Need advice for encouraging reading

[gotomu212]

I can relate to the intimidation factor. My son is a great reader now, but even so sometimes he'll pick up a book a friend recommended and it'll look too big and he judges it by the size and gets turned off. When I noticed it happening more often I said look you don't have to read this book but I want you to give it a chance and at least read the first chapter...the next thing I knew he was 5 chapters in a couldn't put it down. Knowing that he just had to make it through 10-15 pages helped (and at first grade the chapters will be even shorter). The Weird School series is a good one for a stronger reader this age-especially boys.

I'm reading the classics now and I'll admit I've even tried this approach myself and been surprised at the psychological impact of saying you don't have to read the entire copy of Moby Dick, just the first 50 pages and viola by page 50 I'm sailing along.

It's fine though if he wants to relax with easier books too. I LOVE reading the Bearenstein Bears books each night (my sons just along for the ride while I secretly relive my dreams of living in a treehouse).

 

[Skippy918]

It took my son awhile to get into chapter books. He preferred reading the picture books. I only had to bribe him once to read a chapter book. This was by the end of first grade and his teacher had said he was reading on a 2nd grade level. He enjoyed Geronimo Stilton and Magic Tree house. He still reads Magic Tree house and I know he's capable of reading more advanced books but he is stubborn about it. Dh has a whole collection of books from his childhood and my son refuses to read them. He's in 2nd grade and his reading level is a late 3rd early 4th.

 

[Skippy918]

I would only caution you to take it slow and not be intimidating. My grandson who is now 14 loved the idea of stories and being read to but got so anxious about actually reading that you could visibly see his anxiety. We and ur daughter tried everything until about 4th grade. The school wouldn't test him...because then they would have to do something about it...so we paid the money to have him tested. Turns out he had a couple unusual learning disabilities involving short term memory and comprehension and retention. Immediately got him an IEP and a private tutor. He is a completely different boy day. I'm not at all suggesting there are any issues with your son but it always helps to air in the Side of caution. Also, about the kindle, his tutor has suggested no electronic devices for reading. He believes the physical act of holding a book, marking it up if needed, going back and reviewing is much more valuable to kids as a learning tool than one more screen they can stare at and get mesmerized. Just some thoughts.

I was never tested for LD as a child, but I always did poorly on reading comprehension standardized tests. I like reading now, but I do find myself having to reread what I read especially if it's been a few days since I picked up the book.

 

[SmallWorld71]

First of all, remember that even though his reading level puts him closer to the end of 2nd grade than the end of first grade, he is still a first grader! Many first graders don't have the attention span or desire to stick with the longer books, including those who can. I work with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders and every year it is the 2nd graders who are obsessed with 'Chapter Books.' If he's already reading above grade level, he should be perfectly fine just choosing his own books for his independent reading and you continuing to read to him.
That said, there is nothing wrong with steering him towards some new series. Here is a link to kids' series books by fountas and pinnell reading level. I would suggest starting with some series BELOW his reading level to build the stamina and confidence. Poppleton, Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Young Cam Jansen, Mercy Watson and the Frog and Toad Series are fabulous series of books that are great TRANSITION series to help kids bridge from picture books to longer chapter books. They are good ones to read together as well - enjoyable for adults.
LINK: http://thorntoncreek.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/series-at-levels-chart-F-W-20120618.pdf

Also, there are a ton of picture books out there that have a harder reading level than many of these series books if you are looking to increase the difficulty of his reading without increasing the length of the books.

 

[dotfurio]

It doesn't have to be chapter books. If he prefers picture books many are at a higher grade level. I have some that go up to 4th grade in my room.

ODD hated chapter books, but she transitioned to them with books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants type books that have graphic elements mixed in.

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

I like reading all of these suggestions, but most of all I like reading other parents say don't push it so much. My daughter is in pretty much the same position, but she seems to have a little bit of a stutter when she gets nervous. This really affects her reading out-loud and slows her down. We are on a waitlist to have her tested, and I am not making her read at home a lot. She is not as nervous with me, but I still notice it sometimes. I do trade off sections of chapter books with her. I love reading and I want her to love it too, so I am not pushing it.

 

[kuhltiffany]

We download Audiobooks for our kids to listen to, that has made a huge difference in getting our kids interested in reading when they were in that "in between/overwhelmed" stage!

 

[Caseheidi]

Dad is also in first grade. She will read picture books to me, but will not read aloud from the first chapter books,however is in love with them we discovered the Tree House Mysteries a few months ago, and she follows along. I have found that she likes me to follow the words with my finger or a bookmark so she can follow the words and not lose her place.

We also switch off between chapter books and all her favorite picture books. She loves the Mo Willims Elephant and Piggie books, as well as the Pegion books. She likes to pick one of the characters to read, and have me read the other one. Even if these books are simple for them, it is great practice reading out loud, and sounding out the more difficult words. Plus she loves the stories, so she enjoys it. She also likes to read her old Dr. Seuss books. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish is a good one to trade off pages while reading. Not too many words per page, fun rhymes and familiar. It really makes her feel good about her ability, and makes her want to keep trying.

Good luck!

 

[QueenIsabella]

DS10 went through a phase where he'd only take Dr. Seuss books out of the school library. It was driving us and his teacher crazy, because we all knew he could read more advanced books than that. Plus, we had a good collection of Dr. Seuss at home, and he was bringing home duplicates. But, that was his comfort zone. The books were fun and colorful and familiar. My biggest issue was, school books getting mixed in with home books--my sister gives us, literally, boxes of books for every holiday (God bless her!), and some are purchased at library sales, so they have library labels on them. Just try to find the one "Oak Street School" book among thousands on the shelves, when lots of them are from "Elm Street School" or "Maple Street School"--ARRRGH!

At any rate, my son grew past this phase. He still loves Dr. Seuss, but now is solidly into chapter books of all kinds. I promise, in a couple years, you'll be past this phase, too--and with any luck, have a great reader on your hands!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ah if it were only that easy...
For example, he loves the Stink series. But only if we read it to him. He'll bring it to us to read because he wants to know what happens next. He's totally into them. It's also one of the series specifically suggested for his reading level, so he should be able to read it to himself no problem. But he just won't. I suppose I could refuse to read it to him, but that seems totally counterproductive to instilling a love of reading and books.

You read one page aloud, have him read a page, and so on.

 

[nugov2]

Junie B Jones is a good series. I just read to my daughter when she doesn't feel like reading. The interest in reading is way more important than the level.

On a side note, I can't stand Junie b jones. She is the calliou of the book world for me. She calls people names like dummy and stupid and I just find her obnoxious. Maybe I'm alone in this thinking, but I've never been a fan lol.

 

[DopeyDame]

On a side note, I can't stand Junie b jones. She is the calliou of the book world for me. She calls people names like dummy and stupid and I just find her obnoxious. Maybe I'm alone in this thinking, but I've never been a fan lol.

AAAAAAAAAAACKKKK! DD 4 just discovered Cailliou. (I managed to keep it totally away from DS) I don't think I can handle Junie B Jones if this is true

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I agree with the audio book that is what I am doing and there is just something about fallowing along

Also his comfet book outside of school or even in school if the teacher will allow it during diligent reading

 

[Tinijocaro]

Without reading any responses, shut off the tv, seriously limit the amount of time spent on handheld devices or iPads (any type of screens). A first grader should barely be using those things-maybe an hour or two n the weekends. Have a no screen rule during school days. Easy to do now, harder to take it away when they are older. Continue to read TO your child. Good books-spend time researching great quality children's literature.

 

[pocomom]

On a side note, I can't stand Junie b jones. She is the calliou of the book world for me. She calls people names like dummy and stupid and I just find her obnoxious. Maybe I'm alone in this thinking, but I've never been a fan lol.

Hate her. I know A LOT of little kids love those books, but I skipped over them for my 2ND and 3rd kids. Name calling and whining, and general obnoxious behavior. YUCK.

 

[Allons-y!]

On the opposite side, DD and I loved reading the Junie B. series together, probably because the character is so different than DD. It's fun to have the "naughty" kid as the main character. Of course, we also always tend to like the not-so-goody-two-shoes characters in other books, shows, and movies, too.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I used to read to my kids just until it got to a really good part, where they were begging me to go on but I would stop. If they REALLY wanted to know what would happen next, they read it themselves.

 

[OneOftheB's]

Sounds like your son is a lot like mine was. He stumbled on a really fun series of books called The Notebook of Doom (first one is called Rise of the Balloon Goons). He was also into Pokemon in first grade and we found several used Pokemon chapter books at our local used book store.

I didn't really "force" DS to read in first grade, beyond the assigned school work. I encouraged him to read but once he hit his threshold of screen time, we was required to read before earning additional electronics for the day.

One other thing I did start last summer, when he was a rising 3rd grader, was 30 minutes of reading a day. DS's school requires 20 minutes of reading at home each day, and I knew that 20 minutes would be easy once 30 minutes was the routine amount of time. Interestingly, his reading blossomed this summer and was reading on a 6th grade level at the beginning of the school year. Home reading can be whatever he wants; earlier this year he finished the Wimpy Kid books and moved onto the Percy Jackson books. I can't get him to pick up the Harry Potter series, even with reading them with him in the evenings. I think the size of the later books is intimidating for him.

 

[cgncga]

How about trying some of the large print books for the visually impaired? If he is just intimidated by the number of words on the pages, this might help him move on to chapter books.

This would be a great idea if they actually published many large print books for children. My 12 year old daughter has vision issues so I started looking for large print books 7 or 8 years ago and I bought any that I could find--even if she was too young for them at the time. In all my searching I found maybe 2 or 3 dozen large print kids' books.

In her case, it ended up being a moot point since the print in them is still no where near the size that she needs to be able to read comfortably. She now does all her reading on the Kindle app on her IPAD using the largest font size (letters about 1 inch high).

 

[DopeyDame]

Op again. Just a huge thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Lots of great ideas on this thread - some we're already doing and some I had never thought about.
More than that, I really appreciate everyone's positivity, calmness, and willingness to share!
I know sometimes it gets crazy around here but I still think this is one of the nicest communities on the internet.