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My son liked some of the Cam Jansen mysteries for easy reading when he was 5 or 6 and he also liked DK books, but he really liked listening to me read books to him with more challenging vocabulary and I think that is why his reading level and comprehension kept growing.

We've started doing that! I read a chapter book (70-80 pages usually) to my three kids every Sunday lately. It's great for vocabulary for DD4 and DS7. I get a little hoarse by the end of the story, but it's a lot of fun.

Val

Val- Have your kids tried Frannie K Stein? My DS loves them! A little tomboy, a little girl mixed in. Well not much girl actually, but enough!

I read higher level chapter books to my DS- it usually takes us about three weeks to make it through. I'm almost done with Phantom Tollbooth now. We've also been reading the 39 Clues series. He loves the stories but the font and compressed pages are just too hard for his little eyes. He tries but often complains of headaches.

We love vocabulary here and try to incorporate big "wow" words into our everyday life. Anytime we come across a new, big word that isn't common, we usually talk about what it means and then try to use it for a few days. It's fun and we all get into it. Earlier this week we were playing with phenomenon, cacophony and diversify. Phantom Tollbooth has given us some crazy words!

I loved The Phantom Tollbooth when I was a kid (both book and movie)! Great idea!

Val

DS7 went into K with a 2nd grade reading level. His loved magic tree house books at that time. Throughout K, he advanced to about 4th grade level books. This year in 1st, he started out about 6th grade vocabulary and maybe around 4/5 grade reading level. We just took him into a psychologist to do IQ and achievement tests. He is currently around 7th grade vocabulary and 8th grade reading comprehension.

I do not believe in kids reading level even out by 3 grade. I don't even remember if DS was ever in 3rd grade reading level. He seemed to skip over them when he was ready.

For many years, I can see DS's reading and math level jumped and leveled off and jumped again. It is amazing how gifted kids works!

Thank-you Dottie for the STAR details,
I figure if they want to use STAR as a form of measurement than they should be giving us the tools we need to move forward.

Hitting the nail on the head.

Sometimes teachers will just say whatever fits with the results of your child's test.
In our experience with STARS reading, the scores jumped up and down over 4 grade levels within one school year. During parent night we were told that STARS is pretty accurate but later when DD11 (7 at the time)came back with above average scores we were told how inaccurate STARS was.
I would ignore STARS but make sure your child is allowed to read "just right" books in class even if their "just right" is much higher than other kids.
Wendy

Late jumping in here, but FWIW ...

My ds was easily reading things like Beverly Cleary on entering K. They didn't differentiate to our satisfaction, and his pleasure reading level dropped massively over that school year -- it picked back up over the summer.

This fall, he started a new school and was bumped to a third-grade reading group. What we discovered was that there is a lot more to doing a language arts class than just reading level. With that two-year subject acceleration, ds was expected to do a lot more critical reading (something he'd never had experience with) and more writing. Plot, character development, predictions. All of these skills need to be taught, and my ds did have a "catch up period" going from the end of K to beginning third grade in reading, even though he'd started K reading around that level. Don't get me wrong -- he's well placed at this level. He just needs to put in a bit of effort, which is exactly what we wanted!

Just keep in mind that there's a lot more to "reading" than just the reading.

My dd was reading at above 4th grade level when she was 5 years old and was reading chapter books at about 3 1/2 or 4 years old.

She is now in 4th grade (skipped 3rd) with a wonderful language arts teacher. She came home last week and informed me that "this is the year I learned to read". She is looking at books in a completely different light. Appreciates good literature at a different level now. Her teacher does not limit the level they can read at and actually encourages kids to stretch themselves. The kids in that class read anywhere from grade level to high school level books.

Yup. This was an issue for us because they stopped when they determined that DS was at the end of the year reading level wise. We pointed out that as part of his assessment for his GIEP they needed to continue to see what his actual reading level was. Unfortunately they tested him on a bad test day (which was also his birthday) which put him somewhere near end of second grade/beginning of third.

So we just let him be his own guide. He can read what he finds interesting at home.

We're a bit jaded in part because they haven't made a lot of accommodations for DS (beyond the standard enrichment) nor have they made any accommodations for his age (after returning from school breaks it takes him a few weeks to re-adjust). They are doing some supplemental math for him in his homeroom which as been good news for us...

JB