How did you learn to read?

There is a big debate going on in education today about which method is best for teaching reading: phonics are whole-reading (sight words). How did you learn to read? What are your thoughts? Can you remember your first words? Your first book? I would assume, because of our age, we had readers--can you remember it?

I started school in 1958. We used the Dick and Jane books and I had a horrible first grade teacher so I didn't do well. My second grade teacher placed me in the lowest reading group but encouraged my mother to have me read to her every night. By the end of the school year, I was in the highest reading group. I guess you would say that I learned by whole-reading.

I also started school in 1958, and I admire those who can remember how they learned to read so long ago! I can only remember that I did learn to read, and I turned out to be quite good at it. I remember reading story books, but I would have no idea whether or not we used phonics or any other system.

Phonics for me. I think that’s an essential first step before full word recognition. I still love Dick and Jane.

I actually have a strong memory of the moment I realized I was reading - it was a billboard.

I have no clue. I was reading by kindergarten, but how I learned, I do not know.

In Shirley Jackson's book, Raising Demons, her daughter, a kindergartener, makes a discovery:

"My husband and I, sitting in the kind of companionable stupor that sets in when all children are in bed and presumably asleep, were startled at hearing a sudden astonished 'Oh!' from Sally's room. As we half rose, looking at each other, her voice lifted in the greatest, most jubilant shout I have ever heard: 'I can READ! I can READ!' "

I loved that.

I started school in 1954 reading Dick and Jane but have no recollection of how I learned.

I have three sons who were born five to six years apart and each one learned to read using a different method in public school. The oldest learned in kindergarten, strictly phonics; the second learned using phonics and sight words; the third started out in kindergarten using phonics and sight words but at some point, not sure which grade, they decided a literature-based program was best (a disaster). Also I think sons two and three used something called SRA which they both liked.

Although all three sons learned to read well, from this experience, the son who learned by strictly phonics learned quicker and easier than the other two. Also, our neighbor, who came to the U.S. from Honduras when he was nine, said he learned to read and speak English strictly with phonics. So for my money, phonics is the way to go.

I started first grade in 1960. Dick and Jane. Sight words.

For reasons unclear to me even now, the letters, especially vowels, somehow "looked like" the way the words sounded. They still do.

As a preschooler, I memorized a lot of books and knew when to turn the pages. I would "read" to my baby brother this way. It gave me a sense of how words "flowed," outside of just decoding them.

My first grade teacher thought I was an idiot savant because I read at a very high level, but was poor at everything else.

My kid learned to read from that TV show, Between the Lions, in the about 2001. I didn't make him watch it, he just liked it and kept a notebook for "my words." He was reading signs in stores at some point before he learned at school.

When they tested him for ADD, they said he was highly verbal and had hypergraphia. Like writing is some kind of disease.

My children's school went through a "whole language" phase. Some wanted it and some didn't. I felt then that it was good for some students and a disaster for other students. My son excelled at it, my daughter barely tolerated it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is each child learns differently and has different skills. Wouldn't it be great to be able to cater to each need? Sigh.

Oh, and both of my kids love to read, so success!

I am not over 60, but hope you don't mind me popping in to say I find this thread so interesting. I was a school librarian before I came to LT, so I've been on the frontlines of these debates. I also have two children, one who took to reading easily without much instruction and the other who benefitted from phonics support.

I also started a new thread with a related question: how did you become a reader? If you care to share your story, you can find that conversation over in Book Talk: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328949

I started school in 1960 at only 5years of age in 1st grade (no kindergarten back then in my community) because my mother had inadvertently taught me to read from the Bible. Every single day she read a story from the Bible and pointed to the words as she was reading. By the 5th time of "In the beginning" I knew the words from sight. When in 1st grade the teacher was just amazed that I could read and my only stumbling block that year was the word "quack", nothing from the Bible to associate that word with! Both of my boys learned reading from phonics and they are both excellent readers, but poor spellers. My readers had the characters Alice, Jerry, and Jip, the dog! I was thoroughly bored with reading at grade level---no such thing as allowing students to work at their level back in the day! In the 5th grade my mother had to send a note to school that would allow me to check out books in the 6-12th grade library.

I distinctly remember the moment I learned to read. I was three; I wanted my mother to read "Here and There with Henry" to me (yet again) but she had a migraine. She told me: you know all your letters. See how the letters are in groups? Those are the words. Sound out all the letters in each word and then you can read the word.

So I sat on the living room carpet and tried it and IT WORKED. I was so shocked, astonished, amazed cue Roget here - that's all there is to it? I couldn't believe it - I was READING, and I didn't need anyone else to do it.

When I got to kindergarten, the teachers were freaked out that I could read. In 1st grade, when I encountered Dick and Jane, I was bored senseless, as I was reading at the 5th/6th grade level. That was the beginning of twelve years of tedium in the classroom.

There were some hiccups along the way - I puzzled over how to pronounce "caution" for the longest time until I finally asked someone. (Turns out it was not ca-oo-tee-on).

Have had my nose in a book ever since. And that feeling of astonishment has never been forgotten. But I wonder whatever happened to Here and There With Henry.

>11 stringcat3: I had several grade school teachers with the good sense to allow me to bring my own reading materials. I would read through the entire literature text the first evening of the school year. Could read my book and still participate in classroom discussions.

My Father told me that I learned to read with Campbells Soup Cans at age 2. Apparently they could not fool me by changing cans, and as there were no pictures to follow figured I knew how to read. I was also read to as a child, and had a bookshelf in my room that held Goldenbook Encyclopedias, the Bible, some general books and novels. I remember reading both the Bible quite regularly, as well as Ivanhoe by the time I was 8. As my parents sent me to my room for time outs, I had plenty of time to read...

>11 stringcat3: Sound out all the letters in each word and then you can read the word

Yes, that rings a bell with me from when we were learning to read.

Reading may come as easily as language acquisition for some kids.

But teaching kids to read before first grade was frowned upon, as I recall, because it would lead to "bad habits," like moving your lips when you read or pointing at each word who your finger.

There were some equally fussy rules about penmanship and " using your arm, not your wrist" when you wrote. I could never figure out what that meant.

It was expected that you could print your name in kindergarten, but teachers wanted kids to make all letters in a uniform way, so no learning cursive until third grade.

Now kids go from rudimentary printing to keyboarding. Reading cursive will soon be the domain of paleographers!

My mother read the hard bits for me in the comics and I graduated from there. You can read my interview on Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/interview/zhivago
https://jameslawless
Amazon bks com https://amzn.to/2Frp9zJ
Amazon bks uk https://amzn.to/2CGnHI3

I just heard about this group, so I checked it out. I was intrigued with this topic. I started school in 1955. I learned with Dick and Jane as well. We were taught to read phonetically, and in my opinion, that's the best way. I was reading picture books by the time I started school. My mother was and still is a reader, so books were and still are a big part of my life. By the time I was 7 or 8 I was reading books. The first book I read was Pollyanna and then went to Anne of Green Gables, and onward from there. My first adult book was Eastof Eden and I read that when I was about 11.

>17 Romonko: Oh, gosh, East of Eden is one I need to re-read. I read it one summer and just wallowed in it. I wonder if it will "age" well.

I remember complaining about not being able to read the newspaper in 1st grade. At that time, phonics was frowned upon, so my mother taught me at home. She told me not to tell my teacher. :-) After that, I could read anything I wanted.

I do remember one time my teacher asked me for an explanation of how I figured out a word and I explained it with phonetics. My teacher asked how I learned that, so I told her my mother taught me. There was silence. The secret was out!

I learned to read in first grade, in 1955. This was in rural Kentucky. There was no pre-school or kindergarten, so first grade was my first schooling. We used the Alice and Jerry books (my sister recently found one for me). I don't remember much about the process of learning to read, just that I liked it. In second grade, I remember that our teacher put a large construction-paper tree on the bulletin board. Every time you read a book on your own, you got to put a paper leaf with your name onto the tree. For each ten books that you read, you could put an apple with your name onto the tree. Pretty soon I had more leaves and apples than anybody else, and I have been constantly reading ever since.

Well, I spoke Latvian and German at home when I was about 4+ yo. Not much English. !954.
At school we had "John and Betty" and I remember almost crying because I didn't understand this Reading stuff.

I now own most of lynley Dodd works. I initially got them for the illustrations but later realized how good her prose/poetry was as a tool to
learn language for children. I wish I had been introduced to reading through her works :-)

Guido.

>21 guido47: I think I remember John and Betty. Did they have a dog? I just remember the sentences "Run fast! Run fast! Run fast, fast, fast!"

I figured out how to read due to a variety of things: playing school with older friends, asking the right questions, learning the sounds of the letters. I had figured it out before beginning first grade and was very good at it. I was put in a group of two: one boy repeating first grade and me. The rest of the class was taught in one large group if I remember correctly. I watched and then repeated this to my younger sister who quickly learned at age 5 to read.

One comment about phonics vs. other methods. I have a M.ED in Reading and learned there that phonics is the best way for about a third of children. It doesn't seem to be helpful or make the same kind of sense to about another third of the children. They may need to learn by sight words, memorization, and possibly other methods. The last third of the children seem to do well with a combination of phonics and other methods. I was taught that teaching children to read needs to include a variety of methods which totally makes sense to me.

I was the youngest in a household of readers. I couldn't stand being the only one who couldn't read, so I took my sister's first grade books and sat on the kitchen floor and taught myself to read. Must have done a good job because I read 400 words per minute and read at the college level by fourth grade.

Incidentally, I had a fourth grade teacher who didn't want us to read anything but age appropriate garbage for book reports. So even though I was reading NYT best sellers, my brother's college textbooks, and something like 10-12 books a week,I did the bare minimum bok reports because the books she allowed us to read were boring.

I don't remember exactly how I learned to read but I really wanted to be able to read on my own. My mother read bedtime stories that included Alice in Wonderland and Tom Sawyer so I was primed to read. Learning to read was the reason I looked forward to school (first grade, no kindergarten). We had the Dick and Jane books. I still remember the day each student had to stand in front of the class and read one page. One after another they read "L-l..oo..k, l..ooo..k, l...oo..k-k." I remember thinking this isn't reading, this isn't what I want.

When I was eight we moved out of state. My new teacher Mrs. S. assigned Mary to show me the ropes. When it came to reading she asked Mary the name of the reader I had been using. She didn't know the book so she assigned me to the second (slower) reading group. She didn't ask me to read or ask if I read on my own (I was in the middle of Little Women) so I have no idea how she assessed my abilities.

I think I learned to read mostly on my own in spite of the schools.

>24 Auj: Yes, this makes a lot of sense to me, too. My son went to Catholic kindergarten, and the teachers were wedded to phonics in a way I thought was a bit rigid. He seemed beyond basic sounding out words. I switched him to public school, and was happy with the mixed approach to reading that the teacher took. She also combined reading and writing in fun ways. At some point, the kid was collecting rhyming words in a notebook and asking people to add to it. Some of these lists became rather scatological when "fart" appeared in the list of "-art" rhymes ...

>11 stringcat3: Amen and Amen to the 12 years of boring.

I kept thinking the next school would be better. Nope, they didn't save the good stuff for Jr. High School. Nope, not in High School either. By the time I got to college I decided that they just didn't teach the interesting stuff in school at all.

Ten years later I had the courage to try graduate school and loved it. Instead of getting C grades, I got A's. There was one rotten teacher who didn't give any A's. (And he couldn't be trusted.) Years later I checked with an administrator to find out whether they got rid of him. He acknowledged that they knew how rotten he was, but instead of getting rid of him, they promoted him to a position where he could do less damage.

I learnt to read in Grade 1 in 1961. I was terribly disappointed on the first day of school though as I couldn't see the letters on the board. Terribly afraid to tell my father a doctor I needed glasses I managed to evade detection until I was 14 yrs old where it was picked up during a routine eye test at school! Finally with glasses I could read the board!! What a great relief it was! So much hampered by my poor eyesight I became a very good listener! I began to read the series Dick and Dora and was ambling along quite well reading always ahead of my peers due to my large vocabulary a benefit of my educated fathers influence he being a doctor and my mother a nurse. However it was in Grade 3 when I discovered the school library my reading began to improve in leaps and bounds. Also my father bought ud each a book every year and greatly encouraged our reading and literature appreciation.

Reading was part of our house, it was something everyone did. In fact it was one of the naughty things my older siblings did, reading at night after bed time, hiding under the covers with a flashlight. My father would first circle the house looking for light on the ground or water outside of windows, if he didn't catch anyone it was a round of quietly standing and listening for rustling out side bedroom doors. Reading was important but so was sleep.

I've just recently cleared 60, first grade started for me with Dick and Jane. Teacher, Mrs. Croteau we called her Mrs Crocadile, wanted me in a remedial reading class, my mother refused, she didn't want me "labeled". Second grade was pure phonics but how either method worked I can't remember. The most important factor in my reading is probably that I was expected to read and be good at it. Six older siblings had all been at the top of their class so it was expected of me. So I was always a reader but never a strong reader. In Junior High, choosing my own books, Black Like Me, Soul on Ice, Custer Died for Your Sins, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, finally made reading more interesting and created a life long liberal. The first book I ever enjoyed enough to re-read was the Hobbit.

I've read constantly at least since the first grade but by the time my kids were in the third or fourth grade they could read 2, 3, 4 - 10 books to my one.

Part II Learning to Read. I believe that creating good readers is primarily a result of reading being a natural and important part of living. Being in a world where reading is a normal part of every day, books, magazines, cereal boxes, instructions, comics. When reading is a fundamental part of how adults around you negotiate the world you learn to value and emulate it. Thus sight reading is the foundation of a good reader. Phonics can that be used to expand reading ability, especially in a multi-lingual based language like English. Then there are the mystery factors that influence individuals to make the reading experience more fun and desirable. For my middle child, who was picking letters off of signs at two, his kindergarten teacher had a computer game having something to do with rockets and reading and with each new book and correct answers about them he was rewarded with more and advanced game-play. This was mana from heaven for him. He went from a capable but reluctant reader to a literary gluten consuming pretty much everything the school had available, when he got in trouble, it was for reading too much.
So Readers: Exposure (sight reading)- Value (I want to be like you) - Personal Aide (Phonics and other aides over obstical's)- Individual Reward When reading gives back to you personally)
(ps I read every day but still can't spell my way out of a paper bag, even if it's only to spell paper and bag and my name)

My mother used cereal boxes for letter recognition and sounds before I started first grade (No K in our rural area) and she read to us frequently. My younger siblings and I learned letters from Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and Wheaties and Cheerios. In first grade, Mrs. McClure used Dick & Jane & Sally & Spot & Puff plus lots of progress charts with rows of sparkly stars. I distinctly remember how those single words, became very short sentences, then paragraphs and longer sentences. At home, the Sunday funnies gradually became strips I could read myself instead of waiting for Mom to read them to us. I remember reading Pogo and telling Dad something was funny, then having to prove why I thought it was funny. I did.

Growing up as a kid books were something that were always around. That influence really was my father's side of the family. My grandmother had shelves full of books in her house and my dad was the same in our house. My grandmother's husband was a postal worker and my dad was a USMC WWII vet who later became a prison guard so they were very much working class people but their reading interests were pretty wide ranging though they were very conservative people. There was some junk for sure but you could find Laxness, Joyce, Camus, Whitman or Hemingway for instance. They read--they were curious. So I think that gene basically moved on to me for whatever it was worth.

I began reading when I was 4. I have siblings who are much older than me who read the newspaper. I tried to read newspaper articles with a dictionary my mother gave me. I picked up alot of words from this so when I began kindergarten I was advanced in reading. My elementary school taught both methods of reading. Those classmates who were taught with phonics never learned to read and spell correctly and it has affected their job prospects over the years. Each grade in my school had 4 classes of 30 students each. Only one if the classes got the phonics instruction. I don't know why this decision was made.

>33 lriley: "they were very much working class people but their reading interests were pretty wide ranging"

My grandmother grew up in a farm, had a farm, and never went anywhere. She was a great story-teller and keeper of family lore.

I never pegged her as a reader, but after she died, I found a large collection of Jules Verne novels, and books about ancient Egypt and polar expeditions. There was a whole side of her I never knew about.

>33 lriley: "Growing up as a kid books were something that were always around." Same thing here. Books were just everywhere, it seemed. Being the youngest of 3, I picked up things that were likely beyond what was considered readable for my age, but I got through them, at least the gist of them.

I have no memories of ever being read to, so whatever happened to be stacked on a shelf or sitting by my sister's bed was fair game. By the time I got to school, I was pretty comfortable with the printed page. I have only the vaguest memories of seeing "Dick & Jane" stuff, but then, it's pretty forgettable, isn't it? :) Can't recall not having books all around me.

I am 66 and I wouldn't know by "which" method I learned to read. I do remember an "Aha" moment reading the word neighbor where suddenly it just all made sense, I can only guess - second grade? In small-town Massachusetts, we read from Dick and Jane books. I do remember being irritated by the endless repetition even as a young child. I still have to repress an urge to scream when someone repeats things over and over. I do not recall any sense of joy in reading at school.
The person who taught me the joy of reading was my big brother Bill, 9 yrs
my senior. He always seemed to have a new book in his hand, he was an insatiable reader! I must have asked one too many times: "Billy, what are you reading about?" He handed me his book and walked off. It was an anthology of science fiction stories and I was swept off to other worlds, different realities, I had been bitten by the reading bug! Thank you again Bill and thank God.

>18 nohrt4me2: Our Classic Lit group just re-read it. It's my favorite Steinbeck and it does hold up. It has its flaws but is brilliant.

>38 stringcat3: Good to hear!

>35 nohrt4me2: I never pegged her as a reader, but after she died, I found a large collection

Same experience when my dad died. I discovered he had the complete set of Neville Shute's novels, the whole of C S Forester's Hornblower series, and quite a few by Alistair Maclean. Plus a few books which he received as school prizes before he had to leave school aged 12 and get a job to support his sisters and his alcoholic father.

>23 krazy4katz:

I'm not sure but I remember a dog called "SPOT" but more importantly ... was there a Cat as well?

Guido.

I just turned 60, and can't recall the exact method that was taught to us in school. It was first grade, my teacher was Miss Pain (seriously), and we were learning from little newsprint pamphlets. I struggled, I could not "get it", and I hated school. I HATED SCHOOL AND READING. My sister got the mumps, and I visited her in her bedroom a lot, just to catch it so I wouldn't have to go to school. I never did get sick.

My "aha!" moment was sitting on the couch in the living room with a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I must have had a clue before I read it, but I READ IT ALL BY MYSELF and I've not looked back since. A few years ago my son bought me a hardcover copy of that book in tribute to my accomplishment, and I love it.

I don't recall the actual method taught by my reading teachers in school until about second grade, when we definitely had newsprint magazines that taught by phonics. I think that was what pushed me into the voracious reader category and a frequent library visitor. I read anything and everything I could find, including the aforementioned Golden Book encyclopedias, my dad's JC Whitney parts catalogs, my mom's Today's Health magazines, several Thomas Costain's from the living room bookcase, and lots of books from the book fairs at school. I even snitched books from my older sisters' rooms, an action which they hated, but I loved their books. I discovered Prydain, Kenneth Grahame, and Tolkien that way.

One thing that I want to mention is that my mother didn't "spell" words for me when I asked for help. She always said "use the dictionary" and ignored my complaints. I developed a love for words and used to skim over the pages of our big dictionary and the Roget's thesaurus, just finding new words to learn and love.

>40 John5918: There's a whole novel in that little bit about your dad's books. Thank you for sharing it!

My parents owned a deli in central phx, so were usually to busy or tired to read to me. Went to kindergaten at my synagogue and honestly don't rememer much about books, In first grade put into a private school so I could start school in january (my birthdat was 8 days later so I missed our districts cut off.) and honestly dont remember learing to read there. But on weekends othey'd send me to the main library across the street, into the care of the children's libararian, Pricella McCloud for a few hours (when I was older, assumed there was a pastrami sandwich or two in paymnt. !) This great lady took me under her wing and got me started on the simplest books, most of which were word by word, but I felt like I was reading. When I was in second grade I had no phonics so was put in a class (closet!) with a reading specialist and picked up reading in no time, and ended up top of my class through grade school in reading

My parents lost the deli when I was 10, but I still saw priscilla, she'd moved over to the branch library not far from us. I'd walk there, lugging the books home that she recommended and it all just grew from there. I'd still go visit her in hs, and when I went to college. I know she was very proud of me, and I am so thankful she was in my life.

Now as a special ed teacher for 35 years I can tell you in no uncertain terms that there is no one way to teach reading, Every child is different, some pick up reading at 4, others struggle till 9 (read the story of how steinbeck started reading at 11 !) , some kids have a house full of books (my house was) parents that read to them (or at least help them when there are problems like my dad did) Others have no books no magazines, parents not interested in education or struggling getting food on the table like my husband. Starting reading in first grade and found supportive teachers that showed him how to find more books, how to use the library, and he became a life long reader.

I think Phonics helped me, but I know whole language did too. I know A teacher and parent need to be aware of where the child is, and what is the best way to reach him. (Steinbeck got L'Morte de Arthur from an aunt when he was 11. Thats all it took).

three things I recommend, then I will shut up

Read to children daily from birth

fill your home with reading material by all means be sure child sees adults actually reading - recipe books, directions manuals, books magazines, newspapers, text on lap top, comic, kindles - if they see its importatn to you, they are going to want to know what its all about.

And just dont sweat the methodology. See how your child learns, her interests, and know there is a myraid of ways you can encourage and help her learn.

Now aren't you sorry you asked :)

>5 lilithcat: brings tears to my eyes!

>10 Tess_W: hee, I wasn't allowed to check out books from the adult section, so my sis, ten years older, checked thm out for me bless her heart

>13 David_Cox: had that same set!!! read them from first volume to last several times. Also spent hours with the atlas, and the dictionary' once I started to look for a word, I just had to look for another.

>19I remember complaining about not being able to read the newspaper in 1st grade. At that time, phonetics was frowned upon, so my mother taught me at home. She told me not to tell my teacher. :-) After that, I could read anything I wanted.

god I am so glad those days were over. BTW I see many who read with DIck and Jane, but say phonics is the way to go. You know those books are word for word, right

>29 Pilgrimmum_7: I managed to evade detection until I was 14 yrs old where it was picked up during a routine eye test at school! Finally with glasses I could read the board!! .

Hee, I had mumps in third grade and discovered I couldn't hear in my left ear (befor vaccination, famous for taking at least one ear) Decided to hide it, adapted to it. In and of itself it didn't affect my reading, but my pronounciation was a mess because I could read the word but had no idea hoe it sounded! Wasn't till jr hi that a wise teacher picked up on this and got me the the school audiologist, At the time they didn't aid unilateral losses but got speech therapy, and in college tried my first pair of hearing aids and wow, what a difference~

>30 1Carex: This. every last word

>41 guido47: Yes! The dog was called Spot! I don't remember a cat.

I was raised by my mother and maternal grandparents and they were all readers, even though I was the first member of my immediate family to graduate from high school. Don't know how I actually learned to read, it just suddenly all made sense when I was about four. My teacher hated that I was reading when I entered Kindergarten. My first grade teacher wasn't too happy, either. Our house was always full of books and my family didn't say much about age appropriate material. I was allowed to read anything I could reach, except for my mother's copy of From Here to Eternity. For some reason she always hid it, even after she caught me reading Peyton Place. Go figure. When we cleaned out my grandfather's room, I found a well-worn book of poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson. I thought he only read Westerns and detective magazines.

>41 guido47: Yes, Dick and Jane books were very popular in most USA schools in the 50's. There was a dog, Spot and a little sister, Sally too.

The cat was named Puff.

Part 2: My first "sight" word was probably STOP. My sister, brother, and I used to fight for who got the rights to read the cereal box while we ate breakfast. My elementary school had no library. Some of the teachers had their own bookshelf; but I probably read everything from it in 2-3 months. In the summer, the bookmobile came to our very rural area and we each were permitted to take out 10 books. I usually had them read in 10 days or so. As the bookmobile lady got to know me, I was permitted to check out 20 books. Also, during the school year when there were no books available that I had not read at least twice, I would resort to the dictionary or the Funk & Wagnalls--which our family only had Volumes A-K (my mother got free in boxes of laundry detergent).

I don't remember being taught phonics or mechanics at all by my mom and big brother (14 when I came along). I do remember weekly stacks of storybooks checked out from our little rural library and hours cuddled up on laps being read to until the words just became second nature. I am told that on a family road trip to California (I was four), I read portions of The Hobbit aloud to the family to amuse them.

>51 Tess_W: I love this.

>1 Tess_W: I began school in in 1962 with Dick and Jane with all phonics and remember cherishing the readers. WEEKLY READERS, the school library, and classroom reading collections were my passion. I come from a family of 7 children and all were non-readers so I was a bit outcast at home. I have 3 children that all learned by site words and "full immersion" methods in the 80s and only 1 is fluent in language arts and remains a reader in his 30s. I belive that phonics is best and used that strategy with my children at home and students in school while I was a school librarian.

>54 edwoodard2: ooh! Weekly Readers! I always got a summer subscription, but it was never enough to please me.

>54 edwoodard2: Weekly readers, I so envied those that could afford them. My family was poor, so we did not buy the subscription or any books through school programs. However, I always got a book for Christmas and my birthday; mostly The Bobbsey Twins, and looked so forward to them. I still have 8 of them on my bookshelf and although browned and some with loose spines, I cherish them! In fact, my goal, in another group in which I belong (2021 Category Challenge), is to re-read at least 5 of them.

>54 edwoodard2: WEEKLY READERS,

Yes! and reading Highlights when I'd go to the dr and them letting me take home old ones. Surprised when I started teaching that they are still there!

>56 Tess_W: we got ours at school, but yeah, I never got to order from any of the books through Scholastic etc. But dad would take me to used bookstores and now and then found used copies of WR and highlights.

>53 fuzzi: I love this too! Memories :)

Our public library was just four blocks away, but we had to cross the business street to get there. My sister and I would take turns guiding the other safely home while one of us began reading what we had just checked out.
If we wanted to read the same book, we sat side by side on the porch steps, me on the right because I read faster; the pages in between held up between us.
Nancy and Plum was our all-time favorite.

I learned to read by reading the sports section of the newspaper while my dad read the paper. I was a voracious reader as a child but I was also horrible reading out loud. I was always in the top of the comprehension test; however' the teachers complained that I could not pronounce the words. Different strokes for different folks.

>1 Tess_W: Phonics; which I still, hands down support. However, I believe there was more to it. Phonics, by itself, is purely visual. I learned by the Carden method, which is not dissimilar to Orton- Gillingham, in some respects. We were writing from the first day. I did learn to print, but not for very long. Cursive was begun in first grade- ( and I never attended kindergarten ). By second grade I was testing out at college reading level on all four standardized tests. Our daily writing across all schoolwork, and daily analysis of grammar and structure, reinforced strong habits of thinking, beyond sounding out. Miss Carden had initial readers, that included no illustrations- just words and we daily read from real literature, including additional reinforcement from McGuffey. There are articles claiming that cursive handwriting, indeed, promotes processing of reading. I'm a believer. I also believe that environment plays a role- and I don't just mean that of the family. My children were not as voracious readers, because, their peer-group did not support it as mine did. My grandchildren are barely able to read- not because they are dull in wit, but because they are told to GUESS. I spend every summer trying to break the habit of guessing. The youngest sees an H and will guess Horse- where no possible context could support HORSE. They are told to read 20 minutes a day- but I feel that reinforces that reading is chore. Worse, they are never read to by their teachers, so they are expected to chart their own courses to appreciating literature. We have become a culture unable or unwilling to transmit genuine love of reading and I feel the removal of phonics and how to correctly implement it plays a strong role. Dragging out the "recognition" of one syllable words across five grade levels seems ridiculous. No unkindness meant to others that succeeded or value other methods. Peter Rabbit was my first non- Carden book. Chamomile- age 5, no waiting until higher grade level, for that which formerly was considered a first grade book. Though you didn't ask, I also associate the lack of phonics comprehension for the downslide of proper pronunciation. The things I hear frighten me. Soapbox complete.

>62 EGBERTINA: I enjoyed your soapbox rant, please feel free to do it again.

>62 EGBERTINA: I agree that part of the younger generation's reading "problem" is that nobody reads to them--parents, teachers, etc. As a high school teacher of 30 years, I read to students in grades 9-12 for the first 10 minutes of every class. They weren't permitted to have any other books open or be working on anything else. I finished about 2 books per year. Some students remarked to me that was the only books they had ever "read." At my home, every single night, (when the boys were in school) after an early dinner 5:30-6pm, bath time, then 7-7:30 was Jeopardy on TV, 7:30-7:50 was reading silently and then 7:50-8pm we talked about what we read. This at least 4 nights per week. My sons were light years above all the other readers in their class. Sadly, at about age 40, neither of them are voracious readers now. They (and their families) choose to play video games in the evening or attend sporting events instead. Drats!

>64 Tess_W: Yes, I truly believe the surrounding culture outweighs the influence of the family. Reading is given some lip-service, but not a great deal of concerted effort. Around fifth grade I attended my first school with its own library and the whole class was excited for library day. We talked about books and couldn't wait to share them with each other. So many books I would never have come to know had it not been for friends. The book fairs, too, were such an exciting time. The nice thing was I benefitted from having older siblings who ordered books, too. I have carried those books with me to the present.

My mother, Dr. Seuss, and Little Golden Books taught me to read.

Spare a thought for intelligent children with logical brains who rebel at the ridiculous spelling of English, knowing it could be made so easy with a little effort.
Well I remember angrily telling our teacher during a spelling lesson - “You have to be out of your mind”, carefully riming “have” with “cave, then “mind” with “wind”. (You follow the logic?)
Instead of discussing the logic I was kicked out to stand in the corridor.

Another time reading aloud in class I deliberately read:
Old mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
to get her poor dog a bone.
When she got there, the cupboard was bare
And so the poor dog had none*. (rimed with “Known”, of course)

Outside again ! (Mind you, I am WELL over 60)

>67 Novak: English is a mixture of many other languages, which explains the craziness of spelling/pronunciation.

I recommend The Story of English by Robert McCrum, and the PBS series from 1986 if you can find it.

>68 fuzzi: English is a mixture of many other languages, which explains the craziness of spelling/pronunciation.

The teacher's words exactly. :)

Us kids had the last laugh though. We all have spellcheck now, she never dreamed of that in the 1940s. Helped with that development myself.

Thanks for recommendation.

>68 fuzzi: Also Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue

I remember Dick and Jane from preschool but don't remember whether that's how I learned to read. I remember being read to, classic children's books some of which I still have, may've learned the basics by osmosis.

I first learned to read phonetically, and with flashcards, from a very early age in the 1950s. I showed great aptitude for it, so my father bought an early Tachistoscope device, that flashed words, then built up to phrases and sentences as the reading speed increased. The tachistoscope was just a small hand held device, probably made from cardboard, that used a spring to uncover the words for an instant. I think that the time that the words were uncovered, and the number of words that were uncovered could be adjusted.

It really worked. I could read paragraphs in an instant and entire pages of books very quickly, and this really helped later on in my academic and professional careers. Not only could I comprehend what I read rapidly, but if I needed to find a sentence again, I usually could describe where it was down to the place on the page. It was like my mind took a snapshot of it and I could visualize it.

Did anyone else learn to read with such a device?

No, but it sounds fascinating and very much like the training Kipling’s Kim received as a spy. Speed reading was a thing in my high school in the late 60s, but we used rulers on the page.

Oh, now, flash cards were big when I was in grade school, but not really used to improve speed that I remember.

>72 vwinsloe: I remember a similar device that our grade school/early junior high teachers played with a bit. I believe it flashed the word bits on the wall, somewhat like a filmstrip projector. Must have been on loan or on approval, because its use didn't last long.

>72 vwinsloe: I took a speed reading class one time. It just made me nervous as a cat. The teacher used the torture device you describe :-)

“I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.” Woody Allen

>76 perennialreader: hahahaha!

>72 vwinsloe: Wow! I have never heard a Tachistoscope. That would have set my nerves on fire!
I don't remember flashcards, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had them. At least I could read the newspaper after my mother taught me. It was important to know what was happening in the world! This would have been around 1961-1963? There was a lot going on at that time.

>72 vwinsloe:
>74 gmathis:

In college one of my education profs said I should take a speed reading course so they could test and document my reading speed. I did, but the person teaching the class advised me to drop (which I did) because I was already a speed reader, but I wasn't doing it the "right" way!

>76 perennialreader: Thanks for that :-)

Thanks to my refusal to accept illogical spelling in the 1940s, all the on-line captions are gone before I have finished reading them.
On the other hand, I can remember most details in the thousands of books I own.

>75 nohrt4me2:. We must be about the same vintage.

>78 krazy4katz:, I think that I started first grade in 1960, but I was reading long before that.

>79 Tess_W: Although I credit the speed reading training with my ability to quickly pick up the important bits of nonfiction academic and work reading (I went to law school and it really helped me to cut to the chase in long, boring materials), I really find it annoying now in reading fiction. Just when I get near the climax and all the threads of the novel are coming together and I can't wait to see what happens.... I start speed reading and don't really enjoy any of the language or nuance. So >76 perennialreader:, yeah, I can relate.

My own kids had an early computer game of SCRABBLE that they loved (so did I) On screen you saw not only your 7 letters but every other player's too. The game kept all the scores (so they couldn’t cheat).
After each turn the screen would laugh and say, “Not a bad try but if you’d done “this” or “that” you would have scored more.”

It obviosly did not help their reading because they all became English Language teachers. (Though I so wanted them to have REAL jobs :-)

I wish I could find that program again now, any ideas?

>81 vwinsloe: I think our experience was about the same. I was a pre-law major (history) and I used (and somewhat still do) it to fly through very dry historical treatises or journal articles to pick out the meat. I often thought I need to slow down on novels, but it is difficult. I have often wondered if I do in fact miss anything important.

>83 Tess_W:, I know that I do miss quite a bit, especially toward the end of novels. Speed reading is a double edged sword. I am glad that I still enjoy reading for pleasure, unfortunately, that is not true of writing. Many people, including myself, thought that I would grow up to be a writer. But I had to write SO much every day during my career, that I really stopped enjoying it.

>84 vwinsloe: As a historian, I had to read and write a lot, also. That is why I refuse to write book reviews of any length; it's too much like work. I write just enough to remind me of the book. I only read for pleasure now that I am retired.

>85 Tess_W:. Same. I almost never write a review, and when I do, it's very brief.

Phonics for sure in school, and the Jean and Johnny readers (Catholic school version of Dick and Jane). However, I started to "read" long before school, since my parents always read aloud to us and bought us many books for gifts and surprises. We also had a large magazine rack full of comic books! We especially liked Classic Comics.

Weekly Reader was "My Little Messenger" in the Catholic schools. We looked forward to Friday afternoons in school, because it was time for the Messenger, individual reading time, art projects, and games.

"Weekly Reader" has been mentioned often. Could somebody explain what it was, please?

It was an age appropriate 3-4 page "magazine" for children. It came weekly to the classroom and it had some color (in my day most things were black and white), a front page story, little bits of trivia, a game, etc. It cost between $2-4 for the entire year. It was such a treat to get something out of the ordinary! There were teachers who used it in the classroom occasionally, but in my experience, most just had us stuff it into our bookbags and take home.

>89 Tess_W:

Thanks. Interesting. I don't recall anything like that on our side of the Pond.

>90 John5918: Not until about 1985 :)

>89 Tess_W: we were given the option to subscribe to Weekly Reader during our summer vacation. It only ran 4-6 weeks as I recall, but it was fun to have while away from school.

>91 Novak:

In 1985 I was 31 and living in Africa. I think I had already learned to read English by then, although by that point I was struggling with reading Arabic!

>92 fuzzi: Oh yes, I'm sure--but we were poor and couldn't afford it.

Oh Dear, Mia Culpa, Mia Culpa (and I hope not sic...)

This is with regard to "John and Betty" and their Pets.

I just did a simple Google search (maybe not that simple in Australia anymore?)

Well the Dog was named/called Scottie
and there was a Cat named Fluffbut ONE DOES NOT "CALL" CATS

Their names are our inventions (sorry T S Elliot)

Yet the question of who the SPOT the DOG is in our/my memory does deserve more research.

Guido.

>96 guido47:

I've just Googled and found that Spot the Dog appeared in 1980, created by Eric Hill, an English author and illustrator of children's picture books. That's way after my learning-to-read era, and I honestly don't remember which reading books (or dogs) we used as small children twenty-odd years earlier.

>93 John5918: Wow! To think of you youngsters learning Arabic.

In London in 2021 you would be one of the majority.

reminds me of Prof Higgins line in "why don't the english teach their chidren how to speak;" And the Hebrews learn it backwards which is absolutely frightening" (Hebrew is read from right to left)

>96 guido47: I am just as guilty, but after so many years, confusion over whether the dog was called Spot or Scottie is understandable. I do think I remember "Run, Spot, run!". Perhaps I have John and Betty wrong...

>99 cindydavid4: When my friend and I traveled to England in 2005, we went to the New Globe Theatre to see Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale." We were stunned that was we sat there through the first half we could not understand one word, and it was in English! They spoke so fast. At intermission we hurriedly went to the gift shop and bought a copy, and sat there and skimmed through it before the second half so we would have an idea of what was going on!

>101 Tess_W: Hilarious! I know exactly what you mean. Shakespeare was one of my favorite classes in college and I found it definitely helped to read the play before seeing it performed.

To answer the question - I don't recall the exact circumstances but I'm sure it was a combination of the "See Dick, see Dick run" type of kindergarten books and my parents reading to me at home.

To the point concerning encouraging reading - I do remember the Weekly Reader - one or two of the schools I attended had them and, as noted by others, the teachers would use them in class exercises. The other thing I recall was the Scholastic Book Club (I could be wrong about the name - it's been awhile) which was something that showed up in 5th and 6th grade at the school I was attending.

This consisted of a monthly flyer listing books (all paperbacks) for sale. The books ran the gamut from stuff aimed at 5th graders on up to high-school level reads. The deal was you would bring in your money, fill out the form, give the money and form to the teacher who would then send all of the orders off at the same time. In a couple of weeks a package would arrive and the teacher would hand out the books ordered. On several occasions I noted the price I paid for the paperback was less than the price on the book cover. From time-to-time I've wondered if this was a case of selling remainders or if it was a case of discounting in order to encourage more sales.

This was the first time I actually spent my own allowance money on books and I took very good care of them...so much so that 60+ years later I still have many of them and they are still in great shape. Some of the titles are The Time Machine, Falcons of France, a collection of Poe's short stories - whose title I can't recall offhand, and Mystery at Thunderbolt House.

Loved scholastic, its still going strong and over the years have purchased many books for my classroom at great prices. When I was a kid tho I rarely brought them home because my parents didn't have the money. Something I always thought of as a teacher, . I set up a fund for parents to donate to so I could help parents in need get some books. I was glad to see all of my students be able to get a few books each sememster

>104 cindydavid4: my fifth grade teacher had a bookcase in the back of her room with all sorts of non-curriculum books available to borrow. It was there that I discovered Kazan and James O. Curwood. It didn't matter to me that its front cover was missing, I loved it so much she told me to keep it. Thank you, Mrs. Cole.

>104 cindydavid4: I have such fond memories of Scholastic from my childhood. Back then, the books ran 10 & 25 cents. Five children, and we all got to purchase all the books we wanted. By the time I was having children in 1980's, Scholastic books were no bargain and we could find books for less, most anywhere else. So sad.

>105 fuzzi: I live 10 miles from James Curwood's historic studio, "Curwood Castle," where he wrote all his books. There is a big festival here every year, and part of it includes a writing contest for kids.

>107 nohrt4me2: oooooh! Bucket list possibility.

>108 fuzzi: Here's the Wikipedia entry on Curwood Castle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curwood_Castle

We went on a tour of it one time (though drive past it several times a week on our way to and fro somewhere). Our son was little and was obsessed with the fact that there is no bathroom in it. "Where did Mr. Curwood pee?" seemed to be a topic of conversation for several weeks ...

The castle is in a nice little park that includes a historical log cabin and the Shiawassee Arts Council, which has a really lovely selection of Michigan made arts and crafts. Owosso is also home to the birthplaces of Thomas E. Dewey (he who lost to Harry S Truman) and impressionist painter Frederick Frieseke, though their birthplaces are not open to the public.

>109 nohrt4me2: oh, blast. I was in the area three or four years ago on vacation, could have stopped there. We did see the lovely locks, though.

>5 lilithcat: Same here. I have no memory of learning to read, but I know that I was reading by the time I started first grade ( we had no kindergarten here ) I know I received books in the mail with several stories, before I went to school.

It was my job to listen to the " yellow birds" group read, while the teacher listened to the red or bluebirds. I guess I was a demon :)

My own kids were reading on their own at 3 but, I taught them. We read together every night, every afternoon we played school and read. Dr Suess books and flashcards made with the words in them is how I started them.

>111 mckait: Much the same for me, my mother taught me to read from the Bible when I was between 3 and 4. I taught my boys the same as you, Dr. Seuss and flashcards!

>112 Tess_W: Great minds :)

>113 mckait: I guess now my practices would be considered "racist"? For on the day we read Dr. Seuss' I Saw it on Mulberry Street, we drank tea, put on straw hats, and ate rice (and grapes and small pieces of pbj) with chopsticks.

Then or now, intention is what matters. No harm meant so ...

To be honest, that is one of many of his we never read. I used the easy repetitive first and then moved on to other books and just flashcards. Since the kerfluffle started I have not felt the need to investigate...the family is pulling them so.. fine.

It's a lot different teaching my 4 year old granddaughter with all the electronic devices and games. Different, not necessarily better, I think

My older brother taught me to read when I was about 3 or 4. We had the Sally, Dick and Jane books. I can still remember my dislike of tricky letters with two or more sounds like my first initial, C.

Very slowly and poorly. :-) I really don't remember. I was always outside playing, exploring, riding my bicycle. Naturally, this was reflected on my schooling. Meanwhile my younger sister was inside reading. Half way through 3rd grade she was advanced to the 4th grade and moved to the "Smart" school. From that point on she was straight A's. I completely disengaged from formal schooling, why try???

Wow, So sorry it was so hard for you. You learned somehow since you are here. What was the switch that turned you on to reading? And were you able to get special help from school, or through your family?

Not strictly on topic, but connected with learning to read...

Marcus Rashford vows to reach children who have never owned book (Guardian)

The footballer and anti-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford has vowed to reach hundreds of thousands of children who have never owned a book, before the publication of his own...

Beverly Cleary died, one of the first authors I learned to seek out. A comment in her obit made me think of this group

Chickenpox and then smallpox kept Mrs. Cleary out of first grade for a time, and when she returned, she was placed with the least-proficient group of readers. She was in third grade when she finally started to grasp the fundamentals of reading. She recalled the moment it all came together: the rainy afternoon at home when she stumbled across Lucy Fitch Perkins’s children’s novel “The Dutch Twins.”

“I picked up a book,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “My mother always kept them around, with high hopes. I looked at the pictures, and then the words, and discovered I was reading

We were taught to read with the English version of Dick and Jane,called Janet and John. . No idea whether phonics was involved,but I loved books from the start'
In junior school (grades 3-6) every day finished with a 30 minute reading session. Every class had its own little library of perhaps 50books in the corner and we picked our own choices. I still remember that amazing hush over the whole school as we all - including teachers - sat and read.Just like the public libraries at the time,holding a quiet reverence for books.One of themost satisfying memories of my childhood
Of course I soon read through the whole selection and was allowed to go choose from the class next door.Within a year I had started in on the next grade,and by 5th grade had read out the whole school book stock!
I was then allowed to bring in library books from home,but it was very frustrating. Under 13 you could only get out 2 books at a time from the public library. The library was 2 miles away from home,and I had to walk both ways. Of course I read a book on the way home - very adept at avoiding lampposts etc - continued reading it all evening and then only had one book to take to school and needed anothervisit to the library the next day! Rinse and repeat.
5th grade was enlivened by our teacher reading The Odyssey aloud to us.Have loved the classics ever since.
And 6th grade the class read Black Beauty each of the class of 50 (yes 50,we were the baby boomers and the schools were packed to the roof) taking turns to read a few paragraphs.Not a dry eye in the house as Black Beauty ended his days in peace and security in verdant pastures.
I am forever grateful to my school for inculcating that love of books,.

>121 dustydigger: That's the big ticket, as far as I am concerned--teaching student the LOVE of books (learning).

In 5th grade our teacher read aloud to us Rascal, which I will never forget.

I remember my 6th grade teacher reading Rikki Tikki Tavi and I loved it. She also read us many other short stories by Saki, OHenry, Poe, Twain and others. Opened up new worlds for me

>123 cindydavid4: Slightly off topic but your mentioning a teacher reading books to the class brought back a memory. When my son was in 6th grade they asked for outside volunteers to read to the class. I volunteered and chose David and the Phoenix. My place for reading was a chair in front of the classroom and it took two days (back-to-back reading sessions) to finish the book.

When I finished the first reading I was getting ready to leave and I mentioned to the teacher I had the impression the kids were less than thrilled. She gave me a shocked look and said," Are you kidding? They were absolutely mesmerized! Didn't you notice that no one was moving or saying anything?" I had noticed one of the kids had walked up and sat down right in front of me for the entire read (both times) but I took his lack of movement as one of disinterest. The teacher said he was autistic. She said she couldn't believe he sat there for the entire hour and didn't do anything.

>124 alco261: I read Maniac Magee, one of my all time favorites, to seventh graders over several sessions separated a week at a time. Once I conversationally began “Now where did we leave off?” One of the boys piped up with all of the details of the last scene I had read.
Satisfaction!

In Library School,1969,I was sent to do work experience in a secondary school.A whole noisy class of wild kids,7th or 8th grade, poured into the library loudmouthed and very lively.Then the teacher started reading part of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and there was a hush for a whole hour as she led them all through the forest and into the underworld of elves and dwarfs and magical people.Never fails.

I learned with phonics, sounding out words, and lots of memorization, starting in first grade. We memorized poems that I still remember and can recite, btw 1st grade was 1960. The poem was "The Cow" My mother told me I began to read at 2 years by turning the pages of a book and reading the numbers