meaning the course lasts for around 5-10 weeks, depending on your pace.

  • Each video lesson is accompanied by a downloadable PDF with worksheets, printables, sensory and literacy-building activities, weekly tips, book list recommendations, and more.

  • In addition to the ten lessons, the course also includes tips from miss beth on how to build the foundational knowledge your child needs for a lifelong love of learning—you’ll learn about phonological awareness, print awareness, modeling, inventive spelling, how to pick out early reader books, and more!

  • Get miss beth’s exclusive advice on activities you can bring into your daily routine to help foster strong phonological awareness and instill a love of reading and learning that will help your child throughout their educational journey.

  • Plus extras like miss beth’s interview with early intervention and early childhood mental health and behavior specialist Liz Walker, on everything from dealing with fear and anxiety, to transitioning to school after COVID, to dealing with perfectionism. Plus the Big City Reader teachers talk about everything you need to know before starting kindergarten and Miss Beth shares her tips on how to avoid the summer slide.

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 Here’s exactly how your child will get ready to read!

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  • Purchase our Ready to Read online course

  • Watch miss beth’s guides on the foundational elements of learning to read—like phonological awareness, print awareness, modeling—before you start

  • Grab your child and watch lesson one, wherever and whenever works best for you

  • Work through each of the ten lessons with your child at your own pace

  • Download the worksheets and guides for each lesson, with weekly activities to do with your child.

  • Finish the course with a stronger, more engaged reader and the tools you need to continue their learning to read journey!

What Our Big City Readers families are saying…

Featured

“Words that immediately spring to mind when I think of Big City Readers, and Miss Beth include: magical, engaging, and instant impact. These are also words I never thought I’d speak about an online education class for a toddler, but here we are.

The moment Beth appears on the screen my daughter is mesmerized. She’s participating and having fun without even realizing she’s learning at the same time. She literally asks for Miss Beth and her reading class on her own now. Thank goodness, because this beats Peppa Pig any day.It’s also been really transformational for all of us is that we are changing how we think about reading, the alphabet, learning to read, the whole thing. Beth has changed my perspective on teaching my daughter to develop a lifelong skill and I love of books. It’s no longer laborious, confusing, or frustrating for any of us. It’s fun, it’s easy, you literally just press play, and you’re off!If you’re on the fence take it from me, it’s a hard yes.”

— NY-based mom of two

“We have been big fans of Miss Beth since we first took her baby classes in 2019. She gave me great strategies to help my then baby enjoy me reading to her and engage with words throughout the real world. Her new online program is just like being back in her in-person class! My daughter was hooked immediately upon pressing play.

She loves Miss Beth’s enthusiasm and loves trying to answer her questions throughout the readings. What I like about it is that its not something for her to watch alone. Miss Beth’s programs have always been and continue to be about parental involvement. The program helps me learn how to help my daughter learn. Her strategies and games that follow aren’t cheesy and unattainable. We used items we already have at home but employ them in a way that helps my daughter engage with letters and their sounds and with her guidance and research based strategies, build up to reading.”

—Bethany H., mom of two

“This course bundles up everything I learned [in BCR in-person classes] in a nice, neat package. It teaches ME how to teach my kids. This course is helpful for my family because it’s so easy to do on our own time, on demand. This is GUILT FREE screen time for your kids!

When my daughter was a baby, I would read posts in mommy groups on Facebook STRESSING about an incoming kindergartner or whatever grade who didn’t do XYZ. I think with the way we were taught how to read, we automatically assume that it’s just something that happens in school, but there’s really no reason to wait. We teach our kids so many other things, why wouldn’t we also give them the basics for reading? It’s not a huge, daunting undertaking. With this course, you will learn what snippets of education you can sprinkle in during the day, without your kids even realizing it. Miss Beth and her class are the gift that keeps on giving.”

— Stacie P, mom of two

“I was expecting the virtual class to be a basic read aloud, but I learned it was so much more than that. I felt empowered as a parent to help guide and support my child in the way they love to learn.

I didn’t have to fuss with memorizing flashcards with them, spending money on costly learning materials, or having a strict time frame of how many minutes they have to read a day. You can literally take the course virtually anywhere and the tools that you learn in the class can be used anywhere. We have played Big City Readers reading and writing games during dinnertime, car rides, family walks, bath time… The best gift that Big City Readers has given me was that it upped the level of my parenting.

—Carla P.

Pick the option that works best for you!

 
 

Get your questions answered!

If you have a specific question about our Ready to Read online course, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@bigcityreaders.com or send us a DM on Instagram @bigcityreaders and we’ll be happy to help!

 

  • Ready to Read is an online course brought to you by Big City Readers. Our goal with our Ready to Read course is to help you raise lifelong readers and kids who love learning. And to make it so easy, you can do it in under five minutes a day, utilizing the tools and strategies we'll outline within this course.

    The online course includes ten video lessons with miss beth, to watch with your child. The course also includes tips from miss beth and our Big City Readers team on the foundational elements your child needs to get ready to read, as well as downloadable worksheets and sensory activities.

  • Hi! My name is Beth Gaskill, but you can call me Miss Beth. I'm the founder and creator of Big City Readers, and early childhood literacy company dedicated to helping you raise strong readers from day one.

    I spent years working in different classrooms and reading intervention programs—from preschool to eighth grade—and I saw the kids were facing the same reading problems over and over again. So, what did I do? I started researching the similarities and differences in what kids and teachers were facing day-to-day and I discovered this wasn't a reading problem I needed to solve. This was a reading problem I could prevent.

    I learned that these gaps in kids learning that could get them by in early years, but cause them to struggle when they got to third, fourth, and fifth grade, could actually be prevented in the first five years of their development. How? By providing parents and teachers with the tools and strategies kids really need to grow as lifelong readers.

    True reading skills come from a strong foundation in phonological awareness, which is the ability to understand sound. It's also how kids learn to play with words, syllables, rhymes, counting words and sentences, and so much more. This is the skill that I saw kids were missing. And that's what I'll be teaching in our Ready to Read course: everything you need to know to build strong phonological awareness, which is the biggest predictor in lifelong reading development. You'll learn how to build this through songs, drawings, dialogue models and scripts, book recommendations, and more. I'll show you how to raise kids that aren't so hung up on doing it perfectly, walk you through how to handle things like inventive spelling, and how set up your children to be confident and successful in their entire educational career... all from these tiny moments in these important years of development.

  • The course is completely work at your own pace, so you'll have immediate access to each lesson upon purchase. We designed the course to be around five weeks long, with two lessons per week. However, you'll have lifetime access to the course materials, so you're able to work through the course at the pace that best fits you and your family. You can binge the episodes or spread them out over a longer period of time, whatever fits with you and your child's schedule.

  • This course is geared toward three, four, and five-year-olds. However, it is going to be really helpful for struggling six, seven, and eight-year-olds to fill in the gaps and give them a confidence boost on their reading journey.

  • Due to intellectual property and the digital nature of this online course, we cannot accommodate refunds. If you’d like to preview the course, we recommended purchasing the Ready to Read ebook here, reading parent reviews, or emailing hello@bigcityreaders.com with any questions!

 

Preview one of our Ready to Read video lessons!

Below, watch a snippet of one of our Ready to Read video lessons with miss beth.

 
 
 
 
 

Ready to get started with Ready to Read?

Remember, our Ready to Read online course is entirely pre-recorded, so you can dive in right away after purchase and work through completely at your own pace. Click below to get started!

Questions? Reach out to us at hello@bigcityreaders.com and we’ll be happy to help!