4th/5th grade teachers/parents

[amberlyrose]

I tutor once a week at the Boys and Girls Club and I have a great kid to work with. He's smart, gets the concepts, but tends to rush through things and not care about some of the reading we are doing. I talked with the coordinator and we are trying to find some ways to keep him motivated. My brother and I were exactly like him at that age and I want him to stay engaged! 

He loves computers, programming, coding, etc. Are there books out there that deal with these topics that are 1) at his level and 2) encourage reading/school?

[cajunmom]

We got this one for DD1 last year www.amazon.com/Coding-Kids-Dummies-Camille-McCue/dp/1118940326/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436230&sr=8-2&keywords=coding+for+kids and I recently picked up this one to give her for her birthday www.amazon.com/Animation-Kids-Scratch-Programming-Digital/dp/0692527575/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436279&sr=8-2&keywords=coding+for+kids .

ETA: I'm not sure how much they encourage reading but they should be at his level.

[Doggy Mommy]

Choose a topic he is interested to read about, then once he has learned a lot about his topic (you can teach him how to take two column notes), he can show what he learned through coding. If you go to Scratch (a coding site for kids) he can create a little animated video to teach about his topic. Some of my students did this and LOVED it. One girl made a video about endangered animals (she made a panda that "talked" about endangered animals), the human brain (a brain that talked), aerospace engineering (he made an animation of pilots in pilot school learning about how planes fly). They loved it.

[amberlyrose]

Jul 13, 2016 13:59:04 GMT -5 cajunmom said:

We got this one for DD1 last year www.amazon.com/Coding-Kids-Dummies-Camille-McCue/dp/1118940326/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436230&sr=8-2&keywords=coding+for+kids and I recently picked up this one to give her for her birthday www.amazon.com/Animation-Kids-Scratch-Programming-Digital/dp/0692527575/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436279&sr=8-2&keywords=coding+for+kids .

ETA: I'm not sure how much they encourage reading but they should be at his level.

Thanks!
I'll check them out. We can give them books for the end of the session, so these could just be "great job!" gifts for completing the program

[amberlyrose]

Jul 13, 2016 14:22:37 GMT -5 Doggy Mommy said:

Choose a topic he is interested to read about, then once he has learned a lot about his topic (you can teach him how to take two column notes), he can show what he learned through coding. If you go to Scratch (a coding site for kids) he can create a little animated video to teach about his topic. Some of my students did this and LOVED it. One girl made a video about endangered animals (she made a panda that "talked" about endangered animals), the human brain (a brain that talked), aerospace engineering (he made an animation of pilots in pilot school learning about how planes fly). They loved it.

How long do the animated videos take to create?
He gets to use the computer lab a few days a week at the club, so maybe we could start a project in the last 10-15 minutes of the tutor session and he can continue it?

[cjcouple]

Not a teacher, parent of an almost 10yo rising 5th grader. He also likes those same things as your student in his free time. He never liked reading much either and always hovered around benchmark for his reading level in school. His fluency and comprehension were a bit low until recently. He has made big progress over the last year and is still at benchmark, but he seems to like reading more now. So I agree, it's important to make sure he is reading at proper level.

That said, it took a long time for me to find a book type/style he was really interested in. I tried fiction, non-fiction, books related to his interest in sports or about other kids his age, biographies, comics, magazines. You name it, I tried it. This summer he has been loving the I Survived book series. He is reading about 1 book a week. I have both boys read for 20-30 min a day after camp. He also seemed to really enjoy Shiloh when they read it in school a few months back.

After his reading, I often have to ask leading questions to get him going on retelling and a discussion. What is the main characters name, age? Why is he there? once he gets going, the retelling becomes stronger. If he forgets, he can flip through the book. Do they have computer access there? Perhaps having him build his own comic strip on the computer retelling the section of the story. or typing a brief summary and making predictions what he thinks may happen?

Not sure if any of this will help but good luck. Hope you find something that interests him.

ETA: the coding idea above is better than mine.  Clearly I know zilch about coding.  lol

[amberlyrose]

Most of all, I want to get through to him that in reading, just like coding, you have to completely read and understand each sentence before moving on. He just blows through some words and I have to make him go back to it, which frustrates him.

[orval]

My rising 4th grade ds likes this series of books. nickandtesla.com/
Looks like the website has some activities as well.

[eclaires]

My son is going into 4th. He likes to read but I always let him read whatever appeals. Sometimes he reads the guides to his games he likes to play (the big ones you buy separately not the small ones that come with it) and he reads a lot of garbage mine craft books too. He also reads nonfiction and stuff like Harry Potter. Anything Star Wars like the Origami Yoda series or Jedi Academy.

I think if you find stuff that is a topic that interests him it's easier to be interested and focused on the reading.

[orval]

Jul 13, 2016 14:30:51 GMT -5 eclaires said:

My son is going into 4th. He likes to read but I always let him read whatever appeals. Sometimes he reads the guides to his games he likes to play (the big ones you buy separately not the small ones that come with it) and he reads a lot of garbage mine craft books too. He also reads nonfiction and stuff like Harry Potter. Anything Star Wars like the Origami Yoda series or Jedi Academy.

I think if you find stuff that is a topic that interests him it's easier to be interested and focused on the reading.

Yes -- my ds has read all of the manuals for our cars, read the manual to the Amazon fire so we could set it up, xbox manual, etc. He can tell you things about our cars that I had no idea about.

[Doggy Mommy]

Jul 13, 2016 14:27:44 GMT -5 amberlyrose said:

Jul 13, 2016 14:22:37 GMT -5 Doggy Mommy said:

Choose a topic he is interested to read about, then once he has learned a lot about his topic (you can teach him how to take two column notes), he can show what he learned through coding. If you go to Scratch (a coding site for kids) he can create a little animated video to teach about his topic. Some of my students did this and LOVED it. One girl made a video about endangered animals (she made a panda that "talked" about endangered animals), the human brain (a brain that talked), aerospace engineering (he made an animation of pilots in pilot school learning about how planes fly). They loved it.

How long do the animated videos take to create?
He gets to use the computer lab a few days a week at the club, so maybe we could start a project in the last 10-15 minutes of the tutor session and he can continue it?

Possibly a long time... Some of my kids were great at coding so they could do it pretty quickly but others were learning to code as they worked so it took a while.