Reading speed/comprehension

[heartmum]

DC reads, but prefers factual books/non-fiction, likes information fast and switches off if it takes too long to get to the point. Hence the problem with reading story books and thus his reading speed is slower. I have been encouraging DC to read every night but it's like pulling teeth, reads reluctantly and generally does not enjoy it.

I have tried numerous books, could probably set up a library with the amount I have in my home .... but DC starts to reads them eagerly and then starts to get bored with the whole thing. With the 11+ looming (DC Y5) and speed being the essence I am in a quandary how to increase speed.

Help/advice would be great ... do I keep trying with the story books or should I focus on doing more comprehensions and getting DC to do these and see if this helps, plus DC learns 20 new words a week (meanings/antonyms/homophones etc.)??? With two other DCs who read for England I'm definitely at a loss what to do. Recent reading test in February put DC at a 4a, where both my others at this stage were level 5s ...

[MamaBear]

Hi heartmum,

I would say carry on with encouraging him to read and get him to do comprehension pieces at the same time. Bond, Schofield and Sims etc.

Reading non fiction is just as good as fiction as long as the vocab is rich and varied.

Good luck on your 11 plus journey

[southbucks3]

Hello...firstly a 4a is really not a bad mark for a nine year old...So don't worry on that score, ds1 was only a 4a by mid year 5, but he turned himself round. Also reading sats have got meatier of late, so you cannot compare to elder siblings. This year they have dropped much of the colourful factual stuff, and the test is presented in long text instead.

Secondly, if he gets bored of story books, the swap to short stories. Despite the obvious like Hans Christian, and the brothers grim there is the great roald Dahl collections..selected tales of the unexpected...You read first, as some are a bit adult, plus country tales. The books that will probably capture your boy the most are by Paul Jennings, who is the small boys God of fun, or interesting short stories.
There is also the holiday "quick reads" sold for about a pound, and more expensive, but great for reluctant readers are the abridged books called penguin readers. "The penguin readers offers you classics, best sellers, film titles and original stories. They are simplified texts which provide a step by step approach to the joys of reading for pleasure" They have exercises in the back normally and a word list. We have a few each in level 5 and 6.

Give it a whirl...He does need to get used to reading long story text, but comprehension passages are often quite out of context and therefore dull, so practice them, but ensure he is learning to enjoy reading too.

[heartmum]

Thanks for the advice

DC loves the Biggles books, which are not too big in size, however due to the old fashioned text/words it's been a case of DC reads some and then I read some. DC routinely has to refer to the dictionary when reading these books due to a lot of old-fashioned words, great for DCs leaning of words but obviously not for speed!

Perhaps the way forward is short/easier read stories for DCs personal reading, with the Biggles books for our 1:1 time ... DCs learnt a great deal about WWI reading these books, he recently watched a programme on WWI (a lot on at the moment due to it being 100 years) and realised just how much he had learnt from these books so that can only be a good thing