Were you taught to read in Kindergarten? How about your kids?

[elfkin477]

I'm not sure if it's because there isn't free public kindergarten state-wide (yet) or if times have simply changed, but it seems the norm that kids in this area aren't taught anything reading related beyond knowing the ABCs and identifying their own names until first grade.

When I was in kindergarten in another state- 20 years ago - kids in my class were being taught to read with Dick and Jane. Not me personally, since I was already reading by that point, but people were expected to be able to read simple words - ball, dog, see, run, you know how those primers went- before starting first grade.

So have things changed, or was my school unusual? When was reading taught in your school? Your kids/grandkids schools?

[friedo]

I was expected to read simple children's books by the end of first grade. Where I went to school we had a combined kindergarten and first grade class, though, with the same teacher for two years.

[Frankenbear]

I was taught to read before I started school. In kindergarten all the other children were taught and were up to reading simple fairy tale books (like The Three Little Pigs) by the end of the year.

[Badtz Maru]

We were reading Dick and Jane books in kindergarden when I started school - I was born in 1972, went to school in Oklahoma. I too already knew how to read by then, and I was thrown off by the phonics-style alphabet they used - for instance, 'th' was combined into one letter. But nearly every kid could read by the end of kindergarden.

I was shocked at how little kids were taught when my stepdaughter was attending school. They didn't even try to teach them to read in kindergarden, and in 1st grade they were being taught extremely simple books (more so than Dick and Jane), and the teaching method was basically memorizing what 3 or 4 word sentence went with the picture on each page - I found if I covered the pictures she had no idea what the words on the page were.

[Hanna]

I went to KG in 1970, and I remeber being the only child in the class that could read (my mom taught me to read the year before KG). It wasn't taught, and I was singled out by the teacher (at naptime) to read for her. I went to a different sort of grade school, kids weren't separated by grade level, there were four "colonies" and kids progressed by goals met. So I was already able to read by the time I made KG, went to a new, totally different grade school, and had to advance to the second colony almost right off the bat. I didn't like it one bit, I was separated from the other kids my age.

I don't have kids, so I don't know the second part. I think they are taught letters and such, but not actual reading until later.

[Lsura]

I was reading before I started kindergarten, but those who didn't already know were taught then - BUT there was continuing work on reading/phonics in first grade.

This was parochial school, in around '77 or '78.

[Spoons]

I got in trouble for reading in kindergarten.

Seems that in our school, reading was taught in first grade, and wasn't something kindergarteners were supposed to know how to do. But I knew how (my Mom had taught me when I was three or four), and when I was caught reading in the kindergarten, the teacher actually called my mother to report me!

She got no support from my mother. Apparently, Mom just replied, "Well, if he wants to read, let him. And get him more books." Sadly, the kindergarten teacher did neither.

This was in the mid-1960s, and I hope such policies have changed in the years since.

[if6was9]

I learned to read in 1st grade. Of, course that was 1967.

[zweisamkeit]

I learned to read when I was 3 (I'll use/try the same method if/when I have kids: my mom would sit me on her lap and hold the book open to see, and as she read, she'd move her finger to each word as she said it; eventually my brain figured it out on its own and I was reading soon after that), and I have a tendency to not pay attention to things that don't really directly influence me when it's being taught. As a result, I only have fuzzy memories of any reading-related studies in Kindergarten and 1st grade.

I remember that in Kindergarten, we had books for each letter of the alphabet, and each letter book would have pictures and words next to them that began with that letter. I assume basic reading was required (but I don't remember, as I was reading the Ramona books by that time). In 1st grade, we had Phonics books (this was in 1988-89 I believe) and reading groups; everyone was expected to read at least a little bit, but I don't know what the lower level reading groups did. But definitely, by the beginning of 1st grade, it was expected that you could at least slowly sound out words.

This was a Catholic school though, not public, if that makes any difference.

[Askia]

I could read the Children's Bible and my uncle's Marvel and DC comics and write my name, address and phone number before I went to parochial school kindergarten in 1976 -- but I had a wonderful kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Bering who singled out me and another girl who could read for advanced reading lessons for 15-20 minutes every day. As a result of her encouragement and the reading materials around my house, I could read and write third grade material by the end of kindergarten. By third grade, I had the reading vocabulary of a junior high school student. This was not terribly uncommon among middle class and educationally-prioritized working class children where I grew up in South Carolina.

As a kindergarten teacher now, I rarely see students in the inner city school I work at who can read before coming into my classroom. I'm lucky if they even know how to hold a pencil correctly and can identify their names, numbers and alphabet correctly. But those who show any aptitude at all in the phonics reading program my school uses, I can usually have reading on the second grade level by May. If I'm lucky it may be as many as a third of my class.

Ohio state grade level indicators (State Learning Competencies) require that all students in full day kindergarten be taught to read and write. I spent the last 9 weeks going over narrative writing; this quarter I'll be teaching kindergarten students how to write personal letters. In addition to that, I teach my students how to write their full names, their classmates' names, common sight words in kindergarten and first grade, as well as, oh, science, math, social studies, health, art.

Kindergarten now is what first grade USED to be.

[SnoopyFan]

This is the Dope, baby! Most of us were probably helping the first graders learn to read when we were in kindergarten! :D









I was, anyway, and surely I'm not the only one ...

[AntaresJB]

I never went to kindergarten, at least partly because I was reading Dr. Seuss books by the time I was two. My siblings and I all skipped kindergarten and went straight to first grade when we were five. My mother taught us very early, she had homemade flashcards and books and all sorts of stuff. We were special. :D But I seem to remember everyone being expected to know how to read in first grade, so I assume they taught them that in K.

[CaptBushido]

Yeah, like some of the other people have said, I was reading by 2 or 3; this was partly due to my mom sitting me in her lap and reading to me, and partly due to the fact that I was given a Nintendo at that young age, and constantly wanted to know what every single word that showed up on the screen was.

I won't go off on the educational merits of video games, however. That's because at approximately the same point in my young life, I was professionally diagnosed (don't laugh, I'm not even kidding) as a child genius. Needless to say, it all went downhill from there.

Is it mere coincidence that every almost every free moment of childhood and teenage years since then were spent either playing or discussing video and computer games? I can't say.

Oops, gotta go, I've still got to beat True Crime: Streets of LA on my Gamecube...

[t-keela]

Originally posted by if6was9
I learned to read in 1st grade. Of, course that was 1967.

You mean 1697 don't you or was it 1997? Wait a minute, I can read. Ever since before kindergarten. Mom taught me to read and count to ?? how high and add/subtract simple math. (I always wanted to go to school, mom and I used to play school at home)

I remember when I began the class was just learning their A,B, & C's and counting to ten. They were reading basics by the end of the year. You know C-A-T and that kind of stuff.

IIRC that was 1967 also or was it? ;) in '67 I was 5 y/o



BTW My kids could read and do some math when they started too. I taught my son to use the dictionary and encyclopedia when he was five. He asked too many questions. He's now in the eighth grade w/ a 4.0 in all AP & honors classes. He was in GT's all through grade school. Reads on upper college level, all of his academics are at college level. Eagle scout, ham operator, working on pilots license, dozens of trophies in sports and academic competition, last month got teen citizen of the year, has scolarships lined up already etc.etc. etc. (run-on sentence from HELL) so what, it's almost three AM...

AND they told me to not teach him geometry and algebra when he was in the 3rd grade. :rolleyes: He was working out some trig functions the other day while doing some experiments at home. I looked/checked over his notes and he's actually figured the burn rates on various fuels and their combinations. As well as the acceleration and projectile on some homemade rockets.

Pretty cool huh?

[t-keela]

hmmm...that last sentence should include calculus and trajectory. It must be getting late. I haven't had six hours sleep in the last couple of nights. Stayed out late last night drinking t-killya and got up early this morning and worked my ass off all day until well after dark.

gotta go, g~nite :)

[Innanna]

Originally posted by Spoons
I got in trouble for reading in kindergarten.

Seems that in our school, reading was taught in first grade, and wasn't something kindergarteners were supposed to know how to do. But I knew how (my Mom had taught me when I was three or four), and when I was caught reading in the kindergarten, the teacher actually called my mother to report me!

She got no support from my mother. Apparently, Mom just replied, "Well, if he wants to read, let him. And get him more books." Sadly, the kindergarten teacher did neither.

This was in the mid-1960s, and I hope such policies have changed in the years since.

Unfortunately, when I was in kindergarten in 82-82, I got in trouble for reading as well--so in pockets this hasn't changed. In fact, my academic history is full of being scolded for knowing things that the teachers hadn't taught me.

I taught myself to read at a young age (2-3?)--thank you, Dr. Seuss and when I went to kindergarten, the teacher was trying to get us to identify letters. I was bored out of my mind by this, but since I could always answer correctly, they let it slide.

The real trouble came in 1st grade when we were supposed to "sound things out." It went something like this.

"Innanna, can you sound out this word?"
"Cat.'
"Sound it out. Ca-ah-t"
"Cat."
"You can't do that with every word that you come across, you know."
Superior look on my face.
"How about this one, then?"
"Neighborhood."
"Oh. Um. How about this one?" Writes really long word on board.
"Inconceivable."
"Well, someday, you may run into a word that you won't know."
"Uh-huh. Sure." Still superior. All of my teachers just loooved me.

[CanvasShoes]

Originally posted by Spoons
I got in trouble for reading in kindergarten.

Seems that in our school, reading was taught in first grade, and wasn't something kindergarteners were supposed to know how to do. But I knew how (my Mom had taught me when I was three or four), and when I was caught reading in the kindergarten, the teacher actually called my mother to report me!

She got no support from my mother. Apparently, Mom just replied, "Well, if he wants to read, let him. And get him more books." Sadly, the kindergarten teacher did neither.

This was in the mid-1960s, and I hope such policies have changed in the years since.
WOW, your experience is very similar to mine. I didn't "get in trouble" but I was discouraged from reading and wasn't provided with any reading materials, or had any that I'd brought taken away.

I'm horrible at math, but in second and third grade I was reading 8th grade science and history books, and kid's book that my grandmother would bring home from the high school at which she worked.

I hope that teachers encourage students who may be a bit "ahead" in this day and age, instead of shaming them as they did when you and I were kids.

[stolatt]

I knew how to read before I went to kindergarten, which would have been 1970. I don't think they taught reading until first grade though.

I tried to teach my son how to read before he went to kindergarten. I thought he might be able to read, but I wasn't sure. You know how they have their favorite books and stick with those, so I thought he just memorized them. Turns out he did know how to read.

He could read at an eighth grade level in the third grade. But his comprehension level wasn't that high. Must have been a little frustrating to read so well, but not understand it. We spent a lot of time with the dictionary.

[Uvula Donor]

I had also already learned to read well before Kindergarten. But unlike some of the horror stories some have shared (like Spoons being reported for Thoughtcrime because of wanting books in Kindergarted, or Innanna's Phonics Nazi) my teachers encouraged me and provided me with reading lists and books that would challenge me.

My daughter was also reading before she entered Kindergarten, but at a lower level than I was at the same age. Most of the "work" the kids did in her Kindergarten class revolved around having the kids read well and know some simple arithmetic before they got to first grade.

[CanvasShoes]

Originally posted by CaptBushido
Yeah, like some of the other people have said, I was reading by 2 or 3; this was partly due to my mom sitting me in her lap and reading to me, and partly due to the fact that I was given a Nintendo at that young age, and constantly wanted to know what every single word that showed up on the screen was.

I won't go off on the educational merits of video games, however. That's because at approximately the same point in my young life, I was professionally diagnosed (don't laugh, I'm not even kidding) as a child genius. Needless to say, it all went downhill from there.

Is it mere coincidence that every almost every free moment of childhood and teenage years since then were spent either playing or discussing video and computer games? I can't say.

Oops, gotta go, I've still got to beat True Crime: Streets of LA on my Gamecube...
Oh, wow, so THAT'S why my son learned to read so early!! I never even thought of that. He used to do the same thing you describe, and he'd quit asking and was able to play most RPGs (the ones where they give hints in long conversation balloons?), with some assistance on unfamiliar words, on his own before he was in kindergarten.

Like me, and his older sister, he was reading several years above his age by kindergarten.

Both he and his sister tested as "gifted" by 5th grade, and both of them could read upper high school levels (11th grade for her, 10th for him) by the 5th grade.

Sooo, I owe it all to video games huh?

Oh yeah, and I did that "read to them in the womb and play classical music" thing too. :D

[Omnipresent]

I really don't remember frankly. But, if I had to guess, I'd say that I wasn't taught to read words other than "Ball", "Mom", "Dad", that sort of thing, until 1st grade officially. My son, who's in 1st grade now sort of verifies that.

But, I was in kindergarten in 1968. There was a cloud of Pot smoke engulfing the United States at the time so.......

[Gyrate]

Another early reader here, thanks to my parents and my older sisters teaching me to read very early indeed. My nursery school called my mother one day because we were making Jell-o in class and I was reading the back of the box -- she was convinced I'd memorized the box at home and was reciting it from memory! That would have been <counts back> about 1971.

I vaguely recall getting letters in kindergarten and simple words (of the "cat", "dog", "ball", etc variety), with most of the reading emphasis starting in first grade. In second grade we had those SRA reading assessment thingies, with graded levels of different colors that were supposed to take two years to go through; it took me two months and only because my teacher wouldn't let me just plow through the whole lot in one go but instead rationed them out to me, a couple a week. Eventually they sent me to the fourth grade English class, where I had an experience similar to Innanna's -- the first day I got there, the teacher wrote a bunch of words on the board and told me "Now, you may not know what these all mean..." I was far too introverted a child to disabuse her.

I note that one of the common strains in this thread is that when parents and other family members actually make a concerted effort to teach children early, it has a quantifiably beneficial effect. The other one, of course, is that smart kids make teachers nervous. :D

[Innanna]

Heh. "Phonics Nazi" Perfect, Uvula Donor.

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

I can't recall whether reading was a goal for everyone, but at my kindergarten (back in 1972!) we were certainly given the tools to learn. I can remember as one by one a few of my classmates learned to read before I got it. I think I was the 4th or 5th. In classic narcissistic fashion, I can't recall who or how many people after me learned to read, or whether we all could by 1st grade. I suspect so, though.

I'm a big reader now, but I wasn't an "early reader" who could read before kindergarten. My mother was even a reading teacher. See, not EVERYONE on the SDMB is gifted!

[ivylass]

My mother taught me to read before kindergarten, so for show and tell I would stand up and read a Little Golden Book to the class.

For me, reading is like breathing. If I don't have a book somewhere with a bookmark stuck in it, I feel like I'm missing a limb. I even plan what I'm going to read next while I'm in the middle of a book.

My kids learned their letters and numbers before kindergarten, and so picked up reading very easily. My daughter always leaves books laying around the house, and my son took Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire into his bedroom and finished over the course of a weekend.

[whiterabbit]

Originally posted by ivylass
For me, reading is like breathing. If I don't have a book somewhere with a bookmark stuck in it, I feel like I'm missing a limb. I even plan what I'm going to read next while I'm in the middle of a book.

I'm not the only one who does that? I feel much better. I also often have two or three books going at the same time.

I was reading by the time I was four, with little or no outside help, but I honestly don't remember if reading was taught in KG. I know my first-grade teacher was into phonics big time, and it took several weeks for Mom to convince her to send me down to get tested and it was found that I was reading at a 4th or 6th grade (I don't remember which) level. After that she quit bugging me about phonics.

In third grade I didn't even do reading class. My teacher had a couple of shelves full of National Geographics and I'd go read them during reading class. Oddly, nobody resented me for this. Of course, she'd have squelched any of that real fast; she was one of those teachers who somehow makes her expectations VERY clear and is automatically obeyed, while not being scary at all.

[Angua]

Originally posted by whiterabbit
I'm not the only one who does that? I feel much better. I also often have two or three books going at the same time.


Phew. I thought I was the only one. Looks like there's at least three of us then.

I was another one of these kids who was reading by the age of three. In my case it was because I spent most of my time being looked after by my grandparents and two of my aunts. My aunts would read to me constantly, and encourage me to read as well. By the time I'd got to nursery (which is what we call Kindergarten over the Pond!), I was reading the books meant for the Reception class (grade 1).

When I went to infant school (probably grades 1-3), we had a graduated reading scheme, with each class having a recommended level. By the end of year two (grade 3), we were supposed to have reached level 5. I believe that they gave up on the level scheme with me, since I'd got to level 5 at the end of year 1, and was thoroughly bored. I was just allowed to read what I liked. :)

I remember my parents being told after my having been at nursery for 6 months (I'd started in August 1984, and wasn't due to go into the Reception class until August 1986 because of my age) that there was no point in my being there, as there was nothing more that they could teach me, and I'd be better off being transferred to the infant school in the coming August. Which I was, and so I have always been the youngest in my year.

[Angua]

Originally posted by whiterabbit
I'm not the only one who does that? I feel much better. I also often have two or three books going at the same time.


Phew. I thought I was the only one. Looks like there's at least three of us then.

I was another one of these kids who was reading by the age of three. In my case it was because I spent most of my time being looked after by my grandparents and two of my aunts. My aunts would read to me constantly, and encourage me to read as well. By the time I'd got to nursery (which is what we call Kindergarten over the Pond!), I was reading the books meant for the Reception class (grade 1).

When I went to infant school (probably grades 1-3), we had a graduated reading scheme, with each class having a recommended level. By the end of year two (grade 3), we were supposed to have reached level 5. I believe that they gave up on the level scheme with me, since I'd got to level 5 at the end of year 1, and was thoroughly bored. I was just allowed to read what I liked. :)

I remember my parents being told after my having been at nursery for 6 months (I'd started in August 1984, and wasn't due to go into the Reception class until August 1986 because of my age) that there was no point in my being there, as there was nothing more that they could teach me, and I'd be better off being transferred to the infant school in the coming August. Which I was, and so I have always been the youngest in my year.

[Eva Luna]

Me too. Before I was born, Mom was a grade school teacher, and she read to me even farther back than I can remember. She finally stopped actively teaching me to read because my passive reading vocab had gotten so far ahead of my ability to use it in conversation. By the time I started kindergarten I was reading on the 2nd or 3rd-grade level. She used to yell at me for reading under the covers with a flashlight, saying it would ruin my eyes. It was almost all I ever wanted to do.

When I started kindergarten at the local neighborhood school, the teachers told me I wasn't allowed to read, and took my book away and forced me to make Playdoh sculptures with the other kids. When Mom found out, she was furious and threatened to pull me out and home-school me if they didn't transfer me to the local magnet school. They did, and it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Who the hell tells a child NOT to read?

[Angua]

Originally posted by Eva Luna
She used to yell at me for reading under the covers with a flashlight, saying it would ruin my eyes. It was almost all I ever wanted to do.



Eva, are we long lost sisters or something? I used to do the same thing. And get yelled at by my parents for doing so.

[amarinth]

Originally posted by Angua
Phew. I thought I was the only one. Looks like there's at least three of us then.Apparently, we're rare. I was in a job hunting seminar once - they had some kind of personality test, and one type was said to have multiple books going at once. I was the only one of that personality type in the room. Until that moment, I thought almost everyone read multiple books at once. Most of my family does.

I also read under the covers by the light of the electric blanket remote control. I was supposed to be asleep.

Anyway, to the OP, I could read at 3, so, no I wasn't taught to read there. (I also never got in trouble for it, except with substitutes. I annoyed substitutes, which was hard, because I really didn't want to...but I think I threw them.) But the rest of the students were. And could get through a book by the end of the year. This was Catholic school in the late 70s.

I don't have kids, but I work with 1st and 2nd graders once a week. The first graders who were taught by their parents to read can. The ones who are being taught to read at school can recognize a few words and sound things out if you help them. They can't (or won't think to) do it on their own.

[Spoons]

Originally posted by Eva Luna
Who the hell tells a child NOT to read?Well, as you can tell from my post above, my kindergarten teacher.

But it wasn't quite the horror story that Uvula Donor alluded to. At about that time, and perhaps as a result of that incident, my Mom took me down to the local public library, which was only a block or two away, and got me a library card. There were all the books I could possibly want! And my Dad began sharing his evening newspaper with me when he got home from work--my tastes in the paper in those days ran mainly to the comics page, but there were also news stories about astronauts and sports reports and other things that interested me.

Made for an interesting few years of school, I must say. In the same day, I'd go from easy reading primers at school ("Look, Dick! Look, Jane! See Spot run! Oh, look!") to reading such things as "Today, the two astronauts in their Gemini spacecraft reported that...."

[Angua]

Originally posted by amarinth
Apparently, we're rare. I was in a job hunting seminar once - they had some kind of personality test, and one type was said to have multiple books going at once. I was the only one of that personality type in the room. Until that moment, I thought almost everyone read multiple books at once. Most of my family does.

Hmm... That's strange. Most of my family decidedly do not like reading books at all. Hence, I've spent most of my time believing I'm a freak. My brother, who is five (almost 6) years younger than me hates reading, and will avoid books at all costs...

[Eva Luna]

Originally posted by Angua
Eva, are we long lost sisters or something? I used to do the same thing. And get yelled at by my parents for doing so.

Well, stranger things have been known to happen! My family thinks I'm a freak, too. (They do mostly read books for fun, though, but not as much as I do. And my sister, I'm convinced, was switched at birth.) Anyone at Londope do quickie DNA analysis?

(Remind me sometime to dig up and forward you an article on Jewish genealogy by genetics. Apparently my people get around.)

[Angua]

Originally posted by Eva Luna
Well, stranger things have been known to happen! My family thinks I'm a freak, too. <snip>

And my sister, I'm convinced, was switched at birth.)

I think we have a tenable theory here!! :)

(Remind me sometime to dig up and forward you an article on Jewish genealogy by genetics. Apparently my people get around.)

Will do - it sounds fascinating.

[ratatoskK]

Born in 1955. In KG the teacher put labels on some objects in the room, specifically "Book," but we didn't officially learn to read until 1st grade (Dick and Jane). In first grade, each kid had to read the alphabet from the strip of letters above the blackboard before we could all go to lunch.... And there were a couple of kids who didn't know it.

[SnoopyFan]

I got in trouble for reading in kindergarten.

Seems that in our school, reading was taught in first grade, and wasn't something kindergarteners were supposed to know how to do.

I can remember getting bitched at for "working ahead" -- not so much in reading (my elementary school REALLY stressed reading) but in other subjects. That's what I don't like about schools today: no individualization. Kids aren't allowed to work at their own pace. The faster ones are bored to tears because the classes are dumbed down to accomodate "average" students, and the ones who are slower in some subjects struggle because they're just not ready for the material yet.

[Orange Skinner]

I'm 17, went to kindergarten in 1990. I'd already started reading easy storybooks and things like that before the school year started, and by the last quarter of the school year, say, March, we started to read things of a "See Spot Run" nature. My brother is 10 now, and it seems to me that he wasn't reading until a year or so later than I was, if I remember right.

Originally posted by SnoopyFan
[b]I got in trouble for reading in kindergarten.
That's what I don't like about schools today: no individualization. Kids aren't allowed to work at their own pace. The faster ones are bored to tears because the classes are dumbed down to accomodate "average" students, and the ones who are slower in some subjects struggle because they're just not ready for the material yet.

Amen to that. Because I can pick and choose what classes I want now, (I'm a senior) it's a little better, but I remember spending most of my k-8 years being bored out of my mind waiting for others to be caught up. In junior high they spent a couple years where they tried to "track" us based on ability in a couple different subjects (reading and math, I think). It worked great, but they stopped doing it.

[dangermom]

In second grade we had those SRA reading assessment thingies, with graded levels of different colors that were supposed to take two years to go throughI remember those! I hated them, they had such dumb stories on them, and I wasn't allowed to read the long ones at the back. But my teachers did let me read extra, and gave me extra fun math workbooks too.

I can't remember what my kindergarten taught, being another of those who learned to read beforehand. Like ivylass and Angua, I read all the time (hey, do you read while you're brushing your teeth, too? I do...). But I seem to recall that K was basically 'fun stuff' and serious work didn't begin until 1st grade. There are kids who aren't wired to start reading that soon, and do better if they hold off until a little later. Making kids learn what they aren't ready for (as opposed to letting them read if they want) is IMO a bad idea in early elementary school.

[Angua]

Originally posted by genie
I remember those! I hated them, they had such dumb stories on them, and I wasn't allowed to read the long ones at the back.

I remember those as well. Except I was allowed to read the hard ones at the back. In fact, I was encouraged to, cause I would act up otherwise, as I was bored out of my skull.

Like ivylass and Angua, I read all the time (hey, do you read while you're brushing your teeth, too? I do...).

Not anymore. I used to, but my mother trained that habit out of me. I do read all the time though. When I was in Cambridge, which is far more pedestrian friendly than Birmingham, I'd read whilst walking sometimes :)

Making kids learn what they aren't ready for (as opposed to letting them read if they want) is IMO a bad idea in early elementary school.

Absolutely. You have to teach kids at their own pace. Forcing them will not work. Also, each kid has different aptitudes, strengths and learning styles. In many cases, to get kids to learn effectively, you need to tailor your approach to multiple learning styles and strengths.

[whiterabbit]

Originally posted by genie
Like ivylass and Angua, I read all the time (hey, do you read while you're brushing your teeth, too? I do...). [/B]


I'M NOT ALONE!!!! I've freaked out so many of my friends with this particular habit. They usually think it's funny. They should just shut up and go read a book or something. :D

Once she was convinced that I could read and she wasn't just dealing with a pushy mom, my first grade teacher was great. I don't know how old I was when I first started reading; I know my family didn't realize how well I was doing until I was four, but that meant I'd been reading for quite some time beforehand.

I think it's a bit freaky that some people remember when they learned to read. It's like breathing for me. I know some kids aren't quite ready until six or so, but it still just seems weird. I guess that's what happens when you descend from bookworms.

[sugaree]

I was reading before kindergarten (thanks to Sesame Street, perhaps?), and I remember leafing through books in my kindergarten room during playtime. I remember we started off each morning with a writing exercise. In the beginning of the year, it was a letter of the alphabet, then our names.

My husband learned to read in first grade.

[Rico]

I was reading at 2 1/2. My mom would read to me every night from "My First Book About Jesus" (yes, we were a religious family) and I woke up one morning, and realized I was reading the cover of the book! I opened it and was amazed to realize I was reading the words!

I went out to the kitchen where Dad was sitting with his morning coffee and the LA Times, proudly announced "Daddy! I can read!" and proceeded to read the book for him.

He, naturally, thought I had memorized the book. After his "that's nice, son" speech, he then handed me the paper, pointed me to Jim Murray's column (a local sports column) and asked me to read it, which I proceeded to do (missing a few words, of course, but trying to sound them out and succeeding on most of them).

After picking himself up off the floor, he called for my Mom and had me repeat the performance!

Interesting sidelight: In 1991 I was covering the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament in Palm Springs for KDES radio. I was assigned a spot at the media desk right next to - you guessed it - Jim Murray, who at this time was almost 90 years old. I introduced myself, and over lunch I told him the story of how his column was the first newspaper story I ever read. The look of pride on his face was awesome - I even got a mention in his column about 3 months later (I guess it was a slow sports day or something).

At age 3 I was reading the nap time stories to my pre-school class. In first grade I was sent to the 6th grade reading class and outdid the 6th graders. At age 9 I was given the autobiography of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI Ace of Aces, and devoured the book.

I still love to read and can complete a 600 page novel in under 4 hours.

No kids here, but if I had you can rest assured they'd be reading early and often!

[RealityChuck]

In Kindergarten (this would be in 1957), we learned the alphabet. We learned to read in first grade.

My daughter (1989) was supposed to know the alpabet, and maybe to read a few simple words like her name.

[Darkhold]

my mother claims I 'taught myself' to read. I'm sure this is BS (I remember alot of math flashcards I'm sure there were reading ones before that I was too young to remember)

In kindergarden? Basic math addition and subtraction and reading and writting.

[RickJay]

I was reading at 2.

Like a lot of other people, I suspect this had more to do with being read to and exposed to books, rather than being a child genius. The gap between me and my classmates shrank every year. I was the only reader in JK, way ahead on Grade 1, still had a lineup of kids at my desk asking for help in Grade 3, advanced but not way ahead in Grade 8, among the top students in high school but not the best, and average in university. That suggests to me that I was given a head start, rather than having a bigger brain.

[ShibbOleth]

I learned to read in kindergarten.

My daughter learned to read, write and basic math in kindergarten (K1) with 4-5 years old in an international school. In fact, we were told she was behind on entering, at age 4, since she didn't already know how to write very well. She couldn't really read then either, and didn't read very well until last in her second year of kindergarten (in the USA).

My son is now in kindergarten, but a private Montessori one. He is suddenly reading although we didn't do much to teach him, and reading some things that amaze me. But he always had his older sister and lots of being read to. His school doesn't do much to teach reading, AFAIK, but I'll let you know after his parent-teacher conference the week after next.

FWIW I don't really think that this is a big deal, one way or the other. In German kids don't enter first grade until 7 years old, and they seem to do just fine. In fact I think that pushing kids too hard too early can put them off of school and maybe lead to stress and early burnout.

[rjung]

I don't remember if I was taught to read in kindergarden or not, but considering I started kindergarden not knowing any English, odds are I was.

All I know is, my soon-to-be-four-year-old already knows how to spell and read a bit (he's got a vocabulary of about 60-70 words, IIRC), and any teacher who gives him grief about reading "too soon" will have to answer to me.

[Quartz]

I was a comparatively late reader - four. Apparently I had great difficulty reading so my mother sat me down and read to/with me every day. By four and a half I was reading and then there was no stopping me.

BTW I'd just like to highlight Rico's comment

Interesting sidelight: In 1991 I was covering the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament in Palm Springs for KDES radio. I was assigned a spot at the media desk right next to - you guessed it - Jim Murray, who at this time was almost 90 years old. I introduced myself, and over lunch I told him the story of how his column was the first newspaper story I ever read. The look of pride on his face was awesome - I even got a mention in his column about 3 months later (I guess it was a slow sports day or something).

This is just brilliant.

[teleute12]

Taught to read? They had a hard time getting me to do anything *but*! OK, I don't know if that's true for kindergarten, but I know that I was reading books instead of doing classwork in first and second grade, and then I never really stopped.

[NinjaChick]

I learned to read, somehow without my parents knowledge, probably when I was three.

In kindergarten, my teacher never let me go get books from even the first-grade rooms. I had to stick to the Sunshine books. They had turqouise covers and were the modern-day equivilent of Dick and Jane.

In first grade, my best friend and I could both read far ahead of the rest of the class. Our teacher told us to go to the library during reading group and left us alone. I always ended up in the big-kid section.

By third grade, I could read way faster than any of my peers, because I did it so compulsively. I got in trouble for reading during non-reading time, every day.

Gyrate, I remember SRA cards, too. We started doing them in fourth grade. I hated them, and finished the entire set in a matter of months.

[Super Gnat]

<obligatory reading story>
Well, according to my mother, when I was 4 months old, if you gave me a book upside down then I would turn it rightside up, but if you gave me a book rightside up then I'd leave it alone. My uncle didn't believe her, so he tried it out and I did it.

When I was about 18 months, I could say the letters on my blocks.

When I was about 3, the daycare lady told my mom that I was reading all the little books in her place. That was the first my mother knew of it.

I don't remember what we did in kindergarten. In first grade, I remember putting our reading book for the quarter (?) under my desk so I could read through it while the teacher was droning on. ISTR that it was based on us knowing how to read, though; it was like Dick and Jane, not ABC. This would have been 1990-1991

My brother learned to read in kindergarten. That was mid-90s.

[bump]

Ditto what zweisamkeit said about learning to read. Apparently I figured it out by about 2 or so. I figured out how to write my first name not too long afterward- apparently the same process works for learning how to write as well.

I do remember kindergarten being primarily about counting and the "Letter People"(remember this was 1977), which were inflatable characters for each letter- they had some attribute that was alliterative and also used the multiple sounds of some letters. We also learned how to print the letters.

First grade was occupied with basic "1+1=2" type math, and reading class. This was very standard phonics type stuff- some book called "Tag" about a dog and a boy and girl. More letter practice as well. I don't remember much about that- my teacher figured out that I could read pretty early and would dump a book in my lap and have me read it/write a book report to stop me being disruptive during class.

By 2nd grade we were expected to read, and we started cursive writing, if I'm not mistaken.

My younger brother (7 years younger) was taught by some sort of "sight reading" system, that my mom(teacher w/25 years experience) thought was asinine. About all I know about it was that he could read well, but had little of the writing/spelling integration that phonics gives students. In other words, he could read like crazy but seemed to be pretty well incapable of writing, even by my first grade standards.

[elfkin477]

Originally posted by bump
I do remember kindergarten being primarily about counting and the "Letter People"(remember this was 1977), which were inflatable characters for each letter- they had some attribute that was alliterative and also used the multiple sounds of some letters. We also learned how to print the letters.

The letter people! My kindergarten diploma is spelled out in letter people :D We had inflatable ones in the classroom too.

My younger brother (7 years younger) was taught by some sort of "sight reading" system, that my mom(teacher w/25 years experience) thought was asinine. About all I know about it was that he could read well, but had little of the writing/spelling integration that phonics gives students. In other words, he could read like crazy but seemed to be pretty well incapable of writing, even by my first grade standards.

You know, though phonics doesn't make sense to everyone. Despite reading well by grade K I couldn't understand the phonics stuff we were learning. (though perhaps as others have said, why would I sound out words I knew?) But I don't recall ever sounding out words, mostly because I learned to by looking at the whole words: cat looks like CAT rather than cat sounds like ku-at. By fourth grade I only spelled as well as a third or fourth grader, but my reading comprehension level tested at just under the 11th grade level (something strange like grade 10 and 7 months) so I guess it worked out ok given I now spell fairly decently as well.

[Hokkaido Brit]

I'm late into this thread because the hamsters wouldn't let me read it! I too have books on the go constantly though since discovering the dope it tends to be this that I read....

I was reading at about the same time I entered British school, which was the term in which you turned five. I was four and 7 months. I remember being able to read well but getting caught up on pronunciations. I remember knowing that "clothes" were clothes but reading it "cloths" when called on to read to the teacher.

I would like advice about my children, who are Japanese/English, being raised in the Japanese public school system. Both the 3 year old and the 7 year old first grader speak English very well, the three year old a bit slow at first but about average for a native speaker now, and the 7 year old very fluent in both languages and advanced in English (he sounds about 10 or 11 years old but with the emotional maturity of a 7 year old.)

I worry constantly that they are falling behind their native speaking peers, as one day I hope they will have the choice of going to an international school, or to the US or England. If they can't read or write English then this will be hard for them to do.

The 7 year old yesterday produced this piece of writing:
Jurassic Park Continued

TAe JURASSIC PARK Woz FuLL ov DiNossro. TheN a LoT OF PeepLe cAme AND FixeD uP JURASSIC PARK. 2 weeks LATer The DiNossros came And,SmasheD it oLL Up, AGAIN!! The Peeple gave the DiNoSSAurs A Lot ov FooD, so TheY GoT too FAT to run.

This was done by dint of us talking about the film we had just watched, and kid saying he wasn't satisfied with the ending, and me suggesting we write our own satisfactory ending. So we sat there with him writing and discussing each bit, and then him having decided what the next sentence would be, me dictating it back to him word by word. (He seemed unable to carry a whole sentence in his head and write at the same time.) I told him how to spell Jurassic Park and he pretty much worked out the rest himself. His letters are haywire and many come out backwards. (He reads and writes Japanese at or slightly below grade level too btw.)

Is his writing about 1st grade level? Lower? Too low? We try to do about 10 minutes a day of reading or writing or drills but that is about all we can do, as his Japanese school work is obviously important too. All his videos are English, and our home language and 90% of the books I read to him are English. Any other ideas or suggestions? He is "allergic" to reading and will cry if I try to make him. On the other hand he adores being read to, and we are ploughing through the "Swallows and Amazons" series at the moment. He will read odd words, chapter headings and simple sentences to me over my shoulder as he finds them, but I have given up for the moment on the "reading" because I can't stand the crying.

The three year and 5 months boy is suddenly writing. He joins in my kindergarten English classes and now knows all his letter and numbers up to about 50, and the sounds the letters make. He can write maybe 20 words by himself, most of them 3 letter words. As of yesterday he is starting to write phrases but they need him to read them to me! Yesterday's was "EEGOIN 2 PAk." (We're going to the park) and today's was "Welkum 2 luch" (Welcome to my lunch.) I am stunned by this, and apart from giving him tracing worksheets, writing out words he wants me to write for him, and praising him to the skies, I don't know what to do to encourage him. I don't know if he can read yet. Maybe odd little words. He also knows about half of the hiragana phonetic symbols of Japanese, and can write his own name in both languages.

If anyone could tell me where the kids fit in with average US/British kids of three and seven, and how to take them on, I'd be very grateful.

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

Perhaps we should have a separate thread for "When I learned to read." I'm afraid the posts which actually answer the OPs question are few.

[squeegee]

I was wondering what some of you all define as "reading" ?

My definition would be, at minimum, reading simple sentences of the "See Tom run. Jane has a cat." variety.

However, a few of the posts above seem to equate "reading" with word recognition (ball, cat), which seems a bit below the level I'd describe as "reading".

To the OP: I was taught to read sentences and short stories in first grade (Illinois, circa 1967). before that, I was taught word recognition and phonics in Kindergarten and pre-school.

My son, age 4, is in preschool and is getting some phonics. I understand that "reading", whatever that means, is taught in the local kindergartens, but my son has almost another year before he'll start 'real' school.

[SpazCat]

My dad was dyslexic and didn't learn to read properly until he was almost in college, so he made absolutely sure my sisters and I could read before we started school. I remember sitting in his lap at night and reading to each other. My sisters say he used a phonics book, but all I remember are Little Golden Books. It worked, because we all were reading before we started kindergarten.

According to family legend, I started reading when I was two. My mother took me to K-Mart for the first time, and when I got out of the car, I looked at the sign and asked her, "Is this K-Mart?"

I wasn't given any grief about reading ahead of the rest of the class in kindergarten. I remember learning the alphabet according to Astro (this was 1985) and learning to write by copying a short paragraph the teacher wrote on the board each day. In first grade we had a halfway nap time when the class had to put their heads down on their desks (I still firmly believe this causes back problems) while one student played a record of children's songs. Whenever it was my turn to play the record, I read all the books on the shelf next to the turntable. I got through all of them long before we read them in class.

[elfkin477]

Originally posted by Hokkaido Brit


The 7 year old yesterday produced this piece of writing:
Jurassic Park Continued

TAe JURASSIC PARK Woz FuLL ov DiNossro. TheN a LoT OF PeepLe cAme AND FixeD uP JURASSIC PARK. 2 weeks LATer The DiNossros came And,SmasheD it oLL Up, AGAIN!! The Peeple gave the DiNoSSAurs A Lot ov FooD, so TheY GoT too FAT to run.

<snip>
Is his writing about 1st grade level? Lower? Too low?

While in college I tutored a second grader for reading and writing and his looks about as good as hers did - it's worth noting she was in the program not because she was doing poorly but because she needed more adult attention. Your son's paper looks better than 1st grade for the simple reason that it actually has vowels in it.... I bet if you started a thread asking for elementary teachers' opinions you'd get a more qualified answer, though; while I now evaluate student writing for a living, we don't score below grades 3 and 4.

[otterish]

Bunny (mom of otterish) taught me to read by finding individual letters on cereal boxes during breakfast every day, and learning what sound each made. When we tried to start putting them together into words, though, it became evident to her that something wasn't right. Being a smart Bunny, she sought expert help. The dyslexic otter was reading like a champ well before kindergarten.

[vivalostwages]

My kindergarten teacher told my mom that I had read 2 books, and mom didn't even know I could read. :) I don't remember doing anything but playing in preschool. Maybe I just picked it up on my own? Hard to say.

[c_carol]

I'm not sure how much reading was taught in my kindergarten class (circa 1983). I vaguely remember that at least some students got to read actual books, somewhere around the "See Spot run" level. I sped through them, bored silly, then went and checked out third-grade books from the library.

[bughunter]

Wow! I didn't know there were so many Dopers that were reading before kindergarten!

My mom taught me to read by the time I was three. I was reading the "Tree of Knowledge Encyclopedia" for leisure by age 4... (I would have avoided the "S" volume altogether out of fear of the vivid color panels of Snakes, but that volume also had "Space Exploration.")

I remember reading my first word all by myself... my mom and her friend and I were having lunch at a department store, and I sounded out the word "Cafeteria" over the buffet line. :D

Food has always been important to me.

[Max Torque]

I could read, for real, before I turned 3. I can't remember a time when I couldn't read. The very first thing I remember reading was a street sign. I was in our truck (we were moving), sleeping in Mom's lap, and I looked up and saw a sign. I saw the shape of the letters, and knew what they meant. It said, "Exxon". heh.

My parents discovered that I could read through a babysitter. When my folks came home, the babysitter told them in amazement, "He can read!" My parents told her, "No, he just memorizes what we read to him and repeats it." "No, really," said the babysitter, "he was reading to me from National Geographic!"

So, by the time I hit kindergarten, I was already quite the reader. Writing didn't come as quickly, however; I was still writing mostly capitals when I started school.

I love reading, and I love books. I hope to teach my children to read at a young age; I plan to read to them as much as possible. And I'll be pushing my pro-reading agenda on my brother when I send books to all four of his kids this Christmas.

[pravnik]

My Mom tells it like this: A little before I turned three, my folks were traveling to my grandparents house on a family trip. I pointed at a sign outside and said "McDonalds!" and my parents said "Hey, pretty clever! He recognizes the logo!" Then I pointed at a sign without a logo and said "Knoxville Chevrolet!", and the car grew quiet. They hadn't made any effort to teach me to read. Best they can figure, I picked up the basics of phonetics from watching Sesame Street and ran with it.

By the time I got to kindergarten, I could read about as well as I can now, although my comprehension obviously wasn't as good. The funny thing is, in a way I think it ended up hurting me more than it helped as far as school performance. I was a great student in elementary school, but later on when things didn't come as easily as reading did I guess I didn't have the discipline to apply myself. In junior high I started failing courses, and I ended up flunking out of high school and not graduating with my senior class. It was very frustrating for me and hugely disappointing for my parents, especially considering the high hopes they had for me when I was little.

Just so you know the story has a happy ending, I turned it around when I got a little older, went to law school, and did just fine. :)

[mipiace]

I was an early reader. My Mom stayed at home with me and read to me. I memorized the books by about age two and she taught me to read at about age 4. I was really bored in school in teh first grade when the other kids were learning their ABCs....

I taught my son learned to read at age 5, my two daughters went to Italian school and learned to read at about age 6 but they learned to read in both Italian and English so that was an added benefit for them.

[bump]

Hey- that's pretty funny! That's almost exactly how my parents figured out that I could read- I was merrily reading off all the businesses until I got to one without a logo, and misread/mispronounced the store name. This gave my parents pause, and then they started asking me to read other stuff on buildings until they were convinced.

[Incubus]

I'm amazed on how well some dopers can remember the details of when they learned how to read.

I honestly can't remember when I learned how to read. It may have been when I was being toilet trained (which means I was either an early reader, slow when it came to being toilet trained, or slow at both :( )

I do recall reading stuff in the bathroom to pass the time while going #2. Ironically this lead to the enjoyment of reading while on the toilet. There are few things that are more relaxing than reading a good magazine/newspaper while relaxing the bowels :D

I like to read, but I don't do it as voraciously as some of your do. I do spend a ton of time on the internet though, and it should be noted that most of this time is reading stuff, so personally I think surfing the net counts as reading. For as long as I can remember, I've also read during long car rides and before I go to bed.

When I completed Elementary school my parents gave me a World Book Encyclopedia set as a graduation present. I would often read a whole volume when looking for something specific (I also have this habit when looking something up in a dictionary). I think I've read through that whole encyclopedia hundreds of times over, my mom used to think it strange I would read reference books for fun.

My parents both were very supportive in helping me to learn to read and spell, but my family in general were not avid readers. Some times dinner conversations were awkward because I'd want to discuss a book/author/rhetoric but nobody in the room had any idea what I was talking about, nor any interest in hearing it.

[fishbicycle]

I come from a little town (<2000 people). My mom taught me to read as a baby. The way she told it is that while at the library, at age 3 (this was 1961), I asked my mom what a word in my book was, and she asked me to spell it. I said "s-q-u-i-r-r-e-l". Then the librarian became intrigued, because she was going to be my Kindergarten teacher, and they had never dealt with someone that young who could read and spell. By Grade 1, I was tested and had reading, spelling and comprehension at 9th grade level - so I was supremely bored by Dick and Jane. But I always got A+ in reading and spelling.

In Grade 2, the school sent me for psychological evaluation, and as a result, the school board created an advanced program for me. I was the first kid to go to accelerated classes at the school across town, where I took Grades 3, 4 and 5 in two years. When I went back to my old school for Grade 6, I was younger than everybody, had learned different subjects in a different way than everybody, and I paid for it mightily. I used to get beaten up for being perceived as smarter than the other kids, and the teachers used to berate me for being a smartass, and reprimand me for being bored to tears. And it went downhill from there. I was never smarter than anybody, I could just read. That was all. Maybe it was an aptitude that I have, like the one for playing music.

Anyway, my mom swore never to do that to my brothers, she would let them learn on their own. Consequently, one of them is well-spoken and has a good vocabulary and spelling, and the other is somewhere slightly above functionally illiterate.

[Vlad Dracul]

I started school in 1975, in a semi-rural area in Florida. Kindergarten involved reading material of the "Dick and Jane" type. By 2rd grade, our reading books contained stories a few pages long.

Mom tells me that my sister and I both learned to read long before that, because she would run her finger along the page under the words as she read to us. Neither of us remembers that far back, though... to us, it seems as if we could always read... certainly long before kindergarten.

[Sunspace]

I don't remember learning to read. I do remember...

...being four, and looking out the front window of the house, watching the big kids going off to kindergarten and womdering what it would be like.

Then I noticed my mom coming up the sidewalk, and she was carrying a paper bag of groceries, and sticking out the top was a book for me. I remember what the book was, too: it was one of the "Science made Simple" series with the pictures and everything, that was later satirised in exactly the same style by the book "Science made Stupid (http://www.besse.at/sms/smsintro.html)". Even then, I was fascinated by space and electrical stuff...

Mom told me that I basically taught myself to read by pointing out words and asking what they meant and what they sounded like.

[Voyager]

In the late '50s we learned in first grade. My first grade teacher was an old battleaxe, who insisted on phonics even though the school system had moved away from it. I could read a bit before, but not really. By the end of first grade I was reading Jules Verne books. In second grade someone noticed me reading 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea. I went to the principal's office, I read for him, they figured out I really did know what I was reading, and was let alone. In third grade we had some sort of staged reading program. My teacher gave me the hardest one to start with, which I could handle, and then I got to read what I wanted.

My kids were taught in the first grade and got the letter people in kindergarten. This was in the mid-80s. We made a Mr. H Horrible Hair costume for my daughter.

I'm curious what were the hardest books people reading before kindergarten were reading. There were some studies (I'll have to look them up) that showed that pushing reading before kids were developmentally ready actually hurt, and that many of these kids stopped reading because they were not ready for the level of books they could read. SD is a biased sample, though.

[Balle_M]

I never went to kindergarten, but I had parents who encouraged reading and an older sister who wanted to be a teacher. I was reading and doing math at a 3rd grade level before I started first grade. I had good teachers, too. "Hmm...this is too easy? Try THIS and we'll talk about it when you're done."

[Jman]

I learned to read when I was 4, the year before Kindergarten. I remember vaguely them teaching reading to the other kids in Kindergarten, but since I had already been through it, I was bored, and essentially ignored the teacher. By first grade, we had 3 different reading level classes. I, along with others who were bright and learned to read early, was in the blue group, and the intelligent late readers were in the intermediate group, then the people who barely knew what an A was made up the bottom group.

[jkirkman]

I was taught to read in the 1st grade in Atlanta public schools in the 1960’s. They didn’t even try in Kindergarten, which was only a half-day program at any rate.

My kids were started on the concepts in Kindergarten, but not pushed. They are in first grade this year, and being worked at it much harder than I was in first grade. They are in Private school in Alabama.

My Duaghter is getting the hang of it and enjoys reading. My Son only reads 3 things avidly: road signs, scoreboards, and Gameboy on-screen text.

On a related note: One of their little readers was illustrated by none other than Slug Signorino! I recognized the style immediately and went hunting for the credits.

[gwendee]

We did not have any organized reading education in kindergarten. Many things in the room had their names on oak tag signs taped to them. The teacher read to us frequently. We had reading groups, and SRA cards starting in first grade.

My son was in an all-day kindergarten last year and while reading was certainly a focus it was not a requirement. At orientation we were told that the goal of the program was to help each child progress rather than force them all to the same point. Children coming in not knowing the alphabet would learn it, children who started able to read simple words would learn more complex ones, etc. My son was not a full fledged reader at the end of kindergarten. He started reading on his own, enthusiastically during the second week of first grade.

[carimwc]

I'm not sure exactly when or how I learned how to read. All I know is that around the age of 3 I figured it out and started reading to my parents. Then around four I told my parents not to bother reading to me anymore, I wanted to be left alone to read to myself. That started me off to being the bookworm I am today.

I remember being in my second year of preschool and doing all sorts of special projects that my teachers gave me. I would have been in kindergarten but the darn school system decided to change the cutoff date (had to be 5 to start) to 15 days before my birthday, so despite me acing all the screening tests and all, they wouldn't let me in. I remember turning 5 and demanding to go to kindergarten because I was bored.

My kindergarten teacher was awesome. (I'm still in touch with her and her daughter is one of my close friends from high school.) I had a reading specialist come in for me and this other girl and we read and did exercises through the third grade level while everyone else was starting out on Superkids. (I think they're like the letter people.) Then when I got to first grade, I was dismayed to find that we'd be working in the same workbooks I had completed the year before. I couldn't get out of it either. I did get to make my own spelling list out and do my own type of book reports. Plus a small group of us got taken out of class for extra reading skills through third grade. They really did encourage us to read. This was back in New England in '83.

[Odinoneeye]

I taught myself how to read. One day, I was sitting on my mom's lap and she was reading a book. I asked her where she was at and she pointed to the spot. I started reading. When I reached the end of the page, I asked her where she was and she was only about half way done. When I told her I was done reading, she started asking me random words.

She dug out one of my brother's Hardy Boys books and had me read that.

Considering my mom mostly read Harlequin Romances, I can see now why she didn't want me reading her book.

Both of my kids learned to read in Kindergarten, but it took my daughter longer to catch on.

[look@hergo!]

I taught myself to read when I was between three and four. My brother (a year older) was spending time with my Mom reading at night and I was intrigued and jealous. After listening to her coach him on sounding things out (and having "followed her finger" at bedtime readings for years) I found it was easy to read. My first public performance was a book called "Henry" about a boy with big hands and big feet who wanted to play football. After that, I was unstoppable. Teachers all through grade school had to literally wrestle books out of my hands to get me to do anything else.

So, no, I didn't learn to read in Kindergarten. I was worried about my stepson because he wasn't interested in books much until just before he started school, even though I read to him all the time (still do!). But now he's off the charts (99 percentile) in his reading SATs.

[Q.N. Jones]

Students were definitely taught to read in my kindergarten class (1982-83). I remember having "Dick and Jane" type books, as well as special units on each consonant and vowel.

I remember it very clearly because it was a huge deal. I could read very well long before I reached kindergarten, and none of the other kids were even close--not even the other smarties.

The average kids started learning their consonants. The smart kids got skipped to vowels (which were trickier). They quickly figured out that I didn't even need the units on the vowels, so I breezed through them, and then had nothing to do.

I spent a large chunk of kindergarten helping the teacher correct the other kids' work on their reading and spelling lessons! So yeah, having helped teach my own kindergarten class, I can say that we were definitely taught to read. :)

[vengence will be mine...maybe]

My son started learning to read when he was in preschool and they did teach reading to a certain extent in kindergarten. I learned to read when I was four, My parents taught me. Which is what all parents should do, start teaching your children at home.

Thanks

[chaoticbear]

hmm, I had a very supporting kindergarten teacher... I already knew how to read/write (even in cursive(thanks, grandma)), so they put me in a first grade reading class, and I spent the rest of my day with the kindergarten class. Same in 1st grade. However, I switched schools when I got into 2nd grade, but the school system in which I had been had done such an excellent job educating me, I got skipped up to 3rd grade.

[shannablu]

My son was learning his letters in preschool and reading in Kindergarten. Now that he is in first grade he wants to reads everything and he does it very well. As for me, that was almost thirty years ago, I can barely remember what happened last week, let alone whether or not I could read when I was in Kindergarten.

[Lathe of Heaven]

Hokkaido Brit, I wouldn't worry about your kids' reading/writing level. They're very young, and English is complicated to spell. That said, I'm no expert.

But I *was* raised bilingual, so maybe I can help there. My parents got me (and my sister) lots of books, kid's magazines, tapes of people telling stories, etc.; if DVDs had existed in those days, they'd have been all over those as well. (Say what you like about e-commerce, but it's made life a million billion times easier for multi-continental families. I used to have to buy my Euro-comix in Europe and bring them back myself. Nowadays, amazon.fr will deliver them to my door.) Continuing exposure is key. If I were you, I'd get the kids a multi-region DVD player, lots of DVDs in English, and pretty much continue your write-a-few-sentences (maybe more as they get older) excercise.