Interrupting story reading to build vocabulary?

[southbucks3]

Ds3 has now stated he hates reading aloud, this is because he resents having his flow broken, but he is a devil for not caring what a word means, and just moving on. I try and curtail my involvement, as I understand it must be very frustrating, but sometimes wonder how he is getting the gist of a story at all (he does seem to) when he just scoots past tricky words? The other boys like using technical fripperies such as iPod dictionaries, and the kindle word highlighting, but he just prefers to ignore the fact he hasn't a clue what he has just read!
He is currently reading "I was a rat" by Pullman, as he loves the Pullman picture books, but last night the following words cropped up in just two paragraphs at the end of a chapter: vocalizations, stimulus, dutifully, reflex, disregarded, pinioned, superficial and tentatively. (I assume Pullman had a mad moment and temporarily forgot the book was aimed at nine year old children). Anyway, I felt the need to define just some of them...this resulted in him burying his head in the sofa like Mork from Ork!

So what do others do? His vocab is not bad at all, but obviously I would like him to expand it. Am I being mean by Interrupting him? He happily talks about the story at the end, and seems to comprehend it without knowing the tricky words by definition, but misses out on the subtle stuff.

[Ladymuck]

A couple of ideas:-

1) Presumably you don't make him read the entire book out loud? If not then you can discuss how the idea is develop comprehension skills, so as well as asking him the tricky vocab words, do also remember to ask him other comprehensions style questions "what do you think will happen next?" "Describe the character X in your own words" "Why is the author using lots of short sentences here? what mood are they trying to create". In that was you can ask the questions at a natural breaking point eg the end of a chapter, but include all of the vocab which he has found tricky. He may be more willing to cooperate if the questiosn aren't just about the things that he doesn't know but also include the things he does know. Try to "sandwich" the questions - Easy q, hard q, easy q.

2) Kindles have built in dictionaries, so the child just has to highlight the word. This seemed to work wonders for my youngest.

[Proud_Dad]

I have the same dilemma with my son's reading.

If he is reading aloud to you, you could make a mental (or physical) note of any words you think he doesn't understand and then go through them at the end rather than continually interrupting the flow of the story.

If he is reading on his own perhaps encourage him to lightly mark or underline the words he doesn't understand and then look them up at the end (careful if its a library book though!).

Or as already suggested try a kindle?

[southbucks3]

He does quite well when we quizz him about the bits of book he has read alone, yes we do ask him comprehension questions, but he seems not to absorb any of the new vocab. Perhaps he is subliminally? It is hard to keep quiet when they are reading, you know they don't know the word, but they barrel along regardless. I know I sound like a really boring haridan when I utter the words "what does..........mean" and I can almost see the hairs on his neck stand up, as I "make him lose his place".

The kindle highlighter is fab, and ds2 loves it, but I cannot get ds3 to use it. Grrrr! Also, most annoyingly, Pullman's books for younger kids have not been made into e books yet.

I will try making a quiet list of words and use them in the comprehension questions at the end.
I can see that would be more open for a bit of bribery too.

[mystery]

ditto ditto ditto with my 9 year old daughter. The only thing I have found that worked was when, in the summer holidays, I read a lot to both children and asked them to ask me when a word came up they did not understand. Surprisingly, they did stop me quite a few times. Also, they were a little more open when I was reading to the "what does that mean" question.

Nothing else gets me anywhere at all with this issue and I've tried EVERYTHING! My daughter is bribe proof too.

[kenyancowgirl]

southbucks, your ds3 sounds exactly like my youngest! He hates reading aloud to me as it is so much slower and, I used to do the same interruptions as you. we eventually compromised by tag reading - I would read a page and then he would read (slightly less) and swap back - that way, he seemed to find it a challenge to interrupt me asking what words meant and was slightly more receptive to me 'interrupting' him! We did try and encourage him to use an address book/note book to write his own dictionary - he would put in words in the right letter space and then fill in the definition later - you could try bribery to "test" whether he remembers the definitions later. I don't think we have really solved the conundrum, however, but think maybe we are more worried about it than we need to be, possibly. The teacher was astounded when I announced that ds didn't really read much - apparently he has the most advanced vocabulary in his writing in the year and he scored very highly in his VR, so keep the faith!

[heartmum]

Getting DC to read books is a battle of its own and DC is currently reading the old fashioned 'paper' type book as we have many in the house from older DCs!!!

However the dictionary book mark (battery operated) we bought has been great and DC really enjoys using that when stuck on a word. DC has also been using it on comprehension papers (when stuck on the odd word or two) ... DC seems to remember the word/meaning much better if found by this method rather than being told by his dear old parent!!

[southbucks3]

That does look quite nifty for the mass of paperbacks we still have in our lives, bit pricey though...how long do the batteries last? Eldest ds had a similar toy, but not slimline enough to use as a bookmark.

DS3 actually loves reading in bed, or to himself, but refuses to acknowledge tricky words. I asked him a few of last night's words, and he refused to play game. I really do not want to spoil reading for him though, and he likes nothing more than curling under the duvet with a nice easy book like animal ark, or Molly Molly Mandy, to whisk him off to sleep dreaming of her perfect life.

[heartmum]

That does look quite nifty for the mass of paperbacks we still have in our lives, bit pricey though...how long do the batteries last? Eldest ds had a similar toy, but not slimline enough to use as a bookmark.

The first battery that came with the bookmark lasted just a couple of weeks - but you never know how old they are plus DC used to play with it a lot when first received, however since replacement the new battery is still going after three months and is used more sensibly, i.e. for reading books, comprehension practice and school homework. DC loves it and as I said before it does seem to be helping with words - spelling and meanings!

[wildwest]

I had bought one such as a gift for someone a couple of years ago.
I think it was about £20.00 from waterstones. But as you southbucks, I don't recall it being thin....