4th Grade: Assigning History and Science independent reading?

[TheAttachedMama]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to plan for next school year.   My son will be going into 4th grade.   He was a late reader, and did not start reading chapter books fluently until this year.  (3rd grader.)  

 

He is not the type of kid who will just pick up a book and read it in his free time.   If left to his own devices, he would spend all of his time playing/pretending with his toys.   He could do that for hours and never grow bored...which is great!   I just say that because strewing books around doesn't work for him.  He doesn't read until I specifically tell him to and schedule it.   BUT---he loves a great story, and once I start him on a book he will often spend longer than I "require" choosing to sit and read.   It is just getting him started.

 

I have this vision where I would like him to start to read more in the content areas.   Some of this time will be reading actual books, some of this time may be listening to audiobooks or immersion reading on his kindle.   (Although I am having a hard time finding decent science audiobooks.)  This wouldn't replace our family read aloud time in these areas, but supplement the learning.   

 

IDEALLY, I would like him to have the freedom to choose what he reads about for history or science.    However, I am not sure how to make this work in real life given his personality.  

 

Some questions I have....

1)  How much time should a 4th grader spend reading per day total?   (Give me the minimum number since reading is a difficult subject for him.)  

2)   Does time spent listening to an audiobook or immersion reading "count" towards this number IYO?  Or should that be in addition?

3)  How do I divide up his reading time between literature/history/science/bible/geography, etc? 

 

If anyone wants to share what their 4th grader is reading and how they schedule their day it would be really helpful too!

 

------

In case it is helpful, here is what he is doing currently for 'reading'...

Do I need to change this for next year?   Ditch the Sonlight books and replace our AM with history and science reading only?   Encourage him to not just do immersion reading in the PM?   Maybe alternate some audiobooks with the sonlight literature readers?

 

AM:  Reads aloud to me for 20-30 minutes from a Sonlight literature selections.  Each chapter book takes us about 4-5 days to finish.  Then, I have him read one history picture book one day and one science picture book (Lets read and find out title) the next day.  Then we start the next Sonlight book.   So:  4-5 days literature, 1 day history, 1 day science, 4-5 days literature, (repeated....)

PM:  I have him do 20-30 minutes of immersion reading on his kindle.  He prefers this during his silent reading time. He is mostly "reading" children's classics this way that are above his current reading level.   (Jungle Book, Wind in the Willows, etc.)

 

[SanDiegoMom]

We don't have a set time for reading, though I generally assign non fiction "free" reading once a week, and they read their history chapters independently. Mine go through spurts -- if they have a good book they can read for 2 hours at a time, and they'll do that for awhile, and then be off of books for a few days, and just go in waves like that. I make trips every other week to the library to try to bring in new books -- some succeed and some fail. But I will say it took a lot to get to the long chapter book phase -- about 1 1/2 years of fluently reading but not ready for anything longer than Flat Stanley, Encyclopedia Brown, etc. So I had to do more read alouds in that phase to get them used to the idea of longer books.  Rick Riordan is huge here -- and has REALLY helped with our Ancient History studies -- every time the history book mentions a myth or god they recognize, they get excited and makes them enjoy and remember history more. He's not the best writer, but his books have been so central to their interests! Getting them into a series helps -- they just don't want to commit to trying a book and new characters if they can just pick up with the ones they know already. So once I got them into Artemis Fowl, it was great-- 8 books! Chronicles of Prydain, the Dark is Rising, hopefully soon the Mysterious Benedict Society.  But anytime they don't trust me on a book I just have to read a chapter or two at night and then they take it from there. And if they don't want to read it on their own, then I get another copy and have them read along every night and call that extra from school reading. It can be a lot, but it's been so worth it. They absolutely adore books now.  

 

I always made bed time required free reading. 20 minutes minimum. Sometimes its the Marvel Superheroes encyclopedia, sometimes it's Calvin and Hobbes (also a huge help in their vocabulary and imagination -- we LOVE Calvin). 

[SanDiegoMom]

Sorry, I didn't address what we do for school -- I don't force them (at least I didn't until two weeks ago) to read any required reading alone. I did all the reading while they looked on (or didn't -- I usually only require them once in awhile to follow along with their eyes). So I'll do the history or science reading, folk tale or Shakespeare, and then the main fiction read aloud in the mornings. Once a week science picture book (middle grade) and then required free reading at night. 

[LindaOz]

For 4th grade I do 40 mins assigned reading time and probably have a literature book and one of either history or science on the go at the same time. So, for instance, the 40 mins might consist of a double page of the science book and the rest of the time in literature. When the science book was finished then you could replace it with a history selection if you wanted to. In our house Bible readings were usually at a separate time - like morning before breakfast.

 

Hope the helps.

 

PS: My son was very similar to yours at that age. He would often enjoy the books I assigned but would not regularly choose to read left to his own devices. I assigned lots of level 2 and 3 SL books - they were soooo good for him :) . He's in 6th grade now and stays awake reading too late at night because he wants to but, hey, who am I to put a stop to that...;)

Edited April 5, 2016 by LindaOz

[LEK]

My dd1 is in 4th now.

Every morning she is required to do 20 minutes of literature reading.

Most days there is 1, sometimes 2 readings I ask for history or science. These are usually about 20 minutes also.

This is the entire "required reading" I ask of her daily however she is highly encouraged to complete another hour of reading later in the day. This extra hour used to be a struggle that required rewards and bribery to get done, now the struggle is getting her to turn the light off at night as she wants to read for hours and hours lol.

[TheAttachedMama]

Thanks, everyone!   These replies were very helpful!

 

We don't have a set time for reading, though I generally assign non fiction "free" reading once a week, and they read their history chapters independently. Mine go through spurts -- if they have a good book they can read for 2 hours at a time, and they'll do that for awhile, and then be off of books for a few days, and just go in waves like that. I make trips every other week to the library to try to bring in new books -- some succeed and some fail. But I will say it took a lot to get to the long chapter book phase -- about 1 1/2 years of fluently reading but not ready for anything longer than Flat Stanley, Encyclopedia Brown, etc. So I had to do more read alouds in that phase to get them used to the idea of longer books.  Rick Riordan is huge here -- and has REALLY helped with our Ancient History studies -- every time the history book mentions a myth or god they recognize, they get excited and makes them enjoy and remember history more. He's not the best writer, but his books have been so central to their interests! Getting them into a series helps -- they just don't want to commit to trying a book and new characters if they can just pick up with the ones they know already. So once I got them into Artemis Fowl, it was great-- 8 books! Chronicles of Prydain, the Dark is Rising, hopefully soon the Mysterious Benedict Society.  But anytime they don't trust me on a book I just have to read a chapter or two at night and then they take it from there. And if they don't want to read it on their own, then I get another copy and have them read along every night and call that extra from school reading. It can be a lot, but it's been so worth it. They absolutely adore books now.  

 

I always made bed time required free reading. 20 minutes minimum. Sometimes its the Marvel Superheroes encyclopedia, sometimes it's Calvin and Hobbes (also a huge help in their vocabulary and imagination -- we LOVE Calvin). 

Thanks!   I am making a mental note of all of these book series you mentioned.   :)   

 

SO---just to clarify the bolded:   They read their history chapters independently.   (maybe from SOTW or something?)   Then, they have additional free reading from science or history one day per week?   Do you just say, "Read for 30 minutes from this stack of science and history books" or something?

 

 

For 4th grade I do 40 mins assigned reading time and probably have a literature book and one of either history or science on the go at the same time. So, for instance, the 40 mins might consist of a double page of the science book and the rest of the time in literature. When the science book was finished then you could replace it with a history selection if you wanted to. In our house Bible readings were usually at a separate time - like morning before breakfast.

Hope the helps.

PS: My son was very similar to yours at that age. He would often enjoy the books I assigned but would not regularly choose to read left to his own devices. I assigned lots of level 2 and 3 SL books - they were soooo good for him :) . He's in 6th grade now and stays awake reading too late at night because he wants to but, hey, who am I to put a stop to that... ;)

Thanks very much!   Do you give specific assignments then for history and science reading?  When you say "double page" I am picturing some type of encyclopedia or something that you assigned them to read---and they have to read the assignment, then spend the rest of the time on their literature?   Am I getting the idea?   

[TheAttachedMama]

P.S.

 

Right now, my 4th grader shares a bedroom with his 2-year-old brother.   This post is REALLY making me want to change that situation so he can be "encouraged" to stay up late reading.   ;)    Right now we have to be pretty strict about just going straight to bed with the lights off because his brother is so hard to get to sleep.   As a compromise, we started calling my toddlers nap time, "rest and reading".   I read SOTW aloud and do mapwork; Then I read Quark Chronicles aloud (science)....then we spend the rest of the time silently reading as a family.   (I even read a bit from my book!)   But, by the time I finish our read alouds, he is really only getting 20-30 minutes.   

 

 

[SanDiegoMom]

 

 

SO---just to clarify the bolded:   They read their history chapters independently.   (maybe from SOTW or something?)   Then, they have additional free reading from science or history one day per week?   Do you just say, "Read for 30 minutes from this stack of science and history books" or something?

 

 

 

 

 

Right -- once a week they read their history (which is right now 2 chapters is Egyptian History from the  World in Ancient Times Series by OUP).  I usually read the Science out loud -- which is RSO Bio 2. Both kids read early and are good readers, but the Bio doesn't hold my son's interest, so I have to read it out loud and with lots of commentary for it to stick with him.  And history was the same at the beginning, but he's gotten more interested so he can read that independently now.  And then I have checked out a ton of high interest middle grade books (Scientist in the Field series for example) and they have non fiction "free reading" once a week.  They probably could (or should) do more, but right now they kind of drag out their days pretty long and I'm still trying to find the balance between output and input.   Our projects always linger for weeks when they only end up getting worked on a couple times per week! 

 

I don't have anything set in stone -- having twins that are relatively amenable to any type of change means I can tweak a lot - adding in more documentaries some week or requiring extra reading if I feel like it's too low.  That's just where we are at this snapshot in time! 

[ondreeuh]

I don't want to assign any minimum quantity/duration of reading, because really there are so many factors.

 

My 8 y/o is a strong 7 very fast reader, and he reads from his science and history texts independently, and then I review/ask him questions to make sure he understands the highlights. Often I have a book that correlates, and I hand that to him too. We always have a literature book going, and the amount that's assigned only takes him a few minutes. We focus more on output for that (analyzing the reading, researching some topic, writing about it, etc.) He reads independently but not on a schedule - he often chooses biographies or books he's read/listened to before. He can tear through a book pretty quickly, so I don't worry about counting pages or minutes. In the mornings he listens to audiobooks for a couple of hours while playing in his room, and sometimes he picks something new but other times he re-listens to a favorite (like Ramona Quimby!). We usually read a read-aloud before bed (but sometimes in the morning if we're ahead of schedule). I feel like it's pretty well-rounded - he reads both fiction and nonfiction, and listens to old favorites and new ones.

[blondeviolin]

My current fourth grader reads 45 min for schoolwork and hours at night for pleasure.

[Verity]

 

Some questions I have....

1)  How much time should a 4th grader spend reading per day total?   (Give me the minimum number since reading is a difficult subject for him.)  

2)   Does time spent listening to an audiobook or immersion reading "count" towards this number IYO?  Or should that be in addition?

3)  How do I divide up his reading time between literature/history/science/bible/geography, etc? 

 

If anyone wants to share what their 4th grader is reading and how they schedule their day it would be really helpful too!

 

 

 

My fourth grader sounds very similar to yours, only towards the end of this year am I seeing any movement regarding enjoying reading. He was a late reader and this is the first year (he spent the last two years in private school) that I have assigned his reading.

We are using Wayfarers Ancients from BarefootMeandering so it makes it pretty easy. Here is what he has been doing for the past few weeks with our current lessons, it's very representative of the year:

Daily he reads a devotion (one page), and is assigned to read either a few pages from an animal encyclopedia (science) or from D'Aulaire's Greeks (we alternate history and science daily), in addition he reads a chapter or two from his assigned "literature", right now he is finishing up Farmer Boy. 

I read aloud selections from poetry, Story of the World or our science text (we takes turns reading the science aloud for fluency), as well as Quark science, and our school time read aloud (history/geography based literature). Then most evenings he and I are reading together before bed a chapter book. I take advantage of a little snuggle time and being one on one. We finished Charlotte's Web recently and have just started A Secret Garden. I know that the older "classics" are above his head as far as some of the vocabulary/word choice but I want him to be exposed and be able to ask me questions.

 

His reading is usually broken up into two or three sessions during the day, while I'm working with his brother or just to get a break from table time. Solo reading is probably around 45-60 mins, our together reading is at least an hour or more daily.

 

PS How long your child "should" be reading is totally subjective and up to you...in that you know him best. I have pushed a lot this year in having my son read more than ever, I carefully observe his frustration/boredom levels and back off before he gets too frustrated, lower the requirements a tad for a week then ramp up again. He is building his reading skills slowly and recently started reading books just for enjoyment on his own in the evenings. They are "twaddle" (diary of a wimpy kid type things) but he is seeking them out from our bookshelf and totally reading them on his own. That is a big win for a kid who never voluntarily read before this year. 

Edited April 9, 2016 by Verity