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Has anyone tried any specific charts, methods, schools of thought, or particular materials to spark interest in reading? With my ten years experience as a teacher, I seem to fall short with impressing dd4. Bob is boring. The DRA leveled readers at her level are equally so. She loves to be read to and would sit for hours and listen. This reminds me of how she learned the alphabet. I never taught her outright. Then one day, Poof! She just knew them all.

Thinking of doing a reward chart with lists of the different reader sets we have. Ideas?

I found DD not the most aggressive reader and thought her giftedness was mostly in math. She is now 7 and she is becoming quite the reader, at least 2 grades above and particular about what she reads.

I'd be concerned that giving rewards for reading might backfire; I've been impressed by the research showing that offering people a reward for doing something makes them less likely to do it voluntarily than they would have been if you had never offered a reward. Two things we did might be relevant (or might not; he was younger, and he was never reluctant to read):

- DS's reading books were only for him to read. Nobody ever read one to him.

- Reading to himself was the one thing he was allowed to do after bedtime, other than go to sleep!

I wouldn't push it at this point, just keep reading to her. Our kids' teachers told us (and it seemed to be true among our kids and their friends) that reading readiness is something that just happens at different times with different kids, and the best way to help spark a love of reading for our kids, as well as help them develop their comprehension skills, was to read *to* them - not just before they know how to read but all the way through elementary school.

Neither our ds12 or our dd10 was interested in learning to read at 4, but became very good readers. DS12 just suddenly started reading midway through K and went from not knowing part of the alphabet to suddenly reading chapter books. By the end of first grade he was reading at college level. Our dd10 went through what seemed the traditional steps of learning to read, today reads ahead of grade level (although not far ahead), and she is the kid who loves to read so much she walks around with her nose inside a book 99.9% of the time.

I'd be sure to keep reading to her every day, have lots of books around, let her look at her books in bed at night etc. and I might even work on phonics as games - but I'd stay away from external motivation/reward.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Count this as another vote in favor of "do nothing." Just keep reading to her to keep her love of books alive, and the rest usually takes care of itself.

My DD was 5 and we knew she could read, but she refused to demonstrate it. Looking back, it seems like perfectionism was getting in her way, because she was afraid of making a mistake. Anyway, I finally coaxed her past it. I told her how very far ahead she was at her age compared to where I was at the same age, and ticked off a number of points. Then I told her the one place where I had been ahead of her, because I had been reading books to my mom when I was 4. Later that week, she read a book to her mom. Less than a month after that, she was reading aloud to her pre-K class.

I would search for much more interesting material. Read some of it to her, and leave the rest lying around for her to discover. You could try magazines and comic books as well as books. I'd stay away from rewards, except that if she finishes a book on her own and indicates that she liked it a lot, I'd get the next in the series or a similar one.

This is kind of what we do. We read to DD every day. My DH is always reading a chapter book to her and her favorite books of poetry at night. And, he always gets her to read one book to him before bed. I don't know how he does it, but she always reads him one book so willingly. (maybe because he is not the one teaching her.)

During the day I read picture books to her. I also have a stack of books that are at her instructional level next to my bed. When we are being lazy, I'll pick up one of them, hold the page above our heads and slowly read the text while running my finger under the words. Usually, after a page or two of this she is reading along. Then, she just starts reading. (I like the meaty readers with a lot of text on each page and less pictures for this activity.) I explain new words, etc.

Books that are right at her level go in a basked next to her bed. She reads every now and then to herself throughout the day. But, we also give her free reading time before lights out. She can read ten books before calling it quits. I keep easier books in the basket, too. I just want her to read, you know. Oh, and BOB books and the like are boring. DD only ever wanted to read through them once.

starfall.com!
computer!

I did put a sticker at the end of books dd read. She tried to get 4 stickers on every book. They were so very easy by the third time and she thought she was something! She was 4. I also took her to the playground to stay as long as she wanted when she finished Junie B. Jones series...:)

I think celebrating a mastery rather than bribing them is okay.

A couple of weeks ago someone mentioned taking the placement test at reading eggs.com to get an idea of reading level. I found a code for two free weeks and DD did love it. She maxed out the test and that got her onto level 8, which was far too easy. She worked her way easily to level 11/12 in a couple of weeks. (FWIW, It said her reading age was 6.5 years at that point which seems about right. I would peg her at a late first grade level. It looked like it did not go much higher.)

The code was super easy to find.

Thank you all so much for your input. I decided to make the chart anyway, but to keep it to myself. I will mark on the computer (I love Excel.) which books she has read for my own personal info. That way, I feel like I know what level she is on and can put out appropriate "readable" books to go with the zillion picture books we have. I really think the problem is that she is such a perfectionist that she doesn't want to make any mistakes. Also, the interest level is an issue since she would rather read 4th or 5th grade level nonfiction books on dolphins or her favorite, Edgar Degas, than "Mat sat on Cat." LOL.

I am also going with reverse psychology. I had some "new" books out yesterday and she picked some to read. I read about 15 of them to her. She looked at me and said "You know I can read these by myself, right?" I told her, "Yes, but it's only a mommy reading time right now." Hehe.

I will definitely do Starfall, which she loves. I looked up www.readingeggs.com and will try that too. I saw the link to Study Island and my students loved that, so I may try that too.

Does anyone know any computer games to buy that would be useful? She does use the mouse proficiently.