Reading frustration

[Anonymous]

My 6yo dd just completed kindergarten. She is reading at a C level. I'd like to work with her over the summer but she becomes so frustrated when reading. She just gives up as soon as she sees the page. Any suggestions to make reading fun ?

[Anonymous]

Leave it alone for the summer. Read to her and play lots of sound games like rhyming games. .. can we think of words that end with at? Cat, bat,...
Let's see if we can think of all the words that start with S. Sat, silly.....
Ch.. church, chair...
By playing worn sounds you are playing with language, working on beginning and ending sounds, which are all important skills for reading.
There is really and truly and honestly time for her to learn to read.
When she draws, ask her what she drew and write down her dictation so she can see how spoken words translate to the writing.
If you leave it and don't pressure her she might start asking you how to spell words she needs when she's writing... also read lots of books that have the same repetitive phrases and let her finish then. .. silly Sally went to town, ... (walking backwards upside down)
Perhaps she can write her own books either her own stories she can make new pages (and illustrate) for favorite books.

[Anonymous]

Make it fun and make it something that she does to communicate with you.

E.g. when you go to the store, give her a shopping list. Read all the items on it before you go and have her memorize them. Then "forget" what you need so she needs to read the list.

OR -- write some very simple directions for making cookies. Have her be the "recipe reader" and read off the steps as you make them together.

[Anonymous]

Honestly - get her a tutor. An outsider will have much better results than Mom. Do not let her fall further behind in the summer - this is her chance to catch up.

We did this for DS and it made all the difference. The best money we ever spent.

[Anonymous]

You have to walk a fine line between not pushing it too much and not ignoring it too much. If she's frustrated because she feels like she's not good at reading, then that frustration will only get worse if she doesn't read. On the other hand, if she just isn't into it, it may be better to hang back more.

I personally was behind in reading until 3rd grade, when a teacher saw that I had some potential to move up from the lowest reading class to a higher one. I was doing well in all other subjects, and all of my friends were in the higher reading groups. For me, the frustration was mostly because I felt "behind." Catching up allowed me to feel like I could enjoy reading and didn't have to feel bad about myself. I actually went on to major in English in college!

But this won't be the case for everyone. And even if it is, that doesn't mean it'll be easy to motivate her. I had to do reading work over the summer from 3rd to 4th grade, and I hated it. I know my mom put up with a lot to try to get me to do it!

I would focus on things that she finds fun and keep a really positive attitude. Can you find things to read that are about things she loves? If she has a particular passion or hobby, maybe you could find books about those things.

Try to continue to motivate her by pointing out how helpful reading is in different situations where she would like to know more but can't unless she reads (i.e. she wants to know what the movie advertisement says without having to read it, etc.).

Maybe play some literacy-related games as a family, too. Zingo has some bingo games that can be fun and involve words, and there are tons of other games you can buy or find on Pinterest to make up yourself.

[Anonymous]

DO NOT WORRY. She is in kindergarten. I teach first grade and I do not expect that students will come in the door reading. If they know the letters and letter sounds, and are starting to put them together that's perfect.
For a very large number of first graders, the "light comes on" sometime during the first half of the school year. Sometimes it happens over winter break. But it usually happens. If your daughter is at a "C" she is already doing the things I mentioned above. If she gets frustrated do more reading TO her than having her read. The down side of the early levels is that the text they can read is super boring. Does she like to play on the computer or tablet? I love starfall.com and the starfall apps for beginning readers. It works on beginning sight words and basic decoding. Read to and with her. Read her a chapter book such as my father's dragon or charlotte's web and discuss what is happening in the story. Work on comprehension and identifying things like beginning, middle, and end and cause and effect.
We talk about strategies when you come to a word you don't know. Many early and struggling readers just randomly guess when they come to a word they don't know. We talk about if their guess makes sense- does it start with the same letter as the unknown word? Does it have the same sounds? Does it make sense in the sentence?

I wouldn't push her- you don't want her to dislike reading. I would do lots of reading type activities without pushing her to hard to actually have to do the reading.
If she is struggling in first grade, her teacher will have strategies and programs to help her. Many many schools (every one I've taught at thus far) have first grade specific programs for struggling readers.
But really, there's no need to panic- as a rising first grader your daughter actually sounds quite typical. There's a very wide range of normal at this age and it's hard not to feel like your kid is a failure because they aren't reading Harry Potter yet. But she'll get there!

[Anonymous]

How about using a website like starfall.com - makes it a bit more fun and a lot more like it's just a game they are playing, yet it builds their skills with each level. My kids used to love it.

[Anonymous]

How about trying Letter Factory and/or Word World? I think that if you force it before she is willing and ready, you might get a better reader but one who hates to read. I'd back off a little bit and then after letting her see Word World and Letter Factory many times and doing daily reading with her where you're the only reader, I'd start reading and get to a really easy word, point to it, and say, "wait a second...um... what's that word? That's odd...I can't figure it out." See if she can then help you. If she doesn't, I would purposely say the word wrong. So if it was "a," I might say, "no." If you do that once a night to her, then I'd get to easy words and start pointing to them and kind of nudge her to let her know she should say it. Increase REALLY slowly so that in many, many weeks, you are agreeing to read to her nightly after she reads to you OR that she reads a page and you read a page.

[Anonymous]

Read to her and get audio books for the car.

[Anonymous]

I practice reading with my kindergartners in subtle ways (when not doing the required school reading). I'll ask them to read street signs when we are driving, play board games in which they have to read directions on what to do when they land on a space or directions from a chosen card ( ie game of life). One of mine is very stubborn and hates sitting down and being forced to read and incorporating reading into every day things gives him a little more control.

[Anonymous]

I recommend taking all pressure off reading. Read to your dd as much as possible. Once she starts to enjoy listening to you read, you can do some shared reading (have her read a character or familiar words while you read the rest). If you have any younger kids, have her read some of her old toddler books to the little ones. Think Fun has some good games like Zingo that can help practice sight words in a fun way. Someone already suggested Starfall.com. It's free, and kids enjoy it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly - get her a tutor. An outsider will have much better results than Mom. Do not let her fall further behind in the summer - this is her chance to catch up.

We did this for DS and it made all the difference. The best money we ever spent.

+1 If you aren't a teacher do not teach. You will be making it so much worse. An outsider could make reading fun, satisfying and enlightening for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DO NOT WORRY. She is in kindergarten. I teach first grade and I do not expect that students will come in the door reading. If they know the letters and letter sounds, and are starting to put them together that's perfect.
For a very large number of first graders, the "light comes on" sometime during the first half of the school year. Sometimes it happens over winter break. But it usually happens. If your daughter is at a "C" she is already doing the things I mentioned above. If she gets frustrated do more reading TO her than having her read. The down side of the early levels is that the text they can read is super boring. Does she like to play on the computer or tablet? I love starfall.com and the starfall apps for beginning readers. It works on beginning sight words and basic decoding. Read to and with her. Read her a chapter book such as my father's dragon or charlotte's web and discuss what is happening in the story. Work on comprehension and identifying things like beginning, middle, and end and cause and effect.
We talk about strategies when you come to a word you don't know. Many early and struggling readers just randomly guess when they come to a word they don't know. We talk about if their guess makes sense- does it start with the same letter as the unknown word? Does it have the same sounds? Does it make sense in the sentence?

I wouldn't push her- you don't want her to dislike reading. I would do lots of reading type activities without pushing her to hard to actually have to do the reading.
If she is struggling in first grade, her teacher will have strategies and programs to help her. Many many schools (every one I've taught at thus far) have first grade specific programs for struggling readers.
But really, there's no need to panic- as a rising first grader your daughter actually sounds quite typical. There's a very wide range of normal at this age and it's hard not to feel like your kid is a failure because they aren't reading Harry Potter yet. But she'll get there!

This was my DD in K-1st. We just kept reading to her, encouraging to her read stuff in the world, introduced more non-fiction books (she likes animals and could spend a long time browsing an animal encyclopedia) and it finally clicked sometime in 1st grade. She's just finished 4th grade, reads well above grade level, and ID'd as gifted for language arts. Be patient and encouraging but don't push too much or turn reading into a chore.

[Anonymous]

I would continue reading to her and include some easy-to-memorize books, like elephant & piggie. Then you can take turns reading pages or encourage her to read some of the refrains to build her confidence. She is going to learn how to read. You don't want to make her hate it in the process.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a dyslexic child, it's hard for me to read all the "don't worry". Maybe she's fine, and it will click next year, but maybe there is something to worry about. Much of what is here includes great suggestions about keeping reading fun, that's definitely the goal, and reading together or reading to her can help with that, but do keep an eye on it to see how she improves next year. If she likes playing computer games, you may want to reach out to your school's IT coordinator for a list of good apps that might have some fun reading games.