How to help upper elementary kids with reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the parent of s fifth grader who was reading on third grade level this fall, i find your post very offensive.

I can understand your frustration and sympathize. When I was in elementary, I was one of the youngest and slowest in my class. Learning to read was a terrible struggle. I still remember feeling stupid and wondering why I couldn’t seem to do it when everyone else could. Finally, after a lot of my help from my very dedicated mother, somehow it finally clicked over the sumner as we moved to a new school district where they were just starting to teach my new class how to read using the very same book. Somehow, the unimaginable had happened, and I was at the head of the class, and that brought its own problems.

I really think we should help each kid at whatever level they’re at. While I honestly don’t think OP needs to worry about their son’s reading level assessment, I do relate as a mother that we always worry about our kids and respect them (and you) for doing the very best they (you) can for their (your) child.

I wish both you and your child well and hope things get better. In the meantime, while they may be frustrated by the struggle and may even take it out on you sometimes, I know from experience they appreciate your support and efforts on their behalf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is an advanved learner in general, but his reading level stopped advancing at all (still 1.5 grade-level ahead). He is reading at the same level as a year before and I worry he will stay there for the foreseeable future.

I guess some kids are just not great with reading, regardless of the amount of time they spend (he spends at least one hour every day for reading-related workbooks/tutoring/book clubs). He excels in math, science, and writing. He also likes reading books, but no progress whatsoever in his reading level, reading test scores, etc. His teacher doesn't think he has learning disability.

Do you have a kid like this? Is this a phase?

Are you a troll or do you seriously believe that your above-grade-level kid is “not great with reading”? If so you might want to reflect on whether he detects your perception of him.

Reading skills are not all about reading LEVEL. One, he likes to read, so that’s a huge battle already won. How does he do on comprehension assessments?

As someone with a lot of experience with teaching upper elementary literacy, I think the most helpful thing you could do for him is to stop talking, thinking, or worrying about his reading level. Instead, focus on getting him books he wants to read, regardless of level, and talking about the books with him. Find connections: if he’s reading about the wilderness, invite him to help plan a trip to a park and find some of the animals mentioned in the book. If he is into comics, read with him and find videos of the author and artist online, etc.

in grades 3-5 many students who loved to read start to see it as a chore and a test. Help make it a pleasurable activity and he will continue to grow as a reader.

[Anonymous]

Was he ever taught phonics at his school?

[Anonymous]

Don’t get wrapped up in a test score. It is one data point. He is above grade level, enjoys reading, and reads regularly. You are doing a good job. This is pretty much my son too in 4th grade except he really doesn’t like to read on his own beyond comics and such. BUT he loves getting read to. So I pick anove grade level classics and we read those together. This has helped him all around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the parent of s fifth grader who was reading on third grade level this fall, i find your post very offensive.

I can understand your frustration and sympathize. When I was in elementary, I was one of the youngest and slowest in my class. Learning to read was a terrible struggle. I still remember feeling stupid and wondering why I couldn’t seem to do it when everyone else could. Finally, after a lot of my help from my very dedicated mother, somehow it finally clicked over the sumner as we moved to a new school district where they were just starting to teach my new class how to read using the very same book. Somehow, the unimaginable had happened, and I was at the head of the class, and that brought its own problems.

I really think we should help each kid at whatever level they’re at. While I honestly don’t think OP needs to worry about their son’s reading level assessment, I do relate as a mother that we always worry about our kids and respect them (and you) for doing the very best they (you) can for their (your) child.

I wish both you and your child well and hope things get better. In the meantime, while they may be frustrated by the struggle and may even take it out on you sometimes, I know from experience they appreciate your support and efforts on their behalf.

I’m the one who wrote this response to the offended parent. Somehow, I think I missed OP’s second paragraph, not sure how. While I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, I can better see why you were offended. Sorry my earlier response didn’t take that into account.

[Anonymous]

TONE DEAF.

OP, your child is not advancing because he's 9 and a 9 year old is not ready to read 12 year old material. It's a maturity and comprehension thing, not a reading level thing. It's ridiculous that you can't figure this out on your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the parent of s fifth grader who was reading on third grade level this fall, i find your post very offensive.

Right??? Mom of 3rd grader reading at an early 2nd grade level here. OP is so clueless. Her kid can decode at a 5th grade level, great, but that doesn't mean he's smart enough to understand what he's reading yet. OP needs to let her child read at the level he's comfortable reading with. This whole "my child is ahead, but not ahead enough" thing reeks of rich white tiger mom wannabe. Let your kid be a kid, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out the research done by E.D. Hirsch. He posits that kids without a lot of content knowledge start to fall behind in reading in about 4th grade. Content knowledge is needed for context, etc. and kids who haven't had a wide exposure to history, science, classic stories, etc. can decode, but can't understand more difficult texts due to their constant references/allusions to other material.

This is the basis of the Core Knowledge curriculum.

Don't worry so much about reading level, and focus on enriching your DS's education in other ways. You will find it synergistic.

EXACTLY THIS. There is a huge difference between being able to read and being able to understand. OP, your kid is in 3rd grade. He can understand 3rd and 4th grade books, that's GREAT! He's not ready for 5th grade and above books, he's too young. It's FINE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out the research done by E.D. Hirsch. He posits that kids without a lot of content knowledge start to fall behind in reading in about 4th grade. Content knowledge is needed for context, etc. and kids who haven't had a wide exposure to history, science, classic stories, etc. can decode, but can't understand more difficult texts due to their constant references/allusions to other material.

This is the basis of the Core Knowledge curriculum.

Don't worry so much about reading level, and focus on enriching your DS's education in other ways. You will find it synergistic.

How does one build content knowledge? NP

[Anonymous]

Content knowledge is knowledge of the world (and universe) and how it works and what happened on it.

It is History, Geography, Science, Civics, Religion, all the Arts.

You learn by reading books and magazines and newspapers, watching documentaries, watching movies and TV shows set in the past. You learn by going to museums, taking classes, going to church and religious education, joining Scouting or other organizations and doing things with them, planting gardens, raising animals, opening a bank account.

[Anonymous]

My son has a hard time with inference at that age. The higher level readings would have something the reader would have to infer from the information given. A year or so later, he matured enough to understand this.

[Anonymous]

If you want something formal and organized, but not as overwhelming as ED Hirsch's books, I really love quickreads books for developing content knowledge as well as reading fluency.

Here's a link to some information from their website (you can buy the individual books online at Alibris, etc.)
Scroll all the way to the end and you can see benchmark readings for all the levels Level E is about 5th grade level and Level F is 6th grade.

You could read each unit and then just discuss what comes up -- watch a show or movie about it etc.

[Anonymous]

https://mysavvastraining.com/assets/files/documents/QRTE_RdgLog%20LVL%20E_1618434218.pdf

[Anonymous]

Have him work on writing instead, use his interest in reading to develop short summaries/passages of whats he's reading. Focus on evidence-based/informational writing (rather than narrative fiction.) Having a high reading level is often correlated to a child's interest in reading. I have plenty of advanced level readers who are mediocre or poor writers in my class, the pandemic and remote learning made it worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have him work on writing instead, use his interest in reading to develop short summaries/passages of whats he's reading. Focus on evidence-based/informational writing (rather than narrative fiction.) Having a high reading level is often correlated to a child's interest in reading. I have plenty of advanced level readers who are mediocre or poor writers in my class, the pandemic and remote learning made it worse.

Edited to add - OP, I see you mentioned he excels in writing, what type of things does he write? If he's mostly writing short stories, encourage him to write more comprehension based passages.