Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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Nurturing the Years of Wonder
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Subject Topic: Teaching my 2.5 year old to read Post ReplyPost New Topic
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ChelseaRae
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Posted: Jan 11 2010 at 1:26pm | IP Logged Quote ChelseaRae

I'm at a bit of a loss here and I hope some one can help!

My daughter will be three in June, she was a very early talker and knew all her letters, colours, and numbers up to 20 by the time she was 18 months. I never set out to teach her any of this, we read lots of books and she is always asking questions. She loves to learn and will often come to me with a book and ask me to teach her something.

(as a side note... this is the same child who when I threatened to spank her at dinner the other night for not listening told me "You better not do that, if you do I will cry out to the Lord and he will hear me!" Gotta love being outsmarted by a 2 year old)


She knows all her favourite books by heart and for the last couple weeks has been begging me to teach her to read so she can read her other books too. I've taught her how to sound out some words using our magnetic letters but I'm at a complete loss as to where to go from here.

I don't want to push her, I don't want her to lose this love of learning but she is begging me to teach her. I don't want to mess this up before we even start!

Yikes, this is longer than I meant it to be, I'm just feeling a little lost. Does anyone have any recommendations of a program or something that I can use with her to teach her? I don't want anything extensive, just something we can enjoy together that will satisfy her need to read.

Thank you!
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JodieLyn
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Posted: Jan 11 2010 at 1:34pm | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

Leap Frog DVD's letter factory, talking word factory, talking word factory 2

Simple, easy, fun, she can watch it for fun or it can give her the building blocks for reading now or later.

Starfall.com is a fun reading/pre-reading website.

If you keep what you do fun, short, simple and follow her cues for doing it or for stopping.. you should be fine doing some reading and pre-reading things with her without feeling like you're pushing her.

Teaching reading at that age shouldn't be taking the place of other skills and learning she should be doing just by exploring.. but when it's something a child really wants.. it doesn't hurt to gently give the building blocks for the skill.

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Mare
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Posted: Jan 11 2010 at 1:41pm | IP Logged Quote Mare

How about teaching her the Dolch Site Words for now? My older four girls were early readers. My 2 yr. old is starting to pick up words now. I just take it at her pace.

I just thought of something else. While I was driving, I would point out signs that the girls would see -McDonald's, Target, street signs, etc. My 2 yr. old can pick out McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts from a mile away.    

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ChelseaRae
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Posted: Jan 11 2010 at 3:15pm | IP Logged Quote ChelseaRae

Thank you! We try not to let our kids watch TV or be on the computer, she sometimes watches signing time but it's a rare treat. Starfall.com looks really good though! That looks like something she would love.

She can sound out three letter words that end in -at and -an, she learned that at the fridge with letter magnets. I'm just not sure where to go next. Are there Catholic early reader books?

LOL Mare!! I have to admit, Mary has a fit if we pass a Tim Horton's without stopping.
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montessori_lori
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Posted: Jan 14 2010 at 4:44pm | IP Logged Quote montessori_lori

In Montessori we believe that children should be introduced to letters early - it's actually a developmental stage they go through which your daughter is now in. We find that this early interest in letters goes away for a little bit and then comes back in K-1 so you're wise to capitalize on it now.

Children this age are very tactile, so using things like sandpaper letters is great. You can buy them at a reasonable price or make them (just cut out all the letters in a fine-grade sandpaper and glue them to cardboard). Have her trace them (start her out at right spot) and say the sound that the letter makes.

Also in Montessori we say that writing precedes reading, so right now it is all about helping her learn phonetic sounds so that she can write simple words. She may also start reading simple words, too, but just be on the lookout for her to start writing them.

You'll also want to provide her with "pre-writing" exercises like picking up objects with tongs (start with pom poms and move to something like small plastic fruit), squeezing with sponges, and using the pincer grip (all the fingers meeting the thumb) on a turkey baster (moving colored water from one container to another). All of those exercises strengthen the muscles used for writing.

You may want to look into some beginning phonics readers and/or some beginning phonics work.

Above all, keep it fun and have no expectations - let her choose the work as she wants to and don't be surprised or disappointed if at some point she's not into reading/writing as much anymore.

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CatholicMommy
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Posted: Jan 14 2010 at 7:50pm | IP Logged Quote CatholicMommy

Combined with the Montessori pieces of giving the sounds of the letters with the shapes (as in the sandpaper letters above), I have found the Catholic Heritage Curricula Little Stories for Little Folks to be a good combination - we just teach the sounds only, rather than the name and sound as told to do so in the teacher guide.

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