Zach's Latest....

Zach is officially reading. Not like just c-a-t spells cat, but lots of things. We started with the "Sam and Dot" beginner-type books from the library (which he reads front to back), but his mind is constantly in motion. I'm afraid he is going to start stuttering because he is often saying the words with emphasis on the sounds, such as, "Let's go to the p-p-playground. Playground starts with p!" You can honestly see the wheels turning as he pronounces each word, and he's starting to be able to spell out words that he says.

The best is when he pronounces a word in his two-year-old speech patterns that is incorrect, and assigns it the wrong first letter. This happens when he pronounces "R" words with a "W," like "w-w-wed starts with w!" Sometimes he'll say, "R-r-wed!" too! The best was the other day when he thought "drink" started with a J because he still says, "J-j-jwink!" When we are driving, he picks out random words on signs and sounds them out. He pretty much sounded out "Office Max" when Corey took him there the other day. What 2 year old does this? Granted, he is only a month from being three (I wrote this a few weeks ago). But he began this mostly on his own about a month ago now. My mom says I was reading between 2 and 3, and not many people believe her. Not even me. What exactly does "read" mean, anyways? Recognizing/memorizing words? Being able to sound them out? Comprehending their meaning?

So here is living proof that at 2.9 years of age, Zach is reading beginner books of new words for comprehension. He reads full books and sentences that he hasn't ever seen before without help, and he understands what he is reading. He sounds out the letters, then the word, then usually repeats the sentence after he has figured out all the words so it is cohesive. It's freakin' me out!

This is the book I made him on the computer with the first words he learned.

He has known his alphabet and the letter sounds for over a year now. I knew reading was the next step, but had no idea how or when to introduce it. I absolutely didn't want to "force" it on him before he was ready, so I just decided to wait until I saw some signs. It began last month when we checked out a library book that had a character spelling the word "stop." Whenever we would read the book, he would say, "s-t-o-p. Stop." So when he was taking a bath, I used his foam letters that stick to the tiles to spell "stop." He said the letters and recognized the word right away. We tried it with a few more words and he seemed to be enjoying it and catching on quickly. A day or two later, I spelled those words I had taught him in the tub on some paper, and he immediately know them all: Mom, dad, stop, go, yes, and no. I quickly thought that if we had the verb "says," we could make a story out of the words, which we did. It took a few days to interest him enough in the story for him to read the whole thing, but he did read a page or two the first few days.

We make spelling fun with these tasty cookies. It's hard to save all the letters we need for words though!

We kept practicing the words he knew and adding to them until he knew about 20 after a couple of weeks. I didn't know if there was a certain method or group of words I should be teaching him to help him learn the best. Thus far, it seemed like he just looked at the word and memorized it. We got a book that came with a CD from the library, and it teaches reading phonetically in word families. The first story is about Sam and Mat, and includes words like "sat,", "on." and "sad." He has now mastered all four of the ten-page stories in the first book, and has moved to the second book, where the words and sentences are longer. (Update: A couple weeks later he has finished all three 45-page books.)

Another resource he loves, which we had previously used a little for alphabet learning, is Starfall.com. It has great reading games and short stories that Zach picked right up on. He even chose a game that seemed a bit harder, requiring him figure the beginning and end of four-letter words containing a long vowel sound, like seed and heel--none of which we'd studied yet--and he totally nailed it! (Update: He has now learned the long vowel sounds and silent e.)

It worries me a little to have him growing up so fast. I know I am going to have to be careful about what material is appropriate and good for him. There is so much trash available to day....And now he is wanting his own "gwumputer" to do more learning games (or am I just wanting my own computer back?!) He is asking to do starfall.com as I type this!

Anyhow, I just wanted to document this for someday when I tell my brilliant little boy that he began reading at the age of two, and he doesn't believe me!

And just in case anyone thinks all we do is work and study here instead of playing....he also likes:

Picnicking at the park

Playing in our "tent"

Dressing up like Buzz Lightyear

Using my double-sided tape dispenser to make a "train track!" Ugh!

Bouncing at the Pumpkin Patch

Swinging at the park

This boy has astounded us on every level since his birth. He is sweet, loving, energetic, and brilliant. He wears us out each day, but after he's gone to bed, I sincerely miss him and want to play some more!
 Zach, you are the best!!