Reading ideas for gifted child

[Turkish Delight]

Hello,

Some of you know that my son is gifted. We recently received his report and had parent-teacher interviews last night. He is only 7 (currently in grade 3, when he should really be in grade 2) and has the reading capacity of a kid in grade 5, so an 11 year old kid.

I bought him Zac Power books but he reads the whole novel in about 30 mins.

I don't know if i should get him to read fiction or non-fiction books?

[Janie]

I don't have primary aged children, but I am an avid reader, and always have been. I would be asking, what sort of books does he enjoy reading? Because reading should be fun, and from that the learning comes. The more you read, the more you learn (and I don't just mean from book content) so I would be encouraging him to read books that he finds enjoyable. If he likes a challenge, then that's great too. Do you belong to a library? That's a great, cheap way of letting him go for it when choosing his own reading.

[AnyDream]

Schedule in a time to meet the school librarian (with him along) and she can teach him how to browse the sections of the library that has material suitable to his reading level...and how to select material himself. He should be reading a mixture of fiction & non-fiction, material that is too easy, material that is just right and a few things that are a bit harder too. Talk to him sometimes about what he's reading, and read aloud together, so that there's a culture of shared enjoyment in the house.

There's a fabulous website in every state for the Premier's Reading Challenge, they have age-grouped book lists which could give you some ideas. Don't forget that you can also provide him with magazines, newspapers and "real life" reading opportunities. It all counts esp if he's thirsty for information.

[Phteven]

I was an advanced reader. My advice would be to get a membership for your local library and let him decide what to read for himself. It doesn't matter if he reads a novel in 30 minutes if he enjoyed it (although it gets to be a PITA to be constantly having to find new books). Ask the librarain to teach him the basics of the dewey system and what a bibliography is and he'll be able to use any library in the world.
My parents never bothered telling me what was too old for me so I ended up reading all sorts of 'unsuitable' literature and remaining blissfully unaware of how adult it was.

[Turkish Delight]

Fabulous idea about meeting the librarian and getting him taught the dewey system. I'm taking him to the library tonight then. He lurves the library. He goes directly to the picture book section. I have to keep remembering that he is only 7.

I'll get him to make a list of favourite non-fiction topics which we can look for in the library together.

We are really bad at returning books back. So i tend to buy them. And at $10 a book which he reads in about 30mins.....

Thanks girls.

[Rouge]

Let him read what he wants to read, age appropriate material be it fiction or non fiction. My daughter is gifted and the school allocate her special areas of the library from which she can read from. And she's reading at grade 6 level (in grade 2) yet they need to monitor content thoroughly. Something you might want to keep in mind.

Be wary with the premiers challenge my GF had LOTS of issues with it because her daughter is gifted and they won't let her enter in the older section but she will not ready the younger children's books for her age group.