When do you begin reading curric?

[blondeviolin]

I'm wondering what milestones you look for before beginning reading curric? My 4yo keeps begging to learn to read. His phonemic awareness is coming along, but I know it's MUCH easier when they're developmentally ready. My oldest did okay at 3ish, but really took off at 4.5. Are boys slower in general?

[jennynd]

i don't think boy slow in general.

my clue from my dd was she know all her letter and sound and start picking up sight words.

[Kuovonne]

I don't do formal reading lessons until my kid

- can recognize all 26 letters in upper and lower case

- knows the sounds for all 26 letters

- can blend sounds orally

 

Here's what I do before formal lessons

- read-alouds with my finger under the words, even when I think the kid isn't paying attention

- LeapFrog Letter Factory video

- silly rhyming songs and games

 

 

If he's begging for lessons, why not try some out and take advantage of that enthousiasm. If he looses interest, just shelve it for a few months.

[ErinE]

Just teach him the letter sounds and start adding in the CVC words. If he resists, just keep making him aware of the letters and how they're sounded out in words. Since he's begging to read, go ahead and start teaching.

[Ellie]

No, boys are not slower in general.

 

If your 4yo wants to read, you could try 100 Easy Lessons with him. It's supposed to be particularly good for younger dc as it doesn't require much in the way of writing.

[blondeviolin]

I don't do formal reading lessons until my kid

- can recognize all 26 letters in upper and lower case

- knows the sounds for all 26 letters

- can blend sounds orally

 

Here's what I do before formal lessons

- read-alouds with my finger under the words, even when I think the kid isn't paying attention

- LeapFrog Letter Factory video

- silly rhyming songs and games

 

 

If he's begging for lessons, why not try some out and take advantage of that enthousiasm. If he looses interest, just shelve it for a few months.

 

Thanks to leapfrog, my kids have all known their letters (capital and lowercase) and sounds by 2.5. It's the blending that trips them up. In no way will I give my 2yos lessons, though. :tongue_smilie:

 

The only issues he has with blending is he sometimes doesn't blend the beginning sound as well. Still...I might try him with something slow....

 

ETA: I should add that he is very aware that letters and their individual sounds make words. A few months back we had him assessed for speech delay, which included a language test that he hit the ceiling on. We've also been advised that he may be gifted (no surprise there).

 

One of the big reasons I'm hesitant because he is very much a little boy still and is just barely getting to the point where he can sit for longer read alouds.

Edited February 25, 2012 by blondeviolin

[MistyMountain]

With dd I started when she was 5 because I thought that was a good age and she knew her letter sounds. DS is 3.5 and knows his letters and sounds but I don't feel he has great phonemic awareness yet. When I know he can rhyme and he knows beginning, middle and ending sounds, and the concept of blending I will probably start. DS is farther along than dd was at the same age so I think he be ready to start sooner. I can see maybe starting at 4.

Edited February 25, 2012 by MistyMountain

[StartingOver]

Around here we start watching Leap Frog Letter Factory at 2 or before. Once they know all the letters and their sounds I start blending. "Bring me your C...U...P..." When they can understand what I am saying, we start reading. For each of my children this was different, but anywhere from age 3 to age 8. Reading readiness is an individual thing. I have no issue with starting when they are ready or taking a break when they start to get frustrated.

[staceyobu]

We start at four. I was planning on just doing letters and their sounds this year, but DS took to it so quickly that we kept going.

[duckabell]

I started when my son was four. He knew all of his letters and their sounds. I then would play magnet games with him with simple CVC words and when he understood how to blend them we started OPGTR.

[JudoMom]

Thanks to leapfrog, my kids have all known their letters (capital and lowercase) and sounds by 2.5. It's the blending that trips them up. In no way will I give my 2yos lessons, though. :tongue_smilie:

 

The only issues he has with blending is he sometimes doesn't blend the beginning sound as well. Still...I might try him with something slow....

 

ETA: I should add that he is very aware that letters and their individual sounds make words. A few months back we had him assessed for speech delay, which included a language test that he hit the ceiling on. We've also been advised that he may be gifted (no surprise there).

 

One of the big reasons I'm hesitant because he is very much a little boy still and is just barely getting to the point where he can sit for longer read alouds.

 

This is one of the reasons I love Phonics Pathways so much. Lessons can be super short (less than 5 minutes) or go as long as you'd like.

[sparks]

I'm wondering what milestones you look for before beginning reading curric? My 4yo keeps begging to learn to read. His phonemic awareness is coming along, but I know it's MUCH easier when they're developmentally ready. My oldest did okay at 3ish, but really took off at 4.5. Are boys slower in general?

 

I am not so sure about 'milestones' but you might want to take note of ...

1. Reading convention - books are held right way up, pages are turned from right to left, attempts to trace the sentence with fingers as they pretend to read.

2.It is useful for children to learn phonics as it helps them with spelling and writing, beyond reading. Yet, it does not always HAVE to start from phonics. Some kids pick up whole words very fast. I try to make sure both skills are in place before i start

 

My ds started to blend at 3.5, but i waited till he read whole words before I started him on formal instruction. It was slightly before his 4th birthday if i remember correctly.

My dd on the other hand, read whole words at 2.5, but I only started her on reading when she could blend CVC at 3.

 

So yes, my girl seems to read earlier?

 

They are both not gifted, we just started early :D but do it real slow...,,,,

[chepyl]

I'm wondering what milestones you look for before beginning reading curric? My 4yo keeps begging to learn to read. His phonemic awareness is coming along, but I know it's MUCH easier when they're developmentally ready. My oldest did okay at 3ish, but really took off at 4.5. Are boys slower in general?

 

I don't see it as a boy/girl thing, but just the individual child. DS was ready at 4. He knew all his letters, letter sounds, and had been writing them for a long time. He could write words spelled for him and could sound some words out to spell himself. I just had no idea where to start. A friend gave me 100 Easy Lessons and he was reading in less than a month.

 

Dd is 4 and does bot know her letters and letter sounds, we mastered counting to 5!!!! She just has no interest. I hope she will be ready by 5. But it may be later than that for her and that is fine. We won't start K until she is 5.5.

[trlt]

We started with OPGTR when my dd was 3.5. We started because she was begging to do it. She already knew her letters and sounds (from Letter Factory) but I really wanted to reinforce those and I didn't want her to go too fast. We took our time with the letters section and I combined it with Letters of the Week . Since she was so young we just took our time and had fun with it. When she finished the first two sections of OPGTR we just kept going because she wanted to. I think that you know what is best for your child and if you follow his lead and let it be fun then both of you will enjoy it!!

[boscopup]

At that age (4), I do reading lessons if/when the child asks for them. My oldest wasn't ready for formal lessons AT ALL at that age. He preferred to teach himself things. At 4.5, he picked up Go, Dog, Go! (grade level 1.5) and read 30 pages in one sitting... his first book to ever read. If I tried to teach him to read before that point, he resisted big time. I just had to back off and let him go. He flew on his own quite well. ;) My middle son could blend at 4, but he didn't know all his letter sounds. :tongue_smilie: If he asked to do a reading lesson, we did... using Webster's Speller at that time. A year later, he's still sounding everything out, but I can see he's going to take off soon. He's starting to get quicker with recognizing the simple CVC words. He's also using Reading Eggs, which helps by doing a lot of repetition. And we just started Dancing Bears, which is going well (but we just started - ie, we've only done 2 lessons :D). He's still schooled on a "when he wants to" basis, as he won't be K until next school year, but I'm trying to be more consistent with reading instruction right now, since he's oh so close to reading and he wants to read.

 

My youngest is 2.5 and knows his letter sounds (similar to his oldest brother), and he apparently has great phonemic awareness, as he's going through Reading Eggs also and is doing quite well, much to my surprise. Again, he only does this when he wants to, and if he wants to stop mid-lesson (as he did today), we stop. Not a big deal. I wouldn't be doing any teaching with him at all, but he knows what Reading Eggs is and knows his brothers do it, so he thinks he has to also. He does like it, and he can pick out a word if you say the sounds. I suspect blending will happen earlier for him.

 

Oh, and I love the Leapfrog DVDs and the fridge magnets set. Those taught DS2 and 3 their letter sounds. DS1 learned by reading alphabet books, but DS2 hated alphabet books.

[mom2bee]

I begin with any child that asks as soon as possible after the ask me. If they are very young then I keep it light but constant. I offer them phonics the way I offer snacks.

(Do you wan't a phonics lesson after you finish your sandwich?) with some of the kids its always yes, with some of them, its almost always no. When kids show up at my desk and ask me if its time for phonics, I say "yes" even if I'm busy.

 

 

I bend over backwards and jump through hoops to help an eager child get exposure and access to anything that they want to know and ask to learn.

 

I am beginning very simple phonics with a couple of 3.5 and 4yos who asked to learn to read. 1 little boy is doing VERY well. A girl not so well, but when she wants to do it, I do it with her and help her. I am using different approaches and techniques with them both. It is nothing to sweat over if I wind up with a 4yo who can't read at the end of the summer. Or until they are 6. or 7. But if a child is asking, I begin reading activities with them on their level and we do them as often as possible.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Around here we start watching Leap Frog Letter Factory at 2 or before. Once they know all the letters and their sounds I start blending. "Bring me your C...U...P..." When they can understand what I am saying, we start reading.

 

I couldn't figure out how to answer the question because I don't really think about it. This post resonated with me. So we play with sounds a lot (blending and segmenting just in play and life) and we do letter names/sounds (Letter Factory helps A LOT!). And then I started with word families.

 

I will NEVER *wait* again. Yes, there are kids who pick up reading spontaneously at 9 and 12 and 15. There are just as many who will not learn to read, will struggle, and will hate reading. I had one of the latter ones, partially because I waited. A kid asking to be taught how to read should be taught how to read!

Edited February 25, 2012 by 2J5M9K

[Guest]

My son started reading at a younger age than my daughter. I wait until they know ABC's and sounds and show interest. Then, we begin blending, and move on from there. If they start to get frustrated, we stop for a bit. My daughter is going at a much more leisurely pace than my son did. ;) If there's an interest, I'd definitely get started. I think you'll know pretty quickly if he's ready or not.

[Tracy]

My almost 4yo is eager to read. He has always been interested in letters and their sounds from before he could talk. So I have started him out with the very beginning steps in the SWR program. So he already knows all 26 single-letter phonograms by sight and many of the multi-letter phonograms. We play lots of games for this. He is still working on blending the letters together to make a word, so we play games for this, as well. He is now working on learning how to write. We are starting very slowly with large motor exercises for only about 1 minute per day. There are lots of reading readiness sort of activities that you can do for a child of this age. I love that I already have all I need in the SWR program that I am using for my older dd.

[Targhee]

I don't think boys are slower. I do think some personalities/learning styles are better reached at an older age. Oldest DD was piecing together CVC words at 2.5, but we didn't start lessons until she was 4. Why, I don't even remember for sure but I do recall attempting a Bob book with her at age 3 and she could do it but wasn't enjoying it. She's a voracious reader now. Next DC was so wiggly I had to wait until he was able to sit for 10 minutes at a time. When he was 5 we started, he moved right along, and at 7 he's reading above grade level. DC 3 is turning 5 in a couple of weeks, and she can sit for a lesson, knows all her letters/sounds/and how to piece a CVC word but when I ask her about learning to read she still says "I don't want to." Fine. I'll ask her again in a couple of months and see if she's changed her mind. My point being, there's no one right way or wrong way. If your DC wants to learn, try it out! If she isn't cognitively ready for it she will show her frustrations and disinterest, and at that point you hold off.

 

I do like 100 EZ Lessons (we don't do the sound writing), and all my kids have learned a lot from Leap Frog videos and Starfall. There are other approaches out there too. Just know that at this age you don't push, but you certainly don't deny their hunger to learn.

 

Good luck!!

[Tanikit]

My DD started when she was 1 year old - basically we pointed out whole words to her in books (in big print) and anywhere else where the word was written large enough for a small baby to see it. It took only a few seconds a day and was done in a similar way to which we pointed out pictures and actual objects: That is a ___ vs That word says___. By about 2 she knew about a hundred words and we made some flashcards and pinned them on the wall and taught her that writing goes left to right (without telling her this - we just always pointed left to right) She also learnt her letters the same way by us just pointing them out and knew them all by about 20 months. Around 2.5 she started trying to sound out words she didn't know but wasn't yet sure how to blend so I started blending for her - saying the letter sounds and then the word - I did this for about two months before she started giving me the word when I gave only the letter sound. By 3 she was reading beginner readers and at 3.5 I started OPGTR with her - just doing the word lists and then pointing out words in the books she was reading to solidify the rule. We have not yet finished the OPGTR but she is working out many phonics rules by herself now.

 

I posted this because it means that reading can be taught before children know letter sounds and hold a book upright - it doesn't mean that these things are not important but they are not essential before reading depending how you do it. A formal reading curriculum though is another story and usually certain milestones must be met before beginning one of these depending on what the programme requires of the child.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I just saw the comment about the child being "very much a little boy." THat just means that the activities are active or very short. Those are both *very* positive things anyway as they allow for different parts of the brain to kick in and more repetition over time. Your child will likely learn BETTER this way rather than if you tried to do 20 minutes with him.

[KarenNC]

We started at 4 because she was begging to read. We tried 100 EZL which was torturous for my daughter, as was Phonics Pathways (those were the recommended products from WTM at the time, haven't seen OPGTR). Explode the Code was a huge hit, however. Rather than crying every time she saw the 100 EZL book, she brought me ETC and begged to do more. I simply did as much with her as she wanted to do at each session, so they varied greatly in length. We added in leveled readers from the library, Bob Books, making up stories for her to read involving names she knew that she could illustrate if she could read the word or sentence, Dolch sightword cards (pack from Walmart, IIRC) for common words that we hadn't yet reached in the phonics program, and Dick and Jane books.

 

Boys are necessarily slower. My husband was reading at age 4 and my father taught himself to read about age 4 or 5 in a home with an illiterate mother and the only book consistently available being a King James Bible.