Let Them Read the Book

It is a September morning in a first grade classroom in Anywhere, USA. The boys and girls come into the room, excited and eager. This is the day, their teacher has announced, when they will begin their first book. For several weeks now the boys and girls have been in readiness. They have learned letter names and beginning associations for consonant letters and their sounds. They have learned that reading goes from left to right and top to bottom. They have matched letters and words. They are now ready to read.