Maybe this will help with levels: http://www.readinga-z.com/
Maybe this will help with levels: http://www.readinga-z.com/
Molly
Lula '06 outgrew her allergy to milk & eggs, still allergic to peanuts and cats
Dolly '10
How funny! I read Tales of a 4th grade nothing in 3rd grade, but didnt' discover Henry Huggins (my first Cleary book) until 4th grade. Browsing at the library. I saw the cover with Henry carrying Ribsy in an open box and thought it looked interesting. Loved the book so much I read every Cleary book I could get my hands on. Followed the Ramona series even though I was probably way too "old" for it by the later books. But I still loved them. And yeah, I tested way above grade level all the time too for reading? What did that really mean? Not much, except that maybe I like to read??
The first two books I read to myself were Bible Stories for Children, and Good News for Children, between the ages of 5-7. Plenty of blood and guts and dark themes there. By 8 I was reading Children's Literature, with all the fairytales full of unemancipated women and brawny and brainless but slightly wily men, lol! But they were all short stories. I think chapter books would've been a bit too long.
Last edited by maestramommy; 02-16-2012 at 12:00 PM.
Melinda
Mommy to
The Gift 10/01/05
Elfgirl 5/25/07
Sparky 6/27/09
"Sunset to Twilight, Our Family's Journey with Alzheimer's." http://maestramommi.blogspot.com/
I couldn't agree more. A third grade teacher at our school, who is very well respected, talked this year to her class about this very issue. She is utterly *against* third graders reading HP as it is just not appropriate content for them. Just as we try to protect our kids from forms of media that we view as "too old" for them, we should protect them from reading material that they are not ready for. Instead, I think MANY kids read these books and their parents encourage it because it is the "cool" thing to read and implies they are smart or something.
Kristen
mama to 3 wild and crazy boys - ages 16, 13 and 11
In our district reading level is more than just reading the text. It includes comprehension, responsding to reading, as well as reading the words. All of our students are given a Fountas and Pinnell assessment to determine reading level. They have written many great books.
Green Tea
Can you recommend some of those picture books? My child has the rest of his life to read chapter books and I would love to continue to introduce age appropriate picture books, even as he progresses through elementary school. My goal is to instill a love of reading and a love of learning.
From my own personal experience, reading ahead of grade level means little. I am so thrilled that our district is not pushing reading in k, and just takes kids from where they are, thereby not producing stressed kids either.
Yes, Jo, our district's requirement is 30 sight words only.
Last edited by Kindra178; 02-16-2012 at 12:38 PM.
For Green Eggs & Ham I would say kindergarten or first grade. Some kids are early readers and some are not so IMHO a grade level rating for a book is like an average; some kids in kinder/1st won't be able to read it, most kids will be able to read it, and a smaller segment of the kids it will be way below their grade level. My DD1 who couldn't read more than two or three words in a row at the beginning of the school year all of a sudden picked up reading during Christmas break and she
recently read us Green Eggs & Ham. Her reading skills were very surprising because one of the reasons we chose the school we did for her was that there wasn't a huge emphasis on repetition and reading like there would have been in public school (our school district used Open Court Reading).
I also think that books like Harry Potter and other non picture novels that adults can read easily should not be stressed on 3rd graders. In the 2-3 grade I loved the Charlie Brown comic books our school library had. While reading is important I think that we should let kids be kids and not stress that they really should be reading above grade level unless they really want to.
Last edited by AnnieW625; 02-16-2012 at 12:20 PM.
Annie
WOHM to two wonderful little girls born in April
DD E, 17
DD L, 13,
baby 2, 4-2009 (our Tri-18 baby)
Older DD was not an early reader (she started reading in K) but became a fluent reader very quickly. Finding books that she did not read in 10 minutes that were appropriate in content and interesting for her was difficult.I also wonder about the idea of introducing books that are much more advanced in content than the child's age.
While she did still read and enjoy picture books, she also liked being able to read a book for awhile (like in the car on a trip).
We found that older series books were good for this. Things like Boxcar Children, All of a Kind Family, My Father's Dragon, etc. were good for this. They tended to be a little gentler, although there is often subtle (or not so subtle) racism in many of these older books too, which is a different problem.
Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)
Sure! It looks like your son is the same age as my DS - is he in K? Most of these books would probably be over his head right now, but I'd be happy to tell you my favorites for younger kids, too (I am a wee bit addicted to kid lit ).
Some of these are more appropriate for 1st-3rd grade, and some are for kids who are a bit older. Many of them would be good read alouds for younger kids (like Piggins) but would require a larger vocab/higher level of fluency for independent reading. Some (like The Quiltmaker's Gift and The Sweetest Fig - which I have seen used in the classroom with 2nd and 3rd graders) can easily be appreciated by a young audience, but also contain really important messages about humanity, good vs. evil, kindness, how our choices shape us, etc. that a kindergartener wouldn't necessarily pick up on.
Piggins by Jane Yolen
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein
Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki (deals with Japanese interment camps during WW2)
The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg
Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson (talks about school integration)
The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin by James Giblin
If the World Were a Village by David Smith
The Glass Slipper by Paul Fleischman (illustrates the ways the Cinderella story is told in all different cultures)
Crow's Call by Lois Lowry (a little girl gets reacquainted with her father when he returns from WW2)
The Mary Celeste: A Unsolved Mystery From History by Jane Yolen
D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths by Ingri D'aulaire
The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
Patricia Palacco writes beautiful picture books for older children. She deals with race, bullying, learning differences and other issues, but in a very gentle and engaging manner.
This is a good list of picture books for older kids: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/b...dBookLists=259
Hope this helps!
ETA: One more! I like Math Curse by Jon Scieszka. And I also totally get what Egoldber says about kids sometimes wanting longer books - I'm not anti-chapter book. I just don't think they should be treated like they're the only option out there, or that kids who aren't reading them or have no interest are in any way behind. I also think parents should screen them carefully if they're concerned about certain themes. I have to laugh when I hear a parent say their child was frightened by movie adaptations of Roald Dahl books, but in the next breath says they're halfway through the third Harry Potter book - who do they think inspired JK Rowling?
Last edited by Green_Tea; 02-16-2012 at 01:02 PM.
Green Tea, mom to three