Literate Pre-Kindergartener

[Guest]

ds learned how to read last night. Just like that. His interest lasted well over an hour and might have gone on longer if I had been prepared. He read the first three Bob books in rapid succession, at which point I showed him that the same words were used in the first Ball-Stick-Bird book so that I wouldn't have to pay for overnight shipping for the second set of Bob books.

 

I am not a first time parent, but I've never seen anything like this before and have no experience with very little literate kids, other than being a very little literate kid myself over 40 years ago.

 

That kind of blows my plans for a very gentle introduction to the alphabet out of the water. Although he does not know the names of the letters and still needs to learn them to find books in the fiction section of the library and help me drive by reading the street signs in parts of our town that have "A st." "B st." etc, I do not feel that it is that high of a priority and I am afraid that it will distract him from the sounds the letters make in books.

 

And we love books. Love, love, LOVE books and I always lose my voice before ds and I get tired of reading aloud.

 

I'm assuming that anyone on this forum who makes the time to read a newbie's first post would be more inclined to use the term "bibliophile" than "hyperlexic" and might even have some great ideas on appropriate activities for a literate kindergartener.

 

He has been copying whole words and sentences from books for some time, in the same spirit he copies pictures, and his handwriting is beyond legible, so handwriting practice doesn't seem necessary either, and skipping it will free up more time for narration and dictating stories as well as curling up on the comfy couch in our PJs with a stack of library books and not worrying about what the clock says.

 

ds doesn't have any older siblings in the home and has never had any formal lessons, so I do want to introduce the concept of seatwork in September and October, but we have a math program for that.

 

Besides school, I could do with some advice about all the environmental print that is no longer meaningless scribbles to him and how to answer some difficult questions that might come up and I'm worried about the onslaught of advertisements that I am no longer able to protect him from.

 

Thank you for listening.

 

[strange_girl]

I have one like that :). My oldest DD learned to read (pretty nearly on her own) about a month before she turned 4.

 

Now sounds like a great time to start phonics! Capitalize on this excitement! Phonics can be as seatwork-oriented or as cuddle-up-on-the-couch as you want it to be. Depends on which program you're using. But having him learning about the letters and phonograms is important at this stage.

 

It sounds like you've already got plans for math, so that's taken care of. For K, everything else is sort of optional. You can do as much or as little as your little guy wants.

 

As far as 'extracurricular' reading...now is when you get to have all those little talks about 'what does that mean?' It's all part of learning to read. The only thing I've done is this: if the magazines at the checkout are really bad, I'll just turn the front one around so all you can see is the ad on the back. Other than that, for the most part I can make sure she simply doesn't see things that are inappropriate.

 

Congrats on your reading little guy! A whole new world has just opened up for you both!

[Walking-Iris]

I taught myself to read at 3, and my oldest started reading a bit after 4. BUT I still had my ds go through a bit of a phonics program. Unless you work with them in understanding the concepts, you may have a situation on your hands where they are memorizing whole words, or they hit a plateau where they can no longer read intuitively and need some instruction. 

 

You just wouldn't start at the beginning with the ABCs.

 

For my oldest that meant putting him in a higher level of ETC which covered rules for multi syllable words, a few coding exercises, and I starting a phonics based spelling program earlier. Some advice that I think is solid, even for early readers, is to get OPGTR and find the lesson they struggle with and start there. 

 

You say he doesn't know the letter names, I would work on that in the context of handwriting. I don't like handwriting/phonics/spelling to be separated.  If you continue to allow him to read aloud to you, and you address any phonics he still needs to learn, and also work on handwriting/spelling, you wouldn't have to do a typical ABC type program. You could use a movable alphabet to learn the names and order, and after that is solid, you could introduce some gentle alphabetizing games. 

 

About "protecting him"....eh...I wouldn't worry about it too much. I don't have anything in my home that I wouldn't want my children to read or look at. And when in the store, I just don't make a big deal about it. That stuff is always going to be there. If you find yourself in a situation where he's reading or looking at a magazine at the check out that you don't want him to look at, just gently substitute it with something else.  IMHO making a big deal about covering things just makes a kid more interested and curious about it. 

 

Honestly I have never been in a situation with any of my kids where a check out magazine or advertisement caused any sort of "difficult question." So it's just not a big possibility really. My kids are not even interested in them. 

[sewingmama]

My DS1 taught himself to read at 4...just when I was starting to think about teaching him the letter sounds LOL. I had to change my plans quick smart.

 

I still did a phonics program with him...we used Phonics Pathways. I just let him read through quickly until he got to things he didn't know. We also kept reading through readers ...he is still using readers now... just at a very advanced level. I skipped him ahead to Explode the Code 1 instead of doing the Get Ready for the Code books like I had planned. 

 

Very definately use a phonics program...my boy has been reading at a second/third grade level for quite a while now and still comes across words he needs help with. We also use All About Spelling which is great for phonics practice as well.

 

My DS2 who just turned 4 yesterday is starting to read now too. Although he knows all the letter sounds and can read some basic readers I still do letter of the week type activities with him. He loves them and helps him cement his knowledge.

 

As for protecting him...I worried about that at first too but honestly have never really come across a situation where my kids have read inappropriate things. I keep an eye on what they borrow from the library ( without too many restrictions) and they are usually too distracted by the candy at the checkouts to notice the "boring adult magazines" LOL. Pornographic stuff is not allowed at the checkouts in Australia anyway..its just kids magazines and Womens Weeklies LOL. The worst they are going to see is a half dressed Kim Kardashian :lol:

[Jackie]

DD pretty much did that with the first set of Bob books. At her request, I had been working on letter sounds with her. We got 100 EZ Lessons and did the first 10 lessons before she lost interest. Then one day I handed her a Bob book and she just read it. She flew through the first set, though the second set and the K Sight Words set were more challenging for her. I'm planning on cycling back through sets 1&2 and the K Sight Words sets before moving on to set 3 because there is a jump in difficulty that I don't think she's ready for and she tends to shut down if she gets frustrated.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about environmental print yet. There's a big difference between reading CVC words and reading adult material. Otherwise, just define words simply and in context. DD has heard swear words and asked about them. I usually give her a brief explanation - at least along the lines of "it's a word sometimes used when someone is very angry or frustrated" and then explain that the word is actually very rude and generally should not be used at all. Fortunately for me, this has worked so far :)

[Guest]

Thank you all SO much! B-S-B does cover some phonics:

 

http://www.ballstickbird.com/

 

but it might not be enough.

 

He also wants to start reading "Go, Go, Vooroos" where he left off instead of practicing what he already knows. It's probably a good thing he's being held back a bit by having to wait for me to print scans because my actual book is falling apart. I dug up a recent blog post from someone who had mailed the check to the address on the site and actually gotten books so I'm going to try that too. Worst that could happen is that my check gets returned with a red "not at this address" stamp on the envelope.

 

He's still on CVC words and the joy in his eyes when he figured out what they are is amazing! It took many long, tedious hours for my olders to get to this point. I feel vindicated as a parent and as a lifelong bibliophile, but certainly don't have any need to rush the process and don't have time to officially start school for several weeks yet.

 

I was looking forward to doing the letter of the week activities, so I may or may not still do them. We were going to visit an apple farm and read about astronomy for "A" week and bake banana bread for breakfast during "B" week. Most of my ideas were just everyday life and a mnemonic device for organizing fun activities.

 

I already have a copy of ETC 1 and can take out OPGTR from the library, and even the second set of Bob books if money became tighter than it is right now.

 

I'm amazed at how low Susan and Jessie are able to keep the prices on their (new to me) books. It's taking a bit of self control to wait until I can borrow a copy to vet instead of just clicking the "buy it now" button like a kid in a candy store.

 

I learned to read at three and remember not liking phonics worksheets in kindy and the incessant singing of the ABC song was downright painful, but I went to a large public elementary school and have sensory issues, so it probably had more to do with the social climate of the school than anything else. Obviously I'm an older mom and my memory is FINE as far as forgetting unpleasantness from my childhood so that it doesn't interfere with enjoying the present with my kids. ;)

[sewingmama]

Every kid is different. When my DS1 first learnt to read it was way more then just CVC words. He was insulted with Easy readers or letter sounds LOL. I had to skip him a grade because he is just very advanced all round.

 

However my DS2 LOVES letter of the week stuff even though he knows all the sounds and can read a little. We are doing the same type of thing with themes and activities for fine motor skills. He never gets sick of the ABC song... He sings it all day long lol. He loves letters...plays with letter tiles constantly etc. So i see no reason to skip ahead and not do letter of the week activities.

 

It sounds like you have a good plan in place. If your DS gets bored with it he will let you know and you can move up a level.

 

The environmental print is funny. Even though my kids read fluently now they still often mispronounce words they see around them. It means they miss the meaning every time. I tell them i will tell them what it means once they can read the words properly ;)

[Mergath]

We had something similar happen with dd.  I taught her the letters, then she learned letter sounds practically overnight.  Then I started teaching her how to blend CVC words, and she went from there to a fourth grade reading level completely by herself while she was still four.  Now she reads everything in the house.

 

We had to drop phonics with dd.  When your kid can intuitively sound out words with four or five syllables, trying to get them to sit still while you explain simple phonemes is often an exercise in futility.  It's not hyperlexia, just a bright kid with a language-oriented brain and a book-filled environment.

 

In our case, we're going to jump right into AAS.  Dd will pick up a good deal of phonics, but won't be as bored as she would with a phonics program.

 

We have the same problem with media stuff, btw.  Dd likes to sneak up behind me while I'm on the internet and read what I'm looking at, so I have to be really careful what I read.  I can't leave newspapers lying around unless I want her reading about whatever violent crime is on the front page, and I have to be careful with what books I leave on the nightstand.  The other night she picked up a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's essays and was happily reading that.  I was very glad I hadn't been reading, say, Fifty Shades of Gray or something. ;)

[boscopup]

A 5 year old reading is not hyperlexia. ;)

 

I've had 2 read before age 5. It's not a big deal. DO still teach phonics. I like Phonics Pathways (I have OPGTR also, but I think PP is more little kid friendly, with the big font and less parent instruction material on the page). My youngest has used PP since he was 3.5 and likes it. I let him go at his pace, since he's not school age yet. That child will have learned all the "K-level" stuff before he turns 5, mostly from listening in on big brothers' lessons. He loves doing a handwriting book, mostly on his own. He loves the phonics book, and he loves his K math book. When we do K, I'll just keep teaching the 3R's at whatever level he's at, and read to him as usual. ;) His K work will be short and sweet (unless he asks for more, which is entirely possible, crazy kid).

 

I found it handy to reach 1st grade with my oldest already reading at a 4th grade level. I didn't have to teach reading! I could spend time on history and science and just have him read on his own each day. We used a phonics based spelling program, since he had taught himself to read with Starfall at age 4. Like your son, it was overnight. One day, he couldn't sound out "cat", and the next day, he was reading Go Dog, Go! fluently and could now sound out new words. It was a bit scary for a new mom. :lol: But now going through learning to read with a child that isn't an early reader (my current 1st grader), I so much more prefer the easy teach-themselves route! So just be happy and enjoy yourself!

 

As for the environmental reading... I never really had that much of a problem with that. 5 year olds are a lot more mature than, say, a 3 year old that is reading. And we talk about ads regularly. When they come on the radio, we talk at a young age that they're just trying to sell you something you don't need. ;) None of my kids have mentioned anything that I really needed to explain due to reading.

 

[ondreeuh]

That's great that he is picking up reading. He might continue to learn at a fast pace, or he might slow down. Don't be discouraged if he stays at the CVC level for a while - but don't be surprised if he generalizes rules to new words and can decode easily. Either way, do be intentional about phonics so you don't have to un-do bad habits later (like guessing).

 

In my experience, the only tricky part about having a young reader is finding reading material that are appropriate for a child with little life experience. My 5 year old can read books at a "3rd grade level," but he doesn't necessarily understand the content. Once we were through with Bob Books, we moved onto the leveled readers (I Can Read and Step Into Reading) and picture books. Picture books are GREAT for young readers because the content is appropriate, the language is fluid and natural, and they can be read in one sitting. There are certain series of books which work well when your child is ready for beginning chapter books: Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Nate the Great, A-Z Mysteries ... they build stamina but are more stilted than picture books, so we do both. We LOVE the Usborne treasury books. We have a Lion Storyteller bedtime book and an Animal Treasury. They are gorgeously illustrated and are just well-told little stories.

 

In general, I avoid materials that are written "to the student" because they oversimplify things to make them easier to read. Science textbooks for this age are the pits. We're going to use Sonlight Science because it schedules Usborne books that are meant to be read by the parent (but suitable to be ready by a child). For history we will be using SOTW 1 (which I don't expect him to read) and the literature scheduled in Classical House of Learning's literature plan. The folktales and stories are a good match for his interest and ability.

 

We will be doing Kindergarten this year, and he is able to read the science books and history stories himself (he'll read aloud to me, though). We will use sentences from those books for his copywork and narration. In addition to that, we will be doing literacy activities with books that are below his reading level so we can focus on the story elements. Evan-Moor's Literature Pockets and Scholastic's "Teaching with ___________ Books" are great for this. I also have a couple volumes of Five in a Row for enrichment. But you're right - if you focus on reading good books you can use those as your natural springboard to learn about other things. Just today my son finished up a Nate the Great book that featured an owl, so we read up a little more on owls. Then he read a few pages in Usborne's Starting Point Science about plants & seeds, and it mentioned the squirting cucumber. So we searched for videos on YouTube that showed a squirting cucumber shooting its seeds.

 

Our family computer is in an open area, and I have to remind him not to read over my shoulder ... I just have to pay attention to what he sees. It's not really a big deal.

 

One last thought ... I haven't heard of Ball Stick Bird before, but looking at the website ... it looks rather expensive for what you get. Do you know others who have used the program? I personally would rather use something that has a lot more current users who can vouch for its worth. I am a bit surprised that the author states that phonemic awareness isn't necessary to learn to read. Most well-loved programs disagree. And actually the description of how to make letters like B and P with a ball are confusing because that's now how you actually handwrite the letters. I don't see anything special about the program, sorry.

[Tanikit]

My DD(5) started reading around age 3 - we moved through some phonics quickly and now halfway through kindergarten she is reading at a 4th grade reading level. I guess what you do with a literate kindergartener is pretty much the same as a non literate one - read to them lots at a level slightly higher than they are reading to you or themselves, get them to read to you so that they can practice and also improve their reading (with my DD much of her reading to me is now a lesson in vocabulary as she does have little life experience and doesn't understand all the things she can read herself).

 

And then of course there is math and science and history and so on that can be taught in the same way as for any kindergartener - my DD at 4 was reading all the instructions for Math to herself, but still wanted me there even if just to watch her color a circle green or whatever - she likes company. She also still likes having me read to her even if she is capable of reading to herself and so I do for most subjects.

 

Writing and spelling are where literate Kers can really learn more than their non literate counterparts since writing is pretty pointless unless you can read what you wrote and there is no reason to learn to spell unless you can write.

 

The only time I have had to worry what my DD reads when she went to the library and started reading a book on King Henry the 8th - she asked me what "divorced" meant and did "chopped her head off" really mean what it said. If she was in school she would have friends who's parents were divorced so I just told her what it meant. I also told her that beheading was not legal (in most places) and that she did not have to worry about it, but long ago it happened - I do not feel that discussing recent beheadings in non democratic countries is suitable for a 5 year old. As for advertising - it is seldom the writing that lures people in to adverts - children need protecting from adverts as toddlers because the pictures and colors are what draws them in - you should not need to protect him anymore than you usually have to.

 

I actually have more trouble with my DD reading the prices and specials in shops now - she knows how to nag with more conviction when she can recite what is written about a product and how much it costs (Mom, its only ... - but that is easy too - well do you have so much money?)

[Guest]

One last thought ... I haven't heard of Ball Stick Bird before, but looking at the website ... it looks rather expensive for what you get. Do you know others who have used the program? I personally would rather use something that has a lot more current users who can vouch for its worth. I am a bit surprised that the author states that phonemic awareness isn't necessary to learn to read. Most well-loved programs disagree. And actually the description of how to make letters like B and P with a ball are confusing because that's now how you actually handwrite the letters. I don't see anything special about the program, sorry.

It's just a family thang--my older son's "magic bullet" for his dyslexia. His big sister read the stories for pleasure, I used them to tutor, and a neighbour family borrowed them for several years, so her kids grew up on them too, and we lived, ate, and breathed Vooroos and Reebos for several years in the same spirit we lived, ate, and breathed Mary and Laura and Ma and Pa at other times.

 

All families have favourite books that we want to share with our kids, but of course I'll get little ds whatever his friends are reading too. If I survived the Babysitter's Club when no library carried series books, then I can survive anything!

 

Apologies for coming off spammy. I'm sure there are many other great books written for emergent readers and other families with similarly wonderful memories of different books.

 

Researching children's books is a joy for me. I have no desire to raise an anachronism.

[LucyStoner]

I will go against the grain and say that formal phonics were wholly unnecessary for my very early reader. Parsing it out very incrementally was an exercise in boredom and frustration. He's now ten, reads at a college level with the vocabulary to match and is a natural speller. He's picked up a lot from studying foreign languages and he competed in the Scripps regional spelling bee at age 9 (first year he did bees). I don't think teaching phonics is a bad idea (it is exactly what I am doing with my younger son who is bright but not a very early reader) but if you find it impossible to interest a fast reader in phonics lessons just now, don't fret.

 

Hyperlexic is not a reading 4 or 5 year old. In our situation it was an under two year old who knew the alphabet and read his first words without any instruction. This was more of a challenge than a celebration.

[Korrale]

My son has been reading since he was 2.5. Now at 3.5 his reading is flourishing. He is currently reading Little House books with ease. What we do mostly is just give him lots of access to books. A variety of books too. Fiction and non fiction books. Even childrens encyclopaedias. At one point my son was reading 30 beginner reader books a week. We took advantage of the library. Don't forget to still give him access to lots of picture books. Some of them are at amazingly high reading levels. My son can Read chapter books. But choose picture books 90% of the time. Which is great. You don't went to stymie their love of reading.

 

You could certainly continue working on phonics but also work with fluency and comprehension. Many companies make workbooks for reading. Sectrum books are available at places like Staples. They have Spectrum Reading series. You could use those for some comprehension activities. You don't need to of course. You could wing it. After your son reads a book have him answer a series of questions about the book and write them into a comprehension book. Or have him write up and illustrate a summary. It doesn't have to be fancy. He can just write a sentence or even dictate a sentence about what he likes or relates to in the book. Or what he didn't enjoy. Make sure he is familiar with the author, illustrator and the parts of a book like spine, title page, contents etc also.

 

My son did a summer reading program this summer. We wrote down all the books he read and he would give me a review and who he would recommend the book for.

This is his review for the book Oink-A-Doodle-Moo.

 

"This is an absurd story because animals can't talk, wear shoes or order pizza! But I liked it! I like Texas because cowboys come from Texas. I think my friend ---- would really like this book because his daddy works with cows."

 

Introduce literary concepts also. Explain the difference between fiction and non fiction. Introduce poetry and rhyme. And makes sure he becomes familiar with punctuation and grammar.

 

A good phonics program could be implemented with a spelling program. Which is what we will be doing.

[mumto2]

I am on the teach the phonics if possible side. Dd could read very well on her 4th bday but we still did the phonics. Foreign languages and spelling in all languages are very easy for her probably because of her early phonics background.

 

I always asked both dc's "What do you think.....means" for the enviromental reading. Frequently they understood the main point just not the details I would have originally offered. Generally they were satisfied to simply be told they had the right idea. If not a simple answer was usually adequate. By asking the question I knew what level of answer I needed to give.