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Stop, Merge Left, Give Way: On the Road to Reading

“What does that sign say, Mummy?”
“What does that sign say, Mummy?”
“What does that sign say, Mummy?”

Road Signs to Reading

Have you ever counted how many street signs appear along your typical suburban road? Neither have I but I can tell you it is more than you realise! And I can tell you this because of a certain child, sitting in the back seat asking every twenty seconds or so, “What does that sign say, Mummy?”

I blame the stop sign. Immy recently had one of those light bulb moments which I love seeing evolve in children. That the stop sign, is a stop sign and it is always a stop sign with the same shape, colour and word. This ability to recognise a symbol, and the beginning realisation that a word keeps the same meaning even in different places, are important steps on the road to learning to read.

In our case, this step led to another step, asking what every other street sign we drive past says! It can make a short journey seem very long sometimes but I love it as this enthusiasm for language and words and street signs assures me that every day we are travelling the road towards learning to read.

Has your child had an ‘aha’ light bulb moment recently?

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. homeage says

    When out with Dadda one day there were lots of signs to look out and discuss (as they told me when they got home).

    There was look out for wombats, look out for wallabies, look out for snakes and look out for hats (speed humps! LOL). We still call it that when we see it :)

  2. Boobiejuicemama says

    I have this exact driving conversations with my four year old, and he proudly says 'that one says stop' and 'give way' and I have been taking photos of his favourite signs so we can make a book and look at them at home too!

  3. suburp says

    oh, yeah, we had sheets full of traffic signs from all over the world to name and to colour (thanks, internet), big fun.
    now words have become a big topic, so he's been copying letters, wrote his name and asks what things begin with. but two weeks ago he brought me an envelope with MAMA correctly written on it and almost fainted in motherly bliss !

  4. suburp says

    oh, yeah, we had sheets full of traffic signs from all over the world to name and to colour (thanks, internet), big fun.
    now words have become a big topic, so he's been copying letters, wrote his name and asks what things begin with. but two weeks ago he brought me an envelope with MAMA correctly written on it and i almost fainted in motherly bliss !

  5. Mummy McTavish says

    We learnt "Keep Left" at the airport the other day, now we spot every single keep left sign on every traffic light, traffic island, hazzard, etc. My oldest has just realised that he can read so he is reading everything! I LOVED hearing his voice change as he hit the end of the book and realised he'd done it ALL himself!

  6. Joyful Learner says

    Stop signs were probably one of the first words our daughter learned to read! Writing emerged shortly after. She's reading books now and writing letters to friends. So exciting to see their firsts! And once it clicks, they run with it!

  7. Joyfulmama says

    Hi Christie! When we go for our daily walk we stop at e*v*e*r*y s*i*n*g*l*e stop sign to spell it, and then my daughter 'body traces' the letters on the road by walking on them (only in the very quiet crescents and closes where there is hardly any traffic, and with me keeping a good eye out for cars).

    We are celebrating Play Dough over at Joyful Mama's Place this week. Please pop in at http://joyfulmamasplace.blogspot.com/2010/09/oh-to-play-with-dough.html to see what we are up to - would love for you and Immy to join us! Lots of love!

  8. amy says

    My son's name is Christopher and it was my three year old that noticed the word STOP in the middle of his name. For weeks, every time we passed a stop sign she would point it out. It drove him nuts!

    She just turned four and this past week has started to sound letters out into words. It is amazing to watch the process!

  9. shae says

    Tannah (5 and a 1/2) realized she can read numbers when we were in an elevator the other day. She looked at the numbers all lined up and said "oh! They are numbers! 1,2,3,4,5. I see them!"
    She now insists on being chief elevator button pusher :)

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