I knew she knew some sight words, and recognized a few others, but tonight we picked up a book she had never heard that we checked out from the library, and she knew over a quarter of the words in their and sounded out the 2 names! Dh and I were shocked.

And also today she was playing with the magnetic letters on the fridge and had OU....she said "where's the Y? I need it to make YOU" So she's not just recognizing words but was spelling a word....wow.

She seems to be really taking off.

It's fun and a bit scary to have a very early reader. Just continue to allow her to set the pace, and don't stop reading aloud to her! Many early readers go into hiding once they figure out that what they do is unusual. Be cautious of acquaintances and relatives who may make a big deal of her reading.

hth!

That is interesting because I'm not sure how well my dd can read because she does stuff in "secret". Even putting puzzles together is done when no one was looking. A couple of weeks ago, I showed her some fractions on her computer math game and she waited until I left and thought I wasn't looking until she did them on her own and correctly. Fractions like 3/5 and 2/7 (matching the fraction with the baked good that represents the fraction).

She did read the word "again" in a brand new book while we were reading it together several months ago. I think she "slipped"!! LOL

Mr W likes to take the Sunday paper behind the couch and "read" through it away from our observation.

When DS6 was 2, he used to read the signs and menus in restaraunts while we were waiting to be seated. It made for some interesting conversation with fellow eaters.... Nothing like calling huge amounts of attention to yourself!

That's so fun to watch! Enjoy your early reader! You've gotten good advice-
So cool when they unlock that skill and can decode!

Yeah, that's our DS7 when he was 2! There was never any problem with people not believing he could read, because he did it out loud and constantly. Somehow I think that's easier than what a lot of you went through with the secret ones!

Hi , I'm interested in knowing how is she doing now as we seem to be bit behind you

We are in a strange stage where it is hard to say if DD is reading some words or if they are sight word. She seems to have more interest in it if the word is familiar but then she is sounding it out phonetically. I was playing with her fridge magnets and I wrote stop. She came to me and said s-t o-p stop then she saw ri next to each other and said it says r-i ri like in her name (it is correct her name ends with ri). She also "reads" h-at hat, m-at mat and c-at cat. I'm pretty sure she is not really reading the word yet, she is just practicing her phonics with the word she knows. She might read d-ad daddy even if it says dad so there seems to be lot of guessing going on too.

I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that there are many, many things involved in learning to read -- memorization (sight words), sounding out, picking up cues from context and pictures (guessing), etc. -- and kids use all of the tools they have at their disposal to learn. I suspect with a lot of gifted kids, a better-than-average memory has a lot to do with early reading... knowing sight words at such a young age is actually quite an accomplishment.

At 2.5, my DS was recognizing sight words like "cat" and "mommy." Then he started spelling his classmates' names with magnetic letters on the fridge -- names like "Nicholas" and "Shreya" that would be difficult to figure out phonetically. Real reading came quickly after that, by 3 or so, but he didn't do a lot of sounding out... it seemed like his internal catalog of sight words just exploded. Anyway, blah blah blah... I guess I'm just trying to say that I wouldn't play down the importance of memorization in this process.

It's so fun to have an early reader... I love language and literature, so I was THRILLED when my son showed an early interest.

When DS was 3 he was standing by a tabloid in the supermarket, and promptly asked me what a sex change was (the tabloid at the time said Saddam H. had one). Oh, the joys of an early reader!

Oh man, now that I could do without.....

DD is recognizing a good bit of words but is not really into reading them together in sentences, she just makes them with her magnetic letters on the fridge or reads them when I make them, or if I point them out, but in books she is to interested in the pics still

Your kid is cute. You should encourage her to continue.

My son began to speak at 2 while he started to walk very well. I mean he could speak very well not babble.

I read to him almost every day since he was 6 months old. When he began to speak, the first month I remember he could follow the last word of my sentences in the Winnie Pooh Series. Then for the second month, he could recite the story paragraph by paragraph. He could know 50-100 characters before he was 2 and half.

After we moved to Canada, it took him one and half years to "know" a bit of English. He could read a bit now. He could read MaX and Ruby, Curious George, Thomas. He could read all the stuff he is interested. But for his native language, he almost forgot it. He only knows several characters.

That's the beginning. My son first put all the magnetic letters everywhere. Then he identifies the words on the book. Then some day he could read.

Your kid is still young. My son began to know how to write numbers and letters when he was 3. Now you see after one year
he could read aloud some books.

It is easier for kids to learn English than other language. I only guess. Since I notice my son just can pronouce the words and identify the words, which is quite different from his native language.

Nice chatting with you.

Thank you for sharing motherbear. DD is bilingual and it would be easier for her to learn to read with our own language, it is phonetic and pronounced exactly like written. She is also stronger in that language than in English, she speaks both of them in sentences but is able to explain her feelings better with our native language. Still for some reason she is attempting to read English.

Now she also writes with her fridge magnets, likes to read some word in a story and even some simple books she can sight read. Every now and then she amazes us reading some difficult words and we have no idea where she learned them. Last weekend it was Brita & chocolate, even DH was shocked and frightened.

Thank you, Oli.

Kids learn very fast. I try to read my son every day no matter how tired I am. "Read to Your Bunny, and your bunny will read to you!" Almost after reading stories of Max and Ruby, my son began to read. He could read one page, then I read one page. Or he reads one book by himself.

that's neat and scary isn't it? My DD was the same way at that age...just wait to see what scary stuff she does over the next year :-)

Mr W ( 22 mo) told us one morning this week that "I want to learn how to read." while holding a book. I am pretty sure he knows some sight words.

My sneaky reader who has been able to read sight words and signage since before turning 2 yet quickly hid it when we would show interest or excitement, but is now asking to read. Huge change for her. I think it correlates to her potty training. She finally accepted she needed to potty trained and was trained by the 2nd day for pee but we had another week of struggle with pooping on the pot. It was when she accepted that she had to practice that we turned the corner. She is now taking that experience and applying it to reading. She told me that she wants to practice and practice so she can read her books on her own. It definitely sounds like she is ready to commit. So we will give it a try and see how she handles it.

I'm so glad to read this thread. What fun to have an early reader! Such a joy!

I didn't even think DD 2.99 recognized any letters of the alphabet until last night. I pulled out Hop on Pop for the third time ever and she "read" it to me. Of course that's an easy one to memorize, but when I quizzed her on the letters and words, she blew me away and knew them out of order, backwards and forwards.

DD is not an early reader by any stretch, but it's fascinating to see her cognitive explosions. There is nothing gradual about her milestone attainment.

Um. If your not-yet-3 year old is reading, at all, she's an early reader. I've heard kids described as "early readers" if they are reading (at all) at 4 or 5.

LOL, yeah, I had the same comment. Four or earlier IS indeed very early to be reading at all!

Before my daughter was first starting to read, she would do a pretend read. She was very good at it becuase she would make up stories. I just went right along with this. Then she began to memorize the books. My favorite memory is Silly Sally went to town. That was so cute. She was able to read before K. Now she is reading 2yrs up in 1st Grade. I'm so proud of her. Reading just opens up a whole new world to kids!

It neat how kids can be so different. My son could sit thru Dr. Suess books as an infant. My DD would not. My DD would make up stories about pictures in books but my son really had a hard time with it. I'm enjoying the flashback. Thanks for sharing.

These stories are so cute!

I can't wait for DS1 to start reading so I don't have to spend 1 hour a night reading to him!

I have to admit though, reading is a great bonding time for the two of us.

Oh, you don't stop reading to them when they start reading for themselves. My DD will sit down and read a book, front to cover, without mistakes, and then bring it over to me & ask me to read it to her. I'll be very sad when she doesn't want me to read to her anymore.

I couldn't agree more. DS8 was an early reader and reads several years above level. A few weeks ago, he brought me Misty of Chincoteague and asked me to read it to him because he couldn't understand the dialects used in the conversations of the book. (His description: it didn't make pictures in his mind, so he knew he needed help.)It had been a LONG time since he'd had the patience to read a book 30 minutes a day with me. Usually, when we start a book together, he can't wait to finish it and devours it during the day. I was in heaven to read a book with him cover-to-cover! I need to find more books that are above-level even for him AND of interest to keep this up! We had wonderful discussions about the book. (Sweet book, by the way.)

My DS9 stopped reading with us for a little while and stopped his bed time routine. He wanted to read faster than I was reading. Then we decided together we needed to get back to it. Sometimes we read Calvin and Hobbs which is fun to share. It's a great way of making sure you spend enough one on one together. It's also a great time for them to talk to you about their day or any troubles. I plan on doing this until my kids leave for college if they will go along with it.

At age 9 he still like me to read some picture books. He thinks all books should have picture. I love that. just got an idea - he should do his own illustrations for books that don't have enough.

The author of the Read Aloud Handbook makes an impassioned argument that you should continue to read to your kids throughout adolescence, even if you're just reading interesting newspaper articles out loud while your teenager loads the dishwasher. There are a lot of good suggestions in that book for reading aloud to older children. The website is good, too: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/

I was about to post a similar thing Ms. Friz. Have you seen his latest, Read All About It?
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/aai.html

In a similar vein, there is a college student at our church who impresses me with his character and passion for noble causes. I asked his dad what advice he had for raising kids and he said "I read to him every night." Looks like we'll be in the read aloud phase for the long haul.

If your young child is wearing you out wanting to be read to all the time, audio books can be a great help. I found many at my local library and would give DD's the books to read along with too.

Yeah DD definitly still loves to be read to and probably will for a long time.

Today she read "We see a duck. We can sit in the sun with that duck. It is fun in the sun." And read it very smoothly and quickly, only had to sound out one word. I was shocked at how smooth it was.

Funny thing today-
She wanted to read one of her library books all by herself and she told me "I don't want you to handle my book. I am going to hold it and read it myself. Go sit on the other couch." LOL

Too funny amazedmom. You have your hands full! Don't you love their independence?

My DD is always barking orders at me and I just take them in stride. Her Grandmother on her Dad's side isn't around her much and is always shocked at her commands. I see it as independence. DD has great manners and is well behaved but when she wants something the way she wants it she lets us know.

LOL. Amanda, you keep describing my 2.99 year old! (and apparently yours, too, KatelynsM_om)

Except your DD is reading and mine is just dabbling - really not reading yet. How amazing your DD can read all those words! I feel excited for you!

So we are hardwired to learn spoken language, but not so for written language. That gives me a totally different perspective on reading and writing... we do have to help out. I think it's fascinating how all of us bring our (sometimes vastly different) learning styles to the task of reading and writing.