Updated: Young child interested in spelling before reading

[aug17girl]

So my 3 year old (he will be 4 in July) shows a lot of phonetic awareness, but no interest in reading. For about a year now, he has been rhyming words and identify the starting sound and letter of words. When he was pretty little he would sit in his highchair and make letters out of toast. I haven’t been pushing any of this or reading. He has watched the letter factory videos and been around as his older brother has learned to read. Because he has seemed ready, every few months I pull out OPGTR, but he is not interested at all in learning to read. He can sound out CVC words, but he doesn’t want to. He like kumon workbooks and doing early math so he isn't resistant to all formal learning.

He does, however, want to learn to spell. He walks around the house sounding out words trying to orally spell them (words that come up in conversation or that he thinks of). He asks me how to spell words. He makes made up words with magnetic letters asking “what does this spell?†DH and I can’t talk about things in front of him by spelling words, because he will figure it out.
I want to follow his lead, but spelling before reading seems backwards. And I am kind of thrown off by a spelling three year old. I am thinking of starting AAS1 with his older brother. Should I actively include him in AAS lessons and see how it goes? Or should I just continue to informally follow his lead? Should I try another approach to reading? Does this say anything about his style of learning?

 

Update:  Reviving a thread from 2 years ago with an update.  Kind of funny how this worked out.   He continued to show interest in spelling for a while, but no interest in doing spelling lessons with his older brother.  Around when he turned 5 he showed some brief interest in doing some OPGTR mid level reading lessons, but was sandbagging ability and reluctant so I backed off.  Now he is about to turn 6 and he has just started sneaking early chapter books like Bad Kitty:  School Daze to read on his own past bedtime.

 

He is reading fiction for fun and starting to write sentences on his own.  I'm glad I didn't push and let him lead the way. 

[Alte Veste Academy]

DS10 was an early reader and started off exactly the same way. He didn't want to sound anything out when he began, but he did want to spell everything. EVERYTHING. :lol: I would absolutely follow his lead. The way I see it, it's just opposite approaches to the same code. Still, the code is the code. Does it say anything about his style of learning? Hmmm. DS skews toward being a visual learner (although he is strong all around) and does better with a whole to parts approach.

[ElizabethB]

Both my children could spell before they could blend. Go with the spelling for a while and the blending will come easier!

[lizbusby]

Spelling before reading is actually the preferred order of those of the Montessori persuasion, so I would suggest looking at some Montessori materials. A moveable alphabet (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Montessori-Small-Movable-Alphabets-Box/dp/B003BGYB8C/) was instrumental in my son's reading development, although he still doesn't really spell and we never did formal lessons. It's basically a box with 10 of each vowel and 5 of each consonant, which allows small children to "write" without the need for advance fine motor skills. (You can find lots of variations on the style and price of the moveable alphabet by searching through these Montessori purchasing sites: http://livingmontessorinow.com/2010/08/24/where-to-buy-montessori-materials/)

 

This site gives some instructions of the formal Montessori-type use of the alphabet set, as well as other Montessori lessons: http://www.infomontessori.com/language/written-language-moveable-alphabet.htm

 

If your child is already excited about spelling, I bet he'll just take off. Anyway, I can't recommend this manipulative highly enough for encouraging young kids to play with spelling.

[crazyforlatin]

DD, at about 2, spelled words before learning to read. I didn't use any curriculum, but since we already had magnetic letters from Melissa and Doug, I gave her easy words to spell on her little magnetic/chalk board. It was just for fun, nothing formal at all.

 

 

[MASHomeschooler]

My oldest did similar things starting very young, I think a few months before she started reading. We would use the magnetic letters as mentioned, and sometimes she would ask me to write or just say the letters for her, but she really loved to stand at her little easel with chalk and ask me, "How do you spell ___?" Then I would answer, and she would "write" each letter as I said it (actually not too bad for 3. I remember X was H but most were quite close. Totally self-initiated.) I also remember her taking her doll to the fridge, where some words were still spelled, and teaching the doll - "Look, baby doll, C-O-W spells cow." :) My middle and younger just did/do the magnetic letters or asking me to write, and they both started right about the same time as they started reading.

[Tracy]

Spell to Write and Read does exactly that--teaches spelling in order to teach reading.

[bakpak]

It sounds like your DS is very clear in what he enjoys...spelling! I think his reading will catch up when he's ready. You can teach the same lessons from OPGTR but just as spelling lessons instead. Teaching phonics for spelling instead of reading means he's learning the concepts and he'll employ them for reading when he's ready. And as for OPGTR, with my little one I found she really didn't like the book (until last week when I was looking at it and she wanted to read some of the words she saw). Read it ahead of time yourself so that you can present the information as a little lesson or a few practice words on a chalkboard or with moveable letters instead. At this age, he probably don't need too much repetition at one time. Keep it fun. If you're concerned about seeing if he's understanding the lesson, he could drive cars onto word cards that you write out (can you drive this car on the word 'stop'?). That way he doesn't have to sound it out, but you can reaffirm that he's learning. Or he can just point to the right one. My daughter also liked connecting the words to pictures http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Word-and-Picture-Match-Step-2-LF-96.htm , although I think early on it was too much on a page. Five on a page would have been more ideal when she was 2 and a young 3.

 

I wouldn't buy a curriculum for him if you're okay with making it up as you go along.

[aug17girl]

Thanks everyone. Your replies were all really helpful. I think he would love a moveable alphabet and it looks like we are going to be doing some spelling.

[LEK]

My dd was exactly like this, she was very interested in spelling from a very early age but no interest in reading. By age 4 she could spell most simple words but was not able to read those same words, she could work out the individual sounds and put them down in order but not blend those sounds to actually read the word out if it was shown to her on paper. We took a spelling approach to reading using OPGTR, we used magnetic letter tiles most days and did a combo of reading from the book and spelling her new reading words using the letter tiles. She especially liked changing one word into another by changing one letter, for her that was a fun spelling challenge, "if i change one letter when spelling cat can i turn it into...?".

We are now (at age 6) flying through AAS, she still loves spelling and still is not really interested in reading. On the plus side, she is already a better speller than me some days :) I will admit i wish she was reading more but I cannot deny she is clearly a gifted speller and I am thrilled about that (I struggled with spelling my whole life, dyslexia is not a friend when it comes to spelling)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

That is how I teach my kids. My oldest two could spell before they could read and my 5yo is just beginning. We orally sound out words as you described, use a movable alphabet for a while to build words, then move on to AAS.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I found that for a while my kids could spell but not read, except for slooowly sounding out simple words. Then one day something clicked and the jumped into reading with a whole book. DD was 4.5yo and ds was 6.5yo.

[Rubix]

We use the Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading - they also teach spelling before reading :)

[jenbrdsly]

Spelling before reading is how they often do it in Montessori. FYI: I have a bunch of games/activities for teaching little ones to read here on my blog.

[Donna]

My dd spelled before she read. She loved to play letter games like changing the first or last letter of a word to make new words. She went from not sounding out anything more than simple words to fluently reading a whole chapter of a book overnight when she was 3. She is still a natural at spelling.

[aug17girl]

Bumped with update in OP.