All About Grooming & Encouraging Good Reading Habits

[Busymom]

chrismei:

Does ur gal has problem understanding the story? There are many new words and i have to explain the story to let her understand better.

Not really. They have to be ready to read these books. Heard before that if there are more than a certain number of words that they can't understand in a page (sorry, can't remember what it is but have an impression that it is 13 or so...), then the book is too difficult for them.

Try The Enormous Crocodile. It is a very thin book and therefore less intimidating, plus there are nice coloured illustrations on the pages.

[AceTutors123]

Busymom:

chrismei:

Does ur gal has problem understanding the story? There are many new words and i have to explain the story to let her understand better.

Not really. They have to be ready to read these books. Heard before that if there are more than a certain number of words that they can't understand in a page (sorry, can't remember what it is but have an impression that it is 13 or so...), then the book is too difficult for them.

Try The Enormous Crocodile. It is a very thin book and therefore less intimidating, plus there are nice coloured illustrations on the pages.

I read from MOE's new English syllabus guide that a child's reading fluency will be disrupted if he cannot understand more than 90% of the words in the reading material. It's best to assign reading material for which the child knows about 95% of the words. Pretty interesting stuff.

[XEK3]

Thanks Hquek for the explanation....I usually just go straight to the kids department without really look at how they segregate the books.... :oops:

Busymom:

My DD was very hooked on the Magic Tree House series (and evil me used those books to get her to do something that was very mundane). It has interesting storyline and at the same time, imparts general knowledge.

If your girl likes fairies, another series is the Rainbow Fairies series.

Actually, to move from picture books to chapter books, it's good to start off with certain readers such as Step into Reading and Hello Readers. There are also some very thin chapter books with coloured pictures. May attract girls to want to read them.

Certain titles from Roald Dahl are good too (and extemely funny):
- The Enormous Crocodile
- The Magic Finger
- Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

I will try you the books as you have suggested. They sounds interesting. Yah, i do have the concern that there are many words which my gal do not understand. Have to probabaly read together with her .....(sounds like i will ended reading to her... )....

Can all these books be easily found in Library? Otherwise which bookstore carry these books where i can go and buy?

[Imami]

I have a strange feeling that my child is reading far better than I know… There are two types of books at home - those simple one’s that he reads on his own and those chapter books more appropriate for primary school kids. Because his proficiency is not there yet (I thought so) and yet he prefers more sophisticated story lines, I read those chapter books to him. The magic tree house and the geronimo Stilton series are some of those I am reading to him.


Recently, I found him "reading" some chapter books quietly. He can’t be looking at just the ten or so pictures for one hour. And he is flipping page by page. But when I asked him, he said he could not read those books as they were to difficult for him.

[Busymom]

XEK3:

I will try you the books as you have suggested. They sounds interesting. Yah, i do have the concern that there are many words which my gal do not understand. Have to probabaly read together with her .....(sounds like i will ended reading to her... )....

Can all these books be easily found in Library? Otherwise which bookstore carry these books where i can go and buy?

Yes, all these books can be found in the library or you could buy them from places like Popular, MPH, Times, etc. Not too sure about Step into Reading or Hello Readers (we bought ours from ebay). Giving you a link for you to see how they look like.

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/books/step/books/books_step3/

Also, giving you a link of a few thin chapter books:

The Enormous Crocodile:
http://www.amazon.com/Enormous-Crocodile-Roald-Dahl/dp/0142414530/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347013159&sr=1-1&keywords=the+enormous+crocodile#reader_0142414530

The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch
http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Packed-Lunch-Colour-Reader/dp/055256480X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347013334&sr=1-1&keywords=packed+lunch+for+dinosaurs+jacqueline+wilson

[Busymom]

Imami:

I have a strange feeling that my child is reading far better than I know... There are two types of books at home - those simple one's that he reads on his own and those chapter books more appropriate for primary school kids. Because his proficiency is not there yet (I thought so) and yet he prefers more sophisticated story lines, I read those chapter books to him. The magic tree house and the geronimo Stilton series are some of those I am reading to him.


Recently, I found him \"reading\" some chapter books quietly. He can't be looking at just the ten or so pictures for one hour. And he is flipping page by page. But when I asked him, he said he could not read those books as they were to difficult for him.

Maybe your boy is cheeky and wants you to read to him

Good that you are reading the chapter books to him. We are struggling to finish all our pictures books (and we have too many...) before attempting any of the chapter books with my son.

[Busymom]

Busymom:

chrismei:

Does ur gal has problem understanding the story? There are many new words and i have to explain the story to let her understand better.

Not really. They have to be ready to read these books. Heard before that if there are more than a certain number of words that they can't understand in a page (sorry, can't remember what it is but have an impression that it is 13 or so...), then the book is too difficult for them.

Try The Enormous Crocodile. It is a very thin book and therefore less intimidating, plus there are nice coloured illustrations on the pages.

Apart from choosing the right level of difficulty where vocab is concerned, you should also read through the story to gauge if the storyline is too complicated or not. Sometimes, language may be simple but the plot could be too complicated.

[Imami]

Busymom:

Imami:

I have a strange feeling that my child is reading far better than I know... There are two types of books at home - those simple one's that he reads on his own and those chapter books more appropriate for primary school kids. Because his proficiency is not there yet (I thought so) and yet he prefers more sophisticated story lines, I read those chapter books to him. The magic tree house and the geronimo Stilton series are some of those I am reading to him.


Recently, I found him \"reading\" some chapter books quietly. He can't be looking at just the ten or so pictures for one hour. And he is flipping page by page. But when I asked him, he said he could not read those books as they were to difficult for him.

Maybe your boy is cheeky and wants you to read to him

Good that you are reading the chapter books to him. We are struggling to finish all our pictures books (and we have too many...) before attempting any of the chapter books with my son.

Thanks busymom. So you think it is ok that I \"let him be\"?

Both my child and me love to read. He reads whenever he has pockets of time. E,g in the morning while waiting for us to get ready, he would read one or two picture books or nonfic readers. In the evening after shower, he would pick up another two or three thin books again. The thicker and more cheem one's are reserved for me to read to him at bedtime. I am only too happy that he is reading those books I hv bought.

[Imami]

Hello all! Seeking your opinion - what do you think of the following series:

- horrid Henry
- magic tree house
- magic tree house fact tracker
- Geronimo Stilton
- the magic school bus

[mummy of 2]

DS likes magic tree house and research guides, as well as magic school bus. Not sure about the rest as he hasn’t read them.