Learning to Read

Austin is 4 years old. In the fall, we are placing him in Four Year old Kindergarten in a Christian School. He is going to learn to read. We chose this over Voluntary Pre-K based on several reasons. The primary reason is that he is already making and sounding out words. After some research, I found that the "passing" criteria for Voluntary Pre-k in Florida is to be fluent in naming the letters of the alphabet. Austin has been fluent at this skill since the age of 2.

This summer, I haven't pushed him. However, I have begun explaining to him in further detail how to make words. The reading coach at my school lent me some Leap Frog DVDs. There are three in reading and one in math. Austin has watched these more times than I can count. He also owns a Word Whammer that goes on the fridge. The Word Whammer is made by Leap Frog and is GREAT for teaching children the basics of making words. So today, as I was preparing lunch, Austin surprised me and he made a complex word.

So we're making progress in learning to read. He really is like a sponge when it comes to catching on to making words and sounding them out. I taught him one time to read the title to the book, The Cat In The Hat, and today he picked up the book and pointed to each word as he read it. I'm so excited to see how much potential he has and just how far he can go!