recommendations for a G&T 6yr old - help please!

[rebray71]

Hi, I'm new to this so please bear with me!

My daughter is 6 and last year was put on the school G&T register for her literacy - we were over the moon as we realised she was very advanced. However, the school continues to send her home with very easy homework and ridiculous books that she can read in seconds flat! (despite several meetings and stern letters) Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for things I can do with her at home to challenge her - I can't afford extra tuition. Also any ideas for book that are age appropriate - we have gone through all the usual - fairy magic series, Roald Dahl, My naughty little sister, Narnia series, classics like black beauty, secret garden, heidi etc, dick king smith etc, etc and am now struggling for books that are not too scary or deal with themes that are too adult, and she is devouring them as quickly as I can provide them! She also carries a notebook with her everywhere so she can write stories and diary entries.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated - thanks

[ReallyTired]

Go to the library, if your child is half as gifted as you claim then the children's section will suit her down to the ground.

". However, the school continues to send her home with very easy homework and ridiculous books that she can read in seconds flat! (despite several meetings and stern letters)"

Six year olds don't get much homework. Surely it would be better for you to stretch her by enrichment rather than giving her work for an older child. Why not get your child to take up an instrument. Your local council may have a music service where your dd could do group lessons if money is tight. Or maybe do some sport.

There is more to life than school work.

[rebray71]

sorry! I didn't mean to sound like a pushy mum, I'm really not :( She just absolutely loves to read and write and when I say 'we were over the moon' - I mean because I thought we would get some support to for her to develop. I do try to keep her well rounded, she swims, goes to dancing and loves arts and crafts so we do these things a lot too.

I was just hoping that someone would have some book suggestions as its difficult to know without reading them first which are appropriate but she would not find 'boring' - or possibly some websites with resources on them? She constantly asks me to set her work at home and gets upset easily if she does not consider things to be right - she gets a lot of her self confidence from her reading and writing so I want to support her with this - but your right the other activites are really helping her with her confidence issues.

[iseenodust]

Little house on the prairie series
Swallows and amazons series
some of Michael Morpurgo

[3nationsfamily]

Your librarian is your friend here, they are professionals and have an in depth knowledge of what books may be suitable. Don't forget to look at non fiction and poetry too for extra stimulation.

[DeWe]

What I found when dd2 was age 5-6 was that she would often look at a book and say "scary" and refuse to read it. What I ended up doing was reading the first chapter or two to her and she almost always snatched the book off me to read the rest and asked for sequels. Books she enjoyed reading in year 1 included:

Little House books
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Arthur Ransome
Gwendoline Courtney (out of print, 60s books)
Joan Aiken
Jacqueline Wilson (vett them though, some aren't suitable)
Famous Five
Enid Blyton adventure series
My story history books
Other out of print 50s/60s books
Noel Streatfield (ballet shoes etc)

Interestingly the one book she didn't want to continue was Harry Potter, she won't look at it. Dd1 loved them at that age (as far as they'd been published)

[Doobydoo]

Great books on here.How about.TheLittle Princess and The Secret Garden.
Professor Brainstorm(might be Stawm) The Borrowers.Artemis Fowl

[RedHelenB]

When I was young I read anything & everything. Let her loose & see what she can find. And don't forget non fiction sources.

[TimeChild]

OP, had similar experience with my dd. She is now 10 and have 'gone off' reading with other more interesting (mainly digital) things to do , so make the most of it now!

She enjoyed most of the above and also:
Anne of Green Gables
Michael Morpurgo (she loved him, but some books while excellent are quite dark eg Private Peaceful)
Good night Mr Tom
David Walliams
Horrible History series

I found charity shops a good source of cheap books, also second hand books on the internet as our local library does not have great selection. dd also found books herself, borrowing them from friends and cousins.

[FranSanDisco]

DD at 6/7 yo loved the following :

Lots of Morpurgo; Adolphus Tips was a favourite which she reread in year 5 with class and loved it still.
Stig of the dump
Coraline
Black Beauty
The Railway Children
When Hitler stole pink rabbit
St Claires series (Enid Blyton)

[Debeez]

Ah Swallows and Amazons. Amazing book.

DS enjoyed the Hobbit and LoTR too.

[flexybex]

'Measle and the Wrathmonk' by Ian Ogilvy (Yes, The Saint!) is a really good book. It's very exciting, although the wrathmonk is a teeny bit scary!

[redwhiteandblueeyedsusan]

non fiction and poetry books.

we have mr majeika and quite a few of the ort treetops books as they have lots in them to discuss.

lots of picture books at the library can be used to do the non decoding reading stuff they should be able to do..

[jojane]

My son who is 5 is very advanced with reading so school send him home with a book (which is still was to easy for him) but he has a list of 10 tasks to choose from regarding the book o challenge him in other ways so he hasti redesign the front cover, do a different ending, think of 3 questions to ask someone to see if they have read the book properly etc. he still reads other books at home but school found a way to challenge him a bit more on the school reading books as whatever book they gave him would be an easy read for him, do needed to do something else rather than just reading the book.

[cory]

The nice thing about a gift in literacy is that it doesn't actually need an awful lot of expert input to develop: much can be done by the child herself and much by you. Once you've got beyond a certain level with your reading, the best thing you can do is simply to read more, to read all sorts, some things that are easy, some that you may not fully understand.

Lots of excellent reading suggestions above: older classics definitely the way to go if you worry about content. I'll just add:

Bedknob and Broomstick
Five Children and It
Paddington

[jrabean]

Because phonics allows kids to decode any book, many kids can read through hundreds of books from 5/6. The problem is how much are they really understanding.

It is a good idea to get them the write book reviews so they can really build understanding.