Almost five

“Violet can whistle…and she’s only three!” Adi exclaimed as we left her preschool class some time back in the fall. Violet became Adi’s hero, I mean, who wouldn’t be in awe of a three year old that can whistle?!? I quickly told Adi that she too could learn to whistle, she’d just have to practice.

Practice she did, mostly on our commute to and from school. One glorious day, I heard a whistling sound coming from the back seat, followed by, “I did it!”

Last week, Adi announced that Maddie in her class can read EVERYTHING…because she’s five. “Since I’m almost five, I want to read.”

“You’re in luck,” I told her. “I can teach you.”

So at school today, before heading home for the day, I stopped by our reading room to borrow a set of their kindergarten snap word cards. “So I can teach Adi to read,” I announced.

When I picked the girls up from my mom’s house after school, Wren told me about her homework and just as Adi began to complain that she wanted homework too, I pulled the word cards from my pocket. “Don’t worry,” I stopped her. “Today, I will teach you to read.”

Back at home, I set up Wren to do her homework and got dinner started. In between preparing tacos and guacamole, I flashed words at Adi. Within minutes she was able to recall I, a, me, like, and the.

Satisfied, Adi ran off to play…or so I thought.

A while later, I heard Wren helping Adi to read through some leveled books we had left around from when Wren learned to read. Adi and I have read a few of them together before…but it had been a while.

Before I knew it, Adi was back in the kitchen to read to me. As she finished the last page she matter of factly said, “Now I know how to read everything.” As Adi exited the kitchen, Wren entered to tell me about learning to tell time.

“A new day starts at 12am. The big hand counts by fives. The small hand always goes with ‘o’clock.’ So if the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the six, it’s six o’clock.”

Adi reappeared to listen, clearly impressed. “I don’t know about time,” she said in a tone that told me that she wasn’t upset by this fact. “I just learned to read today. But, now I can read everything.”

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Published by Jessica Carey

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I'm a mom of three daughters and a literacy coach in CT. I love to learn and share with others.

20 thoughts on “Almost five”

  2. And she’s right!! I always say this to kids in the early grades when I’m lucky enough to read to them – if you can read you can do anything. Also if someone says they can’t cook – which is nonsense as long as you can read. And on and on. I can hear you saying that ‘today you’re in luck!’ It made me smile!

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  10. When you left yesterday, snap words in hand, who knew Adi would proudly proclaim ” now I can read everything” – your kind parenting and support for her own growth led to this moment! Yay you and yay Adi! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. >“I just learned to read today. But, now I can read everything.”<

    I don't know why I'm all teary reading this (thank goodness my students are NOT in the room) but wow. What a great day of watching what happens when play and learning are meshed together! Thank you for sharing your slice with us!! 🙂

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  16. “Now I can read everything.” Oh my gosh – this is perfect, really. Her voice… I can just picture her – and the way there’s always something new to learn – the confidence. Melanie’s right: this should be a picture book!

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