Learnng to read

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse

Can you remember that first moment when you started to read? Even in my seventies, I can recall that moment, my mother always said that for a week after I grasped the idea I ignored everybody just read everything I could see. Nothin else has come nearer to magic for me  

Carol

When I was seven, and I suddenly realised that all these words in books were available to me.

TaffetaPunk

I learnt to read long before I began primary school, using a balance that had the picture of, say, a pig, and I had to match it with the word that balanced.  I always enjoyed stories and was fascinated by words from an early age.  I was always quite some way above the average reading age at school, and I still devour books now.  I don't remember the point at which I realised I could read, because I found it all so easy to start with, and don't remember a time in my life when I couldn't read.

josiehenley

I learned to read before school as well, and was reading from the newspaper. I refused to read books until I was six, so I remember the first book I read – it was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, fabulous book!

Katy

I genuinely cannot recall being unable to read CH, any more than I can recall being unable to walk or talk or swim. It is wonderful that you can remember the before and after - I agree that really is magic.

I do try sometimes to imagine what it would be like to be unable to read for some reason. My grandmother (89) had a stroke a couple of years ago which affected various parts of the language and comprehension centres in her brain. She sadly cannot read any more.

moira

I remember having a large folder at school with little slits in it and lots of words on small bits of card. You put the words into the slots and made up sentences/stories etc. I loved it so much, wish they still used those, think my daughter would love it too. I really enjoyed (and still do) word play like that. I can't remember not being able to read, I do recall it being hard to learn, though not the actual learning itself. Seeing my child go through it is hard, even simple words can be difficult for her occassionally (usually when she can't be bothered) but then she'll surprise me by reading harder words like 'quietly' straight off.
I have a friend who can remember not only what it was like before learning to read but also            his pre-talking time!

Evaine

I remember that my reading and writing didn't happen at the same time - the reading came first by far.  I went to a village school where the three classes were organised by ability rather than age, and when I was six I was in the same class as the eleven year olds - but I was still learning to write, so I was stuck with these seemingly enormous boards to copy from.  I remember a slightly moth-eaten picture of a rabbit and the word "rabbit" underneath, for instance.  Then I graduated to copying sentences such as "The three kittens are in the basket", which were on a small slip of card rather than the enormous thing.

Jay Mandal

I remember saying the letters of the word THERMOSTAT. And being ridiculed by an older child who told me that the word in one of my first stories should have been 'boat' not 'bot'.

josiehenley

Reading definitely came before writing. I was already reading the newspaper before school but had trouble forming my letters. I remember going over some dotted outlines of letters on a sheet of paper, of the type that my son used 27 years later! Little changes in these techniques then. When I read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ I pronounced salami out as three distinct syllables – sah-lah-mee – but every other word I had no problem with.

josiehenley

I LOVE magnetic poetry - my fridge is full of it. And for the words that I haven't got, I use bright coloured letters to spell them out. One of the benefits of having a child is you've got the excuse to play with bright coloured letters (don't need an excuse to play with words).

Bud

I was two when I read one of those 'Peter and Jane' books, according to my dad.

"Jane likes Peter.

Peter likes Jane.

The dog likes Peter and Jane."

Works on so many levels.

Verica

I remember reading newspapers as soon as I learnt to read at three but, as I wanted to read another newspaper called 'Politika', which was published in the cyrillic alphabet, I quickly learnt that, too.  At six I remember reading about a six year old girl in  Lima, Peru, who had had a baby at that age, having started her periods at two (precocious puberty now known), and asked if I was backward because I still did not have any.  Our daughter has inherited my  love of early reading and read The Hobbit at six.               

moira

I like the idea of the magnetic words (the school's official key stage words for instance) but they aren't half expensive and there is only one of each word.

Crazy Horse

I can reember reading words which I had never heard of, deducing their meaning from the context and pronouncig them as read. Stomach I  refered to as stowmatch and cemst was ch as in chew emist. I became very annoyed when I realised words were not always pronounced as spelt, I thought seone was cheatig me