Reading Difficulties vs Social Boy

We have known for quite some time now that Reading is not high on Collin's list of things to do.  We knew coming out of 2nd grade and going into 3rd grade that he was at the bottom of where he should be entering 3rd grade.  Therefore, he was going to have to work extra hard in Reading to not only keep up but to not fall further behind.  Instead of getting a tutor, we thought we would focus on Reading.  For a time period, his Reading did improve but his other subjects, like Math and Spelling, began to suffer because he was not working on these to focus on Reading.  Any time he brings home school work with a grade below a 90, he has to redo it for us and then we turn it back in the for the teacher to see.  During this time, we can tell that he is rushing through the questions an makes assumptions when answering them.  If it's wrong again, he makes a guess instead of thinking through the question again and breaking it down before re-answering the question.  Reading at night is still a struggle.  By the time he is in his room for quite time, he really does not have any focus and would rather cut his toenails (a joke!) than read a book to me.  He wants to look through his Year Books or find Waldo instead of read.


Right before the holidays, it looked like he had it and all of his grades were improving but still in the low to mid-80s.  That changed coming back to school from the holidays so we found out that he continues to do poorly on his work during class which brings down his grades.  Plus, he is supposed to turn assignments in and is not which also affects his grade.  We talked to him about this and he said he would try harder.  Then, his next set of scores came home and is Reading in the last 9 weeks dropped 17 points to the mid-70s!  Ugh! Dad emailed the teachers and this is what Ms. Gandolfo had to say:


Our expectations are mentioned quite a bit with reminders as needed.  The drop in reading is drastic, I agree.  Even though his reading average is based on four grades thus far...overall, his daily grades aren't as high as before.  His poetry quiz was a 71 and main idea quiz was a 67.  He has a cause and effect quiz coming up Thursday.  There is another homework on it today.  The quiz will look similar to this practice.  He would benefit working on this with you.  When I work with him in small groups, he is mostly quiet and unsure of his answers.  I'm working on getting him to slow down and be more analytical when correcting his work.  He is more focused on having the correct answer rather than using his strategies to figure out the correct answer.


This week we will have a reading benchmark to see where’s he’s at.  I’m hoping he takes his time on this.  As far as his reading level, he was at a level 24 at the beginning of the year, and now is at a 30 (that’s 2 levels up).  He barely got to the 30 only because his summary was minimal.  He should be practicing writing a summary every week for his reader’s log.  There are some weeks he doesn’t have the summary completed.  He can write a summary on a book he’s read on razkids too… doesn’t have to be a paperback.  Summarizing is an ongoing skill and can be practiced nightly.  He could summarize the cause and effect homework selection too!  He just needs more practice talking about the books he’s reading.  If there’s a book you are reading together, this is a perfect opportunity for him to summarize in a very casual manner.  It doesn’t always have to be written.  3^rd graders are expected to be at a level 38 by the end of the year.  The level in between is 34.  Collin needs to be reading every night and reading on razkids to help bring this up. 

Starting last night, he did is usual correcting of work that he missed, worked on his homework papers he brought home, practiced spelling, math flash cards and math online.  After a bath, he begrudgingly picked out a chapter book and read one chapter.  I could not at this point get another chapter out of him.  After he read, I quizzed him on what he read asking about the characters, the scene and what he thought was going to happen next.  This will be his evening when he does not have a game or practice that night until there are improvements in his scores...and even then, we will likely continue this through the remainder of the school years...so he can move to 4th grade.