Advanced Reader

[Hopefulmama]

DD started teaching herself to read at age 3. She just started First Grade in a cyber-school prorgram and was tested. Her reading is between a 5th and 6th grade level and her word recognition is at a 10th grade level. She is at or slightly above grade level for math, etc. The school is working with me to advance her reading level and send her books more at her abitlity level-it will take a bit to go through the red tape. However, what do I do in the meantime to keep her engaged and not bored? I need

age-approprite books/activities for her. We go to the library regularly and she devours the books she chooses. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am kind of floundering knowing what to do with her.

Thank you!

[Roar]

Can you give us an example of some books she enjoys? That might be the best way for people to gauge her interests and suggest books that might be a good fit. Does she play any board or card games? Those are favorite activities of many bright preschoolers.

Overall, I would encourage you to get past the worry of boredom as it relates to regular time at home. No matter how bright the three year old the world is full of plenty they don't know. She can read so she's got even more options for self entertainment than most kids her age do. It shouldn't be your job to entertain her all the time and it is okay if she gets a bit aimless as that may lead her to create and play in different ways. I would strongly encourage you to remember no matter how bright she her biggest mission during this time of life will involve a lot of stuff that doesn't look at all academic.

Personally I would be far more concerned about the schoolwork not being at the right level. It is pretty hard to plug a kid who is very atypically developing into a system that expects kids to progress in a particular way. We have no experience with cyberschool, but we homeschooled and we found that even curriculum materials that we very carefully selected for flexibility still had to be pretty heavily adapted in order to fit with a kid who was in some ways (like handwriting and frustration tolerance) very much his age and in other respects (analytical skills, reading, etc.) very mature. Even at twice her age it would have been incredibly frustrating for us to try to plug into a standardized curriculum. It isn't just that gifted kids learn faster so you have to start them off at the right place in the sequence and then it works. It is more that there is a qualitative difference. The same thing that lead her to read so well at three is likely going to lead her to progress through other material differently too.

[ollyoxenfree]

What are her other interests aside from reading? It sounds like she doesn't really need to work on advancing her reading level right now. She could take advantage of her reading skills and apply them to other activities. Something like using a favourite story as a basis, and then producing a short play or creating a photo essay or drawing maps of the settings or creating music to accompany certain scenes may work nicely. I'm thinking you could tap into drama, art, visual and oral presentation skills, writing skills, music etc. Obviously, a 6 or 7 y.o. may need some help with some of these activities, but it's amazing what she'll be able to accomplish herself if it's something she's interested in. 

If you are looking for book recommendations for her, there are a few old threads and a wiki that you might find helpful to search, and as Roar suggested, post what she is reading and it will guide further suggestions. 

[Hopefulmama]

Thank you for the replies! I like the idea of using the reading skills and pursuing other directions with them. Gives me a lot to think about. She loves to read "The Secret Garden" and "The Boxcar Children" series. She gets very into the characters and will pretend for a few hours to be them in an imaginary world. I love it. I used to do the same with "Little House on the Praire". She hasn't loved what we've read of that together yet though. I just found out that our library offers a nice reading program that we are going to check out.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama 

However, what do I do in the meantime to keep her engaged and not bored? I need age-approprite books/activities for her.

How old is she? Presumably somewhere in the 4-7 range, but it might help to know exactly in suggesting other possibilities.

Miranda
 

[Hopefulmama]

I am sorry-I forgot to mention that she just turned six. Don't get me wrong, she has a very vivid imagination, loves to pretend, takes piano lessons, play outdoors a great deal, etc. Once she "masters" something she seems to lose motivation to continue with it. However, she loves learning new things and being challenged. So, I feel like we "should" be doing more at her level with reading. Maybe I should just let it go and let her focus on the things she enjoys as well as the other subjects? She loves science and social studies, so we have been spending more time with them-do extra activities, etc.

[KCMichigan]

My kiddos are about that age (turn 6 next month- just started 1st in Public school), I dont know what their reading level it but it is way above grade level. We do  A LOT of non-fiction. It is  easy to find material written at the higher level with age appropriate material/interest levels.

My kiddos did play based Preschool/PreK (no K) and at home we simply followed their interests. They have strong reading skills, strong science/natural sciences, and strong geography. One DD has good writing- the other does not.

They go through phases and I simply tie that into whatever we are doing. Now starting public school, I will have to see how much outside time we have-- but previously we would delve into a subject until they moved on to something else.  They have explored tons of animals, the solar system, human body, birds, states/capitals, lions (specifically), oceans, fairy tales, mermaids, rocks, horses, and dinosaurs.

Honestly, my kiddos are rarely bored. They act out stories they have read, create their own plays, do a lot of art, help me cook, and more. It is not hard at this age to engage them in something- especially if it relates to the current favorite topic. We spend a lot of time visiting zoos, museums, trails, etc. One DD likes to journal her visits.

Do you have a nature center near you? Art museum? Science Center? Zoo? We have all these and many of them offer classes for 5+ that are reasonable fees or even free. They are always a BIG hit with my DDs.  Our former library also has a reading club for 7+, but they allowed my DDs to participate.

Popular things we have done at home include ant farm, fish, indoor spice garden, made tissue vases, created maps, used boxes to make various structures...the ideas are endless and really foster learning and creativity.

[Hopefulmama]

Great ideas, everyone! I love them. Thanks so much.

Maybe I gave the wrong impression-DD is rarely bored, but she is bored doing reading at First Grade level at school time. So until she can advance with her grade level in reading and get into more complex things, I want to make sure she doesn't lose interest with reading in general. That may sound silly, but we've checked out most of the books that are appropriate for her at the library (many of them many times), we have an extensive home library as well. She stays up late reading every night before bed. Maybe I am just worrying about this too much.

[LynnS6]

The American Girl series is good -- my dd is reading about the same level (she's 7, in 2nd grade in PS) -- my only complaint is that they're short so she goes through 2-3 a day, and at this rate, we're going to run out of them. While they are tied to the American Girl dolls, you can live a long and happy life without the dolls and just reading the books. I like them because they're set in different historical eras, they have strong girl characters and they include a chapter of facts about history at the back. My dd will read these and then pretend to be a girl from that era. They're about 3rd grade level, maybe 4th for some.

A really cute series that we discovered last year is the "Humphrey" series -- it starts with The World According to Humphrey, and then there are 5-6 more. It's the story of a classroom hamster and how he learns about humans. It's really cute. Even though it's set in a school, they're really about relationships, and they've got some really funny parts. Last year even our 4th grader liked them. They're not that hard (3rd grade?), but I love them.

Animal Ark is another series that we've read some of. 2 children (daughter of vet parents and her best friend James (?)) have adventures while rescuing pets. I found them a bit boring, but at some point in time last year, dd liked them.

Ivy and Bean is another cute little series -- however it's also easier.

Dd read the entire Harry Potter series this summer. Those are more challenging and I was surprised that she could handle the content.

Do you know about the scholastic book wizard?http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do It let's you enter in current books your child is reading and find similar ones. It works sometimes for me. Recommendations from friends often work better.

Oh, and I started a wiki last year on MDC for this very topic. It might help: http://www.mothering.com/community/wiki/books-for-early-advanced-readers (and feel free to add).

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama 

Maybe I gave the wrong impression-DD is rarely bored, but she is bored doing reading at First Grade level at school time. So until she can advance with her grade level in reading and get into more complex things, I want to make sure she doesn't lose interest with reading in general. That may sound silly, but we've checked out most of the books that are appropriate for her at the library (many of them many times), we have an extensive home library as well. She stays up late reading every night before bed. Maybe I am just worrying about this too much.

Sounds like more of an issue of poorness of fit with the cyber-school curriculum than a problem with her reading! Hopefully the problems are very very temporary! It is certainly not rocket science to find books appropriate to a child with a 5th or 6th grade reading level, even a younger child. Why does this involve "red tape" and a bit of time? I would worry about a cyber-school that wouldn't take assessment results like that and instantly waive the requirement for 1st-grade level daily reading work.

Anyway, if you're looking for more book suggestions here are some relatively recently published ones, or slightly obscure ones, that you might not have encountered yet:

The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordon

The Magician's Elephant by Kate di Camillo

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate di Camillo

The Dimwood Forest Chronicles by Avi

The Redwall books by Brian Jacques

Abel's Island by William Steig

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

The Mysterious Benedict Society and sequels by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Penderwicks books by Jeanne Birdsall

The Firewing series by Kenneth Oppel

My youngest enjoyed all these at ages 5-7. She's not particularly sensitive, so some of these have mild suspense, magic, evil characters and such. Nothing more intense than the first Harry Potter, though, IMO, so if your dd has read that she should be fine with all these. Many (the diCamillo, Steig, Avi and Birdsall in particular) are much gentler than Harry Potter. There are many many more books out there suitable for this age & stage, too. Older Newbery award winners (prior to the 1980s, when they began to include more mature, edgier fare) are a good bet, as are all the classics by Edward Eager, E. Nesbitt, C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, George MacDonald, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll and the like. Hope that helps!

Miranda

[KCMichigan]

Originally Posted by Hopefulmama 
, but she is bored doing reading at First Grade level at school time.

She should not have to read at a first grade level at school. Honestly, even a public school class would have kiddos that are from a K- 3 rd grade level, so the cyber school will have to make accommodations, but honestly- they should have the flexibility as a charter/cyber to be more fluid in grading. 

 

K-2nd is learning to read. 3rd+ is reading to learn. Your DD is at reading to learn, other than covering some basic gaps she may (or may not) have in phonics to help spelling or grammer- she really should not be doing 1st grade level.

 

we've checked out most of the books that are appropriate for her at the library (many of them many times), we have an extensive home library as well. She stays up late reading every night before bed. Maybe I am just worrying about this too much.

 

I bet your library can get books from other libraries. I know both the states I have lived in recently could. It took some time, but we could get books from all over the state. I would use the book wizard or amazon to find books your DD might like and make a big list, then ask your librarian to order them or see if you can get them from another library.

 

Also , does she enjoy books on tape/CD? Some picture books are wonderful (and high reading levels) to explore such as Animalia, the 13th hours, etc.

[Hopefulmama]

Miranda and LynnS6 thanks so much for the time you took to post the book suggestions. We will request them from neighboring libraries. I am also going to check out the wiki you mentioned. I can't wait to find some new stuff for DD to read and for us to read together.

Update - as far as the cyber school goes, they are being accomodating and working with us. I just spoke with the liason lady and they will be sending many books for DD to read just for fun later this week that are a higher reading level. We are to just skip the reading sections that are very easy for DD for a few weeks until they get the okay to advance her to a higher grade level for reading only. That will happen, it's just that one of the people that has to sign off is on vacation. So I am happy that the other books are on the way and that we don't have to sit and do busy work for things she already knows. They also offered to enroll her in some nice extra-curricular reading programs that are generally for older kids.

In the meantime, I am grateful to everyone here for the suggestions and ideas. It's nice to have such a helpful network of other parents.

[ollyoxenfree]

I thought of a terrific novel that could nicely lend itself to extended activities, particularly in science and math. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is about a bright young girl living in Texas in 1899 with her large family, including her rather intimidating grandfather who is an ardent amateur naturalist. She is more interested in academics than in learning good household management. They forge a special relationship and she learns scientific study, particularly botany, from him along with the cooking and knitting that her mother insists on teaching her. I can see using this book as a springboard to all sorts of activities in both realms with an interested child. It's written for the age 9 to 12 range, but your DD sounds like she could manage it. 

[Hopefulmama]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

I thought of a terrific novel that could nicely lend itself to extended activities, particularly in science and math. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is about a bright young girl living in Texas in 1899 with her large family, including her rather intimidating grandfather who is an ardent amateur naturalist. She is more interested in academics than in learning good household management. They forge a special relationship and she learns scientific study, particularly botany, from him along with the cooking and knitting that her mother insists on teaching her. I can see using this book as a springboard to all sorts of activities in both realms with an interested child. It's written for the age 9 to 12 range, but your DD sounds like she could manage it. 

We are going to request that one for sure! Sounds like something I would like to read too!