Hide and Seek

This is the first book that Jasmine read by herself, aged four years and three months.

She has been interested in letter formation and mark-making for almost two years now and has progressed brilliantly, at her own pace.

We started by tracing letters, which she did on paper and on her Leapster.  Once she had mastered the formation of each letter, she would ask us to spell out words for her so that she could write them by herself.

She can now write simple words without any assistance (including Mummy, as I found out on Mother's Day), and numbers from 1-10 too. 

I had thought reading a bit of a way off still, but she has recently been recognising words.  Spotting them whilst out and about and sounding out the letters.

I bought Hide and Seek as a little experiment, to see what she would make of it.

First, we looked at the pictures and talked about what was happening in the story.

Then I asked Jasmine to look at the letters and sound them out.

She went through each one, starting with can.  C-a-n, can.  Each word was sounded out, letter by letter, then formed by itself.  C-a-n can, y-o-u you, s-e-e see, m-e, me?

Then, with such pride and excitement, she managed the sentence - Can you see me?

Quickly, she read the whole story.

I have always wanted to gift my children a love of reading. 

I signed up to a book club when Jasmine was still a newborn and collected many, many stories that we have since shared, over and over.

It is with great happiness that I witness her beginning to read alone.

I am, as ever, an incredibly proud mummy.