How did you learn to read?

Day 7 of the March Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers! #SOL25

My post is inspired by Nerd Beget Nerd’s Learning to Read. Thanks for the inspiration!

I’m not exactly sure how I learned to read or even when. I do remember being read to as a child. I remember sitting on my mom’s lap and listening to Charlotte’s Web. I remember browsing the library in the summers with my gram and taking home a giant stack of books. I remember laying on the carpet in the living room reading a chapter book out loud to my dad. I remember visiting the bookstore with my uncle for my birthday and being over-the-moon that I got to pick out my very own books to keep forever. I remember using the light from my polly pocket house to sneak in more reading time after it was lights out.

I’m not exactly sure how I learned to read or even when. I do remember gathering together at the rug in the front of the classroom and listening to my second grade teacher read aloud to us. I remember the excitement of third grade when my teacher let us have book cover contests after we finished a read aloud book. We would vote and she would proudly display our covers on the back wall. I remember my teachers giving me independent time to read in third, fourth, and fifth grade… especially fifth grade.

But when and how did I learn to read? I do not have a clue. Books have always surrounded me. I do know that when you look at a timeline of my life, books have always played a role.

Here are some of my elementary childhood favorites: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Charlotte’s Web, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Ramona the Pest, Tuck Everlasting, Bridge to Terabithia, The Witches, Hatchet, The Giver, The Boxcar Series, American Girl Books, and anything by Lurlene McDaniel.