Five Finger Rule Dilemma

Most of us have heard the phrase "five finger discount" as the slang terminology for shoplifting. Today, I learned that K has a "five finger rule" at school for their library ... and that he's been cheating the system. And that is exactly how it was presented to me by D and K. The conversation went like this:

D: Did you see the book K brought home from the school library today ... it's like 500 pages long.

K: Beaming and showing me the book. 

D: But he cheated the system to get the book.

Me: What system? What do you mean cheated?

K: We have a five-finger rule that we have to use to get to pick our book. 

D proceeds to explain that the students have to read a couple paragraphs (about five fingers wide) to determine if a book has an appropriate level of difficulty for the library extracurricular. If they can read the passage perfectly ... the book is not difficult enough. If they get more than five words incorrect, the book is deemed to difficult. (Keep in mind this is an extracurricular book for them, it's not part of their regular curriculum where they use a much more scientific, assessment-based methodology to determine their books.) Because K reads at at least a 6th grade level ... there are few books that would trip him up ... so he's been intentionally messing up his words so that he can get the books he wants.

K and D think this is hilarious. I am at a dilemma. The kid reads so much, and the books he is picking are books that easily fall into the 3 - 5th grade reading levels, so I just want to continue to encourage him to find books he finds interesting. However, I am a bit troubled that at the age of 7 he is already learning there is a system and it can be manipulated. But when he's reading 200 pages plus in a day or so, maybe the system isn't advance enough for him. 

Fortunately, his second grade teacher has been a good partner with us this year in ensuring that we are building good habits and challenging him. It's all about the village, and keeping him enriched and motivated. It won't be long before he's writing some award-winning thesis.