How to challenge an accelerated reader while keeping it interesting...

[thundersweet]

I have a 6yo in 1st grade. We do a little math, explode the code (mostly for spelling), and some handwriting. He has never been taught to read, he just learned on his own somehow. I did a little reading test on him today that went through 6th grade and he passed at the 6th grade level. The kid reads pretty much reads anything. The problem is getting him to actually read is not so fun. He flat out does not want to read at all. He says he hates reading. I want to keep him going forward. Let me say that we are very relaxed around here though.

 

Should I be challenging him some at his reading level? If so, how? Or should just leave it alone and encourage him to read something even though he doesn't like it? Here is the reading test I used with him. He can read all the way through the last paragraph with just a few mistakes. http://www.nrrf.org/reading-competency-test/

 

Thanks,

Sandy

[HomeAgain]

Take him to the library once a week.  Let him pick out whatever he likes.  Read to him.  Find topics he's interested in.

 

When he's ready to read for fun, introduce book chats.  Read the same book and talk about it little by little.

 

ETA:  I know it sound trivial and trite.  Maybe it is.  But it works.  My kid went through spurts of not reading hardly at all (though he could) and reading voraciously.  I kept up the same pattern.  I introduced him to authors like Mo Williams and Louis Sachar where the humor was right up his alley.  Because there was no pressure he enjoyed looking through books at night.  I read to him good stuff: myths, legends, children's classics...

 

He's currently enjoying Harry Potter, an anime series from the library, and the original Winnie The Pooh book right now.  He didn't need any pressure - he just needed to keep seeing books.

Edited January 11, 2017 by HomeAgain

[mathmarm]

I have an advanced reader and I have started considering reading games for his Kindy years. I ordered 10 Reading Comprehension Card Games and it looks good.

 

One thing that my 6yo loves is to pick library books blindfolded. I take her to different sections of the childrens library and let her pick books without being able to see them (she closes her eyes or wears a sleep mask). I put them in the tote bag and she can't see the book until it's reading time.

 

The suspense of not knowing what the book even is hooks her interest more and makes her more willing to read.

 

 

Since your boy's in 1st, then I would require a bit of oral reading every day. Go to the library and get a pile of books--half fiction, half non-fiction and require that he read aloud to you for 10-15 minutes a day. He doesn't have to read only one book, he can browse through them, reading a page or 2 from each, but he needs to read to the best of his ability from each page.

 

[jeremmy]

I also have a son who taught himself to read (at 4) who is at an advanced level. I have never pushed reading at all. I just give him access to lots of books on lots of different levels. I try to get him lots of kindle books from the library and we recently decided to be better about going to the library weekly. I let him pick out his own books. When he was younger (he's 11 now) I would make him read aloud a few times a week. I also read aloud regularly as part of school. Hard to say if all these things combined made him love reading, or he just happened to get my obsessed-with-books genes.

 

 

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[mathmarm]

Maybe if you can find a foreign show or movie with English subtitles and watch that around him that'll require he read quickly and accurately without you pushing him.

 

Especially if it's a show for you, and he's just in the room. Are you a fan of Korean dramas?

[thundersweet]

Thank you for your replies. I think I will try taking him to the library once a week and see how it goes. He is so resistant to reading, not quite sure how he got to be where he is. I took him to the used bookstore the other day and he chose a few super hero chapter books. mathmarm, I like the idea of just reading, not necessarily from start to finish. He's nearly done with spider man, which I've had to MAKE him read. He's likes the book, just doesn't want to read it. lol

[Farrar]

First, don't expect him to read 6th grade level books, even ones with a lower interest level. Don't even expect him to read 3rd grade level books. It's okay if he reads and enjoys Lunch Lady or Frog and Toad or Captain Underpants or a pile of Garfield comics. And that's the sort of stuff that I'd strew for him - high interest, silly, boy centered, fun books. Joke books. Gross out books. DK eyewitness type books. Comic books - things like Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes, but also little kid appeal superhero comics like Tiny Titans or Super Dinosaur and newer graphic novel style books like Lunch Lady, Squish, Flying Beaver Bros, etc.

 

I think it's really about romancing him to books. Read in front of him. Read aloud. Play games with words. Play games with books. Just hang out at the library. Listen to audiobooks in the car. Read books and watch the movie of the book. Tell stories and play games with stories. Just be patient.

[ealp2009]

If there is a high interest book, I will read one page and then my son will read a page and we go back and forth. Maybe that would help.

 

 

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[Jacbeaumont]

No need for foreign language tv. ALL TV can (and does in our house) have closed captioning. I read in the Read Aloud Handbook that they made it a law in Denmark that all television must be captioned. They did it to increase literacy. My 6 year old is advanced too. Getting him to want to read was HARD. I finally gave him the option to stay up and read in his bed. We have a 7pm bed time, and he is usually is still up at 830. I'm telling you, it's magic! Wish I would have thought of it before. We even bought him a cute avenger flashlight.

BUT you need books and lots of them. And different kinds. Lots of picture books, magic tree house, comics (he is liking Big Nate right now), etc. My library haul is ridiculous and embarrassing. All in the name of reading!

I can barely get him to read a lick all day, but I don't let it bother me now that he reads so much at night.

 

 

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[zaichiki]

First, don't expect him to read 6th grade level books, even ones with a lower interest level. Don't even expect him to read 3rd grade level books. It's okay if he reads and enjoys Lunch Lady or Frog and Toad or Captain Underpants or a pile of Garfield comics. And that's the sort of stuff that I'd strew for him - high interest, silly, boy centered, fun books. Joke books. Gross out books. DK eyewitness type books. Comic books - things like Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes, but also little kid appeal superhero comics like Tiny Titans or Super Dinosaur and newer graphic novel style books like Lunch Lady, Squish, Flying Beaver Bros, etc.

 

I think it's really about romancing him to books. Read in front of him. Read aloud. Play games with words. Play games with books. Just hang out at the library. Listen to audiobooks in the car. Read books and watch the movie of the book. Tell stories and play games with stories. Just be patient.

Every word of this!

[kaitneel]

No need for foreign language tv. ALL TV can (and does in our house) have closed captioning. I read in the Read Aloud Handbook that they made it a law in Denmark that all television must be captioned. They did it to increase literacy. My 6 year old is advanced too. Getting him to want to read was HARD. I finally gave him the option to stay up and read in his bed. We have a 7pm bed time, and he is usually is still up at 830. I'm telling you, it's magic! Wish I would have thought of it before. We even bought him a cute avenger flashlight.

BUT you need books and lots of them. And different kinds. Lots of picture books, magic tree house, comics (he is liking Big Nate right now), etc. My library haul is ridiculous and embarrassing. All in the name of reading!

I can barely get him to read a lick all day, but I don't let it bother me now that he reads so much at night.

 

 

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I do this too! my daughter is PreK and reading about a 3rd grade level but she chooses 1st/2nd grade books. Nothing is really challenging her but anything higher than that is not interesting to her. We currently have out about 140 books from the library (ha!) and I bought her a little book light and she reads for an hour of quiet time every day and then again at bed time. The booklight is the way to go!! It makes it this cool thing she can do instead of sleep. Also I think that the face that we don't watch a ton of TV helps because she doesn't really have super exciting options. There is no TV or game system or whatever calling her name to compete with reading. When I made a big deal of reading aloud every day she started "hated reading," too so I backed off and the problem fixed itself thank goodness. I do have her read aloud to me regularly but I treat lightly and try to always be okay if she doesn't want to read. 

[sweetpea3829]

I also allowed my advanced reader to stay up late reading.  In fact, it was kind of necessary.  He has always been the kind of kid that did not need much sleep...so he'd head to bed at 8, 8:30 and still be wide awake and bored at 10, 11:00.  

 

And while he wasn't quite as turned off to books as OPs DS, he certainly wouldn't just willingly pick up a book and read it.  He was, afterall, a 6, 7, 8 yr old boy...and Legos and tree climbing were MUCH more fun.  

 

So we bought him a special reading lamp, which we later upgraded to a rope light that changes colors.  He can stay up and read as late as he wants unless we have to be up early the next day.  

 

Now that he's older, I attach reading requirements to things he and his siblings actually WANT to do.  

 

For example, they have to read an hour to earn 30 minutes of tablet time.  Works well.  

[ReadingMama1214]

My daughter is an advanced reader (prek reading 3rd grade) but she definitely doesn't have the stamina for most books at her level. She reads a lot of Level 2 readers (little Bear, frog and toad, cam Jansen) and picture books. We do the shared reading as well. We're reading the Kingdom of Wrenly books and I read a page and she reads a page. She enjoys it and it allows her to be challenged but not exhausted.

 

My daughter also has her own library card and library bag. She LOVES going and picking out her own books to read.

[Tanaqui]

If you want books "on his level" for school time, go with picture books. They're generally written with the idea that grown-ups will read them to kids, so they're interesting to six year olds but also challenging.

 

If you want him to enjoy reading, let him pick out whatever he likes from the library and don't worry even a little about whether it's "too easy" or not. You don't only read college level texts, do you? Of course not!

 

Also - don't stop reading to him. A favorite trick of mine when the girls were little? Start a chapter book, close it at the end of the chapter, put it on a juuuuuuust in reach shelf, go cook dinner. Pop in after ten minutes, admonish the kids for "reading ahead", chase them around the room trying to grab the book. "C'mon, guys, we can't play keepaway, I'm cooking dinner! Go watch TV, I'm sure all this reading is bad for you!"