Is a 3 year old ready for this?

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 9:53 am

My 3 year old son seems very smart. He is my oldest, if that makes any difference. He learned to talk quite early and has a very rich vocabulary. We are a Yiddish speaking home.
He can already recognize all the Aleph Bais at random and even knows some of the sounds. He absorbs anything I teach him rather quickly and could repeat stories I only told once a long time ago.

I was thinking of starting to teach him the basics of reading. I have made little cards with the Aleph Bais and other cards with pictures of words that begin with certain "letters". He seems to understand the concept of "first sound" of a word so I would do a "match the picture to the letter" type game. According to how he reacts and cooperates I would take it further.

Am I going to far? Is this normal behavior for a 3 year old boy?

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 10:04 am

He also loves books. He always tries to pretend to be reading.

He likes to use a siddur when he davens. He knows to recognize the "mem" in Moda Ani and "Shin" in Shema. He always points out letters on posters, books, etc. and asks me what they say.

I am not planning to make this into serious reading excercises, but wanted feedback if this is an "age appropriate" activity.

Thanks all.

Chayalle

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 10:06 am

Sure, my DD (now a teen) picked up reading at about that age. Just for fun. She used to read to me.

You can make flashcards with Aleph Bais, and flash cards with nekudot, and have fun putting different nekudot cards under Aleph, and Bais, etc...and he then "matches" the sound to the picture he sees.

Then you can go on to putting together words with flashcards and nekudot. You might need a few each of the nekudot, and a few sets of Aleph Bais, at some point.

granolamom

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 5:51 pm

amother wrote:

yes, its an age appropriate activity

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 6:49 pm

I wouldn't do it. If he's able to do it now then he'll pick it up quickly when he goes to school anyway. If you teach it to him now, he'll be bored when he goes to school. Why not focus on other skills and let him develop other skills that aren't taught in schools. Let him fold laundry with you, cook/bake with you, and work on the creative thinking/problem solving part of his brain. My daughter is 3.5 and is also the type that can learn to read but I don't think it's important for her to learn that at this age.

-signed,
a reading specialist

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 6:58 pm

amother wrote:

Op here.
He is quite an active toddler with a short attention span, probably normal for his age though. Books are a totally different ballgame with him as he can sit and look at the pictures and retell the stories many times.

I have tried baking but he doesn't seem to enjoy it too much.

We do puzzles and matching games a lot but he doesn't have too much patience to sit still and finish. I was thinking of turning the aleph bais /picture cards into a matching game too, to be played when he seems up to it. No serious learning yet.

MaBelleVie

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 7:00 pm

amother wrote:

I love your ideas, and I'm in agreement. It's a good sign that he has early reading skills, but it's not necessary to pursue it formally at this point.

I found this article very interesting http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/.....dence

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 7:59 pm

MaBelleVie wrote:

That was my entire point of asking here at all. I don't want to push anything as far as learning goes. In a little over a year he will be at this stage anyway.

BTW growing up, I sometimes felt that school didn't provide enough nourishment for me, so to speak. I love to read, do crossword puzzles, Sudoku, algebra etc. I hate to admit it but being a homemaker doesn't excite me, as I love working with my brain rather than my hands.

I try to teach him about the science of stuff like why it rains etc. as I see he loves to hear about stuff like that. Sometimes I feel though maybe I am overdoing it as he is still so young. On the other hand, he seems to understand much more than his friends who are the same age.

MaBelleVie

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 8:06 pm

Sounds like you're doing a great job! I remind myself often throughout the day that I am my kids' primary teacher. Sure I send them to school at a certain point where someone else officially takes on that role, but I try to take advantage of the opportunities we encounter all day to learn together. At that age it's very organic, a lot comes out in play and daily events. I try to keep the focus on social/emotional development, language development, and lots and lots of critical thinking.

amother

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 8:13 pm

Quote:

amother wrote:
I wouldn't do it. If he's able to do it now then he'll pick it up quickly when he goes to school anyway. If you teach it to him now, he'll be bored when he goes to school. Why not focus on other skills and let him develop other skills that aren't taught in schools. Let him fold laundry with you, cook/bake with you, and work on the creative thinking/problem solving part of his brain. My daughter is 3.5 and is also the type that can learn to read but I don't think it's important for her to learn that at this age.

-signed,
a reading specialist

I love your ideas, and I'm in agreement. It's a good sign that he has early reading skills, but it's not necessary to pursue it formally at this point.

I found this article very interesting http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/.....e-evidence

I'm the amother that you quoted.

Thanks for the link to that article. I appreciated it and completely agree. We, (in the US) send our kids to school way too early. When I started sending dd to daycare at age 2.5 because I started working out of the house, I told her teacher that the only thing I care about is that she should be safe and happy. I do not need her to learn anything else at that age. I spend a lot of time playing with her, talking to her, and having her "help" me around the house that she can learn from. There are so many things that can be learned this way that helps develop the brain more than any formal learning can ever do.

(amother bec I know too many ppl on imamother and like to be able to say whatever the heck I please under my screen name without ppl figuring me out.)

SivanMom

Thu, Jul 31 2014, 8:23 pm

All my nieces and nephews who learned how to read before school had major boredom issues in their early years, which led to acting out and frustration. Being the youngest in my family, I had the benefit of seeing what went on before my eldest was that age. So instead of teaching him things he will learn in school in the next few years, I have covered many other topics, most of which fascinated him. At that age I believe one of the things he loved was geography. We bought a globe and learned lots of interesting things about different countries. This also helped him learn the difference between countries, cities, states and towns.
We have since covered topics like basic earth science, the Titanic (his favorite!), American history, Jewish history, space, etc. Basically I would go to the library, take a book off the shelf, see of the topic grabbed his interest, and if yes, explore it further. He's 7 now, and we still do this, but now we include his younger siblings, and he can read, so it's very different.

granolamom

Fri, Aug 01 2014, 1:21 pm

amother wrote:

there are many good reasons not to push a three yo to learn to read, but his being bored in school is not one of them. I will go out on a limb here, and say that its probably to a childs advantage if they start school already reading (not that I think this is a goal a parent should have) because the teachers will look upon him favorably and treat him as though he is smart (not to say that kids who do or dont read early are any smarter/less smart than their peers, but we all know about teachers expectations and self fulfilling prophecies).
I think that a child who is going to read early will do so when in an environment that is rich in literacy. sounds like OP is providing that. I would avoid flashcards in the very young, keep the fun in it with magnets or coloring or pointing out letters etc. read to him. let him complete sentences. this is what kids that age like doing. some get it more quickly than others, which is fine. no pressure, no rush. but to hold off because he'll be bored in school? I dont understand that philosophy at all.

granolamom

Fri, Aug 01 2014, 1:28 pm

SivanMom wrote:

4 of my kids had major boredom issues in school. only one of them was an early self taught reader.
I was reading by the time I was 3 and wasnt bored in school. maybe it depends on the teacher, I was given other things to do/learn while the kids in my class were learning to read. I would never push a child, but reading is the key to the world, why hold them back? I suspect that your nieces and nephews possibly had other predisposition to boredom in school. if they were all early readers its possible that they were quite bright and many gifted kids find school boring. its probably not the reading but the whole picture. or a teacher who doesnt know how to reach kids on a variety of levels.