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Canmom's post reminds me. Does anyone know if there are any theories on why some kids start reading via learning sight words (ie they might start noticing THE, AND, FROM, FOR, IS, etc before anything else) while other kids pick up decoding meaningful words first. Both my older kids, even the dyslexic, struggled more with THE than any other word but least with complex but contextually meaningful words.

My kids never learned sight words (obviously they learned them but I never taught them). So many schools push flash cards so hard and I've never really understood that. Kids can easily learn sight words just by seeing them over and over again in text.

With DS, I printed out a list of Dolch sight words one day to see if he knew any of them, and I was shocked he could read almost all of them. He was probably 4. This was after he learned how to blend words but before he really started reading frequently (we were at the stage where I occasionally tried to get him to read a BOB book or something similar to me).

Yeah no :-). My kids really struggled with sight words like the, and, or, it, from, etc. flash cards measurably improved their fluency (afrer they wwre already making progress as readers) because when reading books they'd just ignore those words quite often and notice only the meaningful words...

Our son (now 6.7) learned to read (we think) around three. I say, (we think) because I sort of stumbled upon his ability one night when, on a lark, I decided to ask him to read out of a Dr. Seuss book. I'll never forget that night. It was when I realized we had a child out of the norm.

Prior to this, we did what was recommended...reading to him while running our finger under the lines. He watched Sesame Street. We bought him Baby Einstein videos.

We also bought him electronic games that were marked higher than his age. Not because we though he was gifted, but because when we went to the toy store, that is what he wanted. I actually felt guilty for buying my child a toy that was two years beyond his age!

One such item I vividly recall was Vtech Alphabet Town. He had that in his crib when he was around 2 and absolutely ADORED it.

Today he's reading above a fifth grade level.

We used Preschool Prep for DS' sight word learning. He was around four when I bought the series. It was so cute.

YouTube of "Meet The Sight Words"

Mahagogo5, it seems like our DDs are only a month apart and they sound very similar. My DD went through a phase where she wouldn't ready anything if she didn't find it herself. She is also very suspicious of fairy tales. She seems to know that those types of stories normally come with a scary villain or two and she wants nothing to do with them. I remember showing this book to DD when she was 2 and she ran away as soon as she saw the cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Lon-Po-Red-Ri...&qid=1382662946&sr=8-1&keywords=lo+po+po

(my bad for not noticing how scary that looks to two year olds)

She's slowly overcoming her fear but it's probably take her awhile to completely be okay with fairy tales.

Her reading curriculum designed by her went something like this:

Phase 1 Piggie and Gerald books by Mo Willems
Phase 2 P.D. Eastman books (but not Dr. Seuss)
Phase 3 Henry and Mudge and other Cynthia Rylant books
Phase 4 longer picture and chapter books

She still reads Piggie and Gerald books once in awhile and still giggles at exact the same jokes. One of these days, I should write to Mo Willems that his books inspired DD to learn to read.

Mana, that progression is frighteningly similar to the order of books we've read to DS. Amazing.

That is an interesting coincidence. Maybe it could be a beginning of early childhood education for children who love books.

Incidentally, the book that first got DD to read sentences/books was Have You Seen My Cat by Eric Carle, which is one of my least favorite books of his but I found a big book copy of it at a library sale and the repetitive nature as well as the size of the book (bigger print and more spacing) might have helped.

On a slightly related note, some Piggie and Gerald books are available in French too. The Pigeon is still there at the end of each book, much to DD's delight.

I totally sympathize with the very bland first readers. DD(3 - almost 4) struggled with this tremendously this past winter/spring. We have finally finally gotten to where she can read the Pinkalicious (and some Fancy Nancy) level 1 books. It has truly made a world of a difference having stories that she is interested in. She even wants to read them over & over which is not typically her personality.

Some of the early first readers that DD liked were from a little boutique bookstore. They were much more enjoyable than the super dry ones. Here is one book from the series:
http://www.amazon.com/Matt-Sid-We-Read-Phonics/dp/1601153163

Mana: Are you talking about the "bright & early/beginner" books that are by PD Eastman but have the little Dr. Seuss logo? My DD loves those too.
Have you read "Squirrels on Skis?" it's actually by J Hamilton Ray but part of the Dr. Seuss early readers… my DD thinks it is SOOO funny.