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Kindergarten/Age 5-6 Read Alouds?


TXMary2
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Mine loved "My Father's Dragon" and "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (Ds 6, dd4) They liked the Winnie the Pooh series by AA Milne (but didn't care much for the poetry) and also the Thornton Burgess series--Old Mother West Wind is the only title I can recall off hand, but there are lots of Burgess animal story books--Dover publishes them pretty cheaply.

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Ds enjoyed:

 

Betsy-Tacy

The Story about Ping

Peter's Chair

The Pig in the Pond

The Little House

A Bear Called Paddington

Skip to My Lou

The Snowy Day

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The First Seven Days

Stone Soup

Little Toot

My Father's Dragon series

Mr. Popper's Penguins

James Herriott's Treasury for Children

 

 

He was quite sad about these:

 

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Boy and the Whale

Peter Spier's Noah's Ark

The Story of Babar

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I've got two that age and this summer we've had good luck with:

 

Runaway Ralph by Beverly Clearly

The Franny K. Stein books (The girls BEGGED me to read these and we all love them)

The American Girls books

The Magic Tree House books

 

Otherwise we've been reading a lot of picture books still.

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I've been reading fairy tale picture books to my 5 yr old. I wrote down a list of all the fairy tales I could think of, and then I pick one and get a few books on it from the library. I like getting several so we can see how different writers and illustrators portray the story.

 

I also compiled a list of books I'm interested in reading to her in K/1st from other recommended reading lists. I *think* I checked these out on Amazon for descriptions and reviews, to make sure they fit my standards, but I can't remember now.

 

Kindergarten-1st Grade

The Heroes—Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley

Tanglewood Tales, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (colonial America??)

The Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Classic Myths to Read Aloud, by William F. Russell

Katie and the Mona Lisa by James Mayhew

Katie and the Sunflowers by James Mayhew

Katie Meets the Impressionists by James Mayhew

Katie’s Sunday Afternoon by James Mayhew

Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle

Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle

Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle

Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund Minarik

A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock

A Big Ball of String by Marion Holland

The Best Trick by Rebecca Lewis

The Bravest Dog Ever, the True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney

Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

Wind in the Willows

Blueberries for Sal

Ox-cart Man

Poems to Read to the Very Young by Josette Frank

 

I also started a list for 1st-2nd grade, 3rd & 4th grade and 5th and 6th grade, but they're not complete yet (well, the K-1st probably isn't complete, either--I'm sure we'll read plenty more than that).

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Thank you! These are great selections.

 

I have another question. Currently I read story books with pictures and my son loves to help hold the book so he can see them well. I am a little worried about not holding his attention or him not being able to follow the story. So, when reading chapter books like Mr. Popper's Penguins or Charlotte's Web how much do you read at a time and do you stop and check for understanding?

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I think you'll be able to tell if they are ready for chapter books or not. My now-7 yr old could easily follow a chapter book with no pictures when he was 4/5 yrs old. My 2nd ds who is 5 right now can't follow them so easily. For example this summer I've read the Narnia books, and Mr. Poppers Penguins and he (ds5) didn't like them bc he couldn't really follow the story. But he did like charlie and the chocolate factory, little house on the prairie series esp. farmer boy etc.. It really just depends on your child and the story at this age, IMO. I will also ask them after a page or so if I think what we're reading may be confusing...for example last night we were reading Prince Caspian and I thought one section was confusing but when I asked my ds7 if he understood, he knew exactly what was going on. :001_smile:

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Ooooh, I love lists like this! Thanks for asking!

Thank you! These are great selections.

 

I have another question. Currently I read story books with pictures and my son loves to help hold the book so he can see them well. I am a little worried about not holding his attention or him not being able to follow the story. So, when reading chapter books like Mr. Popper's Penguins or Charlotte's Web how much do you read at a time and do you stop and check for understanding?

I like to do chapter books during breakfast or lunch (or both!). I find that eating occupies them, especially my 3-year-old, but they're captive! :D Also, I keep the reading short and sweet, one or maybe two chapters at a time, so that their interest is high. At the moment, I'm not worried about comprehension. I've found that if the book is interesting to my 5-year-old, she pays attention and has great recall. So we aren't doing any narration or any real questions after we read. I might ask a question before we start a new chapter, just to make sure she has remembered what we already read, but I don't even do that every day. The bonus is that, though my 3-year-old isn't as interested or as attentive, even she is remembering things.

 

Also, to transition into chapter books, I found for us that reading the longer picture books was really helpful. I'm thinking of books like Blueberries for Sal or Little Bear where there are a lot of words before we move to a new page. That stretched out the attention. Plus, books like Charlotte's Web, at least our copy, have some sketches every other page or so, so that helps, too.

 

A lot of what we've read has already been mentioned, but I don't think I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was a huge, huge hit. :001_smile:

Edited by ~Kirsten~
ridiculous grammar error ;)
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What we've especially liked so far:

 

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook

Raggedy Ann Stories

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

James & the Giant Peach

Capyboppy

Dr. Doolittle

The Red Clogs

The Story About Ping

Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

The Twelve Dancing Princesses and King Midas & the Golden Touch illustrated by KY Craft

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We used the Sonlight Catalog and followed their recommendations. I was able to get most from the library.

 

Favorites from that catalog: My Father's Dragon, Dr. Doolittle, Wizard of Oz, Five True Dog Stories (borrowed from a friend who does Sonlight), The Llama who had no pajama (great poems...ended up buying this one), and In Grandma's Attic (borrowed also)

 

Have fun!

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