TracyR Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Just curious if anyone here has a young one that is accelerated? My 4yr old seems to be going down this road. It all started with me using the Your Baby Can Read with her for something educational for her to watch during potty time ( she has to sit for a while due to medical issues). Anyways she reads at about a middle 1st grade level ( 1.3 on the Calvert book scale) so far. I haven't had her read all of the stories quite yet to figure out how far along she is. She started reading my 8yr old's CLE 2nd grade reader , Happy Hearts(which is probably a 2.1yr reader), and it just amazed us. She is also plowing through the CLE's 100 math level too. Because she wants to and not because I'm making her. Some days I have to redirect her because she will do math all day if I let her. Anyways would love some ideas to help her with comprehension. She reads but all of a sudden will veer off and start talking about something totally else than what she is reading or will get so distracted by the pictures. I kind of actually like the Christian Light Readers because they actually have so few pictures in them because she is like that. What is the best way to redirect her attention to what she is reading? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2smartones Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 That's very normal for a 4 year old. Reading comp is something that just comes with time, and some will pick it up sooner than others. Yes, I accelerated my kids early (didn't really have much choice! :lol: ). Both began sounding out words and spelling early on their own (the oldest was about 22 mos, and the youngest, the mathy one, was about 30 mos.) We skipped K and started a quick-paced 1st at age 3. Both were on an adult reading level by age 5 with very little instruction (more like correction), but STILL, the comprehension is something that has to take time to develop. Just because you "can" read something, doesn't mean you have a clue what you're reading. I like EPS Reasoning & Reading and the old (out of print, I believe) Gifted & Talented Workbooks for training the mind to look for details, and I like EPS Reading Comp in Varied Subject Matter for teaching the actual comprehension part of it. I don't think those start until about 2nd grade or so, though. Don't push. Encourage, yes!! But don't push. For now, just read aloud together, and pause at chapter breaks or section breaks to make up your own questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 :grouphug: No advice yet. We might be there next year. Dd goes on huge learning spurts and then shuts down & refuses any formal school (which is fine, she's 3 :lol:), then demands a ton of school again, then refuses any, etc. She learned CVC words & analogies & pictorial addition on her last burst, and then announced she didn't like school anymore, so now she plays on more.starfall.com (which is somehow not school, lol) for hours. I just follow along. However, both of my dds are very distractible. My 5-year-old draws all over her workbook pages, starts telling stories about the little pictures on the page, makes things she's using dance around, etc. She doesn't usually finish books in one sitting. I'm :lurk5: on ideas (as when she really wants to, and it's her idea, she can truck on for hours on one thing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 However, both of my dds are very distractible. My 5-year-old draws all over her workbook pages, starts telling stories about the little pictures on the page, makes things she's using dance around, etc. She doesn't usually finish books in one sitting. I'm :lurk5: on ideas (as when she really wants to, and it's her idea, she can truck on for hours on one thing). Glad it's not just mine lol. I did have a slightly accelerated under 5 year old until six weeks ago, but now she's 5 so I guess she doesn't count :p But yes, there are a few on these boards. I get a lot of helpful tips lurking here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I don't know if this is helpful to you, but here's a description I wrote about my son (now 6) when he was five: http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/03/01/what-is-possible-for-a-five-year-old/ Have you looked into getting Ladybug, or Ask magazine? That might help work on comprehension because your 4year old could probably read it independently, but the articles are short enough that he/she wouldn't lose focus. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Lots of young ones around here. Seems like half the people on this subforum have accelerated young ones. :D Honestly, I wouldn't worry about comprehension at this point. It will come with time and practice. Just get lots of good books from the library - especially easy readers that are BELOW her reading level. That really helps to get them confident and interested in what they're reading. If she's distracted, that's fine. You probably need a shorter book. Stamina is also built over time. My oldest's first book at age 4.5 was grade level 1.5. I did absolutely nothing with him to test for comprehension. I just let him read read read, and that he did! I didn't worry about comprehension until first grade when we started narrations, and I'm constantly amazed at how much he does comprehend. He remembers intricate details of a story that *I* don't remember right after reading a passage. :tongue_smilie: My 4 year old is still in the "learning to read" phase, sounding out words. I don't expect him to comprehend much until we get to reading real books often. I think he just doesn't have enough life experience knowledge to really fully understand a lot of books anyway. While he could read the sentence "The man has a big wig.", he has no clue what a wig is. He can just sound out the word to figure out what word to say. He needs more life experience to fully comprehend that sentence, even though he can read the sentence just fine. If I gave him "The man has a red van," he would then start drawing a red van. He has experience with what a van is, and fully understands the color red. Plus it's fun to draw a van on the white board. :lol: 4 year olds have short attention spans, typically. My son's "reading" lesson is usually about 5-10 minutes (when he asks for one). If we're putting stuff up on the white board to read, we may just read ONE sentence and then be done (since he insists on copying the sentence, then makes some of the letters big, scary letters, or has them falling in a hole and then he has to draw the hole... I seriously laugh during every lesson while I wait for him to be ready to actually read the sentence). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 4 year olds have short attention spans, typically. My son's "reading" lesson is usually about 5-10 minutes (when he asks for one). If we're putting stuff up on the white board to read, we may just read ONE sentence and then be done (since he insists on copying the sentence, then makes some of the letters big, scary letters, or has them falling in a hole and then he has to draw the hole... I seriously laugh during every lesson while I wait for him to be ready to actually read the sentence). This is why copywork has taken a back seat :lol:. I'm trying to start it up again since she really needs it, but wow. The number 7 grows a large curlique on the bottom, then another, until it's a huge number 7 car, with a person to ride in it and a backstory. I can't work on proper formation when they are transforming constantly :tongue_smilie:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Yeah, I probably won't introduce copywork until he's 6. I just don't know if the silliness will be toned down with age or not. My oldest was never like this. I do look forward to the interesting sentences he comes up with for grammar and writing. I'm sure he'll be like some of the boys in that Killgallon thread a while back where people posted their kids' examples. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmarango Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 My dd just turned 4 and we are working at a first grade level (probably more in science) across the board. I actually just ordered the ITBS for first grade to give to her this month to make me feel better about what we are doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 My DS will be 5 in November, so just under 5. We are starting K in the fall, with 1st and 2nd grade materials. He reads at about a 4th grade level, and is starting to comprehend everything. (We have been hiding the newspaper for a while!) It comes in time, I think their brains work on decoding first, and then once that is pretty much mastered, they start to work on figuring out what they are reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohannaM Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I'll occasionally ask my 4yo DD questions about something she has read such as who the book was about or what she liked best. If she really seemed to like something I'll encourage her to tell her dad about it at dinner time. She has seemed to comprehend quite a bit early on, which surprised me, I thought that would take longer. What we are bumping into now, like someone else mentioned, is life experience. For instance, this morning she read about a character getting sprayed by a skunk, but she did not seem to find it amusing and/or disgusting because she doesn't know a lot about skunks or what it means to get sprayed by one! Johanna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 That could be the issue, not enough life experience. My youngest life experience was more hospitals and doctors visits for a very long time. She is just cute though when she starts talking about everything and anything she sees on the page. Though the while I'm still waiting for her to read the sentence. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 For instance, this morning she read about a character getting sprayed by a skunk, but she did not seem to find it amusing and/or disgusting because she doesn't know a lot about skunks or what it means to get sprayed by one! Ha! My 4 year old has plenty of skunk experience. Can't leave my dogs out past dark. I'm pretty good at de-skunking them. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyoflearning Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 My daughter (4-will be 5 in August) was reading on about a 4th grade level earlier in the year so i'm not sure where she's at now. She can read anything that I hand to her, but she still prefers picture books. Many picture books are written as read-alouds at higher reading levels and contain new vocabulary. This is what we did: We started with some "hooked on Phonics" (informally with her daycare lady at the time) and then she began reading Bob books at home (age 2). We then gave her Dr. Suess Books to read along with easy picture books. She then went to early readers (Amelia Bedelia/ Toad and Frog/ Henry and Mudge). I'd go through on-line reading lists and check easier and harder ones out from the library and just put them in the main room for her to read as she wanted. I always want reading to be fun for her, not make her feel like it's a job. I would also go through titles from "How to report on books K," which are mostly picture books, so that we could talk about at least one of the books for the subject. She could read the ones that she wanted and I would insist on reading some to her to help build any unknown vocabulary. We are now doing read-alouds such as the Thorton Burgess books recommended in HOD and we are currently reading an abridged version of Treasure Island from Target ($1!). There are some new vocab words, many because of life experiences. We define them as we get to them. I read the books but sometimes she insists on reading parts so I make us take turns. HTH:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohannaM Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Ha! My 4 year old has plenty of skunk experience. Can't leave my dogs out past dark. I'm pretty good at de-skunking them. :tongue_smilie: Thankfully we have not had that experience yet! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 makes some of the letters big, scary letters, or has them falling in a hole and then he has to draw the hole... I seriously laugh during every lesson while I wait for him to be ready to actually read the sentence). This is what my ds(5) does with his handwriting practice (and it's the reason I've waited this long). Whenever he writes any letters, they have to be dramatic in some way. Sometimes they are falling over, huge/tiny pattern, or *scary* with super-wiggly lines. He's very creative, so I'm trying to see this as a positive thing instead of being impatient with him. I figure he'll write properly eventually. :D We might even drop handwriting practice altogether until he's more willing to be serious about it. It'll be better for my sanity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagine.more Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 We've got the same problem (err, I mean blessing :lol:) around here too. Mine is younger than yours (just turned 3) so sorry I don't have a lot to offer as help. I think it's normal though for comprehension to lag a bit behind decoding ability. We're starting narrations now to reinforce what he reads, but we're only doing the books I read aloud to him. Probably by the time he's 4 I'll start asking him to tell me what happened in the books he's reading since he'll have graduated completely from Bob Books leveled readers by Christmas and be reading more interesting stuff than "Dot has a cat." lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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