gandpsmommy Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 This year we read D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and Dk's The Illustrated Children's Bible. This was separate from dd's reading and our family read-alouds. I purposefully chose some more challenging stories that dd wasn't likely to read on her own and that I felt were important works of literature for her to encounter. I'm trying to make selections for next year (third grade) and also to decide if we want to maintain the same approach to studying literature. This year we mostly just read it. We began the year trying to use the teacher's guide for the Greek myths (written by Cheryl Lowe), but quickly found that it was pitched at more of a junior high level and that it wasn't particularly helpful to us. So, we mostly just read. Occasionally we would discuss together certain aspects of the stories (especially the Greek myths) that we thought were noteworthy (e.g. remarkably grotesque or horrible, sad, interesting, etc.) I am reasonably confident that at this age my objective in introducing dd to classic literatue is just that: to introduce her to great literature. We use WWE, so she learns narration in her writing studies, and I sometimes ask her to tell me about what she is reading on her own, so she gets some practice in narrating there. I really don't think she is old enough yet to begin analyzing the literature in a meaningful way. So, I'm pretty happy with exposure at this point. Except when I sometimes wonder if we should be doing something more or different. I'm not too into crafty projects. I thought about getting Literature Pockets for the Greek myths, but decided against it since our workload was already pretty heavy. So, my question is two-fold: 1. Do you have any suggestions for literature selections for a third grade student? 2. Do you do anything in your literature studies beyond just reading? If so, what? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Next year is our first year HSing. DS8 will be in 3rd grade and ds6 will be in 1st/2nd. They are both strong readers and will be doing literature studies together. I am starting with Progeny Press's Sarah Noble lit guide and we'll see where we go from there. It will definitely be an easy read for them but the questions will be challenging, esp for the 6 year old. My goal is to slow them down in their reading and pay more attention. Also, I didn't want to overwhelm them at first so we'll likely move on to something a little more challenging if they handle this well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 So, my question is two-fold: 1. Do you have any suggestions for literature selections for a third grade student? 2. Do you do anything in your literature studies beyond just reading? If so, what? Thanks! For a 3rd grader, I would focus on exposure to lots of excellent children's lit (reading for about 45 mins/day independently and working one more difficult selection as a read aloud simultaneously.) Typically, once they are in 3rd or 4th grade, their reading abilities open up the number of titles to the point you have to narrow down the selection to those titles you find the most value in b/c there are simply so many to choose from. As far as analyzing lit......we don't do any until at least middle school. My younger kids simply read books and we discuss them, but typically everything is simple on concrete comprehension terms. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Early in the grammar years, my goal was to teach dd to read--I used a phonics approach and read to her a lot. After she began reading well, my goal was to teach her to love to read. For that, I wanted to expose her to great literature, because I think the stories lend themselves to fostering a love for story! I also wanted to get her to exercise her reading muscles--in the brain, that is! I put really high quality stuff in front of her and limited twaddle (tho some crept in, esp this year in ps), and found it increased her reading comprehension (increasing her enjoyment and motivation), her vocabulary, and her attention span. When we over-analyzed stories, she got impatient and turned off. I think I posted on another thread about the reports she had to do for school--she retained little info because the books were not engaging. So, I willl probably do a few books in 4th grade that we pick apart, probably with the Sonlight guide for 3rd, but we will mostly continue to read aloud really rich stories, and I'll guide her towards the same in her independent reading. I don't always connect her books to history, but that's mainly what we read around here. She has already covered a lot of the lit that is age appropriate (Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Well, I don't know if this will help or not. Dh was commenting on how "eclectic" our lit selections for next year are. (He felt like he had to make some comment, since stacks of books are taking over the living room as we move books around at the end of the school year!) I explained to him that I am trying to keep four separate goals in mind when I pick out literature books (and, to a lesser extent, biographies and supplemental histories). 1 - To challenge her current reading level and help it get higher. This is a biggie for me, because I had zero challenge in reading between third grade and eleventh. Guess who became a lazy reader? 2 - To expose her to classic children's literature (Charlotte's Web, The Secret Garden, etc.), which mostly falls below her reading level. 3 - To enrich and expand upon her history studies through good historical fiction. 4 - To study some of these works in a more in-depth manner. We're going to spend more time on four or five books over the course of her fourth grade year (approximately one a quarter), versus simply reading and basic narration. For #4 above, I think we're going to use one or two VP guides, and then I'm going to look for other guides for one quarter, and finally, we're going to do a lot of compare/contrast discussion with two depictions of WWII/violence against Jewish people - Twenty and Ten and Number the Stars. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 We have a monthly book club (the girls are all 8). The kids get to pick books from a pre-selected list (pretty much all classics), and then we discuss using Literature Circles, which is a gentle introduction to lit discussion, and also gives them some ownership. Until recently my dd8 could read well, but did not enthusiastically, and was having trouble sustaining longer books. I set up the book club to encourage her to finish longer works (nothing like keeping up with the peers for motivation). She has just recently finally started reading more volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 I just wanted to clarify that I'm talking about Literature studies, which for us is completely separate from Reading, Free Reading, and Family Read-alouds. DD is an excellent reader. For Reading this year she read books such as The Courage of Sarah Noble, Sarah Plain and Tall, Skylark, Caleb's Story, Ballet Shoes, and some of the Little House books. For Free Reading she read things like some of Beverly Cleary's books (Mouse and the Motorcyle series, Ramona books) and is now reading From The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Our Family Read-Alouds included things like The Penderwicks, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kenney and The Dragon, Strawberry Girl, and Ginger Pye. In the past we have read all of E.B. White's books, several Roald Dahl books, The Secret Garden, The Wheel on The School and other childhood classics. What I'm looking for now is ideas specifically for Literature Studies. I'm seeking out some works that will be more challenging to understand, and works that will allow dd to be able to intertextualize better as she grows older: foundational works of literature that will help her understand other great literature better. Sorry for any confusion my original post may have caused. I guess I should have been more specific. Thanks for any ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I'm seeking out some works that will be more challenging to understand, and works that will allow dd to be able to intertextualize better as she grows older: foundational works of literature that will help her understand other great literature better. I personally think that those skills are more appropriate for the 12 yo and up crowd. It doesn't take yrs and yrs of studying and learning how literature of the past influences authors. (Literay Lessons from LOTRs does an excellent job of doing precisely that.) Once they understand that concept, it is easy for them to be aware of it in all the great works they read. Simply being well-read and exposed to lots of literature will lead to them seeing the allusions to other works when they are older. Reading for enjoyment and comprehending their reading is more than enough for the younger crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 I personally think that those skills are more appropriate for the 12 yo and up crowd. It doesn't take yrs and yrs of studying and learning how literature of the past influences authors. (Literay Lessons from LOTRs does an excellent job of doing precisely that.) Once they understand that concept, it is easy for them to be aware of it in all the great works they read. Simply being well-read and exposed to lots of literature will lead to them seeing the allusions to other works when they are older. Reading for enjoyment and comprehending their reading is more than enough for the younger crowd. I think I'm not being very articulate or not coming across the way I mean to. We do spend a lot of time just reading books for enjoyment, reading to improve reading skills, etc. I'm looking for those works that will make dd well-read as she grows. Maybe I should have posted on the accelerated learner board. I guess sometimes I forget that many kids finishing up second grade are still working on phonics and reading comprehension skills pretty heavily. Dd picked up reading so easily that I can forget how far ahead of the norm she is. Also, I'm really looking for literature that I can read to her. And as I said before, I do read her books just for fun and enjoyment. I was just specifically seeking ideas for more challenging, deeper, more pervasive works, more along the lines of the Greek mythology and Christian Bible stories we read this year. And although I agree with you that enjoying reading and understanding what they read is a good goal for young elementary students, I don't necessarily agree that it is enough for every young student. And again, this was more about works that I could read to her than works for her to read on her own. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Well, here are a few ideas: Norse myths- you could use Mary Pope Osborne's Favorite Norse Myths and Viking Tales Medieval Tales-LCC recommends Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne or you could add or replace this with When Knights Were Bold (Yesterday's Classics has this one) and/or Legends like Stories From Robin Hood (also at Yesterday's Classics) or even just listening to an audio of Robin Hood Fairy Tales- if you haven't read a good volume of fairy tales then maybe Anderson's Fairy Tales or one of the Andrew Lang books (colors like The Blue Fairy Book or The Red Fairy Book, etc. Tall Tales- Ambleside recommends American Tall Tales by Adrien Stountenburg HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 1st - 3rd D'Aulaire's Greek Myths D'Aulaire's Norse Myths Black Ships before Troy Wanderings of Odysseus In Search of a Homeland Stories from the Arabian Nights Stories from Shakespeare Andersen's Fairy Tales Grimm's Fairy Tales Lang's colored Fairy books McCaughrean's Myths and Legends of the World Aesop's Fables Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I totally agree with you...having advanced readers myself, it is almost a necessity to discuss literature with them and not just read it. First of all, they read so fast that books become brain candy for them...they are not paying attention in the least when they read 2 years ahead of grade level bc it's still so easy. When they get to 4 years ahead of grade level, where they finally must slow down, they just don't have the experience to understand everything that is going on so their reading selections are very limiting. If you're not careful they become lazy readers, reading only for story line and entertainment, or give up on reading all together bc they can't find appropriate material.... Specific to our situation, my boys are definitely math/science oriented in their talents but have been early blooming, fanatic readers. My oldest has Aspergers...mild autism, but is gifted as well. His lit comprehension skills are going to begin to lag at some point due to his reduced ability to put himself in another's shoes and empathize with others. So I intend to keep pushing his comprehension skills now while they're still advanced and hopefully stay ahead of the curve, giving me a few bonus years to teach him comprehension so that he does not become frustrated later on. My boys love literature and books of all types. I see no reason to hold them back from discussing it if they're ready. Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 1st - 3rd D'Aulaire's Greek Myths D'Aulaire's Norse Myths Black Ships before Troy Wanderings of Odysseus In Search of a Homeland Stories from the Arabian Nights Stories from Shakespeare Andersen's Fairy Tales Grimm's Fairy Tales Lang's colored Fairy books McCaughrean's Myths and Legends of the World Aesop's Fables :iagree: This is almost exactly what we are doing. I do mix the Shakespeare in every year instead of all at once. I Love McCaughrean's 1001 Arabian Nights. I also have in there some Celtic myths, Roman myths, and medieval myths. I am slowly reading through the classic tales, then when we finish these, I just might go back and do it again with more detailed versions. I love the background that they give kids for other stories later in life. We do compare the stories and talk about what the stories tell us about what kind of world the writer's and the original audience lived in. We find other versions and compare them. We compare them to each other. We have talked about things as detailed as the structure of a classic hero tale and what makes a hero. We talked about the different types of protagonists we meet in different tales. We compare the types of values the people have and what things are important to them and how they define things such as honor. We have also discussed the roles of women and children in each of the cultures. The stories are all so wonderful that they easily lend themselves to this type of discussion naturally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Do you think the lists at Ambleside might be what you are looking for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Thanks for all the replies. I have the D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths, so we might start with that. I would love to add in some Shakespeare, and I think I'll check out the list on Ambleside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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