Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Sparking interest in reading

Madoosa,
She actually loves to be read to, so that's not really a problem. We have, well, an absurd amount of books. Myself and both of her grandmothers were teachers.

When my DS was 2 he was a reader, constant reader. When he discovered math, he quit reading altogether. We did several things. We played a game called left and right, where he read the left and I read the right pages.

I got a curriculum called Jacob's ladder that is designed to start kids comprehension skills early. So I would read the story to him, then ask him the questions. If we argued about the answer, he would look it up in the story, which meant he was reading. If he wanted no questions then he had to read to me.
We read street signs and menu's, watched tv with subtitles.

It took him a while to start reading independently again. He loves to read now but is VERY picky about material. He thinks Stephen Hawking is akin to God. He thought Happy Potter was dumb, but loved Percy Jackson. He discovered Jules Verne over the summer and read everything the man ever wrote. Loved Call of the Wild, hated White Fang. At the moment he is reading Physics of the Impossible and Giving Hands. The second was assigned at school.

I guess my point is that I would get reading done in any form or fashion but do so without pushing. Even if it's just street signs for a little while, success builds confidence.

hehe yeah we also have way too many books now, but I still find that allowing Aiden to choose a new book every now and then becomes a special time. It's a lovely outing for just us, he gets to browse the store for at least half an hour. It helps him make educated choices (and live with the consequences of choosing badly either side of too easy or too boring or too difficult), and he really pores over the new book for at least 3 weeks or more. It goes in the car, goes to school, to church.. every where he goes the book goes as he reads it, re-reads it, studies the pictures, gets other people to read it to him....

Speaking of sparking an interest in reading . . . we met with DD9's teacher last night and discovered why she hates her reading group so much. They really do stop and analyze every page! While the teacher spoke glowingly of how they had a 15 minute conversation about the very first paragraph of the book, all I could think was "No wonder she feels her life being sucked away." They have been reading this book for weeks and are still only 1/4 of the way into it. I hope this doesn't make her want to stop reading.

Could something like this have happened to your DD?

Happy,
I really don't think so. If anything, I neglect to ask even basic comprehension questions. We just read and if she comments on something, we may speak briefly about it. At her school, she was read 2 big books a day. These can have more simple language, but she generally seems to enjoy them. 2 a day seems a little too few to me, but they had all that other learning to do.

Just keep reading normal books to her. The readers are so boring! I think DS learned to read with Pamela Allen books like Mr McGee. Rhyming and repetitive and mostly fun. You could always show her one word at a time and get her to find them on a page, read that word when it came. DS is a perfectionist and often his "you read" means that there is one word he has noticed in the paragraph/line that he doesn't know. As soon as I say "show me the word you don't know and I will tell you what it is" he will read the lot. He read whole words, if he didn't know a word I would just tell him, to maintain the flow of the story. We just read what he enjoyed (picture books, non-fiction, chapter books), he started scanning/reading as we were reading and would pick up new words that way. Phonics/sounding out is coming on now with no encouragement (2 years later at 4). He still prefers to be read to - think he likes the cuddle time!

Bobbie, was he reading at 2? Impressive! Actually, the reverse psychology is working like a charm. She is reading voluntarily in her bed now. Yay!

So here is another view. My little one also seemed really ready. I did bribe her with one book with giving her stars. That book still requires stars if she reads it...but all the others do not and it got her over a hump. I feel lost trying to work with this kid because I hear so much well she is so young. In a way when I hear that I feel so discredited. Yes she is young and doing things that others are not AND there are feelings there that I needed to address that were relevant even though she was so YOUNG. There was something for her about knowing the alphabet and sounds and etc. but not doing it. WOW a few stars later and she is a happy camper, choosing by herself to read to me three books every night. Easy books for sure. She reads beyond her eye strength and we have to gently change the subject. I also expect her to drop it and pick up something else for awhile and then return to it... up down back and around... I get really nervous because I have no idea how to teach anything... I kind of was hoping that the schools would do it since that is what they are suppose to do. I also believed that they knew how. With these youngsters who want it young.... I am not sure anyone knows how yet. I mean the internet has saved my sanity in realizing how un-alone I am. Reading this forum and getting ideas...Its not like there is a shelf load of books out there on how to teach two, three, or four year olds to read. So bribery worked here coupled with WE READ Together which someone from this board told me about and giving up on doing it some prescribed way. (I am a whole language reader and wanted phonics for her...she learns whole words and goes.) I guess that has been the key..Giving up on some prescribed way and trusting your gut as best you can. If your asking your not going to mess it up. I don't think parents who really push their kids into hating how to read asked.

Hoagies gifted on Facebook just posted this scholastic top -100 list with a few suggestion for reading by age group. The 4-8 year olds it recommended reading to them, even if they can read. Look at the title and pictures before you read. Discuss. After you read encourage the kiddo to re-tell the story, prompting with, "and then what happened?"

http://www.scholastic.com/100books/

LaTex,
Thanks for the info. Will look up Hoagies on fb. I love lists! Lol. As for story resell, etc., I have taught 10+ years of reading. That part I have down pat. It's just the inspiring her to do it independently when I know she can that I am not so good at.