Here's a lowdown on the process.
Children learn the essence of reading through many direct experiences with language and print.
When you think about reading, you know that it is more than memorizing the alphabet or recognizing words. Therefore, exploring oral language through lots of conversation and experimenting with expressive writing are as key to early reading as exploring letter sounds. In good first grades, children learn to read as part of a language and literacy program that is integrated throughout the curriculum. For example, your child may use nonfiction books about birds as part of a science activity, look at picture books about firefighters as part of a social studies theme on community workers, or brainstorm lists of words about the rain forest. Specific reading subskills such as word recognition and phonics may be practiced with the teacher in small groups.