I considered it reading when she was reading new words ie. when she brought me that Little House book and read it. The memorization and sounding out CVC type words were pre-reading skills (emergent reader) but not what I consider "reading."
I agree with that, although it doesn't necessarily have to be a fourth grade level book, lol.
My DD started out as a wholly phonics driven reader (she didn't ask what does that word say. She asked what do these letters say together, etc.) But, it was not until she figured out how to accumulate a sight word memory that she really started reading books.
Now she seems to take a more holistic approach to reading. I can tell she will sometimes look at the first couple of sounds and makes educated guesses using context. She also does the same thing as annette's DS. And, I know she is glancing ahead at the text before reading it out loud. If a word in a sentence is unfamiliar she pauses at the beginning of that sentence rather than the word, figures it out, then reads the sentence from the beginning. And, when she really has to, she will sound out a whole word, although I think she has begun to think that reading should be automatic. So, while she started out on the phonics end of the spectrum she seems to have found her way towards the sight end.
I guess I think there are a lot of skills needed to read (as donnapt describes,) and you really should be able to use them all, and when really young kids teach themselves how to read, no matter where they start, they will figures that out. It is also my opinion that when they are reading so young (self-taught,) you should not interfere and just let them do what they want to do, however they want to do it.
