Every spring I work at a prominent garden center, which is close to my home. I enjoy working with the people, the flowers, and the cash register. It is so different from what I do every day, and somehow, I find it quite relaxing. There are also other perks such as discounts on the flowers I purchase for my garden.
This past weekend there was a young couple with a child who was probably between the ages of 1 and 2. They came through my line and the young girl seemed very upset. I looked at her to say “hi” and the parents explained that she was upset because they would not allow her to get a bottle of bubbles. I replied, “Oh she must be a beginning reader!” The mom said, “Not likely.” I smiled and said, “You’d be surprised how much children recognize at such a young age. She probably knows symbols designating fast food chains, gas stations, favorite retail stores, and bubbles. It is the very beginning stage of reading.”
I explained that I am a classroom teacher and that teachers will often use pictures of popular items, products, stores, etc. to teach the alphabet and the letter sounds to children who are beginning to read. I shared that one of the things they could do, is to take a picture of their child next to the bubbles and put a letter “B” on the photo. They could do this with all of the letters of the alphabet by taking her picture with various produce – apples for A, carrots for C, etc. Then they could make a slide show out of it on a computer, or iPad. They could record their voices (hers included) and play it back to practice reading. It could also be printed into a book for the child to read. They can spell the words for and with her, have her identify specific letters and sounds for those letters. I looked at them suddenly, realizing where I was and said, “This is probably not what you expected to get here today.” They smiled back and said, “No, it isn’t but we are so grateful. We are new at this parenting and love your ideas. We want to be able to help our child learn.
First published: 6/5/2017
