Tell me about your 1st grade reader

[Anonymous]

DS1 was at the Harry Potter level in first.
DS2 is reading Frog and Toad type books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kiddo is reading at a 3rd grade level and won't stop reading. I didn't know kids could read too much but we need him stop in order to come up for air and interact with people. What do we do? He's into Dogman and Dragon Master books.

This sounds similar to my kid. Like tonight he devoured an entire Merlin mission magic tree house book before bed.

Truthfully, there’s a pretty wide range in 1st and it’s clear to us that DS is doing more than fine so we don’t really care at this point, just that he continues to love reading. One thing I have found helpful is to google Lexile and guided reading level ranges that are expected for his grade. I then compare the books DS is reading to that range to have an idea whether we should be concerned. This was helpful in K when trying to understand if he was on target for 1st. Now I do it to figure out what books to suggest to DS that are just a little bit more challenging to where he is at now.

[Anonymous]

My 1st grader is in the most advanced reading group in her class. Her fluency and phonemic awareness is very good -- she can read pretty much anything. Like yes, she could read a passage from a Harry Potter book and would understand it.

But her reading stamina is still limited. Like if she read from a Harry Potter book, reading a couple paragraphs would tire her out. But she could read a Princess in Black book cover to cover without a problem.

Recently she's become obsessed with a bunch of the Scholastic early reader series -- Unicorn Academy, the Rainbow Magic books about fairies. They are about the same level as Dragon Masters or Magic Treehouse, but she doesn't enjoy those books as much. She still gets tired reading them and often what we do is trade off reading chapters, or trade pages.

I do think this stage is hard because she's so close to being essentially independent, but she really has to build that stamina. So for me it's all about just finding books she's really excited about because that's what gets her to push through a bit even when she's tired. It's like exercise -- find something really fun that will help you push a little harder even when your tired, then you get better and the next time it's easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kiddo is reading at a 3rd grade level and won't stop reading. I didn't know kids could read too much but we need him stop in order to come up for air and interact with people. What do we do? He's into Dogman and Dragon Master books.

This sounds similar to my kid. Like tonight he devoured an entire Merlin mission magic tree house book before bed.

Truthfully, there’s a pretty wide range in 1st and it’s clear to us that DS is doing more than fine so we don’t really care at this point, just that he continues to love reading. One thing I have found helpful is to google Lexile and guided reading level ranges that are expected for his grade. I then compare the books DS is reading to that range to have an idea whether we should be concerned. This was helpful in K when trying to understand if he was on target for 1st. Now I do it to figure out what books to suggest to DS that are just a little bit more challenging to where he is at now.

I'm 21:20 and agree on looking at Lexile level. That's how we found the Scholastic series that DD is enjoying now -- scholastic gives the Lexile level for all their books and once you find a book your kid responds well too, you can look up books at that level and then just screen for content that you think your kid would be into to. It's also easier to identify "stretch" books that way -- if they do great with a book with a Lexile of 400, try one that's rated a 450 and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Age and birth order makes huge difference OP.

My current 1st grader is reading simple chapter books like Half Magic. He also reads a lot of Dog Man graphic novels and Who would Win. He’s above grade level - but he also turned 7 in November and has an older brother which adds to the availability of books at higher reading levels.

My older child is identified as gifted and was reading things like Step into Reading Level 1 and 2 books in 1st grade. He turned 7 in July after 1st grade. He also had remote school for all of 1st grade and I used “Teach your child to read in 100 lessons” when covid ended kindergarten for him in March and he was just starting to sound out CVC words.

Your child turned 7 in Nov, and is in the first grade? Please sit down, you do not count in this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS1 was at the Harry Potter level in first.
DS2 is reading Frog and Toad type books.

Same. For us, the older kid has an October birthday and the younger is late May. That means my older kid was wrapping up K when he was the same age as the younger one is right now halfway through 1st.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in 2nd now, when he was in first he was reading on the 5th-grade level. He loves to read and we started reading to him every night since he was 2 weeks old. He does read chapter books but prefers graphical novels. To check for understanding we make him write a paragraph about the books he read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age and birth order makes huge difference OP.

My current 1st grader is reading simple chapter books like Half Magic. He also reads a lot of Dog Man graphic novels and Who would Win. He’s above grade level - but he also turned 7 in November and has an older brother which adds to the availability of books at higher reading levels.

My older child is identified as gifted and was reading things like Step into Reading Level 1 and 2 books in 1st grade. He turned 7 in July after 1st grade. He also had remote school for all of 1st grade and I used “Teach your child to read in 100 lessons” when covid ended kindergarten for him in March and he was just starting to sound out CVC words.

Your child turned 7 in Nov, and is in the first grade? Please sit down, you do not count in this discussion.

My DD is currently tearing through the Judy Blume Fudge books. We usually read a chapter together each night, and she'll often read 1-2 chapters in between by herself. She's also 7 yo ... but for some strange reason doesn't count? She's a fall birthday. Last year she was mostly into Magic Tree House is 6 is somehow the magic age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age and birth order makes huge difference OP.

My current 1st grader is reading simple chapter books like Half Magic. He also reads a lot of Dog Man graphic novels and Who would Win. He’s above grade level - but he also turned 7 in November and has an older brother which adds to the availability of books at higher reading levels.

My older child is identified as gifted and was reading things like Step into Reading Level 1 and 2 books in 1st grade. He turned 7 in July after 1st grade. He also had remote school for all of 1st grade and I used “Teach your child to read in 100 lessons” when covid ended kindergarten for him in March and he was just starting to sound out CVC words.

Your child turned 7 in Nov, and is in the first grade? Please sit down, you do not count in this discussion.

LOL. What grade would you expect them to be in?!? Are you not from the DC area where the kindergarten cutoff is September?

[Anonymous]

Oy. This is stressing me out. My fall birthday and 1st grade 7 year old can read all of the words in Frog and Toad, but doesn't even have the stamina for that. She literally will not read on her own--not even things on cereal boxes. Her teacher says that she *can* read and is just reluctant so she's above grade level. My kid tells me that for group work in 1st grade, they're still doing CVC words and some sight words, but that reading actual books is not expected.

[Anonymous]

The Who Would Win series is a good example of what my first grader (7 in May) reads on his own. He’s kind of lazy and prefers us to read to him, but he will read that level of book without whining.

[Anonymous]

All first graders are 6 or 7. That's normal.

I think it's much better for kids to be happily reading even if it's not the highest level they can do rather than struggling to read something hard which will drain them and make reading a chore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS1 was at the Harry Potter level in first.
DS2 is reading Frog and Toad type books.

Same. For us, the older kid has an October birthday and the younger is late May. That means my older kid was wrapping up K when he was the same age as the younger one is right now halfway through 1st.

I'm the PP and my boys are October and late May too. Funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in 2nd now, when he was in first he was reading on the 5th-grade level. He loves to read and we started reading to him every night since he was 2 weeks old. He does read chapter books but prefers graphical novels. To check for understanding we make him write a paragraph about the books he read.

Is this is a troll post, it's good, because it's just right on the line of what someone might actually say in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oy. This is stressing me out. My fall birthday and 1st grade 7 year old can read all of the words in Frog and Toad, but doesn't even have the stamina for that. She literally will not read on her own--not even things on cereal boxes. Her teacher says that she *can* read and is just reluctant so she's above grade level. My kid tells me that for group work in 1st grade, they're still doing CVC words and some sight words, but that reading actual books is not expected.

My older DS is a book worm. He spends all his time reading. My younger DS is much more like yours. I was stressed a little too primarily because school is so much easier for kids who naturally love to read.

But I think the main thing is not to push it. He still loves being read *to* and sometimes I'll just read to him, and other times we'll alternate pages. We play a game where I deliberately read certain words wrong, and he taps me on the arm when I do it, and corrects me. I try to mess up in silly ways and it makes him laugh and it makes it more fun for us both.