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Courtney
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My ds (6) started the Catholic Stories for Little Folks last year. Even though we haven't gone through all of them, he is able to read the last levels without help. He can also answer comprehension questions about them. Where do I go from here? Should I just check out more reader type books for him from the library? I know he needs lots more reading practice each day but he seems to have the phonics/decoding part down. Should I just let him pick picture books he likes? I struggle really knowing what level books to get him without overwhelming him or frustrating him. Any suggestions? Thanks! Courtney
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Courtney in Texas
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Mom to Candace 10/97 ,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
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lapazfarm
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Our library has it's easy readers sorted by level, which is convenient. I used to just go and get a pile of them at the right level every two weeks. Next trip I would check out more of the same or move up a level according to readiness. These were for dc's independant reading practice. Then I would also get a bunch of nice picture books for read-aloud. I found this worked alot better than hunting through the picture books to find the ones dc could read. We were able to get a wider variety of lovely picture books since vocabulary did not limit the selection on those.
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Theresa
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Martha
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I found that my ds was perfectly able to move onto whatever 2nd grade reading was recommended by various catholic providers after completing LSFLF, if that helps any. In fact, that's just what we did. We moved straight to Seton 2nd grade english and reading without any problems.
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Cay Gibson
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Courtney,
Same thing happened with my dd. She never finished the Little Folks which made me nervous...at first.
I gave her the Dick and Jane books recently reprinted (yes, I did  ) because I had learned to read from them in first grade and my heart was captured in nostagia. 
From there I included the Seton readers for oral reading. On her own she took off with more books than I can remember. She reads adult magazines in the eye doctor's waiting room! I have to watch her.
She's the child who prefers to go to the bookstore over the amusement park. Well, perhaps not that geeky but she does sigh and enhale the scent of a bookstore and says, "I just love this place."
And she still adores picture books with me.
Of course, having two booklovers in the family is driving my dh simply batty. 
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Cay Gibson
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I wanted to mention that we used the Magic Treehouse books for my slower reader. Some folks view them as 'twaddle' but they really motivated him to read, he could understand them, and he enjoyed them.
It didn't hinder his reading any. He mentioned these books just the other day telling me how much he had enjoyed them but added, "I quit liking them because it was always the same story over and over...just in a different place." Ah, he picked that up on his own. 
My oldest ds read a lot of the Illustrated Classic books.
Also, get your child to read a poetry selection aloud on a regular basis. You can really hear through poetry recitation if they are reading well and undertanding what they read. We use Berquist's Harp and Laurel Wreath for this.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Courtney
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Thank you, all! I found a Magic Treehouse book on one of the bookshelves (Knight before Dawn or something) and offered it to him (just out of curiosity and b/c he loves anything about knights). He came to me a little later and told me he had just read the first chapter! I'm not crazy about the series, either, but if it gets him into reading, I'm there!
We went to the library and checked out 46 books last week so, on our next trip I'm going to make a point of picking some more specifically for him. Oh, and Cay, I'm definitely going to do the poetry tomorrow. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for all your suggestions!
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Courtney in Texas
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Jen L.
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My daughter (8) is really enjoying the Box Car children series. My son enjoyed them as well. The first 15-20 are by the original author. We're not going to read past those as I have a prejudice against the modern,ghost-written ones.
And it might be a little way down the road? but don't forget the Freddy the Pig series! (starting with, I believe, Freddy goes to Florida). We loved it!
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lapazfarm
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One thing that really helped my oldest ds to transition into more independant reading was the poetry by Shel Silverstein. He LOVED the poems so much he begged to read them. It is what convinced him that reading can be fun. I think poetry is good for beginning readers because it is in nice bite-size chunks. Very satisfactory to achieve a beginning and end in one short sitting.
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TracyQ
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My kids STILL love Shel Silverstein! He's so funny!
Our boys read The Magic Treehouse books, and it hasn't stunted their love of good literature either. I think sometimes you offer them what they love, so they'll continue to love reading! Then you offer bits and pieces of other things, until they're reading better things too.
I mean, after all, don't WE ADULTS read a bit of twaddle here and there too? Now let's be honest!!!
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momtomany
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TracyQ wrote:
Our boys read The Magic Treehouse books, and it hasn't stunted their love of good literature either. I |
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My special learning, slow reader son likes the Magic Treehouse books, especially if we pick ones that are tied into what he's learning in social studies.
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Mary Ann in PA
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marihalojen
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I really like the Magic Tree House for its Research Guides. Online they also have fairly extensive
Teachers Guides.
Has anyone figured out how to use Accelerated Reader, or AR at home? Loads of schools use it now, so loads of libraries are leveling their books according to AR...
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Cay Gibson
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marihalojen wrote:
Has anyone figured out how to use Accelerated Reader, or AR at home? Loads of schools use it now, so loads of libraries are leveling their books according to AR... |
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I've often wondered about this myself.
All the schools use it here and I've been tempted but worry it might take away from the joy of simply reading. Then again, my girls seem to thrive on doing any tests, worksheets, etc that mention anything they love: horses, American Girls, Little HOuse, etc.
I remember being that way myself. They really might love this.
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Cay Gibson
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Jen L.
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My sister is a school librarian and the Accelerated Reader (AR) program can go both ways. I will check with her, but from what I remembered, the negative side of the program usually stemmed from the teachers only allowing certain levels to be read by their students and the not-always-perfect level given to books by AR. I think that in the home environment it could be great -- you don't have to worry about the level, but you get to take the quiz! (Being a worksheet lover from way back, I took some of the tests myself when I was visiting her library. )
Jen
(back from a fantastic week at the beach!)
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Karen T
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Cay Gibson wrote:
marihalojen wrote:
Has anyone figured out how to use Accelerated Reader, or AR at home? Loads of schools use it now, so loads of libraries are leveling their books according to AR... |
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I've often wondered about this myself.
All the schools use it here and I've been tempted but worry it might take away from the joy of simply reading. Then again, my girls seem to thrive on doing any tests, worksheets, etc that mention anything they love: horses, American Girls, Little HOuse, etc.
I remember being that way myself. They really might love this. |
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Ugh, my ds was in ps up through 5th grade and I think the Accelerated Reader program is one of the worst things around! I don't know how it works in all schools but in his, they got points for every book read (higher level books equal more points) then at the end of each semester they had an "AR store" where they exchnaged their points for cheap toys and trinkets. They also were required to read a certain number of AR books each semester, and did not get credit for books that weren't "on the list." Ds was reading the Narnia books at the time (3rd or 4th grade) but got no credit for them, but was forced to read other books in order to get a passing grade in literature, plus take the stupid tests. First, they're bribing the kids with rewards to read, then the selection of what was available to read was mostly twaddle. I would imagine some kids who weren't great readers to begin with, would be even more turned off to reading by being forced, esp with restrictions on what "counts"
Karen T
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marihalojen
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But you see, Karen T, any program can be abused and made awful. Your description fits all 3 schools I've dealt with AR in. As a teacher in one school I was required to work AR into the final grade, another school it was a pure pleasure reading program. One school system in an effort to involve parents required one parent to take one AR test on an adult leveled book per quarter - ouch! The response I got from that note home was not pretty!
It involved the parent coming in and taking the placement exam (scary) then choosing a book from their level and actually (gasp) reading it and then (gulp) retaining enough of it to test well as all scores went up in the cafeteria on a cutesy bulletin board.
The placement exams were nice and progress was easy to follow. Very simple program, and they've even expanded into the Math market which was super controversial in the one trial classroom. Each child is an individual who progresses as an individual so the teacher was forced to teach individual lessons. Some kids didn't place anywhere near where their parents thought they should be for 4th grade...I was simply estatic my classroom wasn't chosen for that lovely experiment even though she got all the new computers and equipment.
Anyway, my dd loved the program, always was the top reader and brought home all sorts of prizes, I am actually looking at one that even made the trip to the boat. She save ALL YEAR to buy a present for her Daddy and I. So sweet! She likes the program, and I'm just kinda curious to see what level she is on after our years of homeschooling.
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~Jennifer
Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: reading...where to go next
