I just wanted to share my amazement at my son in a forum with other people who will understand and not judge/respond negatively.
My son has just turned 3 and a half and has developed a passion for reading - quickly securing high frequency words and devouring early readers. I have been ordering the zip and mac series from wild daisies as they appeal to very young and are great books. Budget wise I can only afford to get a couple at a time. I just sent away for some level 3-5 (reading recovery levels) for him to work towards, thinking it'd be a little while till he could manage....WRONG - a 74 word story wiht main words of look, said, at, my, like, go, up, down, and, we, I, on, go, can,me, going.....picked it up and just read it straight through, and same with other 4 books!!! He will repeat and repeat until he's more fluent so wont mind that he can already read them but I was pretty amazed!!!
I am a teacher who has worked with many children learning to read and everything has just clicked for him in a way I've never seen...nothing is tricky at all. He can translate knowledge from one thing to another so easily.
Anyway, that's all...I'm just proud and amazed and wanted to share. :)
Re: My baby can read-and not talking about the dvd programme!
Author: Linda
Date: 26-10-11 14:30
Hi Terry,
Awesome!! You are right to be proud. It's also great to have this forum to share without everyone presuming you're stretching the truth (rather than only telling a tiny fraction to make it appear more 'normal') out there in general society.
I wanted to suggest that you use secondhand shops and the library as great sources of books for your son as if he's anything like mine he will out-read your book budget very quickly.
You may also be able to borrow readers from school (particularly in the holidays). My son was similar and kindy had to take care what newspaper was used to cover the art table as some articles caused too many age-inappropriate questions -particularly the crime section.
Good luck with your keen reader. It's such a relief to be able to give them a big pile of library books and not see them again for 2 hours due to the keen reading!
Great! Our boy read through the library readers over and over. He currently enjoys Dick King-Smith and Roald Dahl books. Buying books is not possible unless we had an unlimited budget. We're at the library 2-4 times a week and his and his sister's cards are maxed. He talked the librarian into letting him be part of the summer library reading program last year at age 4 1/4 because "I can read real chapter books".
Gosh, know what it is like. I only have one person that I talk to about it, others I don't say a word, as I think they are over it, don't believe me or think I am showing off, but they are allowed to say their child has learnt the alphabet - which we did at 1.5. M goes back and forth, she will only read new books, and gets bored of the old books. I was actually thinking of asking the school if we can come to their library and use their readers - just an idea. Being in the country I am hoping they will be open to it.
And we are all allowed to be proud of our children and it is really awesome to have somewhere to share it. It is really amazing what our kids can do!
Re: My baby can read-and not talking about the dvd programme!
Author: country girl
Date: 01-11-11 09:31
What an amazing son you have. We have never been able to afford to buy new books so my suggestion is to use the library and once you know what sort of books he really likes then check out the Salvation Army and similar stores. Our Sallies have books for as little as .20c and telling my daughter she can have pretty much whatever catches her eye means she is never short of books. I remember when she was 3 years old and she chose 7 books from the library each week (one for each day of the week) and as we drove the 1/2 hour drive home she read all 7 of them!
It's a fun journey!! DS is almost 4 and fluently reads chapter books now. Your DS will progress fairly quickly reading whole words. I highly recommend the library (we go through 40 or so books every month) and 2nd hand book shops. We found DS enjoyed some early readers but also continued with picture books, non-fiction and fiction that is a bit above where he is at. It is lovely to be able to share with people! Happy reading...
Thanks everyone for positive replies! THis forum is so great for sharing without the judgement.
Our trips to the library had always been quite brief because as soon as he'd checked if there were any Thomas the tank engine books he was done! But this weekend I managed to sort through the reading books and get an idea of where they are all and so yes, I will use those too. I am a teacher at his Preschool and we have some reading books so I have been taking some of these home too. I am a bit worried about finding books that he understands the content - is this something everyone considers for their early reader?
Re: My baby can read-and not talking about the dvd programme!
Author: Linda
Date: 02-11-11 19:50
As to understanding content, I doubt very much that a child would stay immersed in happily reading a book if they were not taking in a good deal of the content; and really, does it matter as long as the child is happy and engaged?
Re: My baby can read-and not talking about the dvd programme!
Author: Linda
Date: 02-11-11 20:26
Just to add:
My son used to take a plastic cube of books home from the library. Some he understood, some not. It was pretty easy to tell as he didn't spend long on those he didn't comprehend. As he's got older he's better able to select appropriately initially and we don't lug as many home --although just as much reading happens.
We had trouble with ensuring the content was age-appropriate as DS is very sensitive to anything remotely scary. Non fiction books can be great eg Usborne beginner series - DS loved the ones on space, firetrucks... clearly set out, basic information. The "proper" reading books can be a bit dull so we tended to read all sorts of different things, letting DS read the words he knew and very quickly he could read all sorts of other obscure words alongside the basic sight words.
Re: My baby can read-and not talking about the dvd programme!
Author: Anon
Date: 04-11-11 18:36
Exciting! Enjoy your amazing son.
A couple of extra pieces of advice / info, as you will find it's hard to keep up with the demand for new books (although I guess as a teacher you will have a wealth of information on the resources out there). Check if your local libraries have annual book sales. We have picked up boxes and boxes in the past from library sales.
And never ever underestimate the value of "simple" picture books. The best ones work on so many different levels - the content will be right for a young child, but a more advanced child will take more meaning from it.
Just last night our 10 yr old - who was reading and comprehending chapter books well before starting school - took a pile of picture books to bed. DH is book-mad and we have attended many book sales. We have hundreds and hundreds of books in our house ranging from non-fiction in every subject you can imagine to fiction ranging from the simplest board books for babies right through to the 'classics'.
I was thrilled to see a pile of picture books on the bed. :-)
