Thursday, February 19, 2009

Go Girl Go

Why stress reading, when you have a big brother to tell you stories?

And yes, Brian took the task of reading to his little sister very seriously, from a young age!

Not sure what the exact difference in character is, but where Brian was driven to figure out how to read and was memorizing books before he turned two and starting to actually work out words soon after, Honor was not as interested. She's definitely a smart little cookie too, and has always showed her intelligence in other ways.. we haven't been worried! But they were so different in their approach to reading. Brian wanted to know the story. Word by word. Don't mess around with it. Honor preferred to look at the pictures and make up stories. It was also easier to read to Brian. A book at night would calm him down - a book at bedtime would just get Honor wound up.

Awhile back though, Honor put her mind towards reading... in her own cat-like unhurried way ... and started being more serious about it. We haven't thought it necessary to push her at this age. She has the vocabulary - spoken - and she loves to write. We are constantly being asked to spell things for her. Settling down to read on a regular basis was not on her agenda though... until now. In the last few weeks, Honor has decided that she is a reader. A reader of everything. Signs on the road, covers of magazines, subtitles of movies. She was home from school sick yesterday when I received a text message from a friend. Honor intercepted it, read it, replied to it, and proceeded to have a little chat session with my friend ... "How do you spell 'playdate'?" She once hit the "Send" button twice. How do I know? She read the error message to me and asked why it popped up: "There is no message text. You must enter a message before this can be sent." After I explained, she 'ok'ed the message and continued texting! She's reading instructions and other text in computer games and, oh yes, books. Book after book. She gets workbooks and coloring books and reads the text and instructions herself. She tackled 64 pages of "Go Dog Go" and went immediately on to "One Fish Two Fish."

It's fun to see the look of surprise on her face when she studies an old toy, or opens a book we've had forever, or watches a movie she's watched a hundred times... and she can suddenly READ words she finds there. Where'd THAT come from?!?

Watch out world... we have another reader :-)

6 comments:

MsTypo said...

Way to go, Honor!! I have so many memories and stories tied up in the books i read as a kid.

Anonymous said...

thank you i like the poechr of the giraffe from honor :)

Lydia said...

Ah, the discovery of reading! Grant just did that last month when we pulled up to the commissary. He looked at the sign and said, "C-O-M-M-I-S-S . .hey, does that say commissary mommy?" Spence says he remembers when he couldn't read and when the discovery came, it was a whole new world! Keep at it, Honor! There's a whole big world of books for ya!

junglemama said...

Aww, what a precious picture.

Tina in CT said...

Reading opens a new door for everyone. Notice that I didn't write children as unfortunately there are so many adults that can't read. I want to be a Literacy Volunteer when I retire (in the distant future).

I love to read and always have.

That is wonderful that Honor is now one of us and also loves it. Congrats.

Connie said...

Honor wanted to read and answer comments, but we have been busy in the afternoons :-) We love to read and love books - we think everyone else should too. It has been very exciting to watch the kids learn!

Tina - Good goal for the future! You would like one aspect of the kids' school... reading buddies. They have older kids read to the younger kids on a regular basis. Good for both ages!