Oh, and anyone can teach a child to read.  Don't worry about it.  No training necessary.

Wow, I'm shocked by the advice you received from the preschool teacher. What are the teacher's qualifications? Is she an actual teacher (has her education degree) or is she trained in childcare (daycare)?

Either way, I would be completely opposed to intentionally holding a child back from their natural abilities. My son did not start to read until this year (5 years old) but was extremely verbal (first word at 6 months old - I kid you not) with an absolutely ridiculous vocabulary at the age of 3 (for example, one day I was struggling with opening the door and holding groceries and I said "this is hard" and he said "you mean cumbersome mommy"). His preschool teachers (Montessori) strongly encouraged his love of words and language and yes, as RevMatt's experience mimics, he is now quite bored in kindergarten.

But in my opinion that is absolutely NOT a reason to avoid early language skills. They are the single biggest predictor of academic success for students in the long run. If she is ready to start the early stages of learning to read, then by all means follow her lead and help her achieve what she is ready for.

From what I know of gifted kids, what you can provide are the resources and opportunities to take themselves where they want to go.   They do the rest.  And while I certainly think it would be wrong to stem any interest a kid has, balance is important since developmentally, there are several areas in which stimulus is needed.

Both my kids could read by kindergarten age ( 4ish0.  I don't think it that unusual.  some kids are just more visual that way, some more tactile.......

I would ensure that she has lots of books,  not necessarily picture books though.  Those are written for adults to read and so are not great beginning reader books.  She will probably be able to read them, mine could , but that is mainly because they know the story and can fit the words to the story as they know it.

With picture books, when my kids were interested in reading i would still read them but run my finger under the words so they could match them up.

There are lots of great series that are beginning reading books and she will love the fun of learning.  But I would n't ask her to read aloud, just let her read them herself and ask questions if she doesn't know the word.

Kids all learn at different rates.  In grade 1, my son read small novels while his friends struggled with the beginner reading books but by around grade 3 all had evened out.  It doesn't mean your child is a prodigy of any kind, just an early reader. 

It helps alot with school though if you are a good reader and if you love to read.  That , in my mind is the most important thing, that she continue to love to read.

I did have a talk with the grade 1 teacher though, to explain what books my son read and once she had him for a few weeks she was quite fine with him reading "harder" books as part of his class work.

AMEN!!!!!

The earlier she starts the better ...

By the time kids start school they are already wayyyyyyy behind ,and then have to rely on overworked teachers and Orweillian school system to take it from there .

At least she might be able to skip a few useless grades in between.

You have every right to brag its what separates your kid from the other droolsters

Talk to any parent of a child who struggles with reading and you'll see how wrong this statement is.  This sort of thinking can make both parents and children feel like failures.  Glad your daughter has strong verbal abilities, RevMat, but it's not the same for everyone.

The year my son turned three was a particularly bad time for us financially.  I bought him a winter jacket for his birthday.  I also found some old index cards in a drawer.  I printed his name on one, his sister's on another, Mommy and Daddy.  Within days he had me printing more words - then short sentences.  Within a few months he was reading - probably at about a Grade 1 level.  He loved it.  He read everything - library books, signs (stop, toysrus, for rent), cereal boxes, labels on cans.   By the time he started school he was reading about Grade 3 or 4 level - tested in Grade 5 he read at a university level. 

With most teachers he wasn't bored - they let him read and do research at his level.  And he enjoyed working with the other kids on projects - they did the art work - he did the research. 

Twice we ran into problems with teachers.  At age 6 (he has a December birthday) he was put in a split Grade 2 - 3 class and the teacher reported to us that he wasn't as mature as the others in the class.  I didn't expect him to be.  Intelligence and reading ability doesn't have much to do with maturity.  In grade six the teacher told us that he couldn't do a book report on the book that he choose because 'it is a university level book'.  It was Lord of the Rings.

Help your child to read whenever she shows interest in it.  You probably can't stop her unless you take her books away.  And that would be about the worst thing you could do.  Keep reading to her, and with her.  Let her learn.

Hi gomom,

I didn't mean to imply that your child was "gifted" in my post. It sounds like she is interested in language and literacy, as are many other small children and this will probably continue to be an interest. Some kids are not really interested in this at all, but are very good at building things, or very agile and well-coordinated, etc. It can be difficult to motivate a child to read if they are not interested.

As for worrying about something like "ADD" I would forget it: it is way too early for anyone to tell in any case. Many 3 year olds have trouble focusing for "long" periods, and this doesn't even sound like it's a problem for your daughter. It's nice to hear that she gets to pick her own books and that you follow her lead. I believe this helps children to gain a sense of independence and mastery (but that's just my own thoughts).

I believe that it would be better if more teachers recognized that there are a variety of skills for children to master and that sometimes the school environment only allows certain ones to be visible (many teachers do seem to recognize this, though).

It seems right now that lots of kids have some basic reading skills by the time they reach kindergarten, and I remember when I was a kid, MOST kids found school boring at one point or another.

My son reads a lot, he just turned four in April.  The other day we got "Hop on Pop" from the library and read almost the whole book himself.  We have always let him lead the way in his learning of this.  Before he was two he could spell "cat", he knew his alphabet before he could speak it.  We made things available to him, fridge magnets, Leap Frog videos (Letter Factory is awesome), flash cards, Hooked on Phonics for Kindergarten, but it is him that says if he wants to do it or not.  Sometimes we have gone months where he hasn't done anything toward reading, other times he seems to just sit for days with books, or ask to do his Hooked on Phonics.

Our second son is almost two and calls ever letter E or B.  He hasn't seemed interested in it, also we obviously don't spend as much one on one time with him either.  However at 13 months he could kick a ball better than his brother who was 3.  Am I concerned one is smarter than the other?  No, most kids who seem so advanced early on seem to level out after a couple of years at school and the other ones speed up.  My son loves to read, and I think it would hurt him if all of a sudden we stopped teaching him, he is always asking what things say, or how to spell them.

Keep going with it - P.S. I too was an early reader and for the most part I loved school.