Year 2 reading books he doesn't fully comprehend

[brightblueday]

My ds (7 and in year 2) loves reading and would read all night if i let him. Because of this, he gets through loads of books. I have made a real effort to make sure the reads ones appropriate to his age, but i am sure there are quite a few books he reads that he doesn't fully comprehend. He mainly reads to himself so i can't be sure of everything he reads and whether it is beyond him if you see what i mean. Does this matter or will he benefit from reading these books anyway?

I am sure he must be getting something from them, otherwise he would find it too boring to continue. There is such an abundance of books for young fluent readers these days that you should be able to find plenty that is suitable for him.

Thanks for the reply. The thing is he reads at least 7 books a week so he has read most of the ones we can get our hands on. We go to the library every week and he sometimes picks books that are, i think, aimed at older children, but he has read most of the ones there aimed at his age. We can't really afford to keep buying loads of books for him either.

I got a free 3week trial on Readingeggpress which is aimed at 7-13year olds and there are loads and loads of books on there. It is amazing! I think it will save us a lot of money on books and space! There are also comprehension questions at the end of each book. You may want to give it a go! If I do subscribe at the end of trial,it will be because of the books!

Let him read! He'll be doing guided reading or something like that at school- it doesn't matter at all if he's reading stuff that's too hard for him unless it has themes that are too old and possibly disturbing for him. Don't question him or make him do questions- the reading for pleasure bug is a great one to have and you don't want to put him off!

brightblueday I was very much like that and got a huge amount out of reading books that were a bit beyond me... James A Mitchener at 9 yrs! I could get most of the meaning from context.

Thank you so much for the great replies. I feel reassured that he is still benefiting from these books. My mum realised the other day that he was reading a book about a cross dressing boy whose parents frequented the off licence, but he seemed to enjoy it!

Reading isn't all about "getting benefit". As I said, th reading habit is an important one to get!

Thanks seeker. I think i am still a bit in the mentality of him reading school books. Of course, this is totally separate, an enjoyment thing and not to do with school.

I was like this. I think it was really good for developing my comprehension skills, general knowledge and understanding of historical events/periods and different cultures. Sure, plenty of what I read went over my head, but it didn't do me any harm. Things that were really too difficult, I gave up on - I tried, and failed, to read Ivanhoe when I was about right and didn't make it past page three. Still haven't!

OP, if nothing else your DS will be developing a huuuuge working vocabulary which will really help him in the years ahead.

My DDs are just like yours, they read a long way ahead of their ages. I make a point of discussing the books with them, reading them myself if possible (many are ones I read when I was a child so this works) and getting a good idea of their understanding. I also encourage them to ask me what difficult words mean. This really works - not so long ago, DD2 (nearly 9) talked about 'taking precautionary measures' about something. When I asked what she meant (to see if she knew what she was saying) she gave me a complete strategic rundown as to what she was doing (packing all her 'treasures' away') and why (so that DD1 wouldn't make snide teenage comments about them). 'Nuff said.

She is now in Yr 4 and on target to do really, really well in reading and writing.

Reading rocks!

PS I agree with seeker - enjoying reading is an aim in itself, and might well be the most important one of all.

let him read whatever interests him as long as it does not not contain any unsuitable material. i am a gran and have been reading since i was about 5. i read agatha christie when i was 9. i use to read about 20 books a week when my children were small so by now i'm 55 i must have read thousands. i have 7 grand children. 2 girls 11 and 12 love reading. 3 oldest boys 6, 5, and 4 are at school and nursery and are also into books. a friend of mine who teaches primary 7 said if a child can read and write they can do well in any subject. i tend to be a practical gran and often buy books both reading and educational for birthdays and christmas and my grand children love them.

Watching my DD learn to read has made me remember just how many unsuitable books I read as a child. And there were a lot of them (we did not have that many books in the house, I read them all...).

While I wouldn't recommend finding out the facts of life from a Jacqueline Susann novel, mostly it did me no harm at all. Sometimes I tried to find out what words meant, mostly I skipped over them. But as everyone else has said up here, it does wonders for your vocab, general knowledge and just pleasure.

The one book that really did flummox me, though, was the Private Eye Book of London - dated, I would guess, about 1970. I did not understand what it was on about at all, and I kept going back to it to see if it made sense, but it never did. So I probably learned something about persistence too.

The only problem with reading in your head, is that you build up a great written vocabulary of words that you understand but really cannot pronounce.
names like Hermione and Penelope are still pronounced in my head with a "magic e", for many years I thought an "ar-kip-ella-go" was a totally different thing to an ARCHIP-a-LEDGO etc...

Also, reading aloud is a worthwhile skill in itself, which I only learned to do at the age of forty-something through reading to DS.

There are some comprehension reading cards and cubes . These have short stories and good if you are short of time listening to the child read a book.
Below are some links with the cards and some comprehension forms.
Comprehension cubes
Amazon

You have all really helped me get my head around dss reading. I am so happy that he loves to read and will carry on ensuring he has plenty of books at his disposal. I think the comprehension cubes are a great idea redcarpet, and something he would be happy to do.
Ds did his homework last night and wrote a fantastic descriptive passage which i think must have been influenced by all the books he reads. He has also started to compare things in real life to things he has read, so i think things must definately be registering with him, even if he doesn't get everything that is going on. Thanks everyone.

DD (6) is the same, she will read anything and we are having issues with her reading too late at night. Luckily she reads a lot of books that I remember from my childhood so we can chat about them without me having to work too hard at it.

I was the same as a child and my mum used to give me a piece of paper and a pen to write down words I didnt understand (and the page number). She would come up when it was time to turn the light off and she would go through the words and explain them. I do this and also bought DD a nice dictionary (the oxford one is only £5) that she can use to help her too.

At DD's parent's evening last week we were told it was obvious that she read everything and was encouraged to do so because she is interested in everything and always seems to know the answer to all the questions.

That last sentence doesn't scan quite right

At DD's parent's evening last week we were told it was obvious that was well-read and enjoyed reading because she is interested in everything and always seems to know the answer to all the questions.

DS (2) is after food and is pulling my sleeve!

We have major issues with going to sleep too. We have just started removing all reading material from his room at lights out otherwise he just can't resist carrying on reading, then yawns over breakfast!

Yup, same problem here. We can't remove all reading material however as she has a full-sized bookcase. She takes advantage of the fact that DS hasn't been well and is a very light sleeper, so we tend not to go upstairs to check her as he wakes up.

Now I know what my mum had to go through!

I have a different problem.

My DS 2 (6) read and understood all the Peter and Jane Series at the start of the year and became a free reader, but this was not down to his poor Y1 teacher. The Y2 teacher has put him on Stage 6-8 books and this has diminished his decoding and understanding. The Y2 has her heart in the right place but has too big a class to manage. In the end, I have decided to take charge and approve all books DS2 will read. He has started reading Fantastic Mr Fox and understand.

In summary, go with your gut instinct, as you know your child better than the teacher, or the teaching assistants (who the DC have to read to).

You are definately doing the right thing tectime. I have a friend whose ds was put down a reading level in year 1 to try to improve his expression. It had the opposite effect an the dc lost confidence and enthusiasm for reading. Teacher refused to progress him until his expression improved, but he really lost a year of reading IMO (he was at same level as my ds previously, now way behind).

Thank you brightblueday

My DS2 is 6 (Y2) asnd could read and understand, but has been kept back by his teacher. I reluctantly agreed to let him read the class guide books and the books she chose. I have no faith in her and I now choose and monitor the books he reads; I also vet anything she suggests.