My Kindergartener is Reading!

My eldest is in Kindergarten. If you're over the age of 28 and don't have little kids, kindergarten is no longer the realm of phonics and coloring. Oh, no. Today Kindergartners are expected to READ by Christmas. Yes, READ. By. Christmas. It's a lot of pressure for quite a few 5 and 6 year-olds and their parents (most of whom remember kindergarten very differently...).

A bit of a perfectionist, that's my eldest. Admittedly, she takes after me in this regard. But I did not need to be reading in Kindergarten -- I got to wait until first grade. So, Kindergarten has been a tad bit stressful for our family.

Back in October, we purchased an e-book. In October it was too advanced. This morning our eldest started reading it ALL BY HERSELF. (Ok, just the first 2 pages but it was by herself without help.) She's so stinking pleased with herself. We're playing it up big time too.

​What is this magical book?

A to Z Cartoons by Elliot Carruthers

Each page is a single image with a short sentence describing it. For example, let's take the first page: A (since you can see the image on the book cover)

The alligator ate the apple.

The sentence perfectly describes the image. My little kindergartner was ecstatic when she was able to read that sentence. All. By. Herself.

I am so glad we found this book, not once but twice. It comes in e-book and paperback format. I don't care that some of the images are fairly stupid to me. If my kid gets confidence reading from any book, then I'm loving that book.

On the off chance that you are dealing with a kid who is learning to read, I felt I had to share. I, personally, have no idea how I learned to read. My knowledge of phonics is sub-par -- and that's being generous since I never had phonics. But, to turn my eldest into a confident reader, I'm willing to learn phonics and be painstakingly slow, processing through whatever the teacher and a wonderful reading teacher advise.

Speaking of that wonderful reading teacher, I'll be sharing a few of the ideas she gave me plus some we developed in future posts.

I know reading and learning to read may not be of interest to a wide range of people, but it is HUGE, I mean seriously, freaking HUGE in my world right now and I need the outlet. So, to everyone out here in internet-land, welcome to posts about a kid learning to read and the mom who is trying to help.

Kindergarten 2018 = 1st Grade 1980's

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