Maybe she would prefer non-fiction to fiction. Some kids do.
OP , I havent read the whole thread, so apologies if I repeat. I was a children’s librarian and then an elementary library para forever.
If she’s overwhelmed by the written word, a comic book may not interest her because they are very visually busy. Hard to follow for some kids. But. you should try Owly or Akiko or Fancy Nancy. Finding a topic she likes tends to be the key. All novice readers binge read the same book, the same series. They eventually stop.
Magazines, magazine, magazines. Wordless books (Daivd Wiesner, Journey’s author who escapes me at the moment) are great too, and less demanding. But teach that a story is fun on your own terms, and good for fiercely independant kids. Nonfiction stuff like DK and visual dictionaries are very popular, and so are kids cookbooks!
Set an example and read, yourself. Don’t spend too much time on screens, yourself. Keep books in the car. Let her stay up past bedtime with a flashlight and a box of easy books. Take her to the library, draw a number from a hat and then have her count that many shelves, that many books, a take that one. Repeat. The idea is to reconnect enjoyment wih reading. Also, to make it less intimidating. Kids know who is a great reader, and who isn’t. It is discouraging but grownups are all so pushy about it, there’s no room to express doubt or worry.
I for ine would not fake the log (again, I havent read the whole thread). Explain to the teacher that you aren’t going to do it. Or have a very generous interpretation of the rules.
Give her cash, and take her to a bookstore. And lastly, have faith that things change. Early readers are notalways lifelong readers, and a late bloomer may find a niche.
I would echo the magazine suggestion. My younger son disliked most of the stories at his grade level and found them boring. He loved sports so we got Sports Illustrated kids and he loved that. He also liked National Geographic kids - lots of good animal and nature pictures to look at so that might be something to try. Later, he got into the Goosebumps books which were not my favorite but at least he was reading.
Older son loved the whole Magic Tree House series at that age but honestly on nights when he had other activities we would fudge the log too.
They do? To this day, I still love rereading books and reading series.
My recollection is that we filled out the reading logs once a week, by then everyone had pretty much forgotten what exactly had been read. We didn’t intentionally lie, but did find it was much less stressful if it just got filled out at the last minute.
My younger son was in Reading Recovery and barely read until he suddenly got it late into the fall of second grade. He went from barely sounding out Nate the Great to Harry Potter overnight. He became an avid reader once he got it.
Look for graphic novels. I’ll try to find a couple of ideas.
Also, I used to tell my kids at that age that they had to be in their beds at 8 pm, but could read quietly in bed as late as they wanted. Even if they were just flipping though pages, that counted.
Some of the ones I know are for a little older (like Babymouse) but here are some ideas. There may be a section of children’s graphic novels in the library http://www.ilovelibraries.org/article/best-graphic-novels-children
@gallentjill, as a huge reader who loves reading to my kids, and worried a lot over whether my (dyslexic) son would ever love reading, I keep thinking about your post.
Some ideas–Could your daughter be too tired to read at bedtime? Or, is it possible that something you read spooked her due to it being night time? My son needs a lot of sleep and was uneasy about suspense when he was little, so that’s why I thought of those possibilities.
In case you’re looking for ideas for books that she can read to herself, we loved the Scholastic Branches books. They are chapter books with lots of pictures and engaging plots, arranged in short series. Son liked “Monkey Me” and “Dragon Masters” the best. http://www.scholastic.com/branches/
His favorite early series outside of Branches was “Captain Awesome” by Stan Kirby. He was reading all these in 4th-5th grade due to the dyslexia delay, but they are for 5-7 year olds.
We also filled out reading logs creatively in our family. Our kids did plenty of reading or listening to read-aloud or audiobooks, so we would just list the books. No page numbers and no regard for who did the actual reading. Plenty of repeats as we are re-readers.
In general, I’m not a fan of reading logs or summer reading programs. Reading is its own reward. It should never feel obligatory or be a contest, and it’s so cumbersome to keep track of page numbers and dates!
Re graphic novels or comics:
All my kids loved Tin Tin, some of them learned to read by reading Tin Tin. We have the whole series amd now my youngest (currently in college) is starting a collection in Spanish. They are enjoyable for adults as well as kids as young as 4 or 5, though by now I’m sick of them. A very few are racist so check the reviews. I’d skip the American Indian one and I think there’s a bad African one. Two of my kids also love Calvin and Hobbes. One loves Little Orphan Annie (the original comics from the 30’s).
Reading logs were torture for our family of readers too! No better way to kill a passion than to regulate it and requure documentation. However, all my kids enjoyed being read to even after they were excellent readers, & that counted for the log, so we didn’t have to lie.
Check what reading group your D is in. They moved my D up to a group they thought appropriate but it was enough of a challenge that she found it frustrating and came home saying “I hate reading!”
Our local library has a plethora of magazines for kids to borrow. You don’r even have to buy them and she will be able to pick from a wide variety. And they had lots of audio books.
Simple question/suggestion: Have you asked your daughter why she doesn’t like to read? (If “why” results in an answer of “don’t know”… you could reframe the question and merge it into a conversation - and definitely don’t ask in the midst of a the struggle over reading … rather find a time when she is relaxed and talkative and somehow work the conversation around to the topic of likes & dislikes in general )
There could be so many different reasons…
I agree with others that in a first grader, pushing reading is counterproductive.
But wortwhile to keep an eye on things because liking art but hating reading is a common early indication of dyslexia-- the problem is that grade level at first grade is only rudimentary. The child could be understanding the basics of phonetic decoding but difficulty making sense of what she reads… and problems could become more apparent later on— usually around third grade when the child fails to transition into reading fluency.
But don’t assume — because a lot of it really is just developmental, not just with mastering the mechanics of reading but with getting into the whole concept of getting information or a story from words and print. Our children grow up in a multimedia world and at age 6 or 7 many might simply be ready to have the ability to easily focus and sustain attention on a stream of words.
Is she an auditory learner? Visual? Kinesthetic?
Sounds to me like not auditory (“she doesn’t like me to read to her”) or visual (“reads at grade level but doesn’t enjoy it”).
What does she like/focus on/enjoy? Can you incorporate literacy activities into that? (e.g. read to her/audio book while she jumps on a mini trampoline?)
These are all great questions! I also wondered if she was just too tired to enjoy a story at bed time and tried it at other times of the day. No good. I asked her and she says she enjoys when the teacher reads a story to class. When I asked about the difference, she said that she doesn’t like to be read to alone. I am wondering if I have been putting way too much pressure and stress on the entire reading thing and so even being read a story is stressful. But honestly, she never liked it even as a toddler. I’m going to back off for a while and let her lead here.
This is soooo true. She knows who is in the top reading groups and who can already read chapter books. I think it is very discouraging to her and is making all of this worse.
Someone asked what she does like. She loves to draw and color and she is quite good at it. She seems to have an intuitive talent for math. The other day, out of the blue, she counted by sevens to 100. She said it was so simple because it was a pattern. She seems to think about numbers in interesting and creative ways. She likes to dance and do theater as well. She is definitely a high energy kid but I haven’t gotten any reports from school that suggest ADHD.
I have wondered if there is some processing issue because my sense is that even when I read to her, she isn’t really following along with the story. I don’t know if that is because its hard for her or because she’s just really not interested. I also think part of the problem is the level of the books. She brings home chapter books from the library at school. But I think she is doing this because the other kids are doing it. She doesn’t really seem to want to focus on an ongoing story. On the other hand, I know she thinks pictures books are “baby” books. So she is caught in between. This is why I think the comics and magazines may be such a good idea.
First get a good eye exam and a hearing exam. This will rule out not hearing well from fluid in her ears or let you know if she has above average hearing, where sitting close to her and reading to her in a normal voice could cause her physical pain. The vision exam should rule out if she has a vision issue but unless tested specifically for eye focus, that won’t show. Take her to Barnes and Noble and let her pick out a book that she wants to read. There is a disability where the words they read or hear, do not connect to the mental image. If someone tells you they saw a cute, fluffy dog, your brain automatically pictures the dog. Others need more information like small, brown, fluffy dog in order to the image.
Back when my son was in first grade, he appeared to be struggling in read when he had to read a book to me for school. He was reading “Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm” and stumbling over the simple basic dolch site words. He came to the words government and responsibility and read them like he had seen them every day of his life. When I asked him why he could read the difficult words but not the simple words, his response was because they were to easy. I no longer worried about his skills or made him read to me. By fourth grade he was reading the classics. lol A vision test later showed that he had trouble maintaining two eyed focus for any length of time.
As for ADHD at that age, if she can sit a watch a movie that she’s really wanted to see, from start to end without getting distracted, then she is fine.
Before I read your last message, I was going to suggest some repetitive – but fun – books with interesting visuals. If she absolutely refuses to look at anything that resembles a picture book (Keiko Kasza was a personal favorite and Maurice Sendak’s illustrations are amazing), Amelia Bedilia books can be fun, and Dr. Seuss is classic. Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl have some great story books. I personally abhor Junie B. Jones (she’s a horrible language model), so I wouldn’t go there…
Theatre might be a good way to access literature. If there are children’s theater productions in your area that you can see (or theater classes/productions she might take or participate in), that could get her interested in the stories, which might, in turn, get her interested in the books.
Also, tap into her love of numbers and math. There are a number of children’s books about math and mathematical concepts (The Number Devil, Penrose the Mathematical Cat). A couple of books that looks really interesting are “The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures” and “Math and Magic in Wonderland.” In addition to some fun mathematical themes for you to explore together, the first is written by a woman and features girls and math and the second has some interesting cultural aspects to it.
Another set of books that can be fun might include the one about “Sir Cumference and the First Round Table” (in fact all of the Sir Cumference Math Adventures) look like fun for a math kid.
The first books my kids were really interested in were more visually interesting but not little kid looking. Like Calvin and Hobbes comics and graphic novels. My son really like Geronimo Stilton books. I wouldn’t force. Something will catch her eye eventually.
My kids LOVED and still love as teens going to see literature on stage or in a movie. That might be a motivator if you finish a read aloud.
She is 6. If she is on grade level, that means she currently has the literacy skills to progress. Have you asked her teacher if she has any literacy concerns? Literacy is not just reading- it’s listening, writing, comprehension, etc.
Again, she is 6. I would suggest pulling out some of her favorite picture books - did she have some as a toddler or preschooler? You are never too old for a good picture book - and certainly not at 6! Don’t make reading an assignment. That happens at school.
I don’t think I saw a response OP to the screen time issue. What are her screen habits???
S1 was bored by books at his reading level but loved to have stories at a higher level read to him, one or 2 chapters a night. It seemed to speak to his imagination more. And his understanding of vocabulary and interests were much greater than his reading ability. sometimes the skills just don’t match.
I agree with mixing up what you are reading to her to see if you can find something she likes. One of my kids loved things like Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, or Betsy-Tacy-Tib. The other was hooked early on Harry Potter, and adventure stories like Enid Blyton or Snow Treasure, and loathed “girly” stories (and she is a girl). Think about whether your taste might not be her taste, and try mixing it up. One of mine liked Amelia Bedelia, and the other one hated it. (I personally am in the “hate” camp, but did read a few to make the kid happy). One liked old Danny Dunn books, the other preferred dog & horse stories. Even if she isn’t really picking up on reading herself much yet, there is a lot to be gained from reading to them. Vocabulary and sentence structure skills don’t just come from reading to yourself. I read to D2 until she was 13!
Try giving her some just for fun math problems. Then after a couple of days, give her a few just for fun math word problems. Try it again in about a month. If she can do one and not the word problems, then there might be a processing problem.