Reply to what can do do to help my advanced KG girl in reading?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]ps. as a former K teacher, I would have said that your daughter scored at the top of the group--not "the" top.  The reason is that some parents would go bragging to other parents and that creates problems.[/quote]

NP here.  My teacher doesn't have to tell me that my kid is the top of the class with reading.  He's the only kid in his class -- actually the entire school -- who is reading fluently and reading complex chapter books.  No one else in his class is reading anywhere close to where he is.  those of us who have kids with exceptional abilities are quite aware of them.  [/quote]

how do you know every kid's reading ability in the whole school???[/quote]

The school is small - there are less than 15 kids older than my child.[/quote]

Still, why do you know every child's reading level?  My child was reading chapter books in preschool, and I can guarantee you know other parent knew that. [/quote]

I don't know every child's reading level, but I do know that no other child in my child's class is reading [i]at all[/i], and I have pushed for him to be teamed with a child or children from other classes or the grade above who is at a similar reading level and been told that there is no one.

I can't imagine how you can guarantee that no other parent knew that your child was reading chapter books in preschool.  Did you make him or her keep it a secret?  Did he or she not talk to other kids? Did the teacher not call on your child to read things to the class?  Since preschool I've had other parents ask me about my child's reading abilities -- what we did to encourage it, etc. (the answer is nothing short of reading to him) - because they have seen him before school or during class in the reading nook with a chapter book he's bought in from home reading to himself or to a group of other children, or helping point out sight words to other kids.  Most recently a couple of his friends' parents have told me that their kids told them that they want to learn to read "like [my child]".  Particularly last year, I can't imagine that anyone who spent time in his PS classroom didn't notice that he was reading fluently - but I guess if a child is taught to be ashamed of their reading or to hide it it might not be so obvious.

Anyway, to get back to OPs question -- I tend to work with my child outside of school to increase comprehension.  I ask him about what he's read -- who the main characters are, what is his favorite part, what has happened so far or what the book is about (if he's finished it), what he thinks might happen next, how this book compares to books in the same series etc etc.  I try not to make it too taxing because at times it's clear that he just wants to read.  Also, I let him pick his own books, so sometimes it's a picture book aimed at kids his age or younger, and sometimes it's a [b]book at a 5th grade reading level[/b] with lots of text and complex story lines aimed at kids much older than him.  He reads alone, but occasionally he'll sit with me and we'll alternate reading different pages.  To be honest, I wish they'd do more at school but they seem content that his comprehension is on a par with his reading ability.  [/quote]

I'm impressed.  What types of 5th grade books did your son read and how old is he?[/quote]

He's 5 and he reads anything and everything at a variety of grade levels up to about 5th (not sure off the top of my head which are the highest levels here):  Magic Treehouse, Roald Dahl (BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach etc), Charlotte's Web, Magic Schoolbus, Little Prince, Boxcar Children, Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Captain Underpants.... also Doctor Suess, Junie B. Jones, picture books, Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and lots of non-fiction (dinosaurs, animals, planets, human body, geography).   No he doesn't understand them in the same depth as a 10 year old, but well enough to keep his attention, and for him to be able to discuss the storyline, characters etc.[/quote]

Just so you know, he very well may not test at a level anywhere near the level of books he is reading for pleasure.  Testing in a school setting is far more than being able to decode the words.  Also, I hope you consider to have him reread some of those wonderful books when he is older.  The BFG would be very difficult for a young child to understand for two reasons:  1) it is full of made up words so a child who doesn't know it is a made up word would think it was a real word and skip over it like we do as adults when we get to an unfamiliar word in our reading; and 2) it is full of mixed up idioms which would be nearly impossible for a young child to understand and get the joke.  For example, the BFG might say that someone can't see the forest through the bushes.  The child would have be familiar with what an idiom is, know that the true idiom is "the forest through the trees" and know what that means, and then know how the mixed up idiom is then funny.  You can imagine that a 5 year old doesn't have the life experiences to understand the nuances of this book.  There are also WONDERFUL picture books with incredible vocabulary which parents sometimes skip over trying to run towards chapter books.   [/quote]

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