My kids enjoyed doing this with Sandra Boytons books

We did Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and added in HWOT and some dictation and journaling when dd was ready. I agree that workbooks can be hard for kiddos not ready to write much. My DDs reading level is grade level ahead of her writing level.

We also do Wise Owl and do one page a day. It is fantastic.

What you describe with the box is exactly what I'm thinking. Not necessarily having a "you must read this book now" but more of having a variety of genres and books available that are high quality. I still want her to choose. I'm thinking for her during elementary school so K-3. She reads a lot for pleasure. A mixture of picture and early chapter books. I don't necessarily want her reading level to increase, but I want to keep it steady. And of course we will continue our reading aloud as a family.

DD will be starting K in a Spanish immersion school this fall. They get no English language arts until 3rd grade. She's reading on a 2/3rd grade level. Right now she's reading the Mercy Watson books and whatever picture books she wants. For K I was thinking of starting to require certain books. Nothing crazy formal, just me choosing the book she reads aloud to me each day. Right now she reads 1-2 chapters aloud nightly so she's used to it. She also won't have homework outside of reading for K. For those who require reading of certain books/genres, how do you organize it and decide which books. I'm familiar with some of the book lists. Do you just choose one and work through it?

I may switch it to copywork and combine handwriting and spelling that way. Her journal is a primary style one so it is like you described with a space for a picture and lines underneath. I do have 2 of them so maybe I will do one for free writing and the other for copywork.

She will ask, but other times she won't. She spells simple CVC words well and words like Like, love, and, etc. Today she drew a picture of a mermaid and wrote "This mermaid is slow". She would have spelled mermaid "mrmade" and left the l out of slow.

I've decided to have DD start using a primary journal in which she'll draw a picture and write a sentence to describe it. I'm trying to decide if I should correct her spelling when doing this. It's mainly to get her writing in sentences. We haven't started a formal spelling program yet and we are working on handwriting by writing out the phonograms. Do you correct spelling in creative writing type exercises at this age?

She does read a lot of picture books throughout the day. I would say that they're about 80%+ of what she reads. I definitely still plan to have her read picture books. She also loves chapter books and has been asking for more. I mainly wanted a list to pull from for when she asks for more.

Thanks, that's good to know. I read gen Kindle version aloud to her so I haven't seen the paperback

She LOVES Agnes and clarabelle and has read both of them. I have others from that same Read & Bloom series on pre-order. I will try Kingdom of Wrenly again. We have the first 4

Yeah. I expected her to like Magic Tree House. She's more of a science/Stem kid though. I think I have an A to Z mystery on our shelf. I'll have to look. Thanks!

What's the print size like in My Fathers Dragon? We read the first one allowed but I could have her do it again. She's a little funny with print size and while she can read smaller font, she preferres not to.

DD is 5 and loving Mercy Watson. She reads a lot of picture books and easier books to herself as well. Next year she will go to an immersion school for K (Spanish) and I want to continue challenging her and growing her English reading ability. I'm looking for some quality, must-read early chapter books for a 5 year old. She hasn't seemed interested in Magic Tree House and they seem a bit fluffier than I want. Any recommendations for quality literature for a 5 year old to read?

It doesn't sound like he is ready for what you are describing. If he's just starting to read then he is still in the learn to read phase and would need more phonics instruction before being expected to spell and compose sentences/paragraphs. For 1st grade Language Arts we are using The Good & The Beautiful. It doesn't have them doing sentences until the end of the year. And this is a curriculum for an advanced 1st grader. It focuses on phonics, spelling, identifying grammar (not writing it), and has an occasional area to fill in a word or circle something. Not a lot of sentence writing. I do have DD draw a picture in a primary style journal (picture on top and lines on bottom) and then write a sentence about it, but enjoys doing this and I wouldn't push her if she didn't. SaveSave

She does enjoy these too. We have a few from the library right now.

DD5 LOVES the humor of Arnold Lobel. She's also read Mercy Watson, Sophie the Mouse, and is currently reading through Zoey and Sassafras. I'm looking for books on a 2/3rd grade level that are early chapter books, pictures, and funny like Lobel. Any suggestions?

By saying spelling and phonics are different I don't think anyone is telling you to brush her off. I only meant it to say that this isn't a phonics issue and that further phonics weren't needed most likely. I would correct her spelling and I'd probably get a manual or something so I could know the rules to tell her. The ABCs and All of Their Tricks is a good reference for that reason.

Also, spelling isn't the same as reading. So she may be able to read horse but not spell it correctly. Spelling isn't usually taught until 1st or later. But I see misspelling horse as a spelling issue. My 5 year old reads well and spells simple words correctly, but usually needs help with trickier words or she may need a reminder of a rule like "what goes on the end to make the vowel say it's name?" Or "what goes on the end to make the word not look plural?" And she will know the answer and write e. But we don't do spelling yet. Not formally.

I haven't used 100EZ but I believe it goes to a second grade level overall. I tend to think of silent e and alternate spellings of vowel sounds (ay, ai, oa, etc) as first grade.

I really found this page on Elizabeth's phonics page helpful. It explains the syllable division rules and has words to practice. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/Resources/syllable%20division%20exercises1.pdf We got Wise Owls Pollysyllables off Amazon and work through the lists. It divides the words into syllables and then has the student read them in context.

I believe those books are around a mid second early third grade level. You could do a phonics based spelling program. That would probably help address weak areas. You could also work on syllable division rules which might help with the words she missed.

There was a K thread, but I think it's gotten buried. We are after schooling for K. DD will be going to a Spanish immersion school for K and we will do English Language Arts at home. DD finished Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading in PreK and we are moving on to The Good and The Beautiful's Language Arts Level 1. We will continue this in K and probably move on to level 2. She's also doing their handwriting. We will do some Spanish vocabulary and phonics this summer.

I would do it through copywork as well. You can find the Spalding handwriting information online and use that as a guide. Progressivephonics.com also has some handwriting worksheets as well. It's free and you can download and print the PDF

I was just about to say the same thing