When your developing reader reads aloud, what makes you just a little crazy?

[msjones]

I'm putting together a presentation about strategies for supporting a developing reader. I'd like your input about what frustrates you the most while your child reads aloud.

 

I'd like to address the 'little things' that make moms/tutors/teachers a little crazy as they teach.

 

For example, "my child JUST READ that word at the top of the page and now (20 seconds later) they don't know it!."

 

Or, "he can read a word like 'thought' but gets stuck on 'better.'"

 

Or, "bless his heart, but he's just. so. slow. I'm horrified to find myself dozing off."

 

Anyone willing to share?

[Tabrett]

My child looks up after each word.

 

My child wants to start the sentence over after each word. ex: The-The car- The car-The car drrrrr- The car drrrrrooo- drove- The car drove-:001_huh:

 

My child looks out the window, scratches, wiggles, grunts, ect...

 

My child can read the words in a list or on a flash card, but put them in a sentence and she looks at you like you are from mars!

 

My child thinks words are written on my face instead of the book!

[Cera]

It drives me nuts when my daughter guesses how the sentence will end or chooses a word not printed on the page to finish a sentence.

 

It's hard to explain but we have read many of the books she likes so many times that she will just start to paraphrase half way through. She also has a tendency to read words but replace them (for example the page will say purple and she will read violet).

 

If she is reading for fun I don't care at all but when she is reading for school the point is to read the actual words on the page. (and the eyeroll combined with the exasperated "It means the same thing, mom" drives me over the edge.)

[chickenpatty]

To tell you the truth, after watching my dyslexic son struggle so much while learning to read, each word that my other children read is a refreshing little blessing.

 

However, excessive wiggliness and me not being able to see the words they are reading do get under my skin a little.:D

[Dawn in OH]

My child looks up after each word.

 

My child wants to start the sentence over after each word. ex: The-The car- The car-The car drrrrr- The car drrrrrooo- drove- The car drove-:001_huh:

 

My child looks out the window, scratches, wiggles, grunts, ect...

 

My child can read the words in a list or on a flash card, but put them in a sentence and she looks at you like you are from mars!

 

My child thinks words are written on my face instead of the book!

 

 

 

Those are good!

 

Stopping the reading to discuss the events of the story or the pictures in the book and then go on to draw conclusions and even make up a new story. I want to say "JUST READ!".

[Ginger]

Trying to read the word without even looking at it...

[BakersDozen]

Dropping "d" and "t" (ie: "an" for "and"). It's like they use the back of their throat to make an odd sound for the d/t instead of saying the real sound. That makes me crazy and we work on that a lot.

[AngieC]

Please just stop guessing!!! :tongue_smilie:

[LarlaB]

 

For example, "my child JUST READ that word at the top of the page and now (20 seconds later) they don't know it!."

 

Or, "he can read a word like 'thought' but gets stuck on 'better.'"

 

 

Anyone willing to share?

 

Those 2, plus the wiggles. :tongue_smilie: Just this morning, I looked over to see that my daughter had taken her arm out of her sleeve, and it was coming out the neck-hole to scratch her nose...all while her body was wriggling around like she had bugs biting her, and oh yes, while she was reading. :D

 

I AM so thankful she's doing so well, but its sooooo good to hear that i"m not the only one who feels this way. ;)

[Daisy]

He reads faster in his head than his mouth can keep up so he tends to start paraphrasing or skipping words. DRIVES ME CRAZY!

[MamaSheep]

Trying to read the word without even looking at it...

 

Please just stop guessing!!! :tongue_smilie:

 

YES! Mine will glance at the first letter of the word and then just start sort of listing words that start with that letter while her head is pointed at the book but her eyes are roaming all over the place. She even lists them in a "sounding out" sort of manner--except that generally many of the letters she is "sounding out" are not actually even present in the word. Ex: "tr...eee" [pause to see if I bought it] "t...ore" [another pause to see if I like that one better] "ti...g...er" [Me, getting impatient, "Show me where the "r" sound is in this word.] "Oh...there's no r." [Finally looking at the word] "Then" [correct].

 

Drives me nuts. Just. Look. At. The. Letters. Point your eyeballs at the page. At least TRY, for pity's sake.

[Jen in PA]

He reads faster in his head than his mouth can keep up so he tends to start paraphrasing or skipping words. DRIVES ME CRAZY!

 

:iagree: When dd was learning to read she would drop articles when reading aloud.

[Cricket]

YES! Mine will glance at the first letter of the word and then just start sort of listing words that start with that letter while her head is pointed at the book but her eyes are roaming all over the place. She even lists them in a "sounding out" sort of manner--except that generally many of the letters she is "sounding out" are not actually even present in the word. Ex: "tr...eee" [pause to see if I bought it] "t...ore" [another pause to see if I like that one better] "ti...g...er" [Me, getting impatient, "Show me where the "r" sound is in this word.] "Oh...there's no r." [Finally looking at the word] "Then" [correct].

 

Drives me nuts. Just. Look. At. The. Letters. Point your eyeballs at the page. At least TRY, for pity's sake.

 

This made me :lol:! It's like my dd hasn't made the connection yet that the letters make sounds and you have to actually look at them to know what sound is coming next.

[MaMa2005]

Instead of reading the whole word, just guess whatever happens to be on his mind :confused:. Then when I ask if that is really a word, I get a whole diatribe on the definition of the nonsense word he just 'guessed' at. Makes me batty:willy_nilly:

[Haiku]

The fact that a 5-minute book took 25 minutes to get through.

 

Tara

[newlifemom]

Having them read in a monotone with no pauses for commas or periods. So I tell them to stop for a moment for commas and breathe for periods. Then they read the sentence:

 

Bobby ran to the store. [big gulp of air complete with sound effects] He wanted to buy a candy bar. [another big gulp of air complete with sound effects] He picked up the chocolate one. [you get my point] :glare:

 

PLUS, reading sentences and running out of air but not wanting to stop reading so sucking in at the same time you are reading and thus swallowing the word.

 

Can you tell that teaching reading is my least favorite subject to teach? :D

[Caribbean Queen]

Reading the big words well but misreading words we learned 3 years ago, like "a."

[msjones]

These are very helpful replies. I'm trying to create a list of the 'typical' reading-time aggravations so I can address some of them in my workshop and suggest possible strategies.

 

I had a good laugh at the daughter who twisted her arm out of her sleeve and through her neck-hole while reading. It reminded me of a particularly sweet, lovable and wiggly student I once had. He managed to actually strap himself to his chair with his backpack during class. He was STUCK.

 

It took some doin' for me to unstrap the little guy.

[sarawatsonim]

When she sounds out a words perfectly and then she says a completely different word. For example she sounded out bl-a-st waited a few seconds then says "gum?"

None of those letters were even in the word. :banghead:

[Hedgehogs4]

mine looks at the first letter, guesses the word, then looks at my face to see if she guessed correctly. :banghead:

 

another good one...reads a word correctly and then runs commentary about that word, like this: reads the word "cat" then comments, "oh, like our cat Jack! Remember this morning when Jack was chasing Oliver? That was so funny!" next word... "sat"...comments "I sat on the chair beside you mommy." by the end of the line you say, "What did the cat do?" She says, "I don't know." even though she successfully sounded out all the words.

[mafi39]

Oh my goodness! You all are cracking me up! :lol::lol::lol: my dd 7 is the same way and I was getting all stressed out thinking she is never going to read! Now I am going to take a deep breath relax and try not to scream everytime a bob book takes 30 minutes. I even taught 1st grade, but that never stressed me out like this has this year. I loooove to read, but I hate teaching my dd how to! I'm so glad I am not alone.

[SeekingSimplicity]

I'm nodding my head and laughing about so many of these. We see them here too.

Mine has to associate every little word or sound with something else. Like one day she read the work 'tusk'. She said Oh! like Kentusky! I never know what she's going to come up with.

She gets really distracted by pictures, and will read the picture instead of the words. She also gets distracted by things in her surroundings and will space out in the middle of reading, loose her place.

[Nakia]

I so needed to read this today. The one that makes me the most nuts is when she guesses the word and then looks at me. ARGH!!!

[Pretty in Pink]

My 6yo constantly puts his hands near or in his mouth when he's reading, or he chews on his sleeve or pencil. He mumbles...a lot...when he is reading and, when he gets to the end of each and every sentence, he wrinkles up his nose and raises the pitch of his voice like he is asking a question, as if to say, "Did I get that right, Mom?" So annoying!

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I am laughing out loud at all the replies. Thanks, everyone. I so needed the laugh therapy today. :)

 

So many of these sound like my oldest son when I was teaching him how to read: the re-sounding-out of words he just read on the previous page, not actually LOOKING at the words he was to be reading, forgetting how to read simple words, making up more interesting words that start with the same letter, looking at me to see if he guessed correctly, the squirming. Oh, it was torture. Until he was able to read at about level 3 readers, then he TOOK OFF. He will probably read about 200 chapter books this year at age 7. Good grief.

 

My second son was completely different, but he read fast under his breath without pausing, including when he inhaled. We went through the exagerated pause and deep breath at every comma and period phase when I was trying to get that one through his head...

 

I wonder what #3 will be like. :)

[Lilymax]

OH my gosh...I am totally cracking up over this thread! And am so relieved that I'm not the only one with a kid who does these things!

 

He's a wiggler, but my biggest pet peeve is the guessing! Then saying a word that doesn't even have any of those letters in it, just as other posters have said.

 

Seriously, I was worried that the child had some kind of reading problem. It is a huge relief to hear that other 7 y.o. kids are doing the same!

[kalanamak]

Flipping "a" for "the" and the reverse.

 

Distracted.

 

Missing the period and running on.

 

Reading works like delicious, beautiful, aspen, but mixing "on" "one" and "once"...over and over.

 

 

My favourite part is the improving! I once read in Peanuts "Miss, I'm still confused, but at a higher level"....like a spiral. I am frustrated regularly, but in silence, and at a higher level.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

 

Or, "bless his heart, but he's just. so. slow. I'm horrified to find myself dozing off."

 

 

All of the above, but especially this one! And more especially with child number two! There are just so many times I can sit through the reading of decodable readers!

 

I'm starting with #3 now, and she's just starting, so it's still very exciting. It won't be long, though, before I'll find myself fighting to stay awake!

 

Poor little dear. . .

[MamaSheep]

mine looks at the first letter, guesses the word, then looks at my face to see if she guessed correctly. :banghead:

 

another good one...reads a word correctly and then runs commentary about that word, like this: reads the word "cat" then comments, "oh, like our cat Jack! Remember this morning when Jack was chasing Oliver? That was so funny!" next word... "sat"...comments "I sat on the chair beside you mommy." by the end of the line you say, "What did the cat do?" She says, "I don't know." even though she successfully sounded out all the words.

 

YES! Here too! Long, unrelated stories about each word. Or she'll read the first couple of words, like, "He ate the yellow," and then stop and look at me and say, "But mom, that doesn't make any sense, you can't eat a yellow." And go on and on and on about how nonsensical the whole thing is--when all she'd have to do to clear everything up is read the word "banana" which is lying so very helpfully right there on the page in front of her, a mere eighth of an inch away from the "w" in "yellow". Sweetheart, it makes more sense if you read all the way to the period without stopping. Just try it. You may like it. Try it, try it, and you may. Try it, and you may, I say.

 

I would feel better about the whole thing if the poor little soul weren't already 7 years old. However, since she was in public school up through last spring, I do not feel obligated to take all the credit for her lackluster skillz.