T is 4.9 and can't read as of yet. He has some "sight words" and knows his letters and sounds. He starts K in the fall. His teacher said she thinks he will be reading this spring, but that seems so far off still for him skill-wise. I don't do anything with him other than read to him and practice writing if he wants to, but I am curious when and how reading will actually take off!
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I think all kids develop at their own pace and I wouldn't stress about it. Studies have shown if a child learns to read at 3, 4, or 5, it has no effect on how smart/successful they are later on.
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@alphagam84: yeah I've heard that too! Definitely not stressed about it, more curious than anything else!
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DD is 3 and starting to read, it's basically what we do all day every day! Starts 4k in fall, homeschooling now because she loves words, letters, books so it is happening naturally.
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As long as they are reading by end of kinder, I'm not worried at all.
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@winniebee: it takes off really fast in K. My son was similar to yours when he started K this fall and I've been so impressed with how quickly it has clicked.
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Just turned 5 and not reading, same as you sight words and good with writing but doesn't seem interested in piecing it together yet. I'll be interested to see if she picks it up on her own before kinder in the fall but I know she will get it then.
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LO stared reading Bob books when he was 4. He was mainly able to identify sight words and knew the sounds each letter makes. I wasn't concerned, and he didn't show interest in learning beyond that. They pick it up so quickly in Kindergarten, and now he is reading at a 1st grade level.
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At about 4.5. She had a variety of words she could recognize and was starting to phonetically sound words out and it took off very fast after that time. She's been reading for a year now and I'm amazed every day when she gets a word that I wouldn't expect her to get yet. I'll never forget, the first sentence she read "I can do it" in the book Flip and Flop a story about two penguins that was gifted to her from her Pre-K teacher.
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I was totally thinking of doing a poll for this! My DS is an early reader. He had sight words at 3 and can read two syllable words now at 4. He can read early readers. He can sound out words but doesn't always get them right. It's pretty cool to watch!
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I was in a similar position last year at this time (with the exception that my son was already 5). He knew all the letters, knew the single sounds they made, could write them reasonably well, but had no interest in putting them together, sounding out, any of it. I tried to introduce sight words over the summer and he said "I can't read, I don't know how to read, I don't want to learn how to read" and I decided at that point to back off and send him to school and see what happened.
Imagine my surprise when the first list of 25 sight words came home about 2 weeks into the school year and he happily pointed out every single one? Then, the first readers came home and he was able to read them front to back and I nearly fell off my chair because I thought FOR SURE this kid has a learning disability (not to make light of it at all).
I talked to my son's reading teacher (different from his main teacher) and she said that he really just took off right before Christmas. They do leveled reading groups and the group my son is in is reading at a first grade level. I think part of it is the assessment that they do, right in the beginning, to know what they are dealing with. They also have a full time reading specialist at the school to help both the kids and teachers with materials and activities. It's nothing short of amazing.
Now, all this to say I was an early reader, my mom says I taught myself and was reading at the age of 3. I am of normal intelligence, lol, but had an interest in the written word from early on, so to send my kid to K not being able to read, you can kind of see why I was in panic mode.
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DS is 4.5 and I think he can read a little, he's definitely good with sight words and I'm noticing more and more that he can read new words too. But they started really working on letters in school at three, which seems way way too early but most kids do seem to keep up.
It's so weird to me, my mom and I both taught ourselves to read around five and people thought we were some kind of geniuses
Now it's an expectation. The poor kid even has homework every weekend.
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Both my girls started to really read halfway into kindergarten, at 5.5 and 5.25.
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They start in K here while some are still three (fall babies!) my DD was 4 in October, but reading by the end of Sept. I didn't expect anything this soon and she's already reading at the expected level for Grade 1. The progress is insane, it's really neat to see.
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Our oldest really just started at 5.5 where she makes an effort to sound out words and can can get through an easy book with little help.
She loves stories and gets read to all the time and she knew letters and sounds and worked on sight words but it didn't come together till this winter. Now my three year old loves words a lot more than my oldest so I think some of it has to personality.
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My son is 4.5 and is just now getting into learning the sounds of letters (which he's so-so on remembering). If he his a groove, I could see him learning to read/blend words before Kindergarten in the fall, but I'm not really emphasizing it for him.
From teaching preschool/kinder, I feel like most kids figure out blending sounds and reading phonetic books around 5.5 years old (generally, late winter/springtime of their Kinder year), but I've seen 3.5 year olds who had figured it out!
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My son is 4.5yo and he's been reading BOB books since he was 3.5yo. He's pretty good with reading and sounding out words and comprehending what he's reading. But, as someone else mentioned, learning how to read early isn't a good determiner of whether a child we be academically successful.
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At four he could read a few works. At 5.5 he's able to read simple sentences. He loves reading, so I think it helps. It's so fun to see how quickly they progress.
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My son is almost three so we have not been concerned about reading yet.
But when I was in school back in the dark ages when we had to walk uphill both ways barefoot in the snow, they didn't expect anyone to learn to read until first grade. My peers all turned out fine. I think it is crazy that reading is now pushed in K.
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Sight words are a great start! Also develop phonemic awareness - letter sounds and rhyming! I work in a big elementary school and most kids are not reading basic sentences til the end of K
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I nannied for a boy in kinder who could not read yet. But I hope to get T reading by the time she starts school if she has the aptitude. I did not learn to read till mid elementary.
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Honestly, my expectation is for LO to start learning to read in PreK. She is an October birthday so she will be 5 two months into her PreK school year. The preschool she'll be at does work on phonics in PreK.
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My son turns 5 this month, and he's not reading yet. But I don't expect him to. He will start K this fall, and I'm sure that's when he'll start to pick it up!
He does know all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds (thank you endless alphabet app for that!). He has a few words he can recognize and spell if you ask him (his name, mama, go, train, no, yes, on...), and if coached, he can sound out letters of a word and try to put them together. So I think that's a great start for going into kindergarten! -
Former kindergarten teacher here! Sounds like your son is spot-on where he needs to be to enter kindergarten in the fall. I am sure he will grow by leaps and bounds and, by this time next year, you'll have an emergent reader on your hands! Let me know if you want some recommendations for materials. I have some I love and some (BOB books
) I don't think are that great. Happy reading!
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My 4 year old dd is not reading. She has suddenly been more interested in writing and she can pick out the beginning sounds of a good amount of words which I think is impressive, but until recently I haven't worried about it at all...
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Reading predictable early readers by end of K would be my goal
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@ElbieKay: I am in agreement. I thought it seemed like a lot to put on the shoulders of a kindergartener. Now I have a child in kindergarten and he has to learn and I have found the process not too painful at all.
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@looch: I think my son in particular will be fine. He will be three in a month and can recognize all the letters and knows things like "c is for cat", though I'm not sure how much he has internalized about letters being the building blocks for words. He also loves being read to and will sit by himself and flip through his books too. So I think the motivation will be there.
But I think it's a shame that schools are being so aggressive because I don't think there is necessarily that much long term payoff. Why can't we let kids be kids a little longer?
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If you compare my husband and I, side by side, he didn't learn to read until he went to school (abroad) at the age of 6-7. I was an early reader. I went to K reading at a second grade level. Here we are now, 40 years later and in EXACTLY the same spot, career and education wise. We're like a case study that there isn't an age when you learn to read and have some huge long term benefits!
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When: 6. He had the basic blending down at 5.5 or so, but we got more serious about practicing and he made rapid progress just after he turned 6.
How: Hours a day of reading aloud to him, dabbling in letters and blends and CVC words from about 4 on, and regular short daily lessons and practice when he turned 6.
@ElbieKay: I generally agree. My issue with pushing reading instruction down into preschool, pre-K and K is the opportunity cost. If you focus on literacy at 4 and 5 (and even 6), you are by default giving up quite a lot of time doing something else with that child, including substantive intellectual pursuits and free play. And what youâre doing instead is essentially teaching mechanics. (Reading instruction is highly mechanical if youâre taking a phonetic approach, and itâs just straight memorization if you focus on a lot of so-called âsight words.â) Mechanics are fine and necessary and practicing some amount of memorization is good too, but Iâm not sure that putting such a big emphasis on them is a great way to introduce formal learning. Also, I suspect that the opportunity costs are much bigger the earlier you push down literacy instruction, simply because it takes more time to teach most 4 year olds to read than it does most 6 year olds.
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@ElbieKay: I read that America has a huge obsession with language in the early years and Asian countries have a similar passion but for math. Isn't it interesting? They don't even care what is happening with the other subject but in opposite ways.
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@808love: that's reassuring. I would say my daughter who is not really close to reading is at about K level for math, so overall we are ok.
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Americans read tons to their kids and are always asking how to help with reading or what books to read while Asian parents are asking, What kinds of extra math(s) are you doing?
This was from Beyond the Tiger Mom- East West Parenting. Great book...with math problems too. (Just kidding about the math.) -
@808love: That's interesting!
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@looch: It is probably why Americans are such great storytellers and birthed the Hollywood movies. Sorry for the thread jack. Will stop now.
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@808love: Huh, who knew!
I love a good thread jack, especially when the topic is kind of related but not really, lol. Reading, math, whatever, sorry OP!!!!
Now it's an expectation. The poor kid even has homework every weekend.
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