Accelerated Reading Program

How could that be? The answer is that gifted students who are not challenged simply become bored. In addition, some of these bored students become trouble makers! So it makes sense to keep your child reading and learning—at his own, advanced level.

• How do you continue to challenge their abilities without getting into material that is over their head?
• How do you keep them reading if they feel like it's too easy?
• Should you keep reading to them aloud?

Gifted students can race along the educational highway
and they need guidance for optimum learning.

Teaching Gifted Students Reading

In other words, a six year old who reads at the 6th grade accelerated reading level should not be reading stories about teens who are dating. While he can read the words, he is not socially mature enough for the content.

When your gifted child is still young, you can start with these guided reading activities:

• Read to your child.
• Let Your Child Participate in Choosing Books to Read
• Consider Your Questions
• Give Them The Chance to Write
• Create Independent Learning Centers

Read to Your Child

You might even read several versions of the same story. When you read five or six different versions of a fairy tale...you alert him or her to subtleties of interpretation. You contribute to his or her bank of knowledge about the symbols, plots and meanings that appear and reappear in stories, and further enriching appreciation of literature.

Why not read a favorite story and create a play from it or have your child do a book reading. You can do this with your child or let her work on her own. You might even video tape your theatrical production, edit it, and upload it to an appropriate website.

As you read to your accelerated reader (and help them choose accelerated reading books of their own to read), look for books with at least some of the following characteristics:

• Interesting language that is varied, complex and somewhat difficult
• Open ended stories that inspire creativity and imagination
• A book that makes them ask questions
• Fiction that is not simple—but has subtleties and complexities that you can discuss together
• Non-fiction that helps develop problem-solving skills.
• Characters that can serve as models – talented, creative, good problem-solvers, moral, sympathetic, intelligent and resourceful. In addition, since being smart is not always cool, characters who deal with the same kinds of issues.

Let Your Gifted Child
Choose Books to Read

I remember that in the summers my mom would take us to the library once a week. That was my favorite time each week. I must admit I also loved that the library was air conditioned! My mom would turn us loose and tell us to meet at the check-out desk in an hour! I loved the freedom to wander and choose from lots of books. I also got very good at using a library and asking for help at the circulation desk.

As a parent, you'll still want to encourage your accelerated reader to read from a wide variety of styles and authors. How do you do that without taking over the decisions?

Parents can read a variety of books to their children, subscribe to a childrens book club, take their children to the library, take their gifted children to book signings and readings at bookstores.

Books for Gifted Children

Here's just a sampling...And What Comes After A Thousand?

Book of Astronomy and Space (Usborne Internet-linked Reference)

(ages 5 and up) Cats and kittens (Usborne first pets)

(ages 9-12) Cross Country: The Usborne Riding School

(ages 9-12) Dream Pony (Sandy Lane Stables)

(ages 4-8) Going To The Dentist

Molly's Magic Carpet (Usborne Young Puzzle Adventures)

(ages 9-12) King Arthur (Usborne Classics Retold)

Ask Your Gifted Kid Good Questions

Often we ask recall questions, like "What did Goldilocks do when the bears woke her up?"

We should, however, ask also questions that "demand inferential thinking." Here's an example: If you are reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you might ask "How do you think the father bear felt when he saw his bowl of porridge eaten?"

Another great type of question asks the child to apply the story to their own world. An example would be, "Do you believe there are people like Goldilocks in our city?" or "What would you do if you met someone like this?"

Here's a list of good discussion questions (for slightly older readers) taken from Challenging Gifted Readers, by Carol Fertig:

• What can you tell me about your reading?
• What did you think was easy to do and hard to do?
• What changes would you want to make?
• What is the most important thing you learned from this?
• What do you do when you are reading and find a word you do not know?
• When might it be a good idea to reread something?
• Why do you think that is so?
• How did the author cause you to conclude that?
• What evidence can you use to support that?
• If you did not know, what would you do to get the most information?

Give Your Gifted Child
a Chance to Write

A response journal allows children to write their ideas and feelings about things they read.

Poetry allows children to explore the English langauge. "There is no better way for your child to learn the joy of literacy than to realize through poetry writing that he or she commands the language and not vice versa."

As you work with your gifted students, keep reading to them, allow them to choose books to read, interact with your child, ask thoughtful questions and give her the opportunity to write. Help your child to stay challenged and interested, especially if he is in an accelerated reading program. And above all...keep it fun!

Accelerated Reading to Childrens Books