This week I went to a preschool meeting with Henry's teachers and all the other parents. They were detailing the abilities of children in the three age groups they teach and in Henry's age group they said that they "aren't even introducing letters this year, but they have them all around the room for the kids to see." I was really shocked at this. I think they seriously underestimate the abilities of most kids. I mean, do most kids really not learn how to read until they're 5 or 6 years? If you look back on Henry's blog, he recognized all his letters at 19 months old, probably earlier, because of Signing Time and now he's learning how to read before he's four and at this point I feel like he's pretty average in his development. I don't know. You tell me. Anyway, this book goes really slow and it doesn't take much time each day to go through the lessons. Even with Henry's short attention span he absorbs exactly what he needs to so he can move on to the next lesson. Tonight he wouldn't go to bed without doing his lesson so there we were at 9pm doing the reading lesson for 10 minutes together which also includes writing. He LOVES reading and can't wait to show everyone what he knows, even though it's only 6 letter sounds at this point. I highly recommend this book to teach your kid how to read.
7 comments:
I actually looked into getting that but I saw an equal amount of negative comments about it that I was weary to pay the high price to check it out. How was the transition between word pattern recognition and actual reading?
Both sound cool. I actually just got this book for Christmas this year and I'm going to start trying it with Gabe. Thanks for the encouragement!
That is great he is so excited about reading already. I don't think your preschool is normal in not introducing letters to 3 year olds (even though they're exposing them: having experienced 3 different preschools personally, that all introduced letters to 3 year olds) but they are normal if they introduce them but don't EXPECT them to know their letters. All kids learn at different ages so I feel it's import to expose them to reading and writing early but not expect it/push it. Gabe didn't start "reading" til he was 5 and he reads above his age/grade level now and loves it. I tried working with him on it in preschool but he wasn't interested and it was frustrating for both of us to force it. I think you just have to know your kid. Since Henry knew all his letters at such a young age, he'll probably learn to read at a younger age than most kids. By first grade I think the kids all even out, if the parents are encouraging reading and writing and do it at home with the kids. Gabe still loves listening to stories even though he can read them on his own. Who knows where Nate will fall, he's much more interested in writing than Gabe was and is learning letter sounds now. Kind of long winded....but you asked...
i used that book with parker and ethan, and they are amazing readers. (i recommend it to many) ethan finished it when he was almost 4 and blew people away with his reading. but parker wasn't ready until he was 5. kids learn to read earlier in the uk, but i don't think it makes or breaks iq or intelligence if you aren't reading early--hands on learning is most important at this stage. :) laurel
I think the most important thing is to just give your children a love of reading - weather it's reading to them - having them look at books etc. Acadia learned at 5 and is doing great. She's ahead of most the kids in her Kindergarden class - so it looks like Henry will be an early reader. I'm just glad both my kids love books - b/c so do I. I think they'll see by your example that it's fun and want to learn.
Um, NO, Henry is DEFINITELY NOT average in development - he is one very very cerebral kid if you ask me! I agree with those that said the most important thing is to have a love of reading, not so much how early/what age you learn to do it. Although learning "early" (or at least on time) would definitely increase a kid's confidence!
I don't really think it matters when kids start reading, although I think that reading to them is really important, even as young as 6 months. As long as you read to them, they'll pick it up when they are ready. I see lots of kids at their Kindergarten visit who haven't had preschool and can't read, but by first grade they are doing as well as the kids who were reading novels in K.
My beef with the "Your Baby Can Read" is that sure, they can recognize word and letters, but can they really comprehend?, and at what cost? The neuronal connections they are making at that age are so important, and I just wonder if they are focusing on reading do they are miss those connections that are more developmentally appropriate? I haven't seen this studied...just theorizing.
I also think that so much of it is genetic. Have you ever read Freakonomics? It's got an interesting bit on intelligence and what helps or hinders (basically it all comes down the the genes). It's a good read.
We're excited to see Justin tonight--wish you guys were with him.
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