my dd is in kindergarten. she's really good at reading for her age. she's really mastered sounding out the words. most of the time she can just get it right the first time. with little reminders, (the e is hiding and telling the i to say his name to make ice) or that the vowels sometimes sound different, she can read most sentences by herself, with me beside her. such as 'The Tiny Seed' by Eric Carle. it's prob. a 1st or 2nd grade level book.
she knows on some level, that she's a good reader. sometimes she'll say, she's a good reader. but when she's reading all self confidence goes out the window. or she just gets overwhelmed looking at a long paragraph.
so how to do help her realize she's a great reader, without just reading books that are waay too easy?
I think it is great that she is a good reader, this will help with her spelling when she gets in grade school as well as being a source of enjoyable reading through the years.
oh yes! she is very excited to spell by herself. she's constantly asking how to spell words and learning how to spell by writing it how it sounds. sometimes it's a miracle i can read it lol. it's very neat, just have to kinda guess sometimes what she's saying. she's constantly writing and trying to fill notebooks. making her own stories, drawing. she seems very right brained so far. loves everything to do with writing, crafts, dress up. of course, she's still very young, at any moment she's a 'scientist', 'gardener', 'artist' 'teacher' when she 'grows up'.
did you ever read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse? that's her lol. and she loves that book.
and i completely agree, reading skills make all the other subjects easier and are really important through their whole life.
i guess what surprised me was, i feel like i really relate! like i CAN do lots of exercise, and lose lots of weight. even get down to 'normal' weight. but so often my voice inside says, oh you can't do that. but really i can.
i think she's just having a lag of realizing she REALLY can read that whole paragraph or book.
Last edited by katy trail; 02-25-2011 at 12:22 PM.
If she's already good why does she need to read books with long paragraphs? I wouldn't go too far beyond what's age appropriate (more than 2 or 3 years) if it seems to be overwhelming her.
I loved to read as a kid (I read a TON even now) and even then I remember still liking books with pictures when I was younger
I have a lot of parents ask this at the library. It is actually quite difficult for young children to track words when they are in a block of text, so it sounds like she is doing great! Still you might want to also look for books with more white space, larger fonts, and greater separation between words and sentences. It doesn't necessarily mean they are "easy", they can be complex stories with challenging vocabulary. If you can, take a look at your library's Beginning Reader Section - Here's some ideas off the top of my head
Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems
Frog and Toad - by Arnold Loebl
Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
Mr Putter and Tabby by Cynthia Rylant
Any Dr. Seuss book - some are published under the name Theo Le Sieg, my personal favorite is 10 Apples up on Top
There are also really good picture books for older kids. Some that kindergartners and 1st graders really like are series like Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, Olivia by Ian Falconer, and No David by David Shannan.
Since she likes The Tiny Seed, she might like some non-fiction books too. Some libraries have easy non-fiction in the beginner reader section, others have with all the non-fiction. Some series that are really good are the Let's Read and Find out books. or the Rookie Read-About or the True Books series. Some good authors who write easier non fiction are Gail Gibbons and Seymour Simon.
My son and I used to read alternate sentences, whilst cuddled up closely. The cuddle makes so many things possible. In fact, we started doing that again with books in different languages even though he was bigger. The cuddle is still there.
Reading together is a lovely thing to do.
Last edited by silverbirch; 02-25-2011 at 05:12 PM.
Both of my kids are ardent readers. I used to read with them when they started to read. We would alternate pages. I do remember using a piece of folded white paper (bookmark sized) to track each line for them. I didn't seem so overwhelming as a whole paragraph did. My DS15 loved, loved, loved Mr. Putter and Tabby and Captain Underpants. He also really liked non-fiction books. DD23 loved the American Girl series, Little Sister and Babysitters Club series.
If she's already good why does she need to read books with long paragraphs? I wouldn't go too far beyond what's age appropriate (more than 2 or 3 years) if it seems to be overwhelming her.
I loved to read as a kid (I read a TON even now) and even then I remember still liking books with pictures when I was younger
sometimes, just one page has a longer paragraph. in the future, i can just read it when it's too overwhelming, or cover it with paper as suggested. i think the reading is on her level. when the word is too hard, or if she's just not getting it, i just tell her the word. but most words, she can just sound out. which is really more of a first grade skill. i just want to help her understand that she CAN read well.
i'm not understanding the comment about 2 or 3 years?
Sometimes, it helps to have kids reread the same passage or book over and over again. As they practice, they feel more confident in themselves because they know they can do it. Perhaps let her follow along with an audio tape and then you could read it to her and then she could read it on her own.
If she is feeling overwhelmed by the length of a paragraph, you could always cover up part of it with a blank sheet of paper so she is only focusing on a particular section.
Make sure she is always comfortable and feels safe when you're reading. She is more likely to take risks if she feels like she is in a secure environment. Obviously, as your mom, she trusts you, so that helps. But maybe always read books in her room or her bed, some place she feels really secure in. Make sure you always encourage and praise her when she struggles with a word and comes even close. Try not to just jump in and save her...letting her struggle a little bit, having her succeed and then getting praise for that success lets her know that she CAN overcome the struggles.
Maybe take her to the library and let her pick out books that she thinks are super interesting and she is excited to read. You can steer her in the right direction, but if she wants to read the books, hopefully she will be willing to take on the challenge
i was like that, a really good little reader- but i was never ever ever able to read out loud! i would stumble and get embarrassed and i still have trouble with it. my eyes and brain move faster than my mouth i guess. but maybe it's the out loud part that's bothering her?
Oh, that's fantastic! I just grin when I hear of a kid who loves to read; makes me happy!
I totally second the people who suggest reading together. Some of my fondest and earliest memories are of being curled up on my mom's lap taking turns reading lines out of "Little Golden" books. Any book will do, though--I was charmed with my mom's old Latin books--it was amazing to me that different people used different languages--so sometimes we'd read about Britannia being a parva insula together and other times it'd be the Ladies' Home Journal and she'd read about how to put together a perfect luncheon for the ladies. The happy part was spending time together; the reading just happened naturally.
i try to read often with all 3 kids, (not at the same time). her brothers are in 2nd and 4th grade. i ask them sometimes if they want to read together, me read, they read, by themselves. sometimes they do want to read with me, often they want to just do it solo. in the above post, i'm always reading with her, unless it's a super easy book for her. then she can just read to me just standing right after school, or to her brother. the 'books' she gets from school for hw are a few words a page. mostly sight words that she already knows, so i don't really count those. in the above post i'm talking about picture books that we cuddle and read together.
i ask because, when i was about 7. i was really good at reading, and remember wanting to sometimes want my mom to read to me, or just cuddle together. she seemed to always be busy, in her defense she was a single mom. later, i learned she just thought i was independent now. anyway, so i remember sometimes even though i could read solo, sometimes i wanted a buddy, so i often let the kids decide if i'm with them or not.
encouraging young readers
