Free reading for first grader

[Aspasia]

Dd6 is a very strong reader (about 4th grade level). I obviously have her read aloud to me every day and I read aloud to her, but at what point do you start requiring free reading (if you do)? She won't generally choose to randomly pick up a book and read during the day. She just loves to play, play, play. But whenever she does settle down and pick up a book, she loves it, and will be occupied for awhile. Should I require a certain amount of free reading at this age, or is that for later?

[mom2boys030507]

I require my first grader to read for 30 min during our daily quiet time. This has helped my boys learn to love books because the read something everyday and see it as a valued activity.

[Ellie]

"Require" and "free reading" are terms which don't seem to go together, lol.

 

I would expect a 6yo to want to play rather than read. :-)

[Walking-Iris]

My oldest was reading at that age at a higher "level" and he didn't start really reading on his own silently for enjoyment until about the end of 3rd grade. 

 

I try to read aloud every day to my 1st grader. We do a reading lesson and I ask him to read aloud to me an appropriate passage for his level of learning to read. But I don't require him to read on his own. He's just not ready for that. But we do have a time where we read everyday. And he looks at books on his own often. 

 

At that age I would just continue reading aloud often. In my opinion that's the best way to foster a love of reading...to enjoy and hear lots of stories read aloud by a parent.

[boscopup]

My oldest was an advanced reader in first grade also. I had about 20 minutes each day that he was to read from the library book basket, which included a variety of books - nonfiction, picture books, etc. I always included some books a couple grade levels BELOW his current reading level, because those were more fun to read. I also looked for books that I thought might interest him, like Star Wars, science stuff, etc. There are tons of history and science readers at a 2nd-3rd grade reading level that are enjoyable to kids that age.

[Meadowlark]

I have a 1st grader reading at about a 3rd/4th level too. He is a socialite (with 4 brothers and sisters) and would not pick up a book on his own either. But, we have a 60 minute quiet time each day where he is free to choose any activity to occupy himself. He is chooses to read the whole time. I can't feed him enough chapter books. I have often wondered if this is enough (we also do HOD's emerging readers) and have asked here if a reading program is required. It seems most think no so I'm trying to trust that as I'm a new homeschooler (but former ps teacher) I guess this kind of thinking is foreign to me as I'm used to the daily reading groups meeting around the table, lol.

[Rachel]

I have my 6 year old read 3 picture books or 3 chapters at the beginning of his rest time. Then he plays. He frequently reads before bed too since he usually isn't ready to sleep as soon as he goes to bed.

[MinivanMom]

We have always had a "Silent Reading Time" during the baby's naptime. They can read whatever they want, but for that period of time their only options are to read or take a nap. They have always chosen to read.

[stripe]

But whenever she does settle down and pick up a book, she loves it, and will be occupied for awhile. Should I require a certain amount of free reading at this age, or is that for later?

I would encourage her to read, or maybe sit down with a book yourself and invite her to join you.

[SKL]

I think your child is old enough to be expected to do a little "sustained silent reading" on a regular basis.

 

My kids naturally started doing this once they were able to comfortably read around the 2.0 level.  For my advanced reader, that was at age 4.

[Tracy]

I would not require free reading from a 1st grader at all.  I would make sure I provide lots of books at various levels and about various topics.  My dd8 was a very strong reader, too, and it was tempting to require more reading because of that.  But just because they are capable of advanced reading doesn't mean it should be required at that age.  Writing is hard for her, and I didn't want reading to be a burden, too.  As long as she was capable of reading and comprehending at grade level, that was enough for her.  

 

Around 6yo, I would catch her reading ahead in books I was reading to her.  But she would never read the whole book.  I made a game of it, teasing her that she wasn't allowed to read ahead.  And I think that encouraged her.  Then we read the first book of the American Girl series, and I told her I would not be reading the whole series to her.  She was interested enough that she started reading them on her own.  Now she still doesn't do a lot of free reading, but does a lot more than she did in the past.  It kind of goes in spurts.  She might read 500 pages one week and none the next.  This year, I started requiring one book read independently per week. And I told her that next year, I would start requiring her to read most of her history on her own.  

[Lori D.]

Well, if you are requiring it, then it's not "free" reading. Free reading (to me) means the child chooses to read during their free time. Perhaps you mean "independent reading"? (Required reading done solo by the student, often during a scheduled time during the school hours, or at a specific time later in the afternoon. The required part is usually for a set amount of time, and often requiring a specific book to go with one of the school subjects, OR, a selection from a book basket prepared in advance by the parent.)

 

A few people on this Board require 15 minutes of independent reading in the early elementary grades once the student has become a confident reader, and slowly increase to 30 minutes and more in grades 4-6. More people seem to wait until late elementary/middle school grades to require 30-60 minutes of independent reading. 

 

We did out-loud together reading as part of our Reading/Literature all the way through 12th grade. Along about 4th/5th grade up until high school, I would require a book for independent reading that usually went along with our History, but they usually had a month to finish it.

 

Free reading was never dictated here. Since the time they were pre-school age, we always encouraged taking books to bed, and gave them an extra 15 minutes with the lights on to enjoy whatever books they chose. We also just strewed the house with tons of books and kids magazines of all kinds, that they would "stumble" over and pick up on their own during their free time in the afternoons. The books and magazines available for free reading were of high-interest topics to our DSs, lots of picture books, "exploded view" books heavy with illustrations and lots of short captions, I Spy and Where's Waldo, books at or below their reading level to help them gain reading confidence -- and, of course, Calvin & Hobbes comic collections. ;)

 

 

JMO: Not every child naturally loves reading, and I'm not sure that by requiring reading that you would make them enjoy reading. I think instead of forcing independent reading, esp. in the early elementary years, I would first work hard to find reading material of esp. interest to that type of child, and do TONS of read alouds, books on tape, and maybe two short sessions of together out loud reading.

 

 

BEST of luck in finding the best path for your family's reading journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Chris in VA]

Mine just loved to read. 

 

I required much less reading aloud TO me than many. I read to her a lot, up until the middle of 4th grade. She read so much faster than I could read aloud to her that she just couldn't sit anymore!

 

I say make reading (to herself) a required activity, because I believe there are lots of kids who don't like to read because it is harder work for their brains--esp kids who don't naturally "make pictures" in their minds (there is research somewhere on this). For them , it takes practice. Often, I've found, they can become more fond of reading, after the brain is "trained." How long depends on the kiddo. 

[MistyMountain]

My 7 year old first grader is similar. I carve reading time into our day at bedtime and always read if they ask to be read to. She doesn't grab books on her own and start reading but she enjoys reading time and picks things to read on her own then. She can pick if she wants to read to an adult, read on her own or get read to.

[Aspasia]

We used to have a quiet time during baby's nap, but now days, I have to use that to do our other schoolwork. Dd1 is so dang busy, and any time we try to do school work when she's awake, it's just a big mess. Maybe I'll give dd6 some extra lights-on time for reading at bed time. We used to do that when she was a toddler and it worked beautifully.

[duckens]

--Dd7 is in 1st grade.  I have no idea what reading level she is at.

 

--I do not require independent reading from her at this time, but I am also blessed with a child who reads a lot on her own anyway.

 

Things that support independent reading in our home:

1) All reading is good.  I have never harassed her about the "quality" or level of books she is reading.  Currently, she is going through a phase where she is reading a ton of Graphic Novels.  We are lucky to have such a good library that keeps a healthy stock of Graphic Novels.  The couple that she has roped me into reading aloud to her, *I* have truly enjoyed. 

 

2) Weekly visits to the Bookmobile, where she can pick out books and movies.  (Because of the movies, she looks forward to the Bookmobile.  It's an imperfect system, but it works).  She comes home with a stack of books of her own choice to read.

 

3) We read books above level together.  We do this to s-t-r-e-t-c-h her reading abilities.  When I read aloud, she is introduced to new vocabulary, complex ideas, and subtle concepts within the books.  Every page or so, I ask her to read a sentence or paragraph.  Again, I do not expect her to read the whole book, but she is stretched to read text on a page with no pictures. 

 

4) Dd7 can stay up as late as she wants in bed to read.  If she feels she cannot sleep, she is welcome to turn on her light and read to herself.  The caveat is that she must be functional and pleasant the next day.

 

Disclaimer: we also read for "Reading Class."  We are reading together through as many award winning books and discussing the literary aspects (characters, setting, problem or surprise, etc).  In this way, I reassure myself that she is being exposed to "quality literature."
 

[Korrale]

My son and I read before nap and before bed. About an hour a day. He reads to me and I read to him. That is our required reading.

However I support and encourage any other reading. If he is wandering the house aimlessly I suggest he go read a book. He often does. I also leave a lot of books around the house and he is more likely to pick those ones up than dig through the bookshelf. This is my sneaky way to expand his reading selection. But if he wants to read a basic board book I would never stop him. I also give him 15 minutes of free time before lights out and he almost always reads a book.

[Tanikit]

My DD6 is reading at about a 4th grade level (6th grade level for instruction). She reads to me daily and we give her an opportunity to read by herself at bedtime - sometimes she will and sometimes she won't. She is reading a lot independently now, but it is more instructions for games she wants to play, what is written on food containers, what I am typing on skype while she is there (have to watch that), whatever is written on the tablet when she is playing on it and so on.

 

I may start requiring silent reading at some point in the next year but probably as something else - like starting her on reading comprehensions where we are really practising writing answers to questions than the reading - if there is something else to concentrate on then she is more likely to just do it - it is not really something she needs to practice since she can already do it.

[sunnyday]

My DS seems to do a good bit of reading in the morning, if he gets up early enough. I leave a selection of interesting books on the coffee table so he can come down and read quietly to himself. He generally chooses nonfiction (picture books from the adult section about things like Scorpions or ancient history). I also try to read something to him daily and have him read something to me (he's currently reading me My Father's Dragon and I'm reading him Gombrich's Little History and Grueber's Story of the Romans and a book of Buddhist stories.) If he chooses to play Lego rather than reading I'm definitely not pushing it. There's no consequence of failing to read independently that would be worse than the backlash of having reading become a chore this early.

[JudoMom]

We allow the boys to stay up later at night if they're reading.  

[Aspasia]

Day two of letting her read in her room before bed, and it's going great. Tonight, she read three stories in "Stories For Six-Year-Olds", and then turned off her own light and went to bed. Love that girl!

 

So I guess I won't impose any specific reading requirement on her during the day when her energy is high and she wants to play. As long as she is getting enough sleep, I'll just let her read her little heart out at bed time. :)

[ammv15]

The curriculum I use requires about 15 min reading that is all I require.