Teaching Anna to Read

Playing off my last post with a shout out to all teachers, I thought I would share this cute story with you that occurred the summer before Anna started Kindergarten.
She'll hate me for using this one.

What I love most about Anna is her independence, her strong will and her creativity. Yet, these same traits also contribute to our biggest battles.

The summer before Kindergarten, she was given a workbook to help get her ready when school began. Each page of the book contained a letter with pictures of items that started with the letter and lines for the child to write the letters. The letters showed directional arrows for how you should print both the upper and lower case forms.

Being that my mom was the phonics teacher, I knew I had to set a good example and have Anna complete the book as it was intended, a page or two a day over the course of the summer.

Anna, had other plans.

I tried to sit with her and sound out each word. I tried to show her the proper way to draw the letters and focus on neatness. She, on the other hand, wanted to do it all by herself, rush through the book and drawl the letters as fast as she could.

Our sessions went something like this:

Me: "C. C is for cat, candy, and camping. You start at the top and make a half-circle, touching the bottom line and coming up to this point."

Anna: "Hhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (insert eye roll) I know mom. Let me do it."

Me: "T. T is for turtle, time and top. You start at the top, drawing a straight line down. Then lift your pencil and draw another line, starting at the top, draw this one horizontal crossing over the vertical line." - you can get the picture.

Anna: "Hhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (insert eye roll) I got it, Mmoooooommmm."

Me: "U. U is for under, up, umbrella,"

Anna: "Oh, I get it. U. Like, U are so annoying me right now!"

Yes, she was 5 at the time. I am dreading the thought of her having PMS.

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