Did reading "click" for you?

[ABQmom]

Yes, I learned to read just like that. I was almost 7 in first grade when we started learning phonics and reading in basal readers. I remember the teacher telling us what sounds all the letters made, and I was so excited! It totally made sense to me, and I couldn't wait for the next day's lesson when I would learn another phonogram. I picked up reading very quickly then and loved it.

 

I know from experience with teaching my fourth child now, however, that not all children have it that easy. 2 of mine have picked it up slowly over a short period of time, and 2 of them have struggled with remembering what sounds the letters make. My fourth child just turned 7 and she can't remember what sounds some phonograms make to save her life. Patience---she needs me to be patient. Sigh.

[MeaganS]

I never remember not knowing how to read. I'm not even sure how old I was when I started reading, although I know I was ahead of my class.

[beaners]

I was actually just thinking about these aha! moments the other day. I know that I knew some words when I started kindergarten, but I wasn't reading fluently at that point. I remember asking one of the aides what letters made the "ch" and "sh" sounds because I didn't see those on the alphabet line. I also remember listening to about half of her answer before I walked away. I didn't have much of an attention span at that age.

 

I also distinctly remember sitting in a hideous bright orange chair at my grandparent's house and suddenly realizing that the word I had been reading as "culled" in my head was actually could, because I recognized would further down the page.

 

I was reading well in first grade, but I wasn't in the best reading group. I was very annoyed by that. The first book my reading group read was a picture book version of the song "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." I hated that it was so repetitive. I think I was mostly just frustrated that I wasn't in the higher level, because they got to leave the room for their lesson. I had an awful lisp at that age, and I'm actually surprised that the teacher could understand what I was reading out loud.

 

For the poster who asked about young readers, I was a late 4 when I started kindergarten. I'd say that I was reading slightly below the level that my 3.5 year old is right now when I left kindergarten. She can blend short vowel words with one or more than one syllable, and some long vowel combinations. (We have done a handful of lessons and a little bit of time on starfall, but mostly just read-a-louds and rhyming games. We don't slave over it.) My younger sister wasn't reading well in 2nd grade, and still isn't a great reader. My younger brother was reading in kindergarten. My younger daughter will be 2 at the end of this month, and she isn't reading...yet. ;)

[eloquacious]

I only wish I had such a memory - I don't know when or how I learned to read, though I suppose I could do some research into the German kindergarten and elementary school system in the 80s. My earliest memory of reading is that sometime early in the second grade I stayed up all night to read a book that I apparently found so engrossing that I couldn't put it down. Later that year, I moved to the U.S., where I learned English in a language lab with Dick and Jane. By the end of the 3rd grade I was reading at a 10th grade reading level in English, so I suspect that we did not have whole language instruction in Germany, and that I brought my phonics knowledge along with me and translated it into English.

[bairnmama]

I also never remember not being able to read. My mom likes to tell about my 1st grade teacher not knowing what to do with me because I could read so well. Our school didn't have a school library, each teacher kept her own library in her class and I had read every.single.book in her class library well before Christmas. I think I was reading Beverly Cleary in 2nd and Isaac Asimov by 4th or 5th. However I do distinctly remember being taught phonics in 1st grade... down to the schwa sound being represented with an upside-down e. We had to write our spelling words both the regular way and how they would appear in dictionary for pronounciation.

 

I'm still waiting for some sort of "aha" moment for my dd. She's getting better but will soon be 10 and is not quite past Henry & Mudge type books. She does have other issues, though, that make learning and remembering quite hard. Ds seems to be able to read much better than he realizes or lets on. I think his "aha" moment is just around the corner.