Reading - Muscatine,IA

No I don't think 3 is too young at all. If when a child shows an interest in something, don't hinder that interest! I'm not a teacher nor did I officially teach my kids so I don't have any advice in that area. They just picked up on it by reading lots of books and with me pointing to the words.

My son learned his sight words with the "Slap the Sight Words" game. I think you can get it on Amazon.

Have fun teaching her to read!

I don't think 3 years old is to young to learn to read. I think its great that she wants to learn and has actually asked to learn! My 4 year old loves this site www.starfall.com

You know your daughter best, trust your instincts on what will interest her. My main piece of advice is to think more on having fun with your daughter than "teaching" in the classroom sense - go to the library a lot, attend toddler storytimes, enjoy sharing books with her. Some libraries even have sections or special labels for alphabet books, and there are a lot of clever ones like Lois Ehlert's "Eating the Alphabet" (fruits and vegetables for every letter of the alphabet), Denise Fleming's "Alphabet Under Construction" (a crazy mouse builds with tools for every letter), "Alpha Oops! The Day Z Went First" by Aletha Kontis, and "Bad Kitty" by Nick Bruel (Kitty's mischief for every letter of the alphabet).

My kids started reading at 3 on their own. The only thing I did was read to them every day for 20 minutes. I figured it out when they started reading road signs to me. Find easy books with very few words and teach her how to sound them out. Or point to the words as you are reading them. Encouragin reading and modeling it to her should be enough. You want her to develop a love for reading at a young age. Take her to the library at least once a week to storytime and any other programs they have. When my daughter was in kindergarden they tested her and said she was reading and comprehending at a 5th grade level. My son was at a 3rd grade level in kindergarden. It has given them a huge advantage in school.

I started reading when I was 3. My dad used to sit with me on his lap and follow the words with his fingers as he read aloud, and I just picked up on it on my own.

Does she recognize all the letters of the alphabet? If no, then teach her those. If yes, then teach her the sound each letter makes. There are a lot of alphabet books at the library that can help you with that. Then she should be able to start sounding out words.
Have fun!

I haven't done this either, but this is what I would do. Does she know her letters or the sound the letters make? I would start there and by putting up the words for common things around the house - door, bed, etc. You can also go through her books slowly and say each word as you point to it.

Totally agree w/ Riley. When there's an interest, she will just absorb it on her own. Just read, point to the words if you like...

Its great, and then there are a down sides. My daughter is three and I don't even mention it. Her teachers know and make no mention of it to others which is just how I chose to handle it. And it does open up a whole new world of explanations. Eek!

Jen

If she's interested, I'd go gang busters!

Our son is getting close at 4 (June birthday). We have day care to thank largely for teaching him phonics. He's been writing his name for several months and can spell out words, he just hasn't mastered putting all the sounds together. He's good at telling us the sound a letter makes, but he doesn't understand H-A-T spells hat.

PBS runs a show called WordWorld - it's awesome. Really clever and really entertaining for them. We DVR it every day, and it's the first thing he asks to do when he gets home.

I'd also find a teacher supply store and get items that will help you teach what letters look like and begin practicing sounds. You can get flash cards from Target/WalMart for $3/pack, too.

I am the mother of two boys who learned to read at 4, and a preschool teacher who has at least a few 4 year olds learn to read each year, and I agree with everyone who has recommended that you go ahead and support her in her desire to read.

Here are some things that will help that I think have not yet been mentioned:

1. Phonemic Awareness. It is very important for a child to understand that sentences can be broken down into parts (ie. words), and words can be broken down into parts (ie. syllables), and words can further be broken down into sounds and letters. Rhyming is one way to learn this (pat, cat, jat, mat, lat, etc. -- nonsense words are just fine) because you take off the first part and change it to another sound. Alliteration (like in alphabet books) is another way. Read lots of poems and rhyming books, sing songs, and do lots of word play. (Wordsaroni is a good book for that, if it is still in print.) Research shows that children who have good phonemic awareness in preschool or kindergarten are much stronger readers by 3rd grade than children with poor phonemic skills.

2. Direct instruction. The book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a good way to teach reading, but it is pretty dry. You, the adult, follow an exact script and tell the child exactly what to do. If your child doesn't like this approach, just drop it. If she does like it, then go ahead, and balance it with a whole language approach.

3. Whole Language. This term has been somewhat discredited, but to me it refers to enjoying wonderful books, falling in love with books and reading, and using context cues to figure out what a word or sentence says. There used to be a big battle between the Direct Instruction folks and the Whole Language folks, but now we understand that children need both. If you use direct instruction, do balance it with reading books for the sheer joy of it.

4. Easy Readers. There are two series that I recommend. The BOB books by Scholastic are indispensable. They start with incredibly easy words that your child can sound out, and very slowly get more difficult. This is the only series that I have found that a real beginner can read. I also recommend the Brand New Readers series -- these are books that teach your child to pay attention to pattern, pictures, and context cues. (In other words, one series is phonics/direct instruction, the other is whole language.)

5. Great Children's Literature. You probably already do this, but I find that the quality of the books you read to your child is really important. Don't waste your time on boring books, or commercial books (like the ones based on movies or tv shows), or didactic books (the ones that try to teach a lesson) -- you will be bored, and so will she. Find the great books -- there are tons out there. I recommend Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, all of the Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems, all of the Pigeon books by Mo Willems, Brown Bear Brown Bear and other classic books with a repeating pattern, Where the Wild Things Are, Blueberries for Sal, the Olivia books, Stellaluna, all of Kevin Henkes' mouse books, No, David! by David Shannon, Hug by Jez Alborough, Swimmy by Leo Lionni, I Went Walking by Sue Williams, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, the Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood, Traction Man by Mini Grey, the Scaredy Squirrel books by Melanie Watt, and all of the bug books by Eric Carle.

Happy Reading!!

Some kids are ready at 3, but some not until 5-6. My kids were ready to learn the alphabet between age 2-3 and started reading between age 4-5. They were never "bored" in Kindergarten; there were plenty of other things to learn and we just kept reading at home. In first grade, they were placed in an appropriate reading group level. If she wants to learn, it won't hurt as long as there is no pressure.

There are lots of methods. "Teach Your Baby to Read" kit is one. My friend tried it with her oldest who learned to sight read a list of words at 18 months. It was fun, but she didn't keep up with it and everything was quickly forgotten. With my oldest, we started with uppercase letters in the bathtub and on the fridge. We eventually moved to lowercase letters, then sounds and just played games together with them. Then we sounded out simple word families (short phonetic words that rhyme like at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, Nat, pat, rat, sat, tat.) My second child taught himself, so it was easy.

With child #3-4, I didn't have as much time, so I used Hooked on Phonics and I really like the system. The kits are expensive, but I found a great internet sale and picked up the Pre-K, K, and 1st grade kits for a total of about $30. It was money well spent. Last fall, my 4 year old only knew uppercase letters. Now he is finishing the first grade level before he enters kindergarten in September and is branching out and reading things we never went over together on his own. My daughter who turned 3 in May knows uppercase, lowercase and is moving on to letter sounds. They ask to do the program almost every day.

Good luck,
S.

if she wants to learn to read help her as she asks. I know of children who learned to read at 2. If she gets bored or restless stop and let her do something else. There are many books from the library. There is a book called teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. I would just start with letters and sounds. Use the books she's memorized as a place to start with and point out the letters and sounds. Maybe use works that rhyme like cat, rat, sat. There is also a website called www.starfall.com that can be useful. I have a 16 year old that I homeschool so it's been a while since I checked it. Feel free to contact me if you like.
Blessings,
S.

My son was interested at 3 also. He knew the alphabet, so we taught him to find sight words. We started with "the" and he would point them out on the page as we read to him. As he mastered a word we would add another word (and, I). He also had many books memorized, so this would slow him down and keep him looking at the words.

No, she is not too young! Take advantage of her enthusiasm and willingness to learn! The first step is to teach her the sounds of the letters. I found that alphabet puzzles are a great way to go about this. As she's putting the puzzles together, you make the sound of the letter and ask her to do the same. Eventually, you will just ask her what sound the letter makes, then ask her to find the letter that makes the sound. Don't worry too much about having her sound out words yet. When you are reading to her, use your fingers to follow the words as you read them. After all the sounds are down, you can look for the leveled reading books about stories she may already know. These can be found in bookstores, of course, but also at Walmart, Shopko, Target, etc. Good luck!

LOL no! just ask the 'your baby can read' people. kids are smarter than we give them credit for. and if we just work with them reading more, they would all know how to read before they got into school. ;)

just keep it up! you are doing a good thing! :)

Wow that is fantastic! She may have her favorites memorized however have her sound out words. Run your finger under a word and break it down for her. The best gift we can give a child is reading. It is needed for everything in life. Good for her mom. Remember take her to the library. She can get her own card when she can write her name. I remember that being the biggest present for my daughter and when she was in K4 we went and she got her own card. Good luck and have fun!!!

I have not taken the time to read the other answers, so someone else may have already given you this advice.... If she is asking you to teach her, then by all means start teaching her. (My first daughter was recognizing all the letters at two and even wrote her name on her own in an etch pad and then brought it over to show her dad and I! Granted, she has an easy name... Emma, but still, she was not turning 3 for 2 1/2 months!)

I taught her a few sight words, but did not really teach her to read in earnest until she turned 5 (frankly because it never even crossed my mind that I could... I would not have even known where to start), when a homeschooling mom told me about this AWESOME book: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

I used this book to teach my first 3 kiddos to read (have 5) and plan to start my 3 yr old in the fall when the older kids are back to school and our schedule is not so hectic. She wanted to start 6 months ago already, but we were due with #5 and I knew the timing was not ideal because of it.

All three of my older kids read 2-3 grades levels above their grade and have high comprehension. One of their 2nd grade teachers was so amazed that she even borrowed the book so she could use it to teach her grand daughter over the summer.

I started my son when he was 4 and he went from only knowing his letters to finishing the book in just 2 1/2 months. (He liked learning it so much that he would ask for multiple lessons each day). What is so amazing is that this book is written so that you can go from not even knowing the names of the letters (doesn't even teach the letter names until lesson 76 or so) to reading AND comprehending at the 2nd grade level by the end! My son is now 6 and reads at the 3rd grade level. The rest of his classmates in kindergarten were just learning there letters and to read sight words.

It was super easy to teach with this book as it prints the dialog you should say as well as what you should expect your child to say. You can get the book at any bookstore like Borders or Barnes and Noble, for around $20, and even cheaper at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/06...

I'm telling you.... it works! Best of all, my children have learned to LOVE reading. That was the best gift I could have given them!

I've used the Your Baby Can Read system and it has worked to teach my daughter how to read. She started reading last year at age 3. I've started using the system in earnest with my second daughter who is 19 months old. She is already really interested in it and loves it when I pull out the books or put the dvds on.

I know it's possible for kids to be reading at 3, but it's also unusual. I think most kids who learn to read at that age read by sight, and not by skill--meaning they recognize words, and then start to use that skill, very subconsciously, to connect it to other words and teach themselves to read. I suspect that actually TEACHING your child to read could be very frustrating--I know girls tend to be much more advanced in this area than boys, but I know my son, in kindergarten, went through a huge period of frustration because sounding things out didn't work quite like he thought it should. That said...I would also definitely not ignore her desire to read! Start with the alphabet, then move to sounds...at the same time, work hard on sight words--mom, dad, her name, siblings' names, pets' names, love--words that she commonly uses. Whatever aspect of this she enjoys most, run with it! She's 3; she has time to grow into the tougher aspects of reading. Teach her to write the letters and words; the writing seems to move along the reading really quickly. And finally, don't get discouraged if she finds that this is all really overwhelming--it is. My son showed a lot of frustration that he couldn't read at 3, but was nowhere near ready to LEARN to read at that point. We did a lot of thank you note writing, using the same words over and over, but it was long and tedious, not a "fun" experience for him. Beyond that, he simply wasn't ready to sit still long enough to talk about sounds and putting them together. Good luck!