Reply to If your fourth grader scored more than 280 in MAP-R, what does s/he read at home?

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Reply to "If your fourth grader scored more than 280 in MAP-R, what does s/he read at home?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That's an insanely high score -- I just went and checked my kid's MAP from 4th grade and it was 237.  He has an IQ in the 140s, went to the CES program in MCPS, taught himself to read before K, spent 5-10 hours a day reading in grade school, etc.  So 280 is insanely high.

But here are some suggestions of non-fiction books he liked at that age and thereafter:

the Wright Brothers biography
Oh Ranger!  (NPS rangers memoirs)
Guiness Book world records
Randall Munroe books (What If?)
A Walk in the Woods
National Geographic Book about National Parks
a really thick encylclopedia type book about North American Animals (can't remember the publisher)
Atlas Obscura
Steve Sheinkin history books 
Basically anything and everything about mythology, so we bought many different reference books about different types of mythology -- greek, norse, egyptian, native american, etc.  Some of those stories are pretty rough though!

Also, my kid wasn't into them, but maybe the James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small series, or The Right Stuff.

I think the trick is just to figure out what your kid is interested in, and then find good books on those topics -- for my kid, it was mythology, travel, nature, and weird science.

Also, if you want to branch out from non-fiction, both Historical Fiction and Science Fiction are natural next steps.  The Martian might be a good pick if he likes science.  There is some REALLY great middle grades historical fiction about there -- the Nathan Hale books will be too easy for him, but that's okay, because they are fun and informative and he can chat about them with his fourth grade friends.  If he likes baseball, tehre is a great series about historical baseball players.  (Babe and Me, Jackie and Me, etc.)

IN general, I wouldn't push him into adults books too soon on the fiction front, because the middle grades literature is really fantastic now, and there is a lot of great stuff.  Once you get into YA stuff, it's mostly crap.  And there's honestly not that much really good "adult" literature that is relatable and appropriate for kids.  I prefer a lot of the cleverly written middle grades books to a lot of "adult" fiction (which tends to be depressing and very cynical nowadays).  If he skips the middle grade books, he will have missed out on some really fabulous literature and themes that are developmentally appropriate for his age. Look at the stuff that is geared to kids in 4th to 8th grade and you'll find it (or start another post and we can recommend a bunch of different series.)   If you want to find stuff that is slightly more challenging, look to some of the older books, or books that are British, as the syntax and vocab will be somewhat different (e.g., the original Paddington books, Secret Garden, E. Nesbit books, etc.).

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OP here. Thank you very much for the time you spent on writing this.  This is very helpful.  [/quote]

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