My five year old has been at school for a whole term now and his reading is leaping ahead. When he started he could write his own name but that was about it. As I may have mentioned he's never been that keen to sit still and draw, write and read until now.
It's amazing watching it click in his head and as we are a family of book lovers it's wonderful to see him enjoying it.
At the weekend I sent him to his room for some quiet reflection on the damage he did by kicking a football at his brother's head - accidental but worth a spell away to think about it!
When I put my head round the door ten minutes later he was lying on his bed reading out loud from the first book he's ever read on his own, Green Eggs and Ham.
I have to admit Dr Seuss and I are not close. I find the Cat in the Hat drives me batty and The Lorax leaves me babbling so it's become Daddy's job to read them to the boys.
Well now I have to eat my hat so to speak. The book went off to school for "news" which we called "show and tell" in the olden days... The reader has now moved up to Yellow Books in the classroom with large doses of Seuss in the evenings and yes, even with me.
Thank you Doc for helping my boy feel rather proud of himself.
It's amazing watching it click in his head and as we are a family of book lovers it's wonderful to see him enjoying it.
At the weekend I sent him to his room for some quiet reflection on the damage he did by kicking a football at his brother's head - accidental but worth a spell away to think about it!
When I put my head round the door ten minutes later he was lying on his bed reading out loud from the first book he's ever read on his own, Green Eggs and Ham.
He really could not have chosen a better book to tackle. Green Eggs and Ham has just fifty different words - 49 of them have one syllable and the hardest is "anywhere".
Sam!
I like Green Eggs and Ham!
I do! I like them Sam-I-am!
I would eat them in a boat.
I would eat them with a goat...
Apparently Dr Seuss - real name Theodor Seuss Geisel - had just written the Cat in the Hat which used 225 different words and his publisher bet him fifty bucks he couldn't write a book with 50 words. He could and he did. He did and he could. Oh dear, stop!
Well now I have to eat my hat so to speak. The book went off to school for "news" which we called "show and tell" in the olden days... The reader has now moved up to Yellow Books in the classroom with large doses of Seuss in the evenings and yes, even with me.
Thank you Doc for helping my boy feel rather proud of himself.
Great to hear your little one is enjoying reading. I'm not a fan of Dr Seuss either (I find his books quite freaky!) but I'm of the opinion it really doesn't matter what they read, so long as they read. Don't worry, you'll get the story out of your head one day, although I think I can still recite 'The Cat in the Hat' word for word after all these years!
ReplyDeleteK xx
That's lovely! We're big on reading at our place and I still remember my school boy first reading "ten apples up on top" which has a similar small number of words, so exciting. Well I see you've been here a while now but welcome to Auckland anyway :o)
ReplyDeleteaww that is a great book to start off with. Just before Elijah was born I bought a book that had a trio of Dr Seuss reads including Green Eggs and Ham - my sister even read it to him while he was stuck in hospital (he might have been sick and only a month old but he was so alert!)
ReplyDeleteWell done on moving up reading levels too
I have a Sam, he was given Green Eggs and Ham when he turned one. That started a whole collection of Dr Seuss books. I agree, bits are a bit weird but thankfully they give the kids a great sense of acheivement when they read them.
ReplyDeleteHey, have you heard of Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr Suess? It's a wonderful, inspirational, encouraging book. Rxx
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