Ben is Reading??!!

Yesterday, Ben shocked me by attempting to sound out a word. I decided to see just how much he knew...

We began by reviewing letter sounds, focusing on the short vowels in particular. He struggles with the difference between a short "i" and a short "e," and he also mixes up the sounds of "w," "y," and a short "u." As most kids his age do, he also sometimes confuses the letters "b," "d," and "p." Other than that, he knows his letter sounds very well.

So, I used Hannah's old Sing, Spell, Read and Write (SSRW) curriculum to demonstrate how letter sounds go together. It has a song called the "Ferris Wheel Song" that uses short vowel sounds and adds the consonants one and a time. First, it reviews "a, e, i, o, u" and then does "ba, be, bi, bo, bu" and continues for the rest of the letters. Once they master that, they tackle letter blends like "bla, ble, bli, blo, blu" and so on.

Ben and I sang the song for a while, and then I helped him sound out some basic three and four letter words. He did a great job!

Today, I pulled out the very first reader in the SSRW series - "Dad, Sam, and Pat." He actually read the entire story with very little help! I think I am going to see if his preschool teacher will let him do the sight words that the older class learns, since he is definitely ready for them. I cannot believe that my three year old is beginning to read!