Print All Around Us

Dear Reader,

My youngest son has returned from a very LONG camping trip with his grandparents. They went to St. Louis, Mt. Rushmore, and Yellowstone. Wow, the pictures he took just reinforced how much he learned and enjoyed his trip. Of course he was happy to come home, but not as much as I was to see him.

During the trip, they would call home and let us know about their where-abouts. Mimi would always mention on these calls how much his reading has improved, and I would put her comments aside, thinking that she was trying to ease my fears. However, distance helps us view problems in a different light, and shows the growth of our children. Boy, did he grow on his trip; I think that he drank way too much milk and grew a couple of inches. The most remarkable difference that I noted since he has returned home, is the amount of print that surrounds us in our environment. He is attempting to read everything he sees. There are signs that I have never noticed before, and we are taking the time to read them. I love it when he is able to read them on his own, but the one's that he can't become fantastic opportunities for word study mini-lessons. We discuss the letters, where it is located, and what we know about the letter-sound correspondences, in order to attempt to read the word.

He is changing my perspective on reading instruction. The reading instruction that I have used on him in the past, was very prescriptive and now it is becoming natural. I am still meeting some of the same objectives, but I am using the print that surrounds us everyday. Take a moment to just look around, and note how many words we are exposed to everyday. It is amazing when we take the time and observe.

-Maria Creighton