My Sons Third Grade Teacher Suggested He Read More Informative Books

I'm a 4th grade teacher and I advise he reads whatever he wants to read. He will read what HAS to read in class. Reading on his own time should be something he enjoys and reading what he is interested in. If you force him to read something he's not really interested in, he will begin to dislike reading. I cannot believe his teacher made that recommendation.

i'm getting aggravated by all the zero-context questions. it's nice to see the site waking up a bit, but with no information it's kind of hard to give useful answers.
what kind of books does your son read now? i'm curious as to why the teacher thinks he's reading 'non-informative' material.
i'm generally pleased to see kids reading, period, whether it's comics or biographies or how-to manuals.
my kids always had non-fiction mixed in with our storybooks, and they became increasingly complex as they grew. dinosaurs were a biggie. trucks and tractors. books about the solar system. but we'd also 'read' big beautiful coffee table books, 'danger in the sea' with its big color photos of sharks and poisonous anemones, lots of time-life books, and old-fashioned fairy tales with fantastic illustrations.
so for starters, ask your teacher to be specific. then visit your local children's librarian.
but most important, ask your kid. forcing him to read an autobiography if he's a sci-fi fan will just make him hate reading.
khairete
S.

Suz T, I totally agree. makes it aggravating to come here these days.

To answer this one, my son is in third grade and was never a big reader (adhd), but he is really getting into the "I Survived" series (just Google it). He is reading at a 5th grade level so I'm not sure where these fall on the scale, but if they're a little tough you can read them with him - they're really good and they address adult/historic episodes through the eyes of a child, and in a child's context. So they're not super scary or graphic, just really good, thought provoking books. Plus it's a history lesson.

(also agree with the idea that the teacher who made this comment should be your first stop for ideas. that's what she's there for...)

Um, just email the teacher and ask her specifically what she means.
And ask her for specific ideas and recommendations.
Maybe she sees he has a natural interest in non fiction but you'll never know until you ASK HER.
Oh and it wouldn't hurt to talk to your son about his interests as well.

What is he interested in?
Our son was reading about sharks, dinosaurs, dragons, pirates and fire trucks at that age.
Sometimes the books were his level and sometimes they were well above his level.
The point was - he was so interested in the topic that he didn't care if it was a bit difficult to read at first.
By 3rd grade he was reading Harry Potter on his own but we read chapter books a chapter at a time for bedtime stories for a long long time.

Why don't you ask the teacher for a reading list and go from there, and take your son to the library so he can explore what they have to offer.

What is an information book? Does she mean non-fiction?

My 3rd grader used to love non-iction books - animals, plants weather, etc. Really surprised me, as I was never a fan.

How about the series "Who is/was" and "What is..."

i.e. Who was Walt Disney?

When my oldest was in the third grade he read everything about ocean life and weather. My youngest was obsessed with the Titanic and volcanoes/earthquakes. Like others have mentioned, take your son to the library and let him check out books on topics he is interested in.

Go to the school librarian and tell her what the teacher said. Ask for some help. She knows that library like the back of her hand! She will know what books will interest your son AND will be the kind of books that the teacher is talking about.

Your son's teacher has done you and your son a big favor. It's nice that she is paying attention and thinking about his best interests.

National Geographic has lots of books my kids like. Also, if he likes the Magic Tree House books, they have a lot of companion books that are non fiction that cover some of the topics in their fiction adventures. Does his teacher send home Scholastic book orders? They usually have various grade level appropriate options as well. You might even want to go to the Scholastic website and browse it for ideas. I think you can order off there without a teacher affiliation, but I'm not actually sure. If not, you can see what's out there and then locate it in your public library or school library.

I think I would ask the teacher for clarification. Some of our kids prefer informative books and were reading up on their favorite hockey players or sharks or natural disasters, and others were into novels at that time like Harry Potter. One of ours read all the Ripleys Believe it Or Not books and world records. Actually learned a lot through those. If it were me I would just take my son to library and there is always a section there on non fiction and let him pick what interests him. Perhaps the teacher had a reason though for suggesting this so if it is something specific in mind she/he should tell you.

We can't help with barely any information. My kids teachers have always told them to read what interests them. My daughter loves John Green (7th grade), my son loves history (5th) and my youngest loves sports (3rd). So they mostly read those kinds of books. Ask the teacher what she means and suggests and take your son to the library so he can pick.

Like non-fiction? or actual chapter books for third grade level? And third grade level is kinda hard to define my kids were always given a letter A-Z level readers and those letters were used to find the right level. Or they were taught to pick up a book and read the first page if there were more than five words they couldn't read it was too hard. (unless is was a non-fiction book with really good picture then sometimes they would check it out for the photos.)

Our family goes to the library every weekend. We turn in stuff we have read and then find new things.

My kids know most of the librarians especially the children's librarian...they have no problem going to her and asking for certain books or for suggestions.

They also know their school librarian and she helps them find good titles.

I would Google this there are great lists of books for boys and girls and both.

There is a big push right now (Common Core) for kids to get used to reading "informational text". This means reading every day stuff like news articles, instruction manuals, financial summaries, utitlity bills....

Is that what your teacher is talking about? I would choose a kid's magazine in a subject he enjoys (sports Illustrated for kids, national geographic for kids, and whatnot).

If she specifically wants him to read non-fiction books (or a different type of fiction than what he currently likes), you will have to go back to the source and ask her because we don't know what she wants.

Generally at that age ANY reading is better than no reading, so if she has a specific goal in mind for him you should find out what it is.

My kids really enjoyed the non-fiction. Their favourites were the Discovery Kids and the DK Eyewitness Kids.

Can you be more specific? I have no idea what this means. What constitutes an "informative" book?

It depends on what your son likes. I know the teacher intended for your son to read more, but at the same time, he/she is trying to get your son to comprehend the whole story or picture.

Recently, I have begun to check out read along CD's from the library. Our first one was James and the Giant Peach and we are now almost finished with Stowaway. We listen in the car and about every other line I turn it off and we talk about what is going on or waht a word means. Just saying, this has really improved my daughters thinking process while hearing the story. Unlike a movie that gives her the idea, she has to visualize what is happening on her own.