my little reader.....

Amazing to me how two children from the same household can be completely different learners. For Hunter, reading came very easily. The year after she completed primary, she just literally opened up a book and started reading. The words just flowed for her and she could read with such expression, in both English & French. Even now, she continues to be a very strong reader. We have not reached the end of Grade 5, yet she has completed the "leveled" reading at school to the end of Grade 6. She is reading at level 30+ which is considered the reading level outcome for students by the end of Grade 6. There is only one other person in her class who has attained this level. Tyler, on the other hand, learns differently than she does. Reading takes more effort and concentration for him at age 6. He seemed to be stalled in his reading a little bit, so I got very active at home with purchasing magnetic words for the fridge, magnetic letters, word family books, puzzles featuring consonant blends, etc. Unknown to me, he had a reading conference today with the early literacy specialist at school, as she sees all the kindergarten kids once a month. She wrote in his reading log that he is making "excellent progress" and she moved him to level 9 & 10 books. I am so pleased for him. He is working so hard on his sight words and his reading every day. They are many things I can live without as talents in my children-i don't care if they don't have strong athletic abilities, or great creative visions, but I do want them to be strong readers and life long readers. Reading is such an important pathway for learning in school. Here is Tyler reading to his kindergarten class at school, and doing a great job at it!