Friday, January 16, 2009

Slurp, slurp...

My son loves his Tag reading system that we got him for Christmas. He plays with is multiple times a day.

The other day, I saw the cord that downloads the books onto the pen and remembered that I could sync it up to see his progress. I did and according to them his reading comprehension is on a 1st grade level. My 4 year old.

By no means am I trying to brag or boast in my son, or what I've done with him at all but this did surprise me at first. Now that I've thought about it though it really doesn't. (Also, I don't really know what they are basing it off of either, it will ask him questions, but who knows really.)

In the reading department, my kids are polar opposites. From a young age (6 months) my son would sit on my lap for as many books as I could read, my daughter, on the other hand, has just now upped her window from about 5 seconds to maybe 3 minutes.

Usually on days we come back from the library with new books my son and I will sit and read for my daughter's entire nap 1-1.5 hours.

This week he found the Little Bill book series (he knows the tv show very well) and even though the content is a bit old for him they separate each couple pages into chapters and have more words than pictures.

I've been reading many places lately about people who read chapter books to their young children and I really want to fit this in. If anyone has any suggestions about good ones I'd love to hear them. I was think about CS Lewis but would love some other suggestions.

He just eats up reading and stories so I might as well give the sponge something to soak up!

6 comments:

Nicki said...

My kids are 7, 5, and 3, and we began reading chapter books to them about 2 years ago. Actually, some of them we have read to them, some we have listened to on CD, and some we have done both. :) We've read all of the Little House books, Charlotte's Web, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, The Complete Works of Winnie the Pooh...and I'm having a hard time remembering others, right now. Sorry.

Anyway, all of those books are fun because you can really get into doing the different voices for the different characters. Also, we enjoy the 'classics' more because of the rich language they use.

Of course, we did have to censor some parts because they could possibly be too scary. And there were some parts that brought about some really good conversation discussing whether or not a character was right or wrong in their words and actions. Which are great conversations to have with the kids, anyway.

We began reading Chronicles of Narnia a few months back but it sort of petered out, I'm not sure why. I'm thinking maybe they just aren't ready for it. So, I'm going to hold off a little longer and try again later.

We may start reading The Borrowers soon. I'm thinking that we can have fun making our own little Borrowers' 'habitats' and the such, as we go along. I've never read any of that series, so I'm still looking into it though, to make sure that it will be okay.

Here's a list of some 'classic' literature that may give you some ideas. http://www.best-childrens-books.com/childrens-literature.html

I hope this might be of some help! :) Happy reading!

Stephanie Appleton said...

That is exactly how K was. Loved books from birth. Now I have trouble keeping enough books in the house to keep him busy. Luckily he is happy to reread books several times.

We also read Narnia but when he was a little older. We loved reading the Little House books together. Mrs Piggle Wiggle was a fun series too. Our library also has a set of Great Illustrated Classics. They are classic stories adapted for younger children. Plus there are pictures on just about every other page. Lydia just finished The Secret Garden & Black Beauty. It is a great way to introduce some of the classics to little ones.

Crystal said...

That's such good news to teachers, like me!! Reading is the single most important skill a child needs to succeed in school - and how much a child has been read to before he/she comes to school is a huge predictor of how successful they will be at school. So - you are definitely on the right track here!!

I haven't heard about the book system you mention so I'm going to investigate that further. Our granddaughter, who is 2.5, really really wants to know how to read! Right now Mom and Dad have her working on ABC's and numbers. Do you have any suggestions of what you did to encourage the actual reading for himself process? Thanks!

And some series/early chapter books I've had in my classroom at school include:
Arthur chapter books
Clifford chapter books
Bearenstain Bear chapter books (they teach lessons just like the early series)
Frog and Toad series
Magic Tree House (better when they are a big older)
Geronimo Stilton (a mouse and his adventures as a newspaper reporter - the adventures take him to world famous places)
The Littles (again a mouse family but more 'old fashioned - they live in the walls of a house)
any classics that have been abridged for early readers) - Black Beauty, Tom Sawyer, Secret Garden, Treasure Island, Heidi, Gulliver's Travel - you'll want to confirm that these fit where he is developmentally and with your family views
There are several lines of Christian books too but I don't have those names right here.

Be sure to share what you start reading next! Happy Reading to All!!!

Hannah said...

My daughter is 5 and we've been reading chapter books to her for well over a year. And we do lots of audio books as well.

Some favorites are
Little House on the Prairie
Magic Tree House
Boxcar Children
Charlotte's Web
The Trumpet of the Swan

It's so fun to get into chapter books!

Mary said...

A Bear called Paddington (Michael Bond).
The Adventures of Mrs. Pepperpot (Alf Preyson).
Patricia St John (9n particular - Friska, Mt Friend.
Clever Polly and the Shepherd Wolf (Catherine Storr).
The Adventures of Sam Pig (Alison Ottley).
_ Worzel Gummidge (Barbara Eiphan Todd).
The Muffled Headed Wombat (Ruth Park).
- The Little House (Laura Ingles Wildon).


Well done for inspiring the love of reading with your children. For what it's worth - I think Narnia is a bit too heavy for littlees.

Anonymous said...

We just started reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to Brynna. She was actually happy to sit for about 15 pages with only one picture, and then asked for more. Quite a change from just a few months ago.