Mama’s Getting Help From The Learning Library

I’ve been reading to my daughter since she was growing inside my womb and until now, not a day passes by without us reading a book together. At her very young age, she has already shown great love for literature and a knack for weaving stories of her own. When dear Mama is cannot read a book for her, she often narrates her own version of a storybook based on the pictures.

I have tried to teach her how to read on her own but have only managed to help her recognize letters and their sounds. We’ve been stuck at AT and AN words for weeks now and I’m pretty much the one who’s getting frustrated. You see, my Mom taught my sisters and I to read before we even reached three years of age. Jade is three years and four months now and I feel that I may not have enough skill to teach her the basics of reading.

Since she herself has been clamoring to go to school and has shown signs of being ready for more challenges, we agreed to check if she could be enrolled in a Reading Program. The nearest establishment that offered such a program was The Learning Library but when I inquired, they said that they only accepted children who are already in school. After reasoning out that my little girl was already used to answering worksheets and knew how to follow instructions, they did schedule us though for an assessment.

Our first visit to the center proved how ready Jade is for school. She easily warmed up to the teacher and had no qualms going off with the teacher by herself. It felt kind of sad that she left poor Mama within five minutes of arriving at the center; but, I am proud of how independent and driven she is.

How did the assessment go? It went fairly well with Teacher Erica informing me that Jade was very quick with her answers.  Although she missed several questions, her Reading level was still above-average for her age. Most importantly, she showed readiness to learn and behaved well during the assessment.

We’re starting Level 1 of their Reading Advantage Program this November. I really thought we’d be on Level 2 already as she already knew all of the letters and sounds, could identify beginning letters, and read a few cvc words. However, it turns out that she had to be able to identify middle and ending letters also before she could proceed to Level 2. And she is also still unable to segment words phonemically.

She is very excited to go back to The Learning Library and learn how to read. We’ll see how it goes the first month and if she wishes to continue the program then we’ll do so.