Question
My daughter is in the third grade and she is reading on a level of 20 she should be at level 34. Please help they are threating to retain her and I don't want that. I need suggestions, desperate mom.
Answers
Ms. Sue
Retention would probably be the best thing for your daughter.
Fourth grade is hard, especially for children with reading difficulties. It's usually the first grade level to emphasize comprehension and analysis of what the students have read. They must have mastered the reading skills taught in the first three grades in order to succeed in fourth grade.
If your daughter goes on to fourth grade, she's almost certain to fail and feel dumb. If she repeats third grade, she'll feel smart because a lot of this material will be easy. It will also give her a chance to catch up on the reading skills she's missed.
Remember children develop at their own pace. Moving automatically from one grade to the next is not carved in stone.
Do what is best for your daughter.
Fourth grade is hard, especially for children with reading difficulties. It's usually the first grade level to emphasize comprehension and analysis of what the students have read. They must have mastered the reading skills taught in the first three grades in order to succeed in fourth grade.
If your daughter goes on to fourth grade, she's almost certain to fail and feel dumb. If she repeats third grade, she'll feel smart because a lot of this material will be easy. It will also give her a chance to catch up on the reading skills she's missed.
Remember children develop at their own pace. Moving automatically from one grade to the next is not carved in stone.
Do what is best for your daughter.
Writeacher
I agree with Ms. Sue.
I also have witnessed what can happen for a child who is not reading at grade level -- but a book that's fascinating is put in his/her hands. Here's an example:
My younger grandson barely passed from grade 3 to 4. His school had an Accelerated Reader program in place, but he was choosing "baby books" (anything under grade 4 difficulty!), and my daughter was becoming more and more worried about him.
One day we went into the school library's webpage and downloaded the AR reading list linked there. She asked him to choose any book he might be interested in that was listed at 4.5 grade level or higher and worth more than 10 points. We were amazed when he decided he wanted to try the first of the Harry Potter series ... and he loved it. From then on, it was hard to keep a book out of his hands. It was almost magic!
You might enlist the help of your school's librarian to find a book (or better, a series) that your daughter might like ... perhaps more than one book, so she can try a few out.
Another way to work with your daughter to find what she's interested in is a website like this:
http://www.reading.org/resources/booklists/childrenschoices.aspx
Read through the different annotated lists together and try to find something she likes is reasonably challenging. Since she's in grade 3, perhaps a 3.7 or 3.8 grade-level book (or higher) would be good.
To get better and better at reading, she must read, read, read ... and the only way to get her to do that is to find books and/or stories she's interested in.
I also have witnessed what can happen for a child who is not reading at grade level -- but a book that's fascinating is put in his/her hands. Here's an example:
My younger grandson barely passed from grade 3 to 4. His school had an Accelerated Reader program in place, but he was choosing "baby books" (anything under grade 4 difficulty!), and my daughter was becoming more and more worried about him.
One day we went into the school library's webpage and downloaded the AR reading list linked there. She asked him to choose any book he might be interested in that was listed at 4.5 grade level or higher and worth more than 10 points. We were amazed when he decided he wanted to try the first of the Harry Potter series ... and he loved it. From then on, it was hard to keep a book out of his hands. It was almost magic!
You might enlist the help of your school's librarian to find a book (or better, a series) that your daughter might like ... perhaps more than one book, so she can try a few out.
Another way to work with your daughter to find what she's interested in is a website like this:
http://www.reading.org/resources/booklists/childrenschoices.aspx
Read through the different annotated lists together and try to find something she likes is reasonably challenging. Since she's in grade 3, perhaps a 3.7 or 3.8 grade-level book (or higher) would be good.
To get better and better at reading, she must read, read, read ... and the only way to get her to do that is to find books and/or stories she's interested in.