Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School reading speed - how fast is unusual?

*lol* I bet we could start a whole thread about this. Mine were "awry" and "censored." I thought they were pronounced AW'-REE and KUN SOARED.' Like AlexsMom, I didn't realize until teens that that word I was reading was the same word I spoke as "awry".

I figured out censored somewhat earlier. I'll date myself here -- I remember seeing a censored sign being put on Daffy Duck's (or Elmer Fudd's, etc...) mouth when they were saying angry words. In my mind, I likened it to having a "condemned" sign put on their mouths, and sounded out the word similarly until I was in 5th or 6th grade.

It's really funny to have these conversations with my DC. DS8 understands so many of the words by context, but pronounces them incorrectly. Sometimes he insists that I've got the word wrong until we look it up in the dictionary.

DS was explaining something about the implications of Russell's paradox for Frege's set theory the other day. It would have been a lot more impressive if he hadn't pronounced the latter "Fredger"! (He was German, so it's actually more like Fray-guh.)

LOL! My kids do this all the time. One of them actually just used "epitome" in conversation last week, but pronounced it wrong. I guess that one gets a lot of people!

Et tu, Brute? I am daily looking up "sounds" at Merriam-Webster online for the very reasons mentioned already. I also use another site to make sure that my French and Spanish pronunciations are fairly close to a native speaker's version of a word. I <3 sites like these and use them often!

"indicted" - this one's just not fair! What rational person WOULDN'T say "in-dik-ted"?

Thanks for the Merriam-Webster online link. There are some great word games there.

Hi Jane

I just wanted to add not to worry about the acclerated reading program and the school or kids at his new school thinking he is cheating.

My DC attend a school with an AR program, they do not get credit for the books they read until they do take a comprehension test.

It is also on a sliding scale. For every question missed on the test they get a % off. This depends on how many points the book is worth.

EX: My DS is reading "Mysterious Benedict Society" it is worth 18 AR points. If he misses a question he would recieve 13 points if he misses 1/2 he gets nothing.

He is the link to AR website:

http://www.arbookfind.com/

The only thing I didn't like with our schools AR program was how it was monitored. The kids have to take the tests on "their time" recess, lunch or their library time. This was KILLER for my son. He has social issues and needs that time to bond with his classmates. The other issue I had was setting up the exam.
My son read a novel and went into the library to take his test.
He had to look up the test (library staffed with parent volunteers...this one on her cell).
He keyed in the wrong author and missed 40% which gave him no credit for the book. I now look up the test number before they take their tests... To make sure they are taking the right exam.
There is also no redo's.

Good luck at your new school...

Thank you MyHeartBrks,

The specific info is very helpful. I had already looked at the website browsed the books and and knew there was a computer test, but I was curious as to how efficiently the exams are administered. You have confirmed my suspicions!

But if it's not easy to take a test quickly the difference in accumulated points between my son and most of the other kids will be reduced. So this could be a good thing. I did not know that the points are adjusted based on the test score - I assumed it was all or nothing. That will be a good experience for my son and it will help to confirm or disprove my opinion of his comprehension.

This is another scenario I envision where he gets accused of cheating (if you have the time for another post)......

He's read a gazillion book and then he gets told to take a test. He's read so many books and the volunteer staff isn't that familiar with software and maybe my son can't spell the authors' names...so they end up deciding - OK, take one of the Harry Potter tests. Which he passes perfectly because he's read all those books 10x. But that gives him a LOT of points and he didn't first read it this school year. As a new student, does he have an unfair advantage because of all the books he's already read several times? I guess I should just coach him to be prepared with a few titles that he has read for the first time within the last week or month?

P.S. I know I am overthinking this, but I've got an awkward kid going into a so-so public school from a very different environment.

Hi Dottie - So in your experience resentment from the other kids hasn't been an issue?


OK, now I'm laughing at myself. Yeah, the other fourth graders probably aren't going to be THAT concerned.

Please see the link below for oral fluency reading statistics based on WCPM (word correct per minute). This will give you an idea of how fast your child reads in comparison to other children.

I have a very fast reader too. She had comprehension problems at first, but it was more due to age and maturity more than anything else. She could pronounce words perfectly with no idea what they meant in addition to having problems associating reading with how the real world worked at times.

She does not like writing very much either. Her gross and fine motor skills were the last thing to develop, so that may be part of it.

(This is the same kid who lost over 100 grade points last year because she did not put her name on her paper. In addition, she would habitually leave the punctuation off the last sentence on almost every paper because she wanted the assignment off her desk as soon as possible!)


http://www.readnaturally.com/pdf/oralreadingfluency.pdf