This past summer, I came up with a summer reading incentive for my son. You can read about it here and here. I considered it a success. He was happy to win the iTunes card and I was happy too. It was a win win situation.

My daughter who turned five last month is now being asked to read on her own. This is very exciting! Her teacher sent a reading log home with her and we are to read every night so she can practice her sight words.

We do story time as much as possible but I’ve never had her read to me, so last night, since we have to record minutes spent reading, I handed her a book that she has never read before and asked her to read to me.

Do you know what happened? She actually read a few sentences to me! Then she pulled out her sight words and I was amazed at how many words she could read on her own. We then proceeded to finish the book. She stumbled quite a bit but the recognition was there and I was almost speechless. Almost. She was excited too. I don’t think she realized how many words she had learned.

Do you remember the first few sentences you read on your own? Just seeing her excitement over reading took me back to when I was learning to read and I just remember how good it felt.

If I could capture that feeling and bottle it, I would.

If you’d like a reading log for your child, you can find some good ones here.