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Read 1st word
The first word I (sort of) read was "Charms" on a Blow Pop. I was 3 and a half at the time and hadn't yet learned the whole "ch" concept yet, so I sounded it out as "ca-harms." -
Learned to write my name
I taken with writing my name that I wrote it all over the walls. My parents were not thrilled. -
Read 1st book
My first book was Dr. Seuss' "Hop on Pop," soon followed by "Corduroy" and "Get Lost, Becka!" -
Karen Brewer books
The first "big kid" (chapter) books I read were the from Ann M. Martin's "Babysitters Little Sister" series. They were around 100 pages each (in a rather large font), which I thought was highly impressive. -
Learned to read Hebrew (sort of)
I learned the letters of the alphabet and what sounds they make. I can "read" Hebrew in that I can sound out the words, but to this day I don't know what most of it means. -
Ramona books
My family spent the summer reading Beverly Cleary's whole series of Ramona books aloud together, a little bit every night. -
Learned cursive
We learned to write in cursive in the 3rd grade. I felt VERY grown-up. -
"Write your own children's book"
In 6th grade English class, we were assigned a partner project in which we had to write and illustrate our own children's books. My friend and I wrote about a cookie trying to find its long-lost girlfriend, milk. -
Read Shakespeare
My first encounter with Shakespeare was in 8th grade English class. It was a bizarre experience because I felt like it was almost in another language. Even though I understood what (almost) all of the words meant individually, I could read an entire passage and not understand a single line--because the dialogue wasn't anything like the way of speaking that I was familiar with. -
Disney princess books in Hebrew
My sister took a gap year to study abroad in Israel, and one of the souvenirs she brought back for me was a box set of Disney princess books in Hebrew. I can sound out Hebrew, but I only know what a handful of words mean. So when I tried to read the books, I was reminded of what it was like trying to read my very first books as a little girl. I had to sound everything out because I had almost no sight words, I looked at the pictures for clues, and I needed my big sister to read most of it to me.