When/how do you assign reading?

[bbcooker]

My dc are now reading better and better. My oldest finally has crossed the line of being able to read almost anything.

 

We have time where they each read aloud one-on-one with me. We also have time where I read aloud to them. And we have time for them to sit and read books of their choosing on their own silently; (my oldest still uses this time to only look at the pictures of books). I think I need to start assigning reading - giving reading assignments.

 

How do you run this in your home? Do you say, "Read pages x thru y, and when you're done come tell me what it was about and we'll discuss it?" Do you say, "Here is this book, read it for x number of minutes?" How long or how much do you have them read at what age/grade/reading level? Any other cool things you do in your home?

[weederberries]

I assign a chapter per day as part of their independent work. If they really get into the book, they continue to read it on their own time. Mostly, I do this for pleasure reading, but I'm starting to add literature related to our history when available and short enough for them to complete on their own within the week. In those cases, i assign 2 or 3 short chapters per day and we discuss.

 

They do a lot of other reading for school subjects as well as pleasure reading, so assigning one chapter per day is reasonable for us. I don't always discuss it with them everyday, but they know they'll be accountable to me for it at least a couple of times a week.

[IrishMum]

My boys read for 1 hour every morning in bed before they get up. The alarm goes off at 7 and they read till 8. This is what we call Prescribed Reading. It's usually novels that they wouldn't chose on their own. They read for pleasure for about 1 to 2 additional hours a day. I seldom discuss with older boys now, but I feel I should. I try to make an effort to discuss with younger two, ds8 and ds9, just to keep them in check. They have all read this way for the last 4 years. Yongest was only 4 when we started so he 'read' picture books for the hour. We do read alouds at a seperate time, and it often envolves an audio book.

HTH

[Heidi]

My dd8 is in 3rd grade and reads well on her own, but she doesn't like to branch out on the types of books she reads. So I decided to require that she reads 1 chapter a day from a book I want her to read, and then to write a short summary of the chapter in her book journal.

 

I give them an hour to read in bed at night, and they actually read all day too.

[boscopup]

I guess it has varied. In first grade, when I was trying to build stamina in my oldest, I had him read one chapter per day from a particular book that was at his level, then I had him read about 20 minutes from a library book basket (mostly books below his reading level).

 

Now in third grade, we are doing Sonlight, so there are specific reading assignments, though he finishes them much quicker, and I'm ok with him reading them ahead of schedule. Those readers go along with our history studies. I sometimes ask about the book and sometimes don't.

 

The reading assignments are listed on the assignment sheet with everything else my son needs to do. The assignment sheet has one section for independent work and one section for work with Mom. My son checks things off as he does them.

[Soror]

I have a list of good books and we make library trips as well. I have him read for at least 30 min or so per school day as a minimum. If he gets into on his own and reads more that is good as well.

[Meriwether]

My kids do one or more chapters from their literature books each school day. There may or may not be comprehension questions asked or a project to do. They will read 1 or more books for history each week at varying difficulty levels. Ds6 is reading picture books out loud to me, maybe 3 or 4 per week. He is finishing up some Frog and Toad books, will read Madeline books early this week and start Nate the Great by the end of the week. He will read, to me, 10 or more Nate the Great books and then move on to Miss Nelson is Missing and so on. He will also read pages from Turbo Reader occasionally. I have lately been having him read some easy reader types to himself for additional practice. All the kids have the option to read for an hour or so at bedtime. I may recommend books if they are looking around, but they can choose their nighttime reading material.

[SilverMoon]

My kids each have a portion of our school shelf stocked with high quality literature that's around their reading level. Some of it is tailored for their specific interests, some of it connects to history, most of it is just good literature. They're asked to read a age/skill appropriate amount of time from the book of their choosing (from that shelf I handpicked) on a daily basis. We also read aloud often, and they'll have extra personal reading in history and science somewhat regularly. Then they read whatever they want on their own time.

 

I find guided discussions to be more effective than comprehension questions.

[Jayne J]

We have a 1hr reading period after lunch. Ds reads from an approved/assigned book (not Garfield comics LOL). Afterwards I have him narrate what he read and I ask questions about the characters/events etc. When he finishes a book we discuss the Lit. analysis questions SWB lists, as a gentle beginning to next year when he will be required to begin writing some of his answers.

Generally, I have a list of books I'd like him to work his way through during the year but I try to leave time for things he chooses. I do have to approve--as I mentioned above, he would not challenge himself if left on his own. I also guide him toward fiction since he reads non-fiction pretty voraciously on his own. This year he has read some Harry Potter books and started the Fablehaven series as his own choices which I approved--not great literature, but challenging for him.

 

Dd is not a strong reader yet, and so she works with me during lessons, but is not required to read like ds is. As soon as she is reading fluently, she will likely start with 20 minutes a day and build from there. (For ds, I did not assign reading until about 3rd grade. He started with 20 minutes, up to 45 by the end of the year, then went from 45 to 60 this year.)

[Guest]

For those of you who discuss the books with your kids after you read, how do you know that your kids are *getting* the book? We've done quiet reading on the couch together where we both read the same book, but quietly. After, we will discuss and my son will give a lengthy narration and answer any questions I might ask, but he is WAY off and misses the ideas. At this point, I'm reading everything he does so I know what's going on in the book, but this is getting harder to do. (I posted recently and we are working on comprehension, but I'm just curious as they get older how much you are aware of their reading.)

[Jayne J]

What kind of ideas are you looking for him to get? For second grade, I'd just be thrilled to have a child sit and read, and be able to answer a few questions about who the characters are and what happened in the story.

[boscopup]

For those of you who discuss the books with your kids after you read, how do you know that your kids are *getting* the book? We've done quiet reading on the couch together where we both read the same book, but quietly. After, we will discuss and my son will give a lengthy narration and answer any questions I might ask, but he is WAY off and misses the ideas. At this point, I'm reading everything he does so I know what's going on in the book, but this is getting harder to do. (I posted recently and we are working on comprehension, but I'm just curious as they get older how much you are aware of their reading.)

 

Hmmm... He may not be ready for much discussion. What kinds of things is he missing? Is he telling you things that didn't happen in the book?

 

My son has crazy good comprehension, so if he says something happens in a book, it really did happen. Now sometimes he'll tell me something, and I need to probe further to find out who/what type things. For example, yesterday I had him telling me what happened in the first couple chapters of Om-kas-toe. He said, "They were packing up their camp to move." I said, "Who is 'they'?" :D He had to think about that for a minute. :lol: I think he didn't totally understand my question. I then said, "Are they firefighters?" Then he figured out what I was asking and told me who "they" were. ;)

 

Sometimes he'll go into great detail and skip over main ideas, but that's something we're working on in oral narration via WWE.

 

And then some books, I just need to read before discussing, or have a set of questions in front of me to know what happened. My son reads much faster than I do, so I can't read every book he reads. I also don't question him about every book he reads. Sometimes he'll really get into a book and start telling me what happened on his own. I then ask some basic questions to keep him going (ie, "Then what happened?").

 

Narration is a skill that takes time to develop. Start with shorter passages, like Aesop's fables, or do books that he's *really* interested in and wanting to volunteer information about. You're not drilling him about the book. Just getting him to tell you basically what happened. You will need to model how to do it as well.

[Guest]

Yeah, I posted about this in another thread, so it wasn't really my intention to derail this one, but when reading The Minstrel in the Tower, he was so confused by the neighbor and the mom and the kids and who was sick and who was going to look for the uncle. When we read Stone Fox, he didn't even realize that the dog died. (He didn't connect "his heart burst" with 'he died'.) This is only his silent reading, and mostly with literature. If I read aloud a history or science section, this kid is golden on his narration. I've gotten some help here about continuing to strengthen these skills using WWE and we are also using the McCalls Crabbs comprehension books.

 

I guess my main question in this particular thread was for the moms that leave their kids to read alone - if YOU (mom) don't read the books yourself, how do you know they are reading correctly. But, I guess that the correct sequence is probably that you transition from them reading aloud to you to them reading quietly and asking some questions to totally independent reading. I guess I just answered my own question. Sorry, this has just been our struggle here this year. :)

[StartingOver]

I assign one or more chapters depending on their length for my son. He still reads aloud during school, I don't want him too get rustyrusty, he Will likely read out loud through to the end. He reads silently at night before bed.

 

With my daughter, She also reads a chapter. I will swap pages with her if she asks.

[Aurelia]

Ariel reads a chapter a day of an assigned book, and 20-30 minutes of a book of her own choosing. She also reads aloud to me as part of our bedtime routine. We started the bedtime reading as a way to sneak reading practice in without it being titled "school".