Nikki, that's great! You busted the spell-it-out trick parents always pull.
(OMG, as parents using Little Reader, we're never going to be able to do that with our kids!
)
I wonder if anyone can remember learning whole words before phonics. Probably not because it happens when children are
really young. The last big article I finished for BrillBaby was
Whole Language Vs Phonics - I hope you'll find it interesting.
It was fascinating to research; I learned a lot. It seems some people are worried about teaching whole words (the way Little Reader and Your Baby Can Read do) - because elementary-school teachers in the US have been taking a whole-language approach to reading instruction, without
ever teaching phonics... and that has caused some serious reading problems.
While our babies are too young to learn phonics, I think it is their enjoyment of LR/YBCR that speaks volumes. My DD Naimah sometimes gets really bored when Baby First is on! (carpe diem, you might know it - it's British. Not a very high-quality program, but we occasionally resort to it while getting ready in the morning.) But when it comes to reading, it's a different matter...
Yesterday evening I paused YBCR as my husband walked in the door, so we could all greet each other. Nim got really mad! :tongue2:
Also, she recently learned the sign for "book," and now asks us to read to her! She loves Goodnight Moon (great colors - I really recommend the lap edition), We're Going On A Bear Hunt, and the YBCR books. Dr Seuss is too advanced, and when I try to read one, she will simply shut the book! Goodnight Moon has a wonderful rhyming cadence; Bear Hunt has tons of repetition and funny sound effects (the wind going "Hoo woo, hoo woo" always gets Nim smiling). YBCR is just single words of course - but Nim still loves it!
I just wrote a
blog post about Nim signing "book," which nearly made me miss my ferry to work this morning...
Maddy