I predict teaching very young children to read is the coming new wave. And why not? Many children are in day care programs. Most children go to preschool before they go on to school. Schools across the nation are implementing PreK classes, free to 4 year olds. Kindergarten teachers and 1st grade teachers struggle to find academic material for the number of children who are coming to their classes already knowing the alphabet and the phonetic sounds. Some of the children can read. Some of them can count to 30 and higher, and better yet, understand that twenty is one more than nineteen.
And the real clincher: to children learning and play is the same thing. Well, that is, if parents and teachers allow learning to be play. Why not let much of the playing in daycares and preschools be the play of reading?
We are teaching 4 year old children to read in our reading preschool. They spend about 15 minutes out of three hours playing with reading. The result is they are reading and loving it and are oh, so proud of themselves.
Our legislators are very anxious to raise test scores. I'll bet they will love the results when more and more preschool children begin reading.
Yes, I can tell you that a reading revolution is about to happen. Everyone shout with me......YEA! GO, all you brilliant children! GO!
Jodi Heaton Hurst
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