Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school "reading-to" levels

My DD is 3. She's a reader, but a rather poor one. She loves to listen to things she wouldn't be able to read on her own, and she has the vocabulary of an older child. Every night before bed time I read her 1 or 2 books at the level she likes to listen to, and then she reads me 1 or 2 books at the level she's capable of reading. They are drastically different levels, but you can try to make the simple books more interesting by over-analyzing them. A little while ago she noticed that the toddler in her Clifford book was pictured with a stroller for the first half of the book, and the stroller just disappeared for the second half. You can try to identify the characters' motivations and feelings, etc. There's a Bob book where the dog sits on a bag that is later shown to have a hot dog in it. When the hot dog is revealed, it isn't squished like it should be.

If you can convince your child that the simple book can still be interesting to you, then they will probably find it interesting enough to read as well.

DD4 is just not interested in learning to read (even though I think she has many of the concepts down). I used to think it was just because she is extremely independent (strong willed lol)...but maybe it is because she like more complex content? She loves non-fiction and we have (what feels like) all of the cat in the hat knows a lot about that books...we have read them all so many times and spent time discussing all the topics. It will be interesting to see when she finally decides to learn to read:)

This is kind of a weird idea, but what about Hi-Lo readers? They're designed for kids with the opposite issue... older, more mature kids with low reading levels, but the idea is the same: "advanced" subjects, simpler language and lower reading level.

I decided about a year ago not to jump Hanni (now 4yr1mo) to chapter books, but to keep going with the more complex picture books. Besides the more interesting vocab and sentence structure, there are tons of opportunities for discussing character, motivation, plot structure, irony, humor, culture, history, and even styles of art-work.

I just made an interesting discovery, too. The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous is in our current rotation, and I noticed how long it is, and how complex (it's got about four mini-plots). A quick web search showed that it's about 2,100 words. "Easy chapter books" may be as short as 4,000!

I'm keeping Hanni on picture books as long as possible. The good ones that keep her stimulated are increasingly scarce as she matures, but definitely worth the hunt. (I would love to make and post a list of the real gems we've found, but I feel a little overwhelmed by that project.)

I've worried too about the mismatch when she starts to read, but I tend to agree with those who are saying that the exposure to literature will help her to make that leap.

I agree about the more advanced picture books. They cover a lot of advanced topics, in math, science, history, ,punctuation, etc. What the chapters books are good for, I find with DS6 were the areas where he is not advanced, meaning not asynchronous, like his sense of humor, some of his emotional development, the appropriateness of things he just didn't need to know how to handle. And he doesn't always want to read heavier items. I strive for a broad mix - at one point he said no more picture books, I prefer chapters, but that actually didn't last long!

DeHe

In my opinion, it really depends on the topic of the book he wants you to read. I was reading at three and was reading novels in K. Because of this, my mom loaded me down with classics and books that, looking back, were well past my maturity level. Maturity and interest are not equal.

My oldest child is eleven now and reads at a college level. I don't censor what he reads, but lately have started to keep an eye on it. He has a lot of interest in social issues, but at his age, I don't think that reading a graphic account of a woman being raped and murdered in front of her children in Sierra Leone could be OK for him emotionally. Know what I mean? I would just keep in mind any book's content in conjunction with his maturity level.