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Molly Smith
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I have a dilemma and I'm not sure what to do. Surely, some of you have experienced this! My three year old (birthday in July) wants to learn to read the books her big brother is learning to read (basically level a-type books). She cried when I explained that we still need to work on our letters and letter sounds before learning to read books. She wanted to "do lessons" like her siblings, so I set up an alphabet binder for her weeks ago and we've been progressing through the alphabet--we're up to "E, e"--one letter each week.
So, anyway, we sat down with an easy reader that had lots of "I like this...I do that..." type of stuff and I had her say the "I" every time it appeared. What else can I do? Do I go ahead and teach her some simple sight words? She loves doing our letter of the week activities, but she wants to read books. Maybe it will pass  , but I don't want to squash her little spirit trying to hold her off. I guess I'm wondering if it's even possible for a 3yo to learn to read? My other three have started to read anywhere from age 4 to 7, so this is new territory.
Any help is always appreciated!! Thanks!!
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Molly Smith in VA
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JSchaaf
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I have one of these three year olds, too. She's getting impatient with just learning her letter sounds. I've taught her some sight words and that has appeased her, for now. She can recognize the names of everyone in our family, so she goes around "reading" names on papers, on mail, in books, etc. I also have started asking her to "read" to me-she'll bring me a picture book or early reader and tell me the story. She'll move her finger along the line of print as she "reads". I think my 3 yr old just wanted to be included in the process, even though she's not yet really ready to read. I'll be reading the other replies with interest-maybe it is time to teach these little ones to read!
Jennifer
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Martha
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hmm, don't know type of phonics program you use, if any...
have you tried teaching short a, then b, then group together b-a-b? then go on to c ?..
Abeka has an awesome phonics program similiar to above, but I stopped using because in about 1st grade I noticed some things that were... "odd" ... catholic speaking.
CHC's Little Stories for Little Folks isn't bad either and for kids who stumble on the blending of letters, it can kind of give them a bridge.
There's also the Little Angel Readers program, which isn't too bad a price but I haven't actually taken off my shelf to use yet. There's activites and such other than just bare bones phonics to aid in over-all language arts. The teacher manuals are worth it from what I have.
Martha
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Mary Chris
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Have you looked at Go For The Code? That has always been a big hit around here.
I think starfall, studydog and leapfrog are great resources and not to taxing on your time or pocketbook.
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MacBeth
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I have two kids who learnend to read at 3. Go for it. Teach them the letters, teach them some sight words, and then teach them phonics.
I found that these kids know letters pretty well just form life--seeing letters, sight reading signs (MacDonalds!), knowing some sounds (Ssssss), so reading "books" comes easily. We even used those silly Dick and Jane pre-primers and went right into real books. Books like "Good Night Moon" that are easy to memorize will help, too. They can memoria the words, and figure out the sounds as they go along.
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Elizabeth
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Find books that are easy to memorize--rhythmic pattern books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear--and read and point to words until she's memorized them. Then, teach her nursery rhymes the same way, always rocking with the rhythm and often pointing to words as you go. She'll learn entire words in context. There are lots of ideas in Real Learning for teaching reading in a sort of relaxed, child-led way. Usually, precocious readers learn to read in a Whole Language context, filling in the phonics almost after the fact. Workbooks and such aren't usually all that effective because fine motor is lagging behind her intense interest and desire. Much of the reason we want kids to write in the workbook is to cement the knowledge by doing something kinesthetic but if the motor activity is beyond her (and at a young three it might be), it will distract her instead of reinforcing the lesson. A moveable alphabet is a way to give her letters to manipulate rather than requiring writing. You could make one...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JSchaaf
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How can I make a moveable alphabet?
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JSchaaf
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I posted before I was finished! I wanted to add that I think kids have "windows" that open and close, I've seen this so far with learning to read and potty training. If you wait until the window is open the process is much easier and quicker. I'm thinking that with the other two in school (and that whole experiment is a separate post!) I'll go as far as Allyson wants with learning to read since her window seems to be wide open.
Jennifer
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Dawnie
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I'm not sure if this is the same as a moveable alphabet, but we use magnetic letters to spell words on the refrigerator. I call it "Refrigerator Phonics." For our phonics lessons, I set out all the consonants for my daughter on a cookie sheet and then put an ending rhyme on the refrigerator. This week, we're working on "signal e" words, so we're working on words ending in -ike, -ide, and -ine. She puts different consonants at the beginning of the rhyme and sounds out the word. She likes things that she can do with her hands and playing with the magnetic letters is less burdensome than writing. I got a set of lowercase letters and a set of uppercase letters at our local teacher's store for about $13 apiece.
Dawn
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Cay Gibson
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MacBeth wrote:
We even used those silly Dick and Jane pre-primers and went right into real books. Books like "Good Night Moon" that are easy to memorize will help, too. |
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I've only taught one to read but with great success.  It was easier than I thought. We learned the alphabet first and I'd always say the sound it made.
Then everywhere around town we went, we'd spell the word and sound it out. At the post office *Push Here*, at the restaurant menus *Pep-si*, *ham-bur-ger*, etc. At the mall *Food Court*. Everyplace had words, words, words and was a learning opportunity.
And kids LOVE playing BINGO! My 3 yr old's favorite book right now is a large pre-school book of "The Little Red Hen" and "Three Billy Goat Gruffs". I read the main section while trailing my finger under the words, and she reads " 'Not I,' said the cat, dog, etc. 'Then I will do it myself,' said the little red hen. And she did."
And, yes, Dr. Seuss is a reliable standby. 
We also used the silly Dick and Jane pre-primers because I was comfortable with those (having learned to read with these in first grade). Nancy Nicholson's "Little Stories for Little Folks" from CHC was met with much enthusiasm from 2nd grader when she was 3-4 yrs old. They were little paper books that looked *dwaddly* to me and didn't have much *meat* in them, but my dd found herself able to advance in reading with them and, thus, loved them. She also liked the word games on the back.
So, I'm no professional, but the process has been so fun...and immensely rewarding. Enjoy yourself and read, read, read! 
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Lissa
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Molly, my oldest child taught herself to read at age three also. I say "taught herself" because I didn't do any formal instruction--it was all through conversation and exposure. I read to her TONS and TONS (of course her circumstances were unusual because she was in the hospital for much of that time) and I would sometimes casually point out words that appeared frequently. Like "book," which appears somewhere on almost every single book. And "by," "I," "and," "you," etc. Gradually she came to recognize more and more words. She also liked Bob Books because they felt like "real" books to her but had very few words, and she quickly memorized/recognized them.
Cat in the Hat has only 66 words, I think, or somewhere in that neighborhood. So that's a great book to read lots and lots, because a child very soon begins to pick out all those cats and hats and fishes and Things.
Don't feel limited to letters and letter sounds--if she's hungry for books, let her dive in! Go Dog Go is another good one with easily remembered sight words. I didn't worry about sounding-out or phonics at that early stage--I didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm in any way. And I honestly can't see that it hurt her. Her spelling now (she is ten) is very good, and she has no problem sounding words out to try to figure out the spelling. When she was three and so eager to be really reading, I figured there was plenty of time ahead to go back and "cover" phonics later. It just never turned out to be necessary for her.
Have fun!
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Molly Smith
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Thanks for all of the encouraging words!! Sarah loves to snuggle and read, and she's sharp as a tack, so we'll go for it!! She's loves doing her letter activities, but she's not satisfied with just that level. The window is open, as Jennifer said, so we're jumping through !
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ALmom
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I would make sure print size is large enough for the age, that, imo is the biggest difficulty with younger readers because the print keeps getting smaller and smaller in all the books. As long as it is enjoyable, have fun with it.
Moveable alphabet - we made our own in imitation of Montessori (don't know if this would be approved or not but it worked for us). Get the Laurie foam alphabets upper and lower case. The set we had included punctuation marks and had 2 different colors. We used one color for vowels and the other for consonants. We put each letter of the alphabet in its own little drawer - the kind that comes in those things dh uses to store screws and nails, etc. We took the drawers out of the set and put them in a bread box(the kind you get at the bread store when you are buying enough loaves at the day old for them to ask you for your tax ID # because they think you are buying for a school instead of a family) - vowels in alphabetical order on top and everything else in alphabetical order underneath.
All of ours loved to manipulate these and try and form words and eventually sentences with them.
Janet
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mumofsix
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Dear Molly,
My eldest son who has Down's Syndrome was enrolled in a Doman type therapy programme at age two for a year. One of the therapies was to encourage visual acuity by showing him flashcards of words while saying those words. Very quickly he began beating us to it and telling us what the words were, with about 90% accuracy. He also loved books and memorised the texts of his favourites. With his growing word recognition skills he soon picked up reading. He read before he could talk and his reading greatly helped with his speech and language development. Even now he reads better than he can talk and it has become a life-long love. All this to say that yes you can teach a very young child to read without strain, but always keep it enjoyable and never push. We didn't push of-course, because we did not expect our son to learn to read, that was not the point: he just surprised us.
I helped him most to progress from reading to talking by writing and illustrating books for him which were about him and his routines and his favourite things, including vocabulary I wanted him to learn. He loved these books and they did help him. They also made it obvious to the many skeptics who told us that he was "barking at print" that he understood exactly what he was reading. To my mind I knew he understood Lear's poetry because he loved it so much, but I could not demonstrate that. I could however write "Come and give Mummy a kiss" on a card and he would grin and do it!
I did not teach the next two to read early as they were in the school system at this point, which in my country tends to get very stressed at parental "interference" in this field. (We homeschooled them from ages 5 and 8 onwards.) With the fourth child I was just too busy to do it. I am seriously considering starting with my fifth child though, who is now three years and nine months. He LONGS to do "real" school like his eight year old sister and is very motivated. My husband and I are thinking, "Why not?" Perhaps we could swap notes from time to time to see how our young readers are going along.
Incidentally my husband read fluently from age 3 and thinks this is really no big deal!
Jane.
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Molly Smith
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Jane, your story is inspiring! I didn't realize how many others have had early readers. Flashcards would be fun for Sarah--maybe we'll try it tomorrow. Thanks for the idea! She loves trying new things and is very challenge-driven.
I wonder, too, how often our precocious children are further down in the birth order (not sure that makes sense). My first is very bright, but in a much different way than those that follow her. Sarah is our fourth and it amazes me how much she knows just from being present while the rest of us work. I wonder if it will be more of a challenge for me to challenge her as she progresses through her education. Thoughts??
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Tina P.
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I had an early reader (at 3). In fact, my mom didn't believe it and I had to have Anna read a selection she'd never read before over the phone to mom!
And then I had a reluctant reader. Guess what? If you follow their lead with continual encouragement and remember that by the time they're 8, everyone is reading at about the same level for their age, chances are your frustration level will be lower.
We use the Explode the Code series. I particularly like that in Volume 4 there is quite a bit of sentence diagramming toward the back. I didn't diagram sentences until I was a sophomore in high school!  Joshua, my 7 yo, is going to start Volume 4 within the week.
I like the CHC early readers. Even before those, we start to use the Bob readers (CHC moved a little too fast for my reluctant reader). Little Angel Readers did nothing for us. From there, we moved to the Usborne Early Readers, then Usborne Farmyard Tales books and Mr. Putter and Tabby (I mentioned these in another post).
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stefoodie
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my mom tells me i was reading at 3, so i know it's possible. does she really want to read or does she just want to "read" a book such that she memorizes the words and knows when to turn the pages? and does she know the difference? my 3-yo happens to fit the latter, so she's got picture books that we've read to her over and over and over that she's memorized the books completely -- and now she "reads" them all by herself. she also points to letters and words and i sound those out, so she's remembered quite a bit, though i wouldn't quite call it reading yet. i also encourage my kids to read books kinda like the way you'd read wordless books -- you just make stuff up along the way based on what you see on the pics. she's happy enough to do that some days, then on the days when she demands it we go for more "advanced" stuff. hth,
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Three year old wants to read
