Alpha Land

 On my last day of kindergarten in Mrs. Fullmer's class at Sundance Elementary (circa 1983), the teacher let us choose books that the school would no longer be using in the classroom. I was so surprised that Alpha Land was in the pile of books. Because each week during kindergarten, a different inflated letter would show up at our door to introduce their sound to us. These letter-people were about 3 feet tall, and clearly they left an impression on my little mind. So when the opportunity presented itself to take home a forever copy of Alpha Land, I snatched it up. I don't remember if there were enough copies for any other kids, or if they got to choose different books--but I remember feeling so happy that I got this book, and so sad for next year's kindergarteners that they didn't get to learn from Alpha Land.

So. We had this book called Alpha Land at our house. It went through seven younger siblings in my family. It went through a number of nieces and nephews. Finally, when I became a mother, my mom sent me the treasured Alpha Land book. The corners have been chewed on by a baby or two, and an entire page is ripped out in the middle of it. I have checked, and there are other copies for sale on Amazon--but this is the one with all the memories, so I love it.

David and I have worked on reading with a few different programs. I'm about to dive into a phonetics based program with him so all of the bases are covered, but in the lead-up, we've enjoyed a few different resources for beginning reading. This book is one of them. It has only been in the last week that David has figured out that he can pick up and read the book without me. He's reading the words and the story, and it was such a rewarding moment to look over and see him lost in the pages of a book, all of his own doing.

 I clicked a few pictures before he realized that I was there, so David was really lost in the thrill of reading.

Perhaps the most consistent we've been in his reading aloud has been at the end of our nightly scripture study as a family. I watched my sister do this with her kids about 10 years ago--since David could talk, we have given him a verse to "read." At first, for a few years, he was just repeating the words we told him to say. Then I held his finger pointing to the words while I told him what to say. Finally, he started to read the 2 and 3 letter words on his own. Now he reads at least 75% of each verse he is assigned all by himself. If I am not patient enough, and I prompt him when he seems stuck, he gets upset. He gives each difficult word his best shot at sounding it out before he asks for help. He uses a mixture of sight words and sounding out the key letters in each word to figure out what the words are in his verse. So on a nightly basis, David is stretching himself into reading words with up to 8 letters in them, simply because he recognizes them as familiar words in the scriptures.

Recently I heard my Aunt Launette say, "Teaching a child to read is one of the greatest pleasures for a mother. Don't you dare turn that pleasure over to a teacher!" It's true. I love watching the letters turn to sounds turn to words turn to sentences turn to stories for my boy. I am a strong believer that the mother is the first and most important teacher for a child. Besides, the moments when David is learning something new with me right there have been some of the best moments for strengthening our relationship.