Every now and then there is something shared on facebook that is a "Do you remember this?" photo or quote.
Today I saw this one posted:
The question was asked; how many had learned to read using these books.
I smiled at the memory.
I believe these books were actually commonly used a little bit earlier than when I started school, however I went to Kindergarten in a little one room school house, situated way back in some canyons of the area of NE that I grew up in.
There may have been a total of 6 or 7 students, one teacher
and it probably did not have the "latest" and "greatest" in textbooks & supplies.
(Nor did it have indoor bathrooms!!)
(I'm really not THAT old.....It just happened to be the part of the country that we lived in!--smile!)
If I remember right it was also the last, or the next to the last year that county schools included 8th graders.
By the next school year, we had moved, and I believe the country school had closed.
Anyway, back to me being a Kindergartener, and Dick & Jane.
I was the only Kindergartner
The teacher brought out these little readers to teach me to read.
I looked at the book, thumbed thru the pages, looked up at the teacher and said:
"I could read this for yea's & yea's (I could not say my "R"s)
My mother had taught me to read back when I was 3 & 4, and I had already devoured all the Dr. Seuss books by that time.
I really liked that teacher, and later when we moved & I went to town school, she was one of the teachers there, and always teased me about telling her I could read for yea(r)s & yea(r)s!
I guess that was the beginning of my love affair with books. In grade school I quickly went thru every book available in the school's tiny library. I've often wondered if I would have started learning math when I was 3 & 4 if I would have been good at it!
The books have been out of print for many years but 6 years ago when our youngest was ready to start public school, she was worried about not being able to read and decided she needed to learn before she went to school. I found a reprint--a big book "Treasury of Dick & Jane" combining all the early readers, and bought it.
She spent hours laying on the floor with the book in front of her. With very little help, she taught herself to read.
Out of my 12 kids, although they have all been good readers and like to read, she's probably been the one who has devoured the most books, and read more advanced for her age the earliest.
Maybe there's something to be said for "Dick and Jane, Spot and Puff and baby Sally after all!
Oh, that brought back such memories! A very important part of reading in my childhood also. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe had most of the books at home when I was growing up since my older siblings had used them. I remember reading them over and over and over and....!
ReplyDeleteSee Dick run.
ReplyDeleteSee Jane run.
Yes, I had these books also...but I'm young enough to have always had indoor bathrooms and two story schools with lots of classrooms! :-)
i sometimes wonder if i should start teaching kaia. she is so interested right now. asking me how to spell words and then trying to write them down. on the other hand, i never "taught" micah and he devours books and does well in math too. guess i am sort of hands off about actually sitting down and trying to teach them.
ReplyDeleteI saw those books as a kid...but don't remember where. I think the old methods for teaching were ok. A lot of us managed quite well, actually.
ReplyDeleteI loved those books so much when I was little too, and when Rebecca turned five I bought probably the same book you bought your youngest. We still have it, and all three kids read it when they were first learning.
ReplyDelete