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Posted in Gifted Children Gifted Children

My son is in Kindergarten and reads at a third grade level.  I am not sure if he is labeled "gifted" or not.  However, I am a little concerned that his teacher is not challenging him enough in class.  She does send home books that are more advanced than what she sends with the other students in his class for homework.  But they are still very simple compared to what he reads at home.  I am not sure what else she is doing for him in class.  Like other parents with kids that read at an advanced level, I am just concerned that he will get bored and when he is bored there are some behavior issues.  Can you tell me what I can do at home to keep him going in the right direction?  I am looking for activities not only in reading, but other areas as well.

Thanks!

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Parent Replies to "Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level"

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msjoybe
msjoybe November 11, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
mzgrif is absolutely right when it comes to reading. If your child is reading beyond his grade level, there are always ways to extend their learning by challenging their comprehension. My 1st-grade daughter, who is also a strong reader, is fortunate enough to have a teacher who does an incredible job at providing challenging activities to go beyond the simplicity of the books that she reads. Although she could easily be reading Beverly Cleary, comprehension and all, I'm perfectly okay with her sticking to Junie B. Jones. Her teacher has us working on compare and contrast, predictions, and inferencing. Also, part of her homework is to write about her reading. The basic assignment is to write a short 3-4 sentence paragraph about the story OR their favorite part. To monitor her comprehension, she usually writes a page-long summary with predictions, connections, and a detailed explanation of why she liked the book or not. The toughest part to that is distinguishing between a summary and a full retell. Most youngsters will want to capture every single detail. A summary only captures the most important details.
CaMahjonggMom
CaMahjonggMom November 10, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
My daughter, at AKA Head Start, was pretested GATE because she passed the reading tests at a 5th grade level. She went in a K/1 class and the teacher saw something in her right away and began treating her as if she was just another first grader. She learned words, sentences and paragraph construction as well as songs in Ethiopian, Spanish, and American Sign language.
My daughter is now in honors in 8th grade, and still remembers her favorite teacher and still can sing some of those songs.
Get your son to love books, all kinds of books and have them read often. She read me the entire Junie B Jones set of books in the car one summer, then decided to read them all again for her grand-parents, when ever they took her for sleep-overs. She then moved up to reading me the entire Capt. Underpants series, trice. She tried reading me the 1st Harry Potter book aloud, in 4th grade. That proved a wee bit difficult, so she just read it herself. Now she is 5 chapters from the end of the 2nd Twilight book in the series. She reads before school, after school, in the middle of homework, during supper, and before bed. She loves to absorb books.
Good luck with your son.
mzgrif
mzgrif October 16, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
That is great, but remember there is a lot more to reading. Make sure that your child is reading for comprehension and fluency. You can challenge your child by incorporating assessments to check for his/her level in the two areas. Also, you can have your child write a short summary of what he/she has read.
kbolman
kbolman October 15, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
What a great way to use everything at hand. Congratulations Saphria!
marathonmom
marathonmom October 14, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
Saphria,
Thanks for the tips. All of them sound good and we will try them.
marathonmom
kbolman
kbolman October 14, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
I have something you all might enjoy. I'm creating a course that can be used by parents and children together. Because you have gifted children I hope you'll find this resource of use to your family and friends as well. This site is a course in the history of art around the world. I think third-graders particularly enjoy the pictures that were made in very ancient Australia. You will find them under prehistoric art. The site is ahaafoundation.org and I would love to hear from you when you have a chance to look at. I hope this is fun for all of you.
Saphria
Saphria October 14, 2009
Re: Kindergartener Reading at a Third Grade Level
You are not alone. I have a 1st grader reading at a mid-3rd grade level. Last year she was reading at an end of 2nd/beginning 3rd grade level. We mixed everything up that she brought home. When reading we would ask for a replay of the story. We would stop part way through the book and ask what she thought would happen next. We all ways have more difficult books at home. When it came to math we would place a 1 in front of all of the numbers so she was doing double digit math instead of single digit math. When it came time to work with money they were teaching what each coin and bill was. We were making change. We have discovered that if we are little creative at home it makes a big difference during the day at school. Our school also has a program for children that excel and our daughter has been involved with it for reading and writing for both last year and this year. Good luck...

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