Inspired by Floyd's Kids Book question - do you remember learning How To Read?

[3catwoman3]

55. I don't specifically remember any "Aha!" moment. I have a very distinct memory...

…in first grade of not being able to figure out a word the teacher had written on the blackboard. A classmate and I kept begging the teacher to tell us what the word was, and she would not. She said it was part of the lesson for the next day and we would have to wait. We were very frustrated by not being able to figure it out.

Tomorrow came. The word was surprise.

In that same first grade class, we could earn stars by reading a list of books. My mother was surprised to find out I wasn’t earning any stars. The class rules had been that you couldn’t read the more interesting/higher level books until you had read the simple beginner level books. It turned out I was bored to tears by the Dick and Jane series and was refusing to read them because they were so dull. My mom managed to get the teacher to agree to let me bypass the Dick and Jane pablum.

Family lore has it that I showed a very early interest in letters. My parents had a Philco refrigerator and the letters of the brand name were on the door in raised chrome upper case letters. I’m told I liked being held up so I could trace them with my toddler fingers.

One other very distinct recollection that I have is experiencing great difficulty learning to write the number 5. It kept coming out looking like an upper case “J.”