Another reading question...

[aetrom]

In my son's reading (kindergarten) he loves reading books that are too easy for him. I do challenge him with others sometimes but he complains and whines, he is a bit of a perfectionist and wants to know all the words or sound like he does. ;)

Is this a problem? Should I let him read books that are too easy? I am the one teaching him as he is learning romanian in school (and not reading there yet)

[coolmommy2x]

I wouldn't worry at this point. By reading easy books he's building his fluency skills which will help with accuracy and sight recognition. That will build a foundation for him to add new skills.

[janitablue]

I agreed I would gradually introduce to another level books.

Quoting coolmommy2x:

I wouldn't worry at this point. By reading easy books he's building his fluency skills which will help with accuracy and sight recognition. That will build a foundation for him to add new skills.

[hwifeandmom]

Three of my four kids were advanced readers by kindergarten.  Even though they could read and comprehend harder books, they enjoyed reading easier books.  They were able to finish a whole book (or multiple books) and feel successful that they had mastered them, as opposed to feeling like they'd NEVER get done with one long book.  Any reading is still beneficial to a child, and reading what they enjoy is important to keep them wanting to read.  If you continue reading the more advanced books to your son, he'll continue to pick up new words and an interest in harder books.

[aetrom]

Thanks all! He read three small books today. We keep working on it. :)

[mom22tumblebugs]

Not a problem at his age. Reading the words is one thing. Comprehension is more important. Reading easier books will help build his confidence. There are so many great picture books. Don't rush this age. He will be reading chapter books in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and on.... enjoy the illustrations.

 

[our3]

He's in KG, why push him. He is still new at reading let him read what he wants at least he's doing it. Otherside your just going to turn him away from reading by forcing him.

[kmrtigger]

Maybe get a few harder books and take turns reading the sentences or pages together. Make it fun. But I wouldn't force him to read them on his own. He will do that in time when he is ready.

[ldmrmom]

Personally I think it's much more important to cultivate the love of reading more than it is to push the harder book. When my kids were just starting to read they both went through the same stage. They would much rather read books just below their current ability level than read books at or slightly above. That's fine. At that stage it was more about cultivating the interest and confidence than pushing skill advancement. It'll all come in time.

For my two we encouraged them with by first focusing on reading to read and not focusing on level. We would get harder books (chapter, novels, etc) and read them together. Moving ahead at that stage was about confidence for my two - not perfectionism per se. They are perfectionist...or at least my oldest is, but really, his reluctance was about confidence. We started by reading the harder books together. I'd read a page. He'd read a page. Next I'd read a chapter. He'd read a chapter. Soon he was doing it on his own.

We also started a family reading challenge. Each of us picked a goal for the year and hung up charts in a public area of the house to track our progress. I had a 50-books in the year goal. Both kids and DH had a number they picked. To get credit, for example, DS had to read a chapter book with minimal help - at least half of the chapters he had to read on his own or to us. If we read him more than half the book, it didn't go on the chart. DD was just starting to read on her own. To get 'credit' on her chart she had to listen to a 'big kid book  (aka chapter book) or read her own early reader.  As a family we discussed ways to celebrate our accomplishments if we made our goals.  The kids loved it. They took turns adding titles to everyone's list as we finished our books. They put stickers all over our charts and we had a 'book party' at the end of the year with panckes for dinner and ice cream sundaes we made ourselves for desert. ROFL!

My kids are now 9 and 7 and they are both voracious readers ahead of grade level. Part of that is simply their own personal perferece and part is because early on the focus on was on "reading is fun" more than on what level book they were tackling.

[wakymom]

Ds2 is in 2nd gr. Part of his weekly homework is to practice reading aloud whatever book the teacher sends home w/ him on Mon. She told us at the start of the school yr that sometimes the books would be below our child's reading level- it's easier to master fluency when you don't have to worry about sounding out words and understanding a harder book. 

I'd let him read the easier ones, but make sure to throw in a harder one now and then.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mama2MonkeyBoys]

 I would say that he can pick out any books he wants as long as he reads a challenging book for every (however many) easy books. So if he reads 5 easy books, he needs a challenging book. Something like that.

I don't see anything wrong with pushing your child academically. I was an advanced reader at 5, but I still enjoyed the easy books - especially because my peers were reading those. But, my parents would make me pick one chapter book to read with my "easy" books when we went to the library.