Sean has become an absolute super-reader over the last few months. We have dived head first into the Little House books, which he Ioves and we love reading to him. When my sister gave him an early birthday present of the whole series last week (so, as Sean says, we don't have to keep going back to the Library for every single one....), he was overcome with joy and couldn't speak! The other day I read a few chapters to him while the little ones were napping then I had to go lay down myself, still recovering from our trip to St. Louis last weekend. Unfortunately, we were just at an exciting part of Silver Lake (wolves!). I told Sean he could wait for me to come back down or he could read the chapter himself to see what happens. I came back a little while later, and not only had he read the whole chapter himself (and told me what happened-- Laura and Carrie saw wolves up close, but they didn't chase the girls), but he had proceeded to open the Oxford English Dictionary of Word Histories and was just reading the entries to himself. We bought him that book after incessant questioning about why certain words are called certain things (for instance, yestday it was "but WHY is a 1 and a 2 called twelve?" Or, "but WHY are they called pants?"... And more importantly, why do I have to wear them?).
Yesterday we went to the public library pick up our summer reading charts. The program this year is as follows: read 10 books over the course of the summer, win a slew of prizes and treats and river dogs tickets. Sean read 9 books (out loud) yesterday. And when I went into their room this morning he was reading a Curious George to jamesie, with three other books already completed at the bottom of his bed. So, 24 hours after obtaining the reading chart, we can bring it back for our prizes. This begs the question- are our societal expectations for education (in this case, summer reading) so low that we have to offer bribes and treats and prizes for a modicum of reading a 4 year old can do in one day?
(This is how Sean ate lunch yesterday- reading a story to us and occasionally remembering to eat. He has the academia lifestyle down already!)
Which leads me to our family summer reading chart. Sean's rules: one star for each book or chapter read out loud, and one star for 5 pages of a workbook. Cody and I have no idea what he will earn with his stars yet because we don't know how to gauge his pace. At first I thought for every 10 stars he could earn an ice cream.... But then his chart starting looking like this....
Yes, there are 9 stars on yesterday's square. And I short changed him on stars, too. The first day he had his workbook he did 19 pages. (That's when the 5:1 ratio was started).
It's hard not to brag when you have a super reader super seannie on your hands. But I feel like I can brag because thisis not my doing-- this is innate in him. I buy him workbooks and tell him to read, but his hunger for words comes from within-- it is not because of our parenting!
Second-ever chapter book! The first was Charlotte's Web.
Reading by headlight with dad.
And not to lose sight of the big picture- he still is only 4 years old, and still likes to do this when he gets his hot little hands on the iPad without out permission!
2 comments:
You should be so, so proud of him! We are starting sight words this summer with our 4yo, so Seannie is a superstar reader! :)
Same here, B-mama and Erin. We're just starting blends and sight words with JL. Way to go Super Seanie! Luis is all about storywriting with some occasional reading on the side. He can spend multiple hours in one day creating an epic story with his dad, in the vein of noble storytellers like Lewis, Tolkien, and Jacques. It's quite amazing what these little minds can do if left to learn what they wish.
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