I learned when i was around four. But we didnt start really learning how to read in school till second semester first grade. And my nieces and nephews are in first and second and still kinda learning. I would t worry about it.

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine told me that in "good" Fairfax County schools, almost all the kids go into kindergarten reading at least simple texts and a substantial portion of the class, like 1/3 or so, is reading chapter books. Have those of you who've had kids in K recently found that to be true?

(My kids are a ways off from entering kindergarten, but I was just curious because that sounds high to me.)

We are in a good MCPS school (but not a "good" MCPS school), and this was definitely not true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well we do Waldorf curriculum but my kids didn't learn to read until the middle of 2nd grade.

Yikes.

No reason for alarm. I was a Waldorf kid and didn't learn to read until second grade. Didn't stop me from going to an Ivy League school and a top tier grad school. Most Waldorf kids are reading second grade material in second grade, the idea is that they're developmentally ready for it so it happens quickly.

A friend of mine told me that in "good" Fairfax County schools, almost all the kids go into kindergarten reading at least simple texts and a substantial portion of the class, like 1/3 or so, is reading chapter books. Have those of you who've had kids in K recently found that to be true?

(My kids are a ways off from entering kindergarten, but I was just curious because that sounds high to me.)

don't stress on this one! I remember the parents of my DD's class, including myself, were all freaked out because there was a smart kid who was already reading chapter books in preschool.

My DD could not read at the end of grade 1. She was the LAST kid in her class to learn to read.

In grade 3 she took a nationalized test and scored at the 98 percentile for reading.

Kid's brains are hardwired to "turn on" at different times.

Also, that smart kid, while still super-smart, turned out to not be able to play with other kids; he's in grade 5 now and it's still parallel play.

Kids do what is interesting to them. our older daughter had very limited interest learning letters and in reading. the process of reading was not interesting to her. i was very stressed by the fact that she was not reading so i really went out of the way to try to find way to make it interesting. once i found the "format" that was interesting to her she learned fast and got really hooked.

for alphabet we used stickers. she was 3. we decorated her bed with letter stickers. it took us about 1 h and she knew all lower and upper case letters by the time we fished decorating.

for reading we got "meet the phonics" video letters/blends. she was 4. in 3 sessions of watching this stuff she could read. she was slow but she became every interested in the process. somehow this particular video got her attention and something clicked. before that we had leapfrog videos and they not help...

once she was interested in the process of reading we got simple bob books and would ask her to read small parts of it, b4 bed, every night, 1-2 lines. she got gold star as a reward 4 her reading which kept interest going.

i can see now that if we did not actively try to figure out how to make her read we would not have had her reading by KG. Process of reading was not naturally interesting for her.

We have some friends... their kid could read by 3 1/2. In first month of KG this kid was reading at level of a 2nd grader. but this kid was always very interested in the process of reading. he knew alphabet by 2 and phonics by 2 1/2. it was a game/puzzle for him.

Anonymous wrote:No. Many parents think their kids are reading at age 4, but they are really just parroting.

+1. My DD can do parrotting at 2. She basically memorized the whole book. I felt she was so advanced at that time. She just turned 4 now and can "read" a book after I read it couple times to her. I still consider she's parrotting.

No. Many parents think their kids are reading at age 4, but they are really just parroting.

Anonymous wrote:Well we do Waldorf curriculum but my kids didn't learn to read until the middle of 2nd grade.

Yikes.

Most? Before they start K? I doubt it.

Anonymous wrote:No. I also don't think there is any worry when kids don't know how to read leaving kindergarten.

+1

My kid started reading after k and he is now a pretty advanced reader.

Well we do Waldorf curriculum but my kids didn't learn to read until the middle of 2nd grade.

No. I also don't think there is any worry when kids don't know how to read leaving kindergarten.

He's fine. It's if they LEAVE kindergarten not knowing how to read that you begin to worry. I think my kid's class was about half-and-half going into kindergarten. Sounds like your kid (four and a half?) is still in preK, so I wouldn't stress.

Several of our friends' children are already reading at 4. I can't help but feel like my 4.5yo is behind. He is nowhere near reading. He can write all his letters though.