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How much extra reading?


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I want to put together a list of books for each kid to read during the school year. It's kind of been a neglected part of our school. They do R&S reading and english, ect, so they are reading, but I'm talking about real chapter books. What is a reasonable number to require for the school year? I know it'll fluctuate as they desire to read more or less and I'm not going to "push" them unnecessarily. But I do need to give them a goal or, DS particularly, won't do much. Reading books that aren't sciency isn't his thing. So, what's reasonable for an average kid? They'll be doing 3rd/4th, 2nd, and K/1st. Thanks.

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Dot and I together pick out a book from a specific section of our local bookstore, and then we read a chapter together every night before bed. :) (No one said reading had to be done during the school day! LOL)

 

We just finished "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" last night, and today picked out the first "Little House" book. When we've finished "Little House In the Big Woods", we'll read "The Little Princess" (Dot's next choice) and then either "Heidi" or "The Secret Garden". We spend approximately 6-8 weeks per book, so I imagine we'll end up reading five or six books of this type/length by next summer.

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Wizard of Oz

Pinocchio

Trumpet of the Swan

The Borrowers

Mary Poppins

Indian in the Cupboard

Henry & Ribsy

Zack Files

Superfudge (whole series by Judy Blume)

James & the Giant Peach (anything by Roald Dahl my son loves)

Ragweed (series by Avi)

Bunnicula (favorite of my son, we also listen to the CD in the car)

The Chocolate Touch (a must must read for the whole family. So good!)

 

We do a ton of read alouds. Snuggle up on the couch and get reading!

Edited by gingersmom
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Yeah, we do a bunch of read alouds too. Well, right now the radio is doing it while I take a summer break! I just wanted to plan their independant reading, mostly for the oldest, since he won't pick chapter books on his own and it getting bored with the science selection on the bookcase, as he's read most of it. :) But I want to require a reasonable amount from him and am not sure how much that is. Thanks for the book suggestions, though! Can't get enough of those!

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I think 1 book/month on top of whatever they're doing for school is not at all unreasonable.

 

3rd/4th, 2nd, and K/1st

 

For the K/1st grader, books in series like

Little Bear

Frog and Toad

Oliver and Amanda

Henry and Mudge

Mr. Putter and Tabby

Nate the Great

Horrible Harry

 

For the 2nd grader books in series like:

Young Cam Jansen

Jigsaw Jones

The Littles

Rainbow Magic Fairies - don't bother with this one for boys

Pony-Crazed Princess

 

For the 3rd/4th grader:

Katie Kazoo

Animal Ark Pets (warning - in the Pets series, the pet ALWAYS survives; but in the regular Ark series the pet sometimes dies)

anything by Andrew Clements

Alex Rider (in the teen section, but written at a 4th grade level and clean)

Five Ancestors

Pet Finders

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Ember series (you must wait until AFTER City of Ember to read Prophet of Yonwood)

Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Artemis Fowl

Rowan of Rin

anything by Edward Eager

Fablehaven

Samurai Mysteries

Theodosia

Underland Chronicles (be warned - characters that you care about die in every book)

 

Rather than a number of pages or number of books, I require an amount of time. If your kids don't have any reading issues, then I'd recommend 15 min/day for K/1st, 20 min/day for 2nd, 30 min/day for 3rd/4th. If your kids do have reading issues, then you'll need to be there for them to read out loud to. Reading out loud is a lot more stressful than reading silently, so you'd need to cut down on the time. Last year my dyslexic 5th grader was required to read anything she wanted for 25 min/day (silently) and the book that I assigned for 20 min/day (out loud to me). I tried to always give her 2-3 books to choose from for the assigned books.

Edited by AngieW in Texas
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Thanks! That gives me a place to start. I forgot about the Book It Program. I signed up for that in the spring. I'll definately have to work that in. That would be great motivation and we just found a Pizza Hut closeby. (Lived here for 10 years, but it's just a small pick up place, so I never noticed it :) )

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