This is one of the questions that parents keep asking when we talk about teaching young children to read. Here is a good answer I found in the book “Teach your child to read in just 10 minutes a day” by Sidney Ledson, author of “Rising Brighter Children”.
“There is little reason for a child to be bored n school simply because he or she can read. In most grad 1 classrooms, much of the day is given over to matters that appeal to all children. The atmosphere is often club-like, and peer relationship and social skills get a lot of attention. There might be morning exercises, health, safety, art, nature studies, crafts, videos, show and tell, story time, game time, music, and any number of other activities the teacher thinks important.
On the other hand, if a child enters a grade 1 classroom where the emphasis is on reading, printing, and arithmetic (bearing in mind that no two grade 1 classrooms are identical), the teacher might divide the class into groups. The advanced children (the readers) will form their own group, average children will form another, and children needed special attention will form a third. It is these last chilrden who are most vulnerable to boredom; finding the work difficult, they often fall behind and lose interest.
There are several reasons why children might be bored in school, but children who can read probably have less reason than others for being bored. They can read books while their classmates are learning how to (possibly by a difficult and confusing method). And if the advanced children ever find the work unchallenging the teacher can give them enrichment materials.
But let’s suppose – let’s just suppose - that a reading child draws a grade 1 teacher too lacking in spirit to provide stimulating work for the youngster. Would we want to withhold a child’s preschool education and intellectural advancement simply so he or she will fit in comfortably with a worst-case scenario teacher? If the teacher is too lacking in enterprise to deal appropriately with a child who can already read, it may be a tedious and unproductive year for the entire class.”
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