Reading with a voracious reader

[noblegiraffe]

DS is in Y2 and loves reading. He would happily sit in his room for hours reading books (Roald Dahl, Captain Underpants sort of level) but also likes non-fiction and magazines. He can read a book in a single sitting.

So what do we do with his school books? He will sit and read them to himself quite quickly. He's happy to then read out loud to me, but apart from correcting the occasional mispronunciation and explaining what certain words mean (he can read words but not know what they mean and it can be hard to spot), what else should I be doing? His teacher says his comprehension is good.

Also, how do I get him in the habit of asking what words mean instead of just skipping over them?

My ds hated using dictionary, but when we bought him electrical one,
he got into a habit of looking up the new words by himself.

By the way, thank you for advice on decimal multiplication. It worked!!

You could work on expressiveness. It's a useful life skill, speaking out loud in a clear and attractive way, so that's never time wasted.

Other than that, yes just carry on doing what you're doing. I found DS's occasional wild stabs at pronunciation very entertaining, (still do) so it kept me happy too.

You can get electronic dictionary bookmarks. The gadget factor might encourage him to look up unfamiliar words more often.

I was like that. I think just facilitate his passion for reading by keeping him supplied with loads of interesting, suitable books which will stretch him a bit. The thing is, over time you learn what a word means through reading it in context again and again, so I think he's unlikely to end up not understanding certain words, even if they haven't been actively explained to him. It's wonderful that he's an enthusiastic reader of real books in this tech-obsessed age, so let him go wild with the books, I say! There are so many brilliant ones.

It's wonderful that he ihe has such a passion for reading and you could help him with his critical analysis and communication skills by asking him about the books - the plots, the characters and so on eg which part of an individual book he liked best and why; what was the most exciting/boring part nd why; what was it about a character that was so appealing.

Talk about what he's reading. His feelings about the book, why the author chooses certain words/phrases, character motivation, how characters feel/act and why etc...

I just leave my voracious reader to get on with it. Sometimes I read her a bit of whatever book she's currently in the middle of at bedtime, but I end up getting ten pages and the by the next night she's finished it, or nearly so, so it's rather unsatisfying.

I do make sure she reads her school book (as in, tell her to do so and see her go off with it for ten minutes) but she's very unwilling to discuss them with me. She has to do so with her teacher and she feels that's quite enough and a waste of good reading time!

I have been encouraging her to write stories, and she prefers to discuss those with me. I can often see traces of what she's been reading in them and we have some interesting discussions about the 'nuts and bolts' of grammar and punctuation and also about tone, suspense, choice of words etc.

I ask my son to circle words he doesn't know the meaning of, while reading, in light pencil. Then I'll tell them what they mean, after,and we kind of discuss them in context of the story. Then, if it is a school book, I erase the circles. I'd have him write them on a separate page, but that sort of breaks the flow of reading.

Talk, talk and more talk. What's happening in the book? Which character do you admire? If you could be one book character, who would it be and why? Can you find three similarities between Roald Dahl and Captain Underpants books? Three differences? What's the funniest invented word that Roald Dahl uses? etc. Just as much discussion as you can, so he thinks about the book at a deeper level, rather than just what the characters do.

If your DS likes non fiction, he might like this site.

www.readtheory.org/

These suggestions are great, thanks! I'll give them a try this week.

I've also looked up an electronic dictionary - I'm not sure he'd go for it though as he hates being interrupted. Maybe for when he is reading to me as it's a good habit to get into.

irvine glad to hear about the decimals

Electronic dictionary is really useful. When he is writing a sentence, he can use thesaurus to look for other words with same meaning, and when he knows the word, but unsure of spelling, he can use spelling checker to give him right spelling. My ds haven't got a patience, but happy to have it on his desk and use it.

Yes we have one too and it has been very useful!

Ds loves his Kindle which enables him to 'press and hold' a word which he's unfamiliar with, which 9 times out of 10, gives him an explanation. Normal books, I've encouraged him to jot down any words (he has a small note book and pen next to his bed) he's unsure of and we discuss these the following day. This is when he reads before bedtime, I usually give him a time when lights are off, so this gives him the opportunity to write words down, rather than shouting me.