Help me think through reading for next year

[PeachyDoodle]

DS9 is finally reading fluently and beginning to enjoy it as well. We wrapped up AAR before Christmas and for the remainder of this school year have been taking turns reading aloud to one another as our reading instructional time. He is also reading a lot more on his own, especially since the pandemic has been keeping us cooped up at home. He gravitates towards comic-style books with less text like Big Nate but also has read all of the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing series in the last couple of weeks. 

Here's my dilemma: He prefers to read independently rather than aloud to me, but his comprehension is still only so-so. He is capable of reading/comprehending on grade level and sometimes does, but he's also easily distracted, and I get the sense that often he's reading the words but they aren't really sinking in. For example, the narration passages in WWE. Sometimes he can read a passage and narrate it fairly easily. Other times it may take two or three read-throughs, and he still needs to look back to keep things straight. On a few occasions he's gotten so befuddled that we've just given up and moved on for the sake of everyone's sanity. 

He also has a habit of guessing at words and doesn't always recognize when they don't make sense in the sentence. This is improving with our read-alouds when I force him to slow down and listen to himself, but it still needs a lot of work. His vocabulary has always been on the weak side as well, and I suspect that hurts him too.

In spite of all this, he does seem to enjoy reading -- and that is my primary goal at this age. So that brings me to plans for next year and beyond. Options I'm considering:

1. Assign (or allow him to choose from a selection) novels for him to read independently, then discuss informally with me. This was the original plan, and it worked extremely well with his bibliophile sister, but I'm concerned that it won't be enough for him to continue to improve on the weak areas described above. But maybe better comprehension will come with practice?

2. Plan #1, with the addition of separate reading comprehension activities from something like Reading Detective.

3. Use formal literature guides with vocab study and comprehension questions, etc. I've looked at a few, including Progeny Press, Memoria, and Veritas. I'll be honest: I don't love this route and I know that for ME it would have completely sucked all the joy out of reading. He will not like the additional writing involved, but it could be really beneficial to help him process what he reads (he's extremely visual).

We've already added Visualization Exercises for Reading Comprehension, which I feel is helping somewhat. We'll continue using that no matter what.

I feel like I have to make a choice between helping him to become a good reader and fostering a love of reading, which is frustrating. I could use some advice.

[8filltheheart]

A good strategy for reading comprehension is stopping and retelling.  Have him read aloud to you (or silently, either way as long as you know what is being read) starting for 1 minute intervals.  He has to stop and retell you what he read every minute.  Only do it for 5 minutes as an exercise.  If he can manage those without issue, have him read for 3 minute intervals for 9 minutes.  Repeat daily until he can successfully retell what he read each 3 minute section.  Eventually progress to 5 minutes for 15 minutes. 

I would keep these exercises separate from his literature reading.  For my kids who have struggled with reading, I have assigned reading that alternates between books slightly challenging followed by books that are slightly below level.  The easier books boost their confidence and they don't get burned out by constantly being challenged.  You can increase the challenge slightly between books and they don't notice as much. 

[Lori D.]

Echoing 8FillTheHeart's advice.

Just adding another idea, which we did all the way through high school. We read a high-interest book that was at- or just-above-reading level as a together read-aloud, done "buddy reading" style ("you read a page" (or paragraph), "I read a page (or paragraph)). In first grade, we did it for about 10 minutes, and over the years, slowly increased time as his endurance grew.

Alternating reading gave DS a chance to "take a breather", and to catch up on understanding what was going on while I read. (Because decoding/reading aloud can take ALL the brain power for struggling or young readers, leaving nothing left for comprehension or remembering what they just read). Using a high interest book helped him to want to do the read-aloud. And keeping the session short kept him from burning out. And doing the reading aloud together allowed us to have share great books together and discuss in the moment. I could also ask very occasional comprehension questions to check how he was absorbing/retaining material.

And as a side benefit:  keeping up reading aloud is GREAT practice for phrasing, and for seeing and absorbing punctuation use -- also for comprehending in the moment enough to be able to add appropriate emotional emphasis. 😉 

Personally, I would absolutely NOT go with literature guides (your option #3) -- that would have absolutely killed any interest in reading for my DS, if I had turned reading into a formal boring "school" activity. Just our particular situation here.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Lori D.

[Momto6inIN]

At that age my kids have read to themselves for 30 min from a list that I give them. Most of the books on it are high interest and slightly below their actual ability level. Some correspond with their history studies and some don't. I pick out a few books that are right at their ability level or maybe slightly above to do buddy reading from - usually about a chapter per day. Then I have read alouds that are a bit more past their reading level that we do every day as a family.