First grade. (There was no kindergarten and no home teaching.)
The key event I remember is the kids sitting in a circle taking turns to read thru one of those Dick and Jane books. When it came to my turn I got hung up on the word “their”. So pretty early on in learning to read.
Both of our kids were fairly good readers before they started kindergarten. Our <4 year old grandkid is currently picking up reading a few words here and there and will probably be a decent reader before starting school. Can also write their name.
I remember my older brother teaching me the alphabet at 4 or 5 yrs old. The only thing I remember clearly is him telling me that every letter. has a sound. I think I drove him crazy for a few months asking him to pronounce words for me. By the time I got to the first grade I could read anything but for some reason spelling came a little harder, maybe because I had not learned to write yet.
That’s how I feel. No memory whatsoever of learning to read — just remember always being able to read. (Which obviously isn’t true.) I must have learned it in school, as my folks were Polish immigrants and wouldn’t have taught me to read in English. I have vague memories of learning basic Polish reading, but coming from a point of knowledge of already knowing how to read in English.
I remember. I even remember the pre-reading books we had in kindergarten that had illustrations from the “See Spot Run” books but no words. I think they were trying to ease us in.
I’m 71 years old. I remember Dick and Jane and Spot the dog, Puff the cat? First grade, BIG book at the front of the class, we learned from that and then smaller copies of the same book. My family was a reading family so I remember it being pretty easy for me.
I remember my kindergarten teacher having us learn to read with the Dick & Jane series. She’d draw pictures on the blackboard to accompany the story. Boring, but somewhat effective.
At home, around the same time (maybe before), I got the Dr. Seuss books delivered monthly, starting with The Cat in the Hat. These books were the epitome of cool and eagerly anticipated. They were way more effective than Dick & Jane in teaching me to read.
Then, I picked up a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses—nailed it.
Next up, it was Archie Comics, Mad Magazine, and National Lampoon. These gems refined my reading skills and introduced me to the fine art of sarcasm.
I may have gotten the timeline a little out of whack, but hey, who’s keeping track?
I recall the Sally, Dick and Jane book series myself. But then soon afterwards another kid starting spewing out gems like “See Sally’s dick Jane!”. Its been downhill ever since.
My school reading textbooks featured Tom, Betty and Susan, but from the sound of it they had the same story arc as the Dick and Jane series (See Spot run. Run Spot, run).
The Hardy Boys were also pivotal in firing my enthusiasm for reading, but I’m not so sure they hold up to current PC standards. “olive-skinned Tony Prito” and “chubby Chet Morton” come to mind.
Yeah. The problem with Dick and Jane and their ilk is that, in the interests of providing simple repetitive words that look easy to read, the designers of such things forgot to provide any reason why anyone would want to read them.
Dr. Seuss got it right; though I don’t know whether I had any of his before I learned to read. I probably had Little Golden Books, though; I certainly had some by the time I can remember. The early ones of those were pretty good; I don’t know about the recent ones.
Yeah, but they were favorable characters, weren’t they? One of Nancy Drew’s friends was “chubby”, but she wasn’t put down for it. And I don’t remember anyone trying to make her go on a diet.
Yes, I remember at least part of the process. I had basic reading skills before I went to Grade 1.
Before I went to preschool, I had learned to read in Serbian in my family. The Serbian cyrillic alphabet has 30 characters, each of which represents a single sound. So no spelling required. I still have my “bukvar” (ABC and basic reading book).
When I was in kindergarten, my parents read to me a lot. They got me two or three Disney school books for teaching basic writing skills. I perused these books myself and with my parents.
I have a memory of drawing myself on the page of one of these books and practicing the spelling of the word “happy” (I have a recollection of “happie” being among them.)
Which poses another question: do you remember your parents reading to you?
I have NO memory of it. The parents DID have books and magazines around the house; I was reading Reader’s Digest Condensed Books by 8 or 9, and many Good Housekeeping articles by then as well. Plus of course whatever comics or books my brothers left around.
We read to our kids nightly until they were in elementary school.
Before the Hardy Boys, I read the Bobbsey Twins books, but soon outgrew them. The Hardy Boys, though, I stuck with for many years.
Bit of a digression here, but an interesting thing about the Hardy Boys stories, which date as far back as 1927, is that they were substantially rewritten in the 1950s to modernize them and remove some of the overt racism and characterizations that would not be considered appropriate in more modern times.
Wikipedia says the rewrites began in 1959 and continued until 1973, which doesn’t sound right to me because I’m sure all the ones I read were the updated revisions. I have replica copies of some of the originals and besides racism and ethnic stereotyping, one of the recurring themes in the originals is that Police Chief Collig and his sidekick detective are depicted as bumbling incompetents in competition with the Hardy Boys. In the modernized version, while the Hardy Boys are always the ones to solve the crime, they have a friendly and cooperative relationship with the police chief, which is much more in line with modern sensibilities.
In the modern versions, Chet Morton is still chubby and loves to eat, but I don’t see anything wrong with that non-judgmental depiction – there are kids that are like that and young readers would identify with them. I don’t remember Tony Prito being described as “olive-skinned”, but it was just a touch problematic that being Italian was his defining characteristic. For instance, the Hardy Boys named their motorboat the “Sleuth” because they were, after all, amateur detectives, while Tony Prito’s boat was named “Napoli” because, well, he was Italian! I don’t know if we were ever informed what Tony Prito’s dad did for a living, but if we had, I’m certain he would have been the owner of a pizzeria!
