Reading - who taught your kid to read?

[Anonymous]

The children of everyone I know learned to read in PK pretty much on their own from being read to all the time. We never did any direct instruction of any sort, just lots of reading with our fingers moving under each word. DC memorized the ABC song at 3 and would sing while pointing at the letters on her alphabet placemat at every meal. At 3 1/2, my DC just memorized all her books and pretended to read by moving her finger across the page. But every time she did it, she was connecting the spoken words to the written page. In a few months, she started sight reading whole words everywhere she went and asking about words she didn't recognize. And then she started writing captions on her drawings and doodles. When we noticed her looking up her books for how to spell words, we decided it was time to get her a kiddie dictionary. By 4 our bedtime routine was her reading to us before we read to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did. I read to them all the time and it was a natural progression for them to learn the sounds and letters and words.

I’ve read to my kids from birth and it did not naturally teach them to read. It did not make them enjoy reading when they finally did learn, although they do still like being read to.

+1

Evidence shows that almost all kids need direct phonic instruction in order to learn to read. Why all schools do not do this is ridiculous.

+1

And many of the kids who learned to read by “osmosis” will hit a wall in 4th grade when the reading gets much harder and hey need to decide and understand word origins for unfamiliar words.

[Anonymous]

Lots of home reading and Montessori primary program (MSNV).

Older kid was reading by 4.5. Younger just turned four and is sounding out short words already.

[Anonymous]

Great article on the disaster of reading instruction in our country.
https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Orton-Gillingham tutor after dyslexia diagnosed in 1st grade.

how did you figure this out? A formal assessment? If so, where?

Kid had been in two somewhat academic pre k programs plus K without learning to read. K teacher made some worried noises, and then 1st grade teacher suggested testing since he’d had all the support and teaching at home literacy environment that should have resulted in reading...but hadn’t. Private school. He hid his troubles pretty well - he is smart and creative and actually loves stories and words - just not the written kind. We took him for psycho educational testing at The Treaatment and Learning Centers in Rockville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Orton-Gillingham tutor after dyslexia diagnosed in 1st grade.

how did you figure this out? A formal assessment? If so, where?

Kid had been in two somewhat academic pre k programs plus K without learning to read. K teacher made some worried noises, and then 1st grade teacher suggested testing since he’d had all the support and teaching at home literacy environment that should have resulted in reading...but hadn’t. Private school. He hid his troubles pretty well - he is smart and creative and actually loves stories and words - just not the written kind. We took him for psycho educational testing at The Treaatment and Learning Centers in Rockville.

Thank you. This is very helpful and makes me wonder if we are in the same boat. Did you have a good experience at that center? Any others to recommend in DC?

[Anonymous]

Ours learned at home before PK
Spelling has been a mixed bag, but we definitely put in some effort st home on top of what was going on at school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who taught your kid to read - the sounds, the blends, the combos, the practice.
Preschool, you, an IPad app, or your independent school teacher (and if so what grade)?

We had play based pk and K, lots of specials for grade 1, and no homework policies school so have never seen a word list or literacy pack come home for either of our kids. Now we feel naive since they still don’t know concepts or spelling and I wonder what fell through the cracks here.

Certainly alphabet memorization and reading at school helps at pk/k levels. But if you read to your kids as parents (almost) every night as toddlers thru pre-k they’ll learn almost by osmosis. DC1 got about 3-5 Dr. Seuss books a night from age 2-3 on and was reading independently by 4 / 4-1/2. DC2 was less interested in reading and being read to and started closer to 5 / 5-1/2, which seemed fine.

+1 Kids who are read to every day/night learn sight (site) words and usually will be able to read, really read, before kindergarten. It helps if you use your finger to tap below words as you move through the story to help them develop COW (concept of word). Read the same stories over and over and over and over again. Have your children read to you eventually, especially using their finger tapping under the words.

OP, it sounds like this advice is too late for you and your child. What does your child's teacher say? It sounds like your child is in 2nd grade now. Whatever the case, you need to read with your child every night for 30 minutes until he/she gest caught up IN ADDITION to whatever the school is doing.

[Anonymous]

I taught my son myself although it was mostly an exposure to it and he just picked it up without much practice. I am a teacher and this is not typical though.

[Anonymous]

I taught both of my kids at age 4. They'd both known letter names and sounds for a year or two. One learned in 2 months and was off to chapter books. The other took 1.5 years before he got it.

[Anonymous]

Montessori preschool for 3 years taught our DD to read. I remember she came home one day with a book at 4 yo and read it to us! DD entered public kindergarten reading at 2nd grade level.

[Anonymous]

I taught my kids to read. I actively taught my son when he was in K (we were in California so hold your horses Bethesda tiger moms, this was not considered "late") and my Preschool daughter picked it up at the same time and then pretty much taught herself thereafter. She was one of only 2 totally fluent readers in her K class (again, in California) and was reading early chapter books at the start of the year.

[Anonymous]

I did. A combination of 100 easy lessons and reading together with progressively more difficult books - Bob, Dick and Jane . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who taught your kid to read - the sounds, the blends, the combos, the practice.
Preschool, you, an IPad app, or your independent school teacher (and if so what grade)?

We had play based pk and K, lots of specials for grade 1, and no homework policies school so have never seen a word list or literacy pack come home for either of our kids. Now we feel naive since they still don’t know concepts or spelling and I wonder what fell through the cracks here.

You are the missing element.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did. I read to them all the time and it was a natural progression for them to learn the sounds and letters and words.

I’ve read to my kids from birth and it did not naturally teach them to read. It did not make them enjoy reading when they finally did learn, although they do still like being read to.

+1

Evidence shows that almost all kids need direct phonic instruction in order to learn to read. Why all schools do not do this is ridiculous.

+1

And many of the kids who learned to read by “osmosis” will hit a wall in 4th grade when the reading gets much harder and hey need to decide and understand word origins for unfamiliar words.

No, they don't. Parent of 11th grader.