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Gifted and talented

Talk to other parents about parenting a gifted child on this forum.

Book recommendations please!

5 replies

Bettyvob · 18/02/2021 12:01

Our DS is 2 years 7 months. He loves numbers and can read them up to 100, though sometimes transposes the two digits. He can also count small numbers of items in his head without pointing at them etc.
He also loves letters and could point out the whole alphabet before he turned 2. He is just starting to be interested in words as opposed to letters and today sounded out 'sheep' and 'horse' - the second completely on his own whilst my husband was on the phone to tell me about 'sheep'.
I'd love recommendations of books to continue to nurture his letters and numbers but I'm wary because in other ways e.g. writing he isn't ahead, so can't necessarily engage with workbooks yet. Does anyone have recommendations of good early readers that will engage an under 3, and good books for progressing number comprehension beyond 20, since that's where a lot of books seem to stop?

OP posts:
lanthanum · 25/02/2021 16:37

No need for workbooks, or writing. The great thing about them being interested this early is that you can do what they're interested in and leave other things for later. Mine had periods when she was making strides with number, and other periods when she was more interested in reading. I feel sorry for EYFS teachers who have to show they're making progress in every area of the curriculum at once.

Mine knew alphabet and some digraphs similarly early (the first time she actually articulated a c sound was to tell me there was a c on a sign). She wasn't very interested in doing anything at word level while she was 2, but announced at just turned 3 that she wanted to read.

We were lucky in being very near the library, so we went in every day and worked our way through the "early readers" section. I don't know if your library is doing the same as ours during lockdown - we can order books on "click or collect" - you can either give specific requests, or ask them to select, so you could ask for a pile of "early readers". Libraries are the best thing for early readers - you want to be reading lots of different books, so there's not much point in buying them - the stories are not really worth re-reading.

The Apple Tree Farm books went down very well, though, especially at the beginner stage: she used to read "what people say", which tended to be the easier words and was a good way to share the reading. That works quite well on harder books, too, so you're doing most of the reading but he tries little bits. (It also means you can read more interesting stories than the ones written for learning to read.)

Numbers beyond 20 - I think our main thing on that was that I got her to find the hymns in church! Snakes and ladders would be good - probably other games too. Also, look at house numbers when you're out for walks.

Mine still couldn't hold a pencil properly when she started school, and could only write letters that were made of straight lines. She could use a computer to type and spell words, though, and was quite happy about upper/lower case. She started school writing her name in capitals, not because I'd EVER done that, but because she couldn't manage the curves of the lower case letters, so she chose to use the capitals instead. As she learned how to write them in her first term, she swapped them - you could date her artwork that term by how many lower case letters there were in her name!

KimGriffinOT · 10/03/2021 12:14

Consider magnetic letters, pasta letters and wooden letters too as this will add to his exploration of letters/numbers but also let him manipulate them. Counting and posting items or threading items can also help with his fine motor skills and might be a way to motivate him if he is enjoying numbers.

Squiblet · 12/03/2021 11:41

Letting them choose books for themselves is good at this age. My DS could read a little bit at that age (two and a half), and he used to enjoy picking out picture books for himself - it gave him a sense that the library was HIS place.

Alphablocks and Numberblocks, on CBeebies, are fantastic for tots who are interested in letters and numbers!

Spottysausagedogs · 20/03/2021 11:52

I know you're looking for book recommendations, but I just wanted to say Numberblocks on cbeebies too. It was great for mine and there are several series progressively going into more complex maths concepts and higher numbers up to 100 and beyond. Also just looking at the world around you, naming house numbers on walks etc.

Spottysausagedogs · 20/03/2021 12:02

Sorry that should say the basic concepts like odd/even numbers etc, building up in complexity over the series, they're not covering trigonometry or anything Grin
Also with reading I would say rhyming books with lovely pictures are the best for engaging them, like Julia Donaldson and lots of others like that. Just read, read, read every day at least once, build up a library. Point out the words as you read them, he'll probably learn recognisable words that way.

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