Paco y Lola

I am just in awe. Amazed really. Maybe it's not that big of a deal but I really feel that it is. Matthew can read! My almost 6 year old has read 34 pages of a book to me and they aren't just one line pages either, like minimum 4 and up 7 or 8 sentences per page!

I really started to realize since last week when we had a parent/teacher meeting and was told that 5 or so of the 13 kids needed a little extra help in reading and Matthew was one of them. The teacher said she would be at school an hour early a few times a week to give extra help. I wasn't thrilled to hear this and a little surprised because whenever he's had homework and had to read simple words, he could. Oh well, I thought, at least he's going to get the help and we will start working at home and get him caught up in no time. After the meeting, I asked the teacher if she could recommend a simple book that we could work on in the house especially since Spanish isn't my native language, I would like a guide of what kinds of simple sentences they're working on. She told me and I bought the book yesterday. When he got home from school he saw the book in the living room and I told him what it was. Immediately he opened it and started reading the sentences. Slowly but surely reading them. By bed time he had read 34 pages and with only a few hiccups which were words with syllables that he had not seen yet in school. After I told him how they were pronounced, he got the hang of it! I mean, 34 pages?!?!?!?! This book is famous in Costa Rica and it's required reading in first grade throughout the country. It is a 125 page book called Paco y Lola. Just a reminder, he's still in Kindergarten. The Ministery of Education does not teach reading before first grade but Matthew is in a great private school and they REALLY CAN read before first grade! I think I'm in even more shock because there are adults that can't even read and I just can't believe my little almost 6 year old is doing it pretty darn well!

 This is Matthew's first reading book!