"May Ree" It's Black and White Wednesday

She is reading! 

NO! Really!

She IS reading!

It all started one night before her fourth birthday: She said, "What's that word mommy?" and I said "Mary" and she said "Oh!" "Just like my name!" 

She recited all the letters. . . M... A... R... Y  and said Mary.  But, Liz says Mary "May Ree" more like a Southern Bell.

This was one of the reasons McGyver wanted to call her Elizabeth and not May Ree like a true Southerner would say. 

The very next night Liz told me she wanted, "to read all the words that say May Ree in her May Ree book." so I read the Mary book to her and let her read all the May Ree words.

The very next night she asked "What's hEs name?" I said, "HEs name is Jeff." "Oh! J...E...F...F ~ Jeff." she said.

And, so it began: She started reading and spelling. Yes, and spelling. I now think my four year old daughter just might be a better speller then I am.

She knows how to read and spell:  Mary, Jeff, Mike, ball, home, I, a, bunny, Grace, Nana, Liz, blue, green, red and get this one VELVET. . . I know!

She can even read the word Elizabeth.

I am amazed. Simply amazed.  

Every night now we read different books and she reads all the words she knows. Then she and I will go over her list of words. I'll ask her how to spell Grace and the other words she knows. She will recite G... R... A... C... E ~ Grace.

When we are done with this exercise ~ I will ask her to pick a new word she likes. By this I mean a word she  wants to learn to read and spell.  We read and spell the word she picked a couple of times and she then grabs her favorite teddy bear and goes to sleep.

In the morning, most of the time, she remembers the new word.

If she doesn't remember how to spell or read the word I write it on a sticky note and put the word up side-down on her tummy. I then ask her several times during the day "Now how do you spell 'kitty' again?" She will look down at her tummy and tell me. 

 By the end of the day she knows her new word.

And always I am JUST amazed. I am simply amazed.

I have never had a child read this early. I have heard they can but.  . . Well. . . never one of mine.