Learning to read and write
Since the day they were born, I’ve been reading to Max and Molly (my kids). From Dr. Suess and the Berenstain Bears to Junie B. Jones and the Bailey School Kids, we have spent countless hours sitting and reading and reading and reading. In the last six weeks since they’ve started school I’ve seen a dramatic change in their learning. They are constantly asking me how to spell words as they write them. They create books and stories and read them to each other. Truth be told, I think they’re looking at the world a little differently now. They’re starting to interact with text more than they ever have before. They’re recognizing words by sight and are excited when they can be the ones to “read” them. I can just see their little brains working as they try to figure out how to use words in their everyday lives. As an English major, it’s a very exciting time.
In those same six weeks, I have had to change the way I think about learning. As a secondary teacher, the way that elementary kids learn is a little foreign to me. I’ve never had to really think about and wonder about strategies that will help them develop into readers and writers. So, I’m off into yet a new realm of my own education. I’ve been reading and thinking a lot lately about how to best support my own kids in their efforts to learn to read and write. By no means do I feel as though I have any idea what I’m talking about yet, but here are some of my observations…
- The more kids read and write, the better they become at it. This may seem obvious, but as I’ve watched them make strides, I notice that they are more interested in it.
- Learning is social. Again, this isn’t anything new to me, just watching my twins learn from each other is amazing. Not only do they learn on their own, they help each other by spelling words that they know and attempting to read each other’s stories.
- I have to leave them alone. Pushing them and supporting them are two different things. The educator in me wants to push them to put spaces between their words and to remember which words to capitalize. They don’t need me correcting them all the time, they need me to support and read the stories that they write.
I still want my kids to be challenged and I still say that I want them to be more than “fine“, but I’m also committed to learning along with them by learning how to best support them. It’s a switch for me. Being a parent is hard. But as I walked out of my bedroom to go to work this morning and saw Max laying on the floor of the hallway with pen and paper in hand trying to figure out how to spell “kindergarten” so he could write a story, it reminded me of how much he loves to learn right now and how much I love to support that learning.
I’ve had similar experiences with my two older kids although I didn’t manage to be as supportive as I should have been. I needed this reminder for my two younger kids; actually, I wish I had read this when the older ones were learning to read. It would have helped me then too. Thanks.