I can't begin to tell you how fun it is that Anna Claire can read, and what a different experience life is for her that she can read at four.
We were driving to Rivergate Mall a few weeks ago, a mall and area she's never been to before. Once we entered Goodlettsville, she perked up and said, "Mommy, there's a Jack-in-the Box." Now you may be a skeptic like me and think, "There's a Jack-in-the Box in Clarksville. She probably just recognized the logo." I thought the same thing. But when I came home and told Larry, he reminded me she's never seen one before and that the only one in Clarksville is in North Clarksville and we haven't been over there with her.
A few miles later she said, "Mommy, there's an animal hospital." Sure enough, there's a non-descript building with no pictures or images on it, just the words in giant font on the roof that say, "Animal Hospital." I asked her, "Did you just read that? I didn't know you knew "hospital." She said, "I did read it Mommy. Is that good?" Yes sweet girl, that is very good.
As we enter Rivergate, I asked her to help me look for the Party Store, just for fun. We get to an intersection and she says, "Mommy is that a Cheddar's?" I answered her, "No baby, that's a Checkers, a burger place. It does kind of look like the word Cheddars, doesn't it?" She got mad at me. "Yeah! It does say Cheddars Mommy. It start with 'ch'! I want to go to Cheddars." I didn't argue, I just smiled and kept driving until I heard from the back seat, "That say 'party' Mommy, is that the party store?" Yes it was. She saw the sign for "Party City." Thanks little reader!
We actually did go to Cheddars the eve of her birthday and their menu had very few pictures but she was reading everything on it. Pop was constantly amused as she pointed out all the foods on the menu she wanted to order: broccoli, chicken, pasta, and we all loved when she pointed out, "They have strawberry frozen rocks guys!" (referring to the Strawberry margaritas, frozen or on the rocks) Again, there are no picture clues on these menus people. Just text. Proud, beaming parents...I can't help but brag!
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| Cheddars Menu - see "strawberry," "frozen" and "rocks" in the description? |
Yesterday we were in the car, and Anna Claire pointed to the word "booster" her car seat. "My car seat says, 'booster' right there." I asked her how she knew that word, since we've never taught it to her or encountered it in it a story, and she said she just figured it out.
We got her a pack of colored glue sticks to use at her birthday party. When we got home with them, she opened up the pack and said, "I have 'ice', 'fire', 'earth', and 'sun.'" I asked her what she was talking about, and she said, "Look!" I walked over to her her art table, and sure enough, the glue sticks where each given names based on their color: blue ice, red fire, green earth, and yellow sun. Totally read those.
Then, at the library last week, we were in using their restroom and pointing to the hardware on the door, she said, "That say 'Mills,' is that like Opry Mills, Mommy? They came from Opry Mills." The hardware did, in fact, say "Mills."
I should stop being so surprised when she reads things, but I am still in a state of disbelief and shock that she's decoding new words on her own at such a young age.
We are not super-parents, we just purchased and believed in an amazing system for teaching kids to read, and followed the directions verbatim. We persisted with it from age 6 months to two years, and she took off on her own from there. It takes discipline from both parents, but as a middle school teacher who witnesses on a daily basis how a lack of reading and decoding skills cripples kids and impacts their performance in school, we totally bought in to being proactive and giving our child every advantage so that she will NOT be one of those statistics. Also, when you study child psychology and read about the window of opportunity that takes place from 6 months to 2 years, when kids' brains are literally sponges, you don't want to miss out on that. People totally underestimate babies! Ok, off my soap box now. ;)
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D.W. Gets Wet - First Book to Read Whole Pages
Larry and I take turns reading her her bedtime story each night, and tonight it was my turn. Anna Claire LOVES Arthur books, and especially books about his sister, D.W. A couple nights ago, we were reading her new library book, D.W. Gets Wet. Larry and I are both in the habit of leaving out many words on the page as we read to her and having her supply the missing words. Tonight, I left out the first word on a couple of pages, and instead of just giving me the word, she kept going, and I let her! Read the whole page. Granted, there are only 6-10 words in each sentence, and maybe 2-3 sentences per page, but impressive nevertheless. I will post snapshots of the two pages she read later.
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