Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Book Suggestions for 2 y.o.

My 2 y.o. will be 3 in Nov. How do you assess reading levels? My sister told me about Dolch sight words as a way to determine reading level. I showed him the words and he couldn't read some of the 2nd grade level words. Does this mean he reads at a 2nd grade level? What level is Peter Rabbit, Skippy Jon Jones and Stellaluna? He likes those books. Any book suggestions?

Okay, well, first, yes, there are lists of words you can look at to estimate reading level. They can give you a rough estimate, but it really is a rough estimate.

When your child regularly reads unfamiliar books at a particular reading level with good accuracy and comprehension, then I think you can say that your child reads at that level. You can't really count books that you've already read to your child, because some kids memorize books very easily. Anyway, you can look up the grade level of books, and find similar books, with Scholastic's Book Wizard.

I'm wondering why you want a reading level for your 3 year old?
Our library and Scholastic web sites have age related reading levels on books. Sometimes the levels seem not very accurate.

There is a five finger rule for reading at the appropriate level. If a child has five words they can't read on a book page the book is to hard.

My suggestions would be to just have fun reading together. My DYS son started reading around 4. We were reading Nate the Great to him at the time, which was to hard for him, but he would just pick a few sentenses to try and we helped with the words. He was always a run before you could walk type of kid. To me it didn't make sense to start learing to read from chapter books but he insisted. We just followed his lead.

My kids enjoyed hooked on phonics books from the library. They are very small and gradually build. It felt good for them to finish a stack of 30 books and go to the next level. We never did the support materials. I think they had that covered at school.

Some books that come to mind are Biscuit. These are stories that my daughter loved. Before she could read, she would have me point to the animal sound words and she would say "woof or meow". We have wonderful reading memories.

Dr. Suess and Bonton have good rhymes for early readers. A little deeper (and preread for a sensitive child)is Shel Silverstein poems. Some of my favorite illustrators are Allyson Jay and Brian Karas and I just love their stories. That should keep you busy for a while. Oh, just two more, read Frog and Toad books and also Mr. and Mrs. Green both funny.

Send me a PM if you have any touble finding anything listed. I would love to hear DC's reaction to these.

Thanks. The first time I knew my child could really read and wasn't memorizing was when he took a never read before book out of his Easter basket this past Easter and starting reading Peter Rabbit aloud. I started going to the library and bookstores and getting new books and he would read them to me. He used to read Biscuit and Dr. Seuss early readers, but he likes a little bit more of a story now. Wanted to know his reading level so I don't buy a book he's bored of in a couple of days. I don't read to him much anymore. He reads to me or just picks books off the shelf in the playroom or takes one to his room and reads aloud. I'll hear him talking and go to his room and he has a book open, reading to his animals. He has a couple of poem books, but not Shel Silverstein. Good suggestion. Since he likes pretending to be a Frog, I'll look for Frog and Toad first. He has a really great sense of humor, so I think he'll really like the funny books. :-)

Hi AnnaC,
You have a really advance little boy there. Keep it up and keep him continually interested. That's great!

Okay, well, if it was the real, unabridged Peter Rabbit, that is very impressive. I'd say 3rd grade, at least.

AnnaC, one of the type of books my dd's enjoyed at that age (that weren't too girly) was the Berenstain Bears, they come in different reading levels and there's a moral to the story type endings which dd's loved, good books for boys and girls. Have fun