Reading material for 8yo ds

[CMH]

My son needs work on fluency. He's bogged down with phonics rules, so much that it hinders his actual reading. I would like him to just have some terrific books to help him make that last jump into the world of reading.

 

Any suggestions? I've looked at SL's intermediate selections, and some packaged reading curriculums. We've suffered thru Horizons 2nd grade readers. They served to kill his desire to read 'just one more page'. :)

 

Thanks!

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I wouldn't get a curriculum. I would go to the library and let him pick out anything he wants to read and make up a book basket for him at home full of books he chooses to read. I wouldn't worry about what he chooses, sometimes reading a little below his ability helps with fluency and reading what he chooses helps the enjoyment factor immensely.

 

One thing that helped my ds9, when he goes to bed at night, he can have the lights on 1/2 hour later if he chooses to read. He goes to bed so easily and he looks forward to reading every night. He enjoys it now.

[Annie Laurie]

I agree with the above suggestion. Take him to the library and steer him toward the easy reader section. Arnold Lobel, Dr.Seuss, the Amelia Bedelia series, Dragon Tales, The Fire Cat, are all good places to start if he's interested in any of those. I'd try to stick to books at or a little below his level, to make it fun and easy right now. I'd also help him find books on any particular topic he's interested in- bugs, dinos, etc.

 

We also have bedside lamps in all our kids rooms, and they each have a bookcase, and can read at night. We also have book baskets everywhere to encourage free reading- even in the bathrooms.

[Ann@thebeach]

Yep, ditto on the library trip.

My son picked out:

Henry and Mudge bks,

Billy and Blaze series,

Sam the Minuteman (and others by this author),

Nate the Great books.

Some were a little on the easy side for him but that just helped his fluency. He would read the book to himself and then I'd have him read all the book (over a few days) or parts of it aloud to me. Sometimes I'd read aloud to him after he read it silently and he always loved that too.

 

The Abeka readers have some gems in them too. Some of the readers are a bit dull but my son is loving the "Animals" bk right now.

[Love2Learn]

I would also add audio books to improve fluency. We check out (from the library) audio books and the associated unabridged version of the book. I have my son (age 10) follow the text while he is listening. This technique has worked wonders for his fluency and comprehension.

[Adrianne]

I wouldn't get a curriculum. I would go to the library and let him pick out anything he wants to read and make up a book basket for him at home full of books he chooses to read. I wouldn't worry about what he chooses, sometimes reading a little below his ability helps with fluency and reading what he chooses helps the enjoyment factor immensely.

 

:iagree:

We do this and dc are required to read for a certain time each time depending on age. My ds 9 reads for an hour a day. At 9 he has to read assigned reading as well as leisure reading. He is an advanced reader.

 

For your son, I would let him pick out any kind of book he wants, even Hop on Pop - just so it gets him to read. Then set aside time for him to read everyday, at night, during the afternoon whatever works best for him.

 

Good luck!

[ELaurie]

If your son is a reluctant reader, consider setting a goal to motivate him as well.

 

I don't use rewards often, but when ds 8 was at this stage I promised him and his brother a trip to the Lego store if they read 100 books between the two of them. Short easy readers like Bob Books counted as 1 book for my younger ds; longer chapter books counted as more than one book, depending on the length and complexity of the reading. I never saw two little boys read so many books so fast in my life :lol:

 

I wouldn't do this on a regular basis, but it can be fun and motivating from time to time.

 

It was a great boost to more fluent reading at our house!

[CMH]

Thanks for all the responses. We do library trips, but he gets really overwhelmed standing in front of the easy reader section. I try to pull out a book or two, and he balks. Frustrating.

 

I think I'll keep plugging the library trips, and perhaps add some rewards as suggested. He is very hard to motivate!

 

:)

[H0MEFree]

The Bill Meyers books are hilarious and CHRISTIAN.

Your library probably has them. If not Ebay has them in lots/sets all the time.

[Emmy]

My son loves anything non-fiction so when I was trying to build fluency and speed for him I did a search for step into reading 3 or 4 at Amazon and wrote down the titles of anything non-fiction. That really got him excited about reading. For fiction right now he's working on the sonlight 2nd grade intermediate books and I plan to have him start on the 2nd grade advanced books this fall. I have him read to me and we set the timer for 20 minutes or so...I actually find that he requires a bit of a warm up time and after the first 10 minutes or so he is reading smoother and faster.

[H0MEFree]

Oh yeah... you may want to try the CLP nature readers! My children LOVE those. They are so interesting!

[~Puddins~]

Oh yeah... you may want to try the CLP nature readers! My children LOVE those. They are so interesting!

 

:iagree: Our whole family loves these!

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=nature+readers&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1

[Susie in CA]

I found that my son was extremely bored with the content of the Easy Readers. He needed to read "regular" books. I started to require him to read 30 min a day quietly. I often had to pick books for him at first because at the library he just couldn't decide. I started to look for books based on the stories I knew he liked. I also decided to completely ignore reading level and pick books based on content. This worked well for us. Within weeks he started to read without complaining and has no trouble finding books at the library now. For non-fiction books I often take him to the adult section of our library. He is currently reading "The Idiot's Guide to Karate." For him focusing on content instead of level was the best thing we could do.

 

Maybe you son at 8 years old is bored with the Easy Reader selection, too.

 

Susie

[Chris in VA]

One technique we used at Laubach Literacy (I was a tutor for a year or so) to improve fluency was this--

 

Select a small passage of just on his level reading. Read it outloud together--truly together, you and he reading at the same time. Read at your normal, fluent/fluid speed--you will probably want to slow down, feeling like you are dragging him, but just keep going. Read for about a minute at first. Do this maybe twice, every day for a couple of weeks. You should see a pretty good improvement at the end of that time. Make sure it's just at his reading level, no higher, no lower. I've seen this work--it seems to train the brain in some way, and can get a child over the hump of overthinking their reading.

 

Also, it may help to strengthen his visual tracking. I bet if you google it, you'd get some ideas.

[Nestof3]

May I ask how his phonics instruction went? I would first make sure that he was comfortable with the basics. I admit both of my boys finished Alpha Phonics and were ready to move into grade one readers, and I found readers that both of them enjoy (CLP Nature Readers for one and Pathway Readers for the other -- they each find their own readers insteresting). My youngest also read through Bob Books because he wanted to read "real books" while working through phonics instruction. I have read about some children truly not being ready to read until they were eight and such. I don't know your specific situation.

 

Victory Drill is a good book for those children who come out of phonics instruction still needing more practice. Aside from the readers in the above paragraph, there are simple beginning readers at my library. I tend to not be a fan of "readers" by publishers because the books are really lame, but I was happy to stumble upon the ones I mentioned for my boys. They also read aloud other books to me from time to time -- I Can Read type books on a science topic we are studying. The boys also read for an hour at bedtime. My older son is really enjoying the Boxcar Children and other simple mysteries like Three Cousin Detectives. He's reading Detectives in Togas right now. My younger is reading the Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant. These were perfect for my son who loved to read aloud to me, or be read to, but didn't enjoy reading silently. He also likes the Berestain Bear, Winne the Pooh and Thomas readers. I had to let go of my ideals for great literature when choosing intro readers. LOL

[sadiegirl]

I had a boy that didn't read as fluently as his brother and I took him to a used bookstore where he picked up a series about dogs(I think they were called Bailey Street Pets) and at first I thought they were to easy for him. But what I discovered was the fact that that was exactly what he needed. The combination of the right topic and the fact that it was easy for him to read thru and enjoy the story ignited his interest. I let him read all in that series and from then on, I watched for books that lean in that direction of interest. My other son loves hunting, fishing and outdoor theme stories...I find different type books for him and also my husband has subscribed to various outdoor and hunting magazines for him to read. I think finding what interests them unlocks a door to a love of reading.

[tsuche]

My son enjoyed The Boxcar Children.

Blessings,

Terry

[CMH]

Wow! So many generous folks willing to offer excellent advice and experience. :grouphug:

 

Someone asked about phonics....I pulled him thru kicking and screaming. We used several things. Mainly ETC. He is a sight-reader, and I found that the more I pushed phonics, the more confused he got in reading. There are so many 'rule-breakers'. He does better with regular books as readers seem silly to him, and don't make sense.

 

Chris in VA, funny you should mention reading aloud with him. I had already begun doing this, thinking (in desparation) that if he could see how quickly words can be read, he'd catch on......and I notice that after the first paragraph or so, he's keeping up with me for the most part. Fascinating! I'll keep with it.

 

Again, thanks for sharing ladies!