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DS reading way above level but can't narrate to save his life


Peplophoros
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Ok, so I need some advice. DS 6 (soon to be 7) is a very gifted reader. He's been reading chapter books since before his 6th birthday--we didn't believe it either, until he correctly answered questions about plot, character, etc. He's a reading whiz.

 

So this year I've selected books for him to read with the idea we'd do a notebook page for every 1-2 chapters. The problem is he sits down and reads the whole book in 2-3 days. So, I thought we'd just do a "book report" worksheet every time he finishes a book.

 

This is not working. The book report templates I've downloaded from the internet are a huge struggle for him since he claims he never knows how to answer questions like "What happened at the beginning of the story" and "what happened at the end." He assumes he needs to detail every little aspect of the plot, and I've tried to explain generalization/summarization to him, but I'm not doing so well.

 

We did WWE and FLL 1 and SOTW 1 last year, so he's used to the "what's one thing your remember..." which he does easily, but when asked to summarize the whole story can't give me the big picture and instead tries to remember the minutiae.

 

Am I rushing things? Should I give up on book reports? I haven't many of these books myself, so I can't come up with any specific questions for him to answer, and I would rather not spend a lot of money on comprehension guides from Veritas press, although I will if you tell me to : ).

 

Do I slow him down to 1-2 chapters a day and work from there? Or do I just leave him alone, let him read the whole thing, and tackle with narration with SOTW1 and WWE2?

 

Thanks

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It sounds like he is doing well. I really wouldn't slow him down - that is likely to make him dislike reading or get frustrated - let him read what he wants when he wants to as well as selecting some books for him to challenge him at times.

 

You could always stop with the book report idea and get him to just talk to you about the book - ask him what his favourite parts were, what he thought about the characters and their actions, what he thought of the beginning of the book - did it make him want to read more and if so why, what did he think of the ending. The more you ask for his opinion the more he is likely to tell you without having to go into all the details of the book. And then since you are training him to come up with the key ideas in the book if he ever happens to mention one while chatting to you you point out to him that that was a key idea. Of course to do this with a fast reader you will have to keep up with what he is reading so that you can discuss it with him.

 

If you have not read the book just ask him to tell you what happens in the book - if he tells you every detail listen for a while and then summarize what he tells you for him but as a question so that he can correct you if you are wrong. Its better though if you also read the books.

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Am I rushing things? Should I give up on book reports? I haven't many of these books myself, so I can't come up with any specific questions for him to answer, and I would rather not spend a lot of money on comprehension guides from Veritas press, although I will if you tell me to : ).

 

Do I slow him down to 1-2 chapters a day and work from there? Or do I just leave him alone, let him read the whole thing, and tackle with narration with SOTW1 and WWE2?

 

Thanks

 

Either just leave him alone and let him read or choose 1 book that is assigned 1-2 chapters per day. There is no need for book reports if you can offer a good discussion. That means you will have to read them too but it is worth it! (and I find that reading a couple chapters from a children's book only takes about 15-20 minutes). Another option is that you read the chapter aloud and then ask the questions to continue working on that main idea skill.

 

Allow him to zoom through other books without going through a list of questions or book reports.

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You might listen to SWB's lecture on writing in the younger grades. It was really helpful for me.

 

BUT, when we do reading with 6yo, I require her to tell me what she remembers, what she liked, whatever. I'm leaving the narration to SOTW and FLL/WWE...so I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea. ;)

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My boys were nowhere near as advanced as your child at that age, but around 8 I had them do a narration on a chapter book. I had them do a summary per chapter per day and then we compiled them at the end for a book report. They really enjoyed this because at the end they actually had their own retelling of the book complete with illustrations.

 

Granted, this is very simplified, and you would likely want to do more with a more advanced child. But this is modified from what I was doing with The Well Educated Mind with the novels I was reading.

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It sounds like you're asking him to do what WWE teaches over the course of 4 years. :) Slow down your expectations. Just because he can read and comprehend at a high level doesn't mean that he can analyze the material at that level. My son is the same way, reading anything and everything in sight. I don't expect him to narrate an entire book though.

 

What is your purpose for the book reports? Are you trying to make sure he comprehends what he reads? It sounds like you already know he does. In school, book reports are used to make sure kids are reading the books and have understood them. In a homeschool situation, that really isn't necessary. You saw him read the book, and you can discuss the book casually without having to do a whole report.

 

If WWE was a good fit last year, keep going with it. Note that WWE2 still takes *small sections* of a book, not even a whole chapter.

 

I do assigned reading for my son, but I don't ask comprehension questions or even narrations for what he's reading. I usually save those for history or science. I know he comprehends. We casually discuss books now and then - asking him what he likes about it. I sometimes have him read 1 or 2 chapters and then tell me something about them, but I guide him with my questions. If I haven't read the book, I can usually tell something from the title of a chapter and just ask leading questions that eventually get the gist of the story out. But really, if I want to discuss a book, I try to read it first (my son reads much faster than me, so I HAVE to read it first :lol:). We've been reading LOTR at the same time recently, then watching the movies after we finish a book. It's been fun discussing the differences between the two. I know he understood the book when he points out that something didn't happen in the book or that it happened differently. Do I expect him to get the symbolism and such in there? Definitely not. He's a 3rd grader. Does he enjoy the story? Absolutely. He can read it again in middle school or high school and get more of the literary devices used. ;)

 

Anyway, mostly, I let my son read for the joy of reading. There is no reason for me to question him about every single book he reads, or even most books he reads. I know he read the book, and I know he comprehends very well (he will remember more details than I do from a reading, after reading it about 3 times as fast :tongue_smilie:).

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Or do I just leave him alone, let him read the whole thing, and tackle with narration with SOTW1 and WWE2?

 

Thanks

 

 

This.

 

It seems like rather much to ask a 6 year old to summarize a whole book. Let him enjoy his books, and work on the narration skills with the smaller passages in SOTW and WWE.

 

Even in public school, I remember that I didn't have to do a report on a whole book until 4th grade, and only then because I was in an advanced reading class.

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It sounds like you're asking him to do what WWE teaches over the course of 4 years. :) Slow down your expectations.

I agree. You jumped from WWE 1 to WWE 4.

Have you started WWE 2? It starts to summarize the passage in 2-3 sentences. That is still just a short passage of a few paragraphs.

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I'd make up some kind of cutomized book report or narration scheme that *strongly* reflects the way he naturally experiences his books and the way he naturally wants to talk about them afterwards. This lets him stay on his develomental level, while respecting his advanced reading level.

 

For example, you say he likes to share details... so take that as a hint and ask him detailed oriented questions like, "Tell me everything that happened in the first chapter." -- and so on. Let him spontaneously share things, then use that to guide yourself into what kind of a template-for-reporting would actually reflect his reading style.

 

It's important not to expect his cognitive skills or his writing abilities to keep pace with his reading... Reading alone is the skill that is outstanding in him, which means that most assignments based on reading at that level are going to be wrong for him when the rest of his abilities remain closer to age-appropreate levels.

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My son is doing the exact same thing right now. He reads 5-7th grade. I am just starting FLL because we've never used a LA program. Hell tell tiny details of a book or show and we have to sit and listen for 10 minutes while we learn exactly who said what but what we are doing now is taking tips from FLL. Do small bits of the story. You can give him prompts and ask him particular questions about the plot after he's read the book.

 

I really second what others have said about lowering your expectations for a 6 yr old.

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I could have written this exact post about my daughter. She was flying through The Magic Treehouse series shortly after she turned 5. I seriously don't recall a time when she was not reading chapter books. She went from Level 1 books to full chapter books in a matter of 3 weeks. However, when I asked her to tell me about the book, she told me every.single.detail. If we asked her to tell us about a book over dinner, she would "summarize" through our entire meal. It would routinely take her 45 minutes to retell every.last.thing. that happened in the book. She is now in 3rd grade, and she is finally beginning to be able to summarize. She still likes to include lots of details, but we can now hear about an entire book in 5 or 10 minutes.

 

ETA - When she was younger, I think that she could not summarize because she could not figure out what was critical/important to the main story line. In her little mind, it was ALL critical. If she could recall that Tommy told Timmy to sit when it was time for dinner, it was critical to her "narration".

Edited by kagmypts
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That's pretty funny:

 

ETA - When she was younger, I think that she could not summarize because she could not figure out what was critical/important to the main story line. In her little mind, it was ALL critical. If she could recall that Tommy told Timmy to sit when it was time for dinner, it was critical to her "narration".

 

I think that is also my son's problem. He was summarizing a Brady Bunch show and was giving so much detail to me and my husband he were starting to roll our eyes. I was trying to encourage him to skip certain unimportant details like "Alice said ..." and just give us a general idea and he looked at me like WHAT?!!

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That's pretty funny:

 

 

 

I think that is also my son's problem. He was summarizing a Brady Bunch show and was giving so much detail to me and my husband he were starting to roll our eyes. I was trying to encourage him to skip certain unimportant details like "Alice said ..." and just give us a general idea and he looked at me like WHAT?!!

 

Exactly! I have to admit it was excruciating at times listening to her recount nearly every word in a particular book or show.

 

It would take my DD almost as long to retell the story than it would have taken for me to have read it aloud to the whole family. She remembers EVERYthing, but she is finally beginning to be able to sort through what details are important to the main storyline and which are important to her.

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Model it.

Pick a chapter book that is above his reading level.

Read him a chapter.

The next day, before you read him the next chapter, summarize the first one, verbally.

Repeat, summarizing the book to date each time.

 

After you have done this for a while, start to ask him to verbalize the summary. Do that for a while.

 

Then he will have practiced thinking this way about his reading.

 

Also, beware of killing his love for reading by overanalyzing books with him.

 

The inane 'reading comprehension' questions put to readers through about grade 5 are really more for a classroom setting. They are stupid. We never did them except when preparing briefly for a stupid state test. What we did instead was use Junior Great Books about a year below grade level to work on thinking deeply about a story and coming up with an interpretive question about it to discuss with other kids. This worked out superbly.

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