How can I tell when my kids are ready for a silent reading time?

[TheAttachedMama]

I want to preface this post by saying that my kids are NOT natural readers.  Reading has always been the subject we have to work the hardest on.  

 

The kids have just gotten to the point where they can read books aloud to me more fluently.  I am still going to have both kids read aloud to me each day, but I wondering at what point should I schedule in some silent reading time each day.  Are there particular signs I should look for which indicate readiness? 

[a27mom]

I am in a similar position. I have one natural reader and one not natural reader. I am thinking about some. Silent reading time as a break. I am trying to think of it as "silent book time" though. My not-natural reader wouldn't have to read, she just would have to look at books. Which as she is getting better tends to involve some reading. But I am hoping to keep her loving books by giving her time with no pressure to read the words right.

 

Of course I have no idea how well this will actually work, since I haven't implemented it yet ;)

[lorisuewho]

I started this when my youngest was in first grade. The girls were just toddlers. Everyone got a pile of books and I set a timer for 10 minutes. Everyone had to look at books for 10 minutes and not talk to each other. It turned out to be a lovely 10 minute break each day. At that time I don't think any one of them was capable of reading much at all if anything except my oldest and even he wasn't reading that great. They just looked at the pictures and reread in their heads books I had already read aloud to them. Now my oldest is going into 3rd grade and I have it in the plans for 30 minutes each day for this stop everything and read silently time. The oldest two actually read now, my oldest daughter reads some and looks at books quietly, and the youngest will just look at books. Even I sit and read silently during this time. I can tell you it is my favorite part of our day and everyone looks forward to it.

 

So to answer your question, if they are capable of being quiet for even 5 minutes, I think it is time to start silent reading time, even if it is just "silent looking at books time."

[Farrar]

I agree with Louise.  We also practiced silent reading by just having something like ten or fifteen minutes that you had to be "reading" a book.  And sometimes they would read and sometimes they would look at pictures or half reread a book they had practically memorized.  It helped us build up to longer.  And, honestly, I wish I had done it more.  I think I was often discouraged by the picture looking and the rereading, but I really shouldn't have been.  Both of those were good practice at that age as well.

[skueppers]

My method for deciding this has been, "when they spontaneously start reading silently rather than aloud." But I realize there may be children who don't do this.

 

My daughter was five when this happened for her; my son was seven.

[Walking-Iris]

I would just try to have  a quiet time built into the day. You can ask them to have a stack of picture books, kid  magazines,etc. You could also sit down with your books or magazines. You could do this even with prek children who aren't reading.

[duckens]

These are the questions I would ask.  You don't need to answer them here.  It's none of my business.

 

1) Do they read for pleasure on their own?
You have said your children are not natural readers.

2) Is there something specific you would want them to read?  A higher level?  An early chapter book?  My kid would just read graphic novels.  Would that bother you if your child used this time to read something you felt was at a lower level than you wanted them to read at?

 

2) Could everyone pick out specific library books to read at this time?  "Now is the time to look at your library books."  In this way, everyone would be interested in what they were reading.

 

3) Do YOU need a quiet time every day?  Many moms have "free reading time" when the baby nurses to sleep mid-afternoon.  Or 15 minutes of non-chaos while you prep supper.   The rules are, "You need to be quiet on your bed.  You can sleep, or you can read."

 

4) Would your kids do well with a "read to a pet" time of day?  Last year (1st grade), I had dd reading almost daily to her little sister and the cats.  The cats don't care if she misses a word, but it gave really good extra practice.

[jaderbee]

One thing I've noticed with my eldest (7) was that she started reading cereal boxes or ads and commenting on them. A PP mentioned graphic novels. That helped here too. Jbug found a copy of Butt Naked Baby Blues and carried it around with her everywhere, working her way through the book (before she tried reading any other book on her own for pleasure). I was amazed at how she took to it and related our family with the book's family. This summer we started with 5 minutes of silent reading and increased it by two minutes each week. That may work for your kids too.

[TheAttachedMama]

These are the questions I would ask.  You don't need to answer them here.  It's none of my business.

 

1) Do they read for pleasure on their own?

You have said your children are not natural readers.

 

2) Is there something specific you would want them to read?  A higher level?  An early chapter book?  My kid would just read graphic novels.  Would that bother you if your child used this time to read something you felt was at a lower level than you wanted them to read at?

 

2) Could everyone pick out specific library books to read at this time?  "Now is the time to look at your library books."  In this way, everyone would be interested in what they were reading.

 

3) Do YOU need a quiet time every day?  Many moms have "free reading time" when the baby nurses to sleep mid-afternoon.  Or 15 minutes of non-chaos while you prep supper.   The rules are, "You need to be quiet on your bed.  You can sleep, or you can read."

 

4) Would your kids do well with a "read to a pet" time of day?  Last year (1st grade), I had dd reading almost daily to her little sister and the cats.  The cats don't care if she misses a word, but it gave really good extra practice.

They do NOT read for pleasure on their own.  I have a hard time imagining them ever picking up a book and willingly reading it.  :(   (But that is probably just because I am feeling so discouraged with teaching reading at this point.)  My son does love books though.  He likes to flip through encyclopedia type books and look at the pictures.   And he likes me to read to him.   But he never willingly reads by himself.   (And we are a low media/screen home!  So he has lots of opportunity to find things to do to fill up the hours in a day....reading just isn't one of those things!  Yet...hopefully ;)  )   We already do the 'flip through book' thing before they go to sleep at night....but they don't read at those times. 

 

My concern about silent reading has to do with his guessing habit.  He guesses at the words so much using context clues that I am not sure if he is really reading correctly unless I am there looking at the words on the page as he reads.  I can't even just listen to him because sometimes his guesses make sense in the story...you know?  When he reads to me, I have to back him up often and ask him to 'say the sounds and read the word' every time he guesses.   I won't be there to do that when he isn't reading aloud to me.  (Gee....as I 'talk this out' I am starting to think that is a pretty good sign he isn't ready for silent reading....right?) 

 

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To answer your questions about why I am considering silent reading time (sort of an answer to 2 & 3)-------I know that really the only way they are going to get better at reading is to practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.   I know of no other way of making it any easier for them.

 

My two oldest kids are really close in age, so I am essentially teaching two to read at once.  I am devoting a good hour per day listening to kids read aloud.  (15 minutes each kid twice per day to spread it out).  I am still going to continue that, but I still feel like they need even more practice than that hour of time.

 

So, I am trying to brainstorm for creative ways to build that extra reading practice into my day.  I was thinking of either doing some silent reading time after lunch each day....OR.....the other idea I was toying with was doing some "shared reading" in another subject.  (I'm not sure if shared reading is the right term for what I am talking about.  But,  I was thinking that perhaps for our 'bible' subject I could get 2-3 copies of an easy to read bible story book and we could all take turns reading each paragraph and following along while someone else reads.) 

 

I'm also wondering if I should start having them read to me on weekends.  I have not done this up until now because I know they are going to balk at having to 'do school' on Saturday or Sunday....but, we have to do what we have to do. 

[rachelpants]

I'm with ya! I don't dare encourage my guesser to read silently yet. Could the 3 of you somehow choral read together? By choral read, I mean pick a book everyone has already read, and all 3 of you read it out loud at the same time to work on fluency and expression.

 

I'm considering assigning weekend reading homework (lol) when we start school.

 

Did you guys ever start Dancing Bears?

[Tanikit]

My DD was reading at a fifth grade level before she really started picking up books and reading them and even then they were very easy readers (about 1st or 2nd grade level). I left her and gradually she started reading menus and recipes and then computer game instructions. She is now reading novels alone, but I bribed her to get her started - we told her she could have quite a big present when she had read a certain number of books - initially she started reading very short quick books, but before she got to the end she took off with chapter books. I still need to give her a set time to read though because with TV and computers and a sibling to play with, friends, school and gymnastics and the need just to play outside there isn't terribly much time left to curl up and read and she is a very active child who needs to move a lot so will never naturally be one to sit all day and read. 

 

My 3 year old on the other hand will take herself off to her room and page through books for ages quite happily. She needs less physical activity in general than my elder did at the same age. She is starting to read and I am sure her independent reading will come earlier than my elder child just because of her personality.

[my3daughters]

We actually start silent book time at a very young age.  Right after lunch while I clean up and wait for everyone to finish everyone must have a book….no other options for activities.  By 2 years old they are able to do this for at least a few minutes.  It is amazing to me how pre-reading skills start to develop in this simple activity.  They are noticing pictures, beginning to retell stories, starting to pick out words they can read, asking questions and making comments about what they are seeing etc.  Eventually without pressure I begin to notice they are actually reading.  It has been part of their daily routine for so many years that when they are ready and confident they just start actually reading during that time.  

[duckens]

 

AttachedMama says:

My two oldest kids are really close in age, so I am essentially teaching two to read at once.  I am devoting a good hour per day listening to kids read aloud.  (15 minutes each kid twice per day to spread it out).  I am still going to continue that, but I still feel like they need even more practice than that hour of time.

 

You are doing just great!  They will get there!  Consider that it may take 1000 hours of reading aloud to/with kids to get your kids to be good readers.  

 

 

I was thinking of either doing some silent reading time after lunch each day....OR.....the other idea I was toying with was doing some "shared reading" in another subject.

 

We do a LOT of Shared Reading here.  FTR, I remember doing it in elementary school as a kid.  We all opened our books, and one kid would read at a time while the rest of us followed along, changing readers with every paragraph. 

 

I use shared reading to nudge my older daughter (and the kids I taught to read as a nanny) to a higher level.  It starts out with the child picking out the words they know in the sentence.  Then they are responsible for the first sentence on the page, then the first two.   We alternate paragraphs (which is great for dialogue!).  Currently, I read the first half of the page, and she reads the second half. 

 

***The advantage of Shared Reading is that the student can learn the vocabulary of the book (names, places, subjects of conflict) by listening to the adult read, then apply the same vocabulary a minute later when it is the student's turn to read.

 

We started doing this with picture books, but we have graduated to easy chapter books (American Girl, Dragon Slayers' Academy, Buddy the Dog, and Captain Underpants).  I suggest a few books, and the child picks from my suggestions.

 

DD7 has not started to independently read chapter books yet.  Intellectually, she CAN do it; she reads just fine for a 7yo when we read together.  She's just not ready to take on a book that would take her more than a sitting to read.  All I can do is prep her intellectually for when she is ready to make the maturity jump.  I don't dictate what she reads on her own because I really want the reading to be pleasurable for her.  She won't feel pleasure if I tell her she has to read at a higher level than she feels she is ready for.

 

In the meantime, she reads a lot of Graphic Novels. She CAN read picture books if she is motivated to do so (if she wants to read a book a second time after bedtime reading together).  I suspect the leap will come for her when she has a friend who also reads Chapter Books independently.

 

 

AttachedMama says:

I am feeling so discouraged with teaching reading at this point.

:grouphug:

Hang in there.  I have been lucky enough to teach other kids to read, and it truly IS a marathon!  There are steps up, and lag times as the student gets ready for the next leap.  Just keep doing what you are doing.  You WILL get there!

 

I'm experiencing this now with my younger.  She can read AT.  She can read MAT.  SAT flummoxes her.  (She knows all of her letters and sounds).  She can sound it out; she just can't put the sounds together.  She just needs a little time to process AT and MAT before she is ready to expand her application of the sounds she knows.