I have been teaching my son since he was 3 year old... we started practicing writing skills at that age. Now he just turned 4. And 2 weeks ago i started him on reading. He reads well i guess. He can read something like this "Don can see dots. He can see dots on pads" without mistake and pretty fast. But if this is new to him he would ask me "what did it say?". We started reading little book about Don (that sentence was from there) and since it was a new book he asked me what each sentance say even though he read it accurately. I think he reads fast enough to remember what he is reading about... i know he is young and it has been only 2 weeks but i am wondering what should i do about it... should i tell him what it means by rereading it myself to him? and how long this stage will last?
I say go with it. He might be able to understand it better when he is hearing it rather then decoding it. It can be to much for a young brain to decode and comprehend at the same time. Don't push him and let him enjoy it! He is doing AWESOME for his age!
tHERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN READING THE WORDS (sorry didn't realize caps were on and have the baby in my arms so not fixing it..lol) and understanding the words. He is very young yet, let him be a little kid and read it to him, they grow up too fast as it is
Geesh Sommer...we hear ya! JUST KIDDING! lol. I agree with the other ladies..in fact..it's what I was going to say. I have a four year old and she is just starting to read also. They have quite a bit to think about when reading...so taking it slow and reading to them is very important to develop good readers.
and dont forget to cheer when your dc got it right! The love of reading comes from these early stages of reading when we make it delightful and fun!
Thank you so much guys! I will be starting with reading a new book to him myself it mihgt help him a lot! thanls guys! I didnt even think of that!
Keep reading fun. If he doesn't understand it, tell him what it means. You may want to read the text to him before he reads. That way he will understand what he is reading while he reads. MHO My son was a late reader and things may be different with late readers. With my son I would read the chapter to him after he read it. I wasn't sure if he didn't understand it or if he just wanted to get out of the work of reading, so I always had him read it first. If there was something that I knew he would not understand, I read it first to him sometimes. I thought that would help him to learn to understand what he is reading. A fun activity to do with reading is using the Five in a Row books. My son really enjoyed those and still remember the books we read together. You can probably google Five in a Row. If that does not work and you are interested in the books, let me know and I will dig through my school boxes to see who publishes them.
Ok, baby is down for a nap, my 3rd kind of cookies is mixed up for the day and now I have a second to write more. I think there is a big difference between a child learning to read (decoding phonics) and learning to comprehend reading. They will learn to comprehend from listening to you reading a story to them, they will learn to read from practicing decoding very very simple phonics based books. Right now my 4yo (will be 5 in 6 days) can decode some easy books, she can tell me about books we read together (I read it to her, or in the case of like Cat in The Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, I read most of the words following with my finger and then I simply pause on words that I know she knows and let her read them). I can see her moving along in her abilities at her own pace. Oh, and we only do "school" when they ask, but books aren't school in our house.
Crazymama, it makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER to know you're still baking cookies!!! Faythe did a batch today, and we still have our gingerbread house to do!!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!! Sue May summed it up best when she said to "keep reading fun". Try not to "teach" reading if you can. Let him read what he can, tell him what he wants to know, maybe ask a question BEFORE he actually reads: "Let's play a game! I'm going to ask you a question, and see if you can read the words to find the answer. Ready? What did Don see?"
haha.. Jackie, I have been baking for a week now, and as fast as I make them they eat them! I even made 14 dozen chocolate chip and they are GONE! I just made raisin filled for the very first time, I never met a cookie I couldn't make, but these had me about in tears! Hubby better love me for that mess..lol. Ok, threadjack over... I agree 110% with keeping reading fun! I bought Rylee HOP, mostly just so we had some books around here I knew were super simple, but she does best with books that we read over and over and over... if you follow the words with your finger every time, not only does it teach them the "direction" of reading, she blows me away with the words she recognizes just from that... and come to think of it, that is exactly how I learned to read, in fact until Garrett was in school, I never knew what a phonics was!
oh how exciting Jackie! i will defenatly do the questions things As you guys sujested i started reading new books for him and the one we were reading today was easy to decode and i read it first. And to my surprise his "what does it say?" question lowered to 80% down Yee-Haaaaa! He really loves reading. He also LOVES when i videotape him reading hheheh. So mabe tonight i will post a link lol
Ha-ha-ha Sommer, you make phonics sound like a germ or something! Too funny. I second (or third or fourth) making reading fun. All three of my boys are avid readers, and I honestly think it is because reading was just reading. No computer quiz, no book reports, no vocabulary units, no tests. Now that they are older, we are incorporating that more, but they still have their "free-reading" choices that they read eagerly. That isn't to say that I didn't do what Jackie suggested and check for reading comprehension by asking questions, but that is a skill to learn in itself. If my six year old could tell me what his Winnie the Pooh story was about in his own words, then I knew he was understanding what he was reading. Sometimes a word or two from a story would make it into a spelling/vocabulary worksheet, but the child just correlates it to that subject- 'hey, I read that word in Charlotte's Web!'. I think at four you are doing fine! MT3
Sommer, I'm sending you a PM about cookies! There are books out where the left page is easy for beginning readers, and the right is more "normal" for the parent to read. So Mom and child read them together. Don't remember what they were called, but am sure your librarian can tell you. MT3 mentioned "narration" (having a kid tell you in his own words what he just read about). This is a good habbit to get into! Also, do you have your child keep a picture journal? Buy paper that has room on top for a picture. As you read, he can draw a picture about it, and then dictate to you about the picture when you're done. You write the words EXACTLY as he says them, and he can then "read" it to Daddy when he gets home.
those are awesome ideas, ladies!! My son is not drawing very well AT ALL He can draw a person and thats about it... everything else is "train tracks" - lines everywhere... maybe i need to teach him how to draw now...
dual-leveled readers! Usborne has an awesome series of dual-leveled readers. There is easy text at the top and harder text at the bottom. My daughter reads the easy part, I read the hard part. On each page is a little yellow duck hiding for my youngest to look for while sissy reads. My daughter LOVES this series. If you want more info, PM me. I do sell Usborne books so I can get you a link!
I didn't know Usborne made them! I'm pretty sure the ones I've seen aren't Usborne, but I would imagine the kids would love regardless of who put them out.
I suggest Draw-Write-Now! There are 8 books of instructions, with 3 "units" or topics in each. The instructions are given in visual style, with the new lines given in red, either six or eight "panels" to the page. The other page of the two-page spread is a completed drawing, with a couple or few sentences below that for the student to copy in their very best handwriting - manuscript or cursive (the book only gives manuscript, but if the kids already know or are learning cursive, they might opt for that). You can let that be it, or you can expand on the text of the handwriting page with some library books and let the kids decide what to write. My kids are loving it!
I wouldn't stress over it he's only 3 and each child is different. Such as, my son didn't really talk until he was three, but he could ride a two wheeled bike. He's just now getting into wanting to learn so we work on it as his own pace so that he wants to learn.
