A 5-year-old named Ethan talks about what he can do with reading: he knows his own name, recognizes some letters and their sounds, and can spell simple words like cat and dog. He memorizes stories when they're read to him repeatedly and watches his mother read.
Good, good.
I was wondering today about reading. What do you know about reading? Do you know how to read?
No.
Okay, what do you think reading is? Can you explain what you think reading is?
Not really.
Have you heard of it?
Yeah.
Do you know, have you ever seen your mom or dad read?
Yeah. I see them, I see my mom read a lot. Good.
And what is she doing when she reads?
Nipping. She's basically just looking at the book. Working?
Oh, looking at the book. So why do you think people look at books?
To read them.
So what do you think happens when they look at the books? When you look at books, do— does something happen when you look at books?
Yeah, you can see the words.
Okay, so there are words. And can you read any words at all?
Um, I can read some words.
So what's an example of a word you can read?
I I don't feel comfortable by giving an example around other people, but I do feel comfortable giving an example around my mom.
Okay, can you read your own name?
Yes.
Okay, can you write your own name? Yeah. So you know the process where Letters turn into words. Is that right? You understand how letters make words?
Yep.
So are you learning— do you know the alphabet? Do you know the ABCs?
Yeah.
Do you know the sounds that the letters make?
I know some sounds of letters, not all.
Okay, um, and if you know the letters in a particular word, so for instance, do you know how to spell cat?
Yeah.
How do you spell cat?
C-A-T. C-A-C? No, no, no, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait. Give me one more chance.
Okay.
Okay. A C, an A, and a T.
Exactly right. Good job. What I really like is that you realized that C-A-C was not quite right, and then you stopped and went back and thought about it, and then you very, very— you know how cat—
You losing him? Yeah. Come on, let's bring you in here closer to the Wi-Fi. Sit down right here.
How about dogs? Do you know how dog is spelled? Um, D-O-G. Excellent. So you really do know how to spell some words. So it sounds like if you had a super simple book with certain words in it, you could read a very simple book. Is that the case?
Yeah.
Have you— do you have very simple books that you've read?
Uh, if my mom— if sometimes if I'm trying to read a not simple book and my mom and dad read it to me a bunch of times, I just memorize it.
Excellent, excellent. So it sounds like, um, if you knew a few more— if you knew all the sounds of all the letters and you practiced, that probably you could start to read more and more things. Does that sound right?
Yeah.
Okay. Do you think it will be fun to learn to read, or you have no idea?
I still have no idea. I'm wanting to read, but I just have no idea.
Do you think that adults like to read?
Probably. Probably.
I don't know. Do you think that older kids like to read? Maybe like an 8-year-old kid?
Yeah. Hold on, I just need to go take care of my cat.
No, no, it's okay, Ethan. You know what? I'm gonna let you go for today. I'm gonna let you go for today, but I look forward to hearing you learn to read more and more. I think reading is super fun, and I think at some point you're gonna find reading to be so super fun. Okay?
Okay.
So I'll let you go take care of your cat, and someday I look forward to hearing you read them. Okay?
Okay.
Have a good week, Ethan. Bye-bye. Okay.
Bye.
