In My Class...

[Unregistered]

a story of my life. learning to read early, I started school when I was 7, and for the first 2-3 years, I was sitting out the readig lessons because I was so far advanced. didn't bother me one bit, by the way: I just brought my own books and quietly read them in class (and aloud to classmates at recess).
if she does start reading early, and a teacher has a problem with it, I have a nice choice of schools that are closer by and dying to get a bilingual child in their classrooms for promoting diversity, so I won't hesitate pulling if that's what it takes.
as for books... again, we are bilingual, and when the time comes, I may have to teach her reading in my language. the choice of books will double instantly.

Oh I'm glad you have choices! I am lucky to have been able to switch. We are in a very rural area so the schools are small. I had actually open enrolled him to this one because it was smaller than our home district, and only 5miles away. Our home district is 11 miles away and any other options are 15 or more miles away and I'd have had to drive to meet the bus. As it turned out, the smaller district put 25 students in a classroom because that was how many were in the grade, but the bigger school had 60 in a grade and divided them into 4 classrooms so class sizes in the elementary grades were only 15 students, plus each grade has their own floating TA so 5 teachers for 60 kids.

And I should thank you for saying that this is the story of your life because not everyone gets it and I never meant it to sound like I was bragging, even though it could read that way to someone else. I've been told so often that I shouldn't complain, but my concerns as a parent who wants her child to fit in were valid even if other people didn't see it as a very bad problem to have. I constantly had to keep on top of things to make sure he wasn't left out of things. You are one step ahead of me in having been there yourself.

[Mad_Pistachio]

Oh I'm glad you have choices! I am lucky to have been able to switch. We are in a very rural area so the schools are small. I had actually open enrolled him to this one because it was smaller than our home district, and only 5miles away. Our home district is 11 miles away and any other options are 15 or more miles away and I'd have had to drive to meet the bus. As it turned out, the smaller district put 25 students in a classroom because that was how many were in the grade, but the bigger school had 60 in a grade and divided them into 4 classrooms so class sizes in the elementary grades were only 15 students, plus each grade has their own floating TA so 5 teachers for 60 kids.

And I should thank you for saying that this is the story of your life because not everyone gets it and I never meant it to sound like I was bragging, even though it could read that way to someone else. I've been told so often that I shouldn't complain, but my concerns as a parent who wants her child to fit in were valid even if other people didn't see it as a very bad problem to have. I constantly had to keep on top of things to make sure he wasn't left out of things. You are one step ahead of me in having been there yourself.

oh, brag away, for Pete's sake
I just remember how it was: I never fit in, anywhere. I think it bothered me in my early 20's, but in early childhood/preteen/teenage years I did not give a hoot if I fit in or not. being unique was far more interesting than a conveyor belt. same was with my reading skills: I could read when no one else could? great! I'll just sit here and read quietly, and you can moo and maa through the class. it was shocking to find out that someone may not know how to read at 7, but I got over that one quickly and learned to take advantage.
not everyone wants or needs to fit in. those who don't have a choice: try to bend over backwards fitting in or let it go and move on. I let it go and moved on. life got much, much easier... hopefully, my daughter learns to do that, too, if she doesn't fit in.

[Blackcat31]

There is a big difference between a preschool age child learning to read because they have such a high interest in words and books, and teaching preschool age children to read. One is student led and one is teacher led. A child asking what a word is, and you telling them, is vastly different than, for example, holding up flash cards for all of the children to memorize. A print rich environment, as suggested above, leads children who are ready to read without pressuring children who are not ready. Studies have shown that formal reading instruction before the first grade leads to an increase in learning disabilities, but the schools are still pushing those little kindergarteners, and now preschoolers, to get it together and read already.

This is so true!

I think reading is much like toilet training. We can teach ourselves to read their body clocks and lead them to the toilet.,.usually with a pretty good success rate but it takes soooo long.

Or we can also provide an environment that is rich in literacy and the kids will grasp the concept of reading pretty quickly on their own because they are developmentally ready.

Early reading has nothing to do with reading skills later on in life... There is no correlation to whether your child will be an avid/skilled reader based on what age they learned to read.

My daughter was a very early reader and although she is an avid reader as an adult, she read at the same level as her peers her whole school life.

My son on the other hand, didn't learn to read as early as my daughter (and is an avid reader as an adult as well) but he read at a much higher reading level in comparison to his peers during his school years.

Providing the environment for the child to learn on their own and at their own pace is so much more beneficial and it aligns with "how to teach" in general.
Flashcards, memorization and rote learning is not developmentally appropriate at all.

[Mad_Pistachio]

I think reading is much like toilet training. We can teach ourselves to read their body clocks and lead them to the toilet.,.usually with a pretty good success rate but it takes soooo long.

just what I said a couple of days ago: I feel like a parent of a child who's ready to use a bathroom, and I have no clue how to lead the process.
which is why I want to help. I have a ready child and no potty to use, so to speak.

[Blackcat31]

just what I said a couple of days ago: I feel like a parent of a child who's ready to use a bathroom, and I have no clue how to lead the process.
which is why I want to help. I have a ready child and no potty to use, so to speak.

You are looking for help in regards to how you should lead....

The child needs to lead.

Google (or use Pinterest if you are brave ...I get lost there every.single.time : for ideas and tips on how to set up a literacy rich environment. You can also find a ton of blogs that give you lots of ideas and methods for teaching letters, site words and letter recognition.

A couple of my favs are:

No Time for Flashcards

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

This Reading Mama

http://thisreadingmama.com/

TeachMama

http://teachmama.com/

Pre-Kinders

http://prekinders.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/

The Crafty Classroom (Letter of the Week)

http://thecraftyclassroom.com/

[daycarediva]

mad pistachio-

I would set up some fun activities/games with the preschool dolch sight words list. I use secret letters/hidden letters, taping them to the floor and jumping the words, slapping the words on the wall with flyswatters, writing them on balloons and saying the word when you hit it, etc.

I also strongly believe in using word families.

-at
AT
HAT
MAT
CAT
SAT
FAT
RAT
PAT
BAT

I find parents inadvertently holding their kids back by using letter sound wrong.

Fffffff= FUH

NO, f does not say FUH, it is JUST FFFFFFFFFFFFFF

My 1st grade dcb had to relearn letter sounds, as he was sounding out words like

FUH AYE TUH

was never going to get FAT from those sounds.

[CalCare]

I was taught to teach reading the Carden way which does teach "fuh" for the letter "f". It's not really wrong, it's just a different way. "Buh", "cuh", "duh", "fuh", guh","huh",... Haha we did it every day. Then they learn vowels do make more than one sound, but to start we will just use words where the vowel says it's name. We will only let the first vowel say it's name, the second vowel is silent: eat, goat, late, etc. When the kids get farther along, they learn other "controls" or rules to use for spelling and reading. The one thing I really appreciated about Carden was the way the letters are taught. It's long to explain here, but there are visual cues to the shape of the letter as well as the sound it makes. So the letter "b" is called the "stinger of the bee, the body of the bee". That way kids remember the line (stinger) is first and the circle (the body) is next (going left to right. We would explain "buh, buh, bee" when the time for letter sounds came. It's all very regimental. This is how we taught starting with four year olds. I wouldnt do it now, but it was the philosophy at my job then, so I did! And, truly, it worked amazingly for all these kids. I was shocked. I learned to read before kindergarten. My mom used flash cards and I memorized them. I was a very high tester for many years. Then, I barely graduated high school. So there's my flash card story

[Mad_Pistachio]

when I was young, all schools had the same textbook for teaching children to read. I googled it today and had a huge facepalm moment: it is loaded with Soviet propaganda. but it was used everywhere. this is what was used to teach me to read. this is what got me interested in reading, writing, languages, and communications. I am not certain I would learn another language so easily had I not learned my own early.
no one knew about flash cards. I can't stand them: they get lost and create clutter. I wish there was a similar book in English. sans propaganda, of course.

[ColorfulSunburst]

My dc kids love to learn how to read. I don't use flashcards. They are boring. I try to avoid rote memorization as much as possible. I want that my DCkids understand the principles that form the foundation of reading. Also, Amazon is full of good toys that turn lessons into interesting games.
For example,
- this one is great for my 2yo. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- this one is great for my 3.5yo https://www.amazon.com/Boggle-Junior...e+classic+game
- magnetic board with letters and pictures.

it is done by 3 and 3.5 yo kids.

You can try this link.https://www.starfall.com/ I love this website!

[ColorfulSunburst]

oh, I see it is the old thread. Sorry

[Blackcat31]

oh, I see it is the old thread. Sorry

Old thread but usually still relevant info

I try to point out the dates on threads only so that anyone responding isn't waiting for a poster from 2010 to reply...kwim? but there is nothing wrong with posting on an older thread. Sometimes its fun to see how attitudes, comments and posters have changed.