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Maggie
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| Posted: July 08 2011 at 9:24am | IP Logged
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Hi Moms~
I am looking for something sweet, yet challenging enough for dd for reading this year.
I think I am just looking for sweet stories with reading comprehension questions, etc...
I was thinking some of the Seton readers, ie This is Our Family but I think this might be a tad too easy.
Do the Seton Books contain comprehension exercises?
Any other suggestions?
Thank you!!
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Wife to dh (12 years) Mama to dd (10) ds (8), dd (1), ds (nb) and to Philip Mary (5/26/09), Lucy Joy (12/6/09), and Margaret Mary (3/6/10) who entered Heaven before we had a chance to hold them.
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mom3aut1not
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| Posted: July 08 2011 at 10:15am | IP Logged
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Unless your dd is reading fluently, I wouldn't worry about reading comprehension exercises. A child has only so much working memory available; until reading fluency is attained, there just isn't much memory left over for anything else. This is why you rarely see much in the way of reading comprehension materials until about 4th grade as earlier grades usually focus on the mechanics of reading.
However, you can work on comprehension if you will by reading to her and having her narrate material back to you. That will be good preparation for formal reading comprehension exercises later if you want, or you could just continue narration.
You might also want to read The Knowledge Deficit by E. D. Hirsch which is largely about reading comprehension and why the formal approach so often done by schools is not that helpful. At a young (or even not so young) age, one of the best things you can do for later reading comprehension is to provide a generous curriculum that covers science, history, literature, etc.
Just some thoughts....
Working with my fourth emergent reader soon,
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Deborah
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: July 09 2011 at 7:08am | IP Logged
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The Faith and Freedom readers are nice. I don't think that there is a concern with them being too easy sinc e they go on up progressively in levels. If she flies through one, just get the next one.
I'd encourage you to look into Charlotte Mason's method of narration rather than reading comprehension questions. Though, I think even that is approached very gently at 6. I have never had my son narrate from the reader. I save narration for things I want him to retain that I read aloud at this point. His work with the reader is strictly for the mechanics, and the Faith and Freedom readers are lovely vehicles for that but hardly worthy of "study."
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 09 2011 at 9:49pm | IP Logged
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Hi Maggie! 
The Seton readers, which are reprints of the Faith and Family Readers, are quite charming! I agree with Lindsay, if your dd finishes one, move on to the next reader.
And reading comprehension questions are really unnecessary both at this age (1st/2nd grade) as well as for a reader. If you want to see what she's *getting*, choose another book that you're reading from. I'll give you an example, my 2nd grader and I are reading together Mary Pope Osborne's American Tall Tales. The stories are engaging and exciting and relatively short. When we're done, I ask my son to tell me what he remembers about the story I just read - whatever he remembers. He does so and really enjoys retelling the story, especially adding those things that stood out to him. This is narrating and it's an excellent way to avoid reading comprehension questions and also find out what a child got from a book.
There are no wrong ways to narrate. Sometimes narrations can be very short, other times they are very detailed.
I just wanted to add an alternative to reading comprehension questions, which can be frustrating on a number of levels for a child, and echo Lindsay's suggestion of narration. An example of how reading comprehension questions may not work well is when they ask an abstract question of a child and the child is not mature/emotionally ready to make those abstract judgments. It may seem like an easy answer to you...but to a child it is overwhelming and frustrating and makes them feel like they're dumb and can't ever get the answers right. In general, I avoid reading comprehension questions like the plague.  Narrations always fit because they reflect what the child took from the reading, ie. what the child thought was important. The child takes what they need, and what they are capable of understanding. There is no need to worry about overwhelming a child or moving beyond them. Narration is brilliant in that it always fits.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: 1st-2nd Reading/Reading Comprehension
