Elementary Literature Program; Does one exist?

[cin]

I'm looking for a literature program for elementary age kids. I've seen a couple for high school, but nothing for elementary age. I'm not good with this stuff, and I hate to pay a fortune for unit studies for each book we read. Are there any alternatives out there that I can't find?

 

 

Just to clarify, I want to study literature and writing, not necessarily turn the book into a whole unit study, so FIAR type of studies are not really what I'm wanting.

[Halcyon]

:bigear:

[StephanieZ]

the William & Mary literature programs have what you want, but they aren't exactly hs friendly.

[cin]

Stephanie, have you used these? What do you mean by not HS friendly? is it difficult to implement in a HS? My daughter is a voracious reader and I really want to hold her accountable, so to speak. Honestly, I can't keep up with her and her reading. To be constantly reading ahead of her would take a TON of time that I don't have. There's facebook, farmville, WTM msg boards...

[Melissa B]

There is the Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus series.

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series24.htm#441

[Halcyon]

There is the Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus series.

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series24.htm#441

 

can people who have used this chime in with their thoughts on this?

[Stacy in NJ]

Modos is a traditional reading program. Its lowest grade level is 4th or 5th, I believe. The Elson Readers have short stories along with a workbook. Memoria Press offers Classical studies that works in essence like a reading program. You can use the full program or the TE and workbook for individual books that last for 30 weeks (including review weeks). Another options would be K12's lit program.

 

A few links:

 

http://www.mosdospress.com/

 

http://lcbcbooks.com/elson_readers.htm

 

http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/classical/daulaires.htm

 

http://www.k12.com/courses/k-8-courses/

[Flaura]

*forgive typos am on an iPhone *

 

It's not classical but k12 has an excellent literture class for elementary aged kids. It is expensive and when you buy language arts they bundle it with grammar, spelling, and composition as well. We have enjoyed k12 LA 4th grade this year. Ds has worked on summarizing stories and they cover four whole novels that you choose from a list. They also did abridged versions of Robinson crusoe and Pollyanna. I know opinions about abridged books vary. They had two units on nonfiction writing using articles from Cricket magazine. The one we just finished had them identifying the main idea of the articles and learning about unstated main ideas. The readers are interesting and try to contain stories they consider culturally relevent. For example they read Brer rabbit stories, anasi stories, Rikki Rikki tavi, little bios of famous people like Louis Pasteur etc. An example of a reading asignment would be reading the story, asking content questions to chEck comprehension ( can be done orally or written- sometimes they are included as computer based quizzes with the novels) and then doing some analysis based writing. Usually a vocabulary section with definitions is included. When they read Rikki tikki Tavi this year we went over making inferences. They talked about the author saying Rikki was a " true mongoose " and how that wasn't defined a d the reader had to infer the definition fromthe text. Then it had the student writing a paragraph on proving if Rikki was a tru mongoose or not based on the text of the story. I think the program is well done but expensive. If you listen to SWB's lectures you don't really need a lit program but my son has enjoyed it tremendously. YMMV

[cin]

Thanks for the input. I didn't know these curriculums were out there!

[Halcyon]

Modos is a traditional reading program. Its lowest grade level is 4th or 5th, I believe. The Elson Readers have short stories along with a workbook. Memoria Press offers Classical studies that works in essence like a reading program. You can use the full program or the TE and workbook for individual books that last for 30 weeks (including review weeks). Another options would be K12's lit program.

 

A few links:

 

http://www.mosdospress.com/

 

http://lcbcbooks.com/elson_readers.htm

 

http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/classical/daulaires.htm

 

http://www.k12.com/courses/k-8-courses/

 

Elson readers looks wonderful--I'd never heard of it!

 

We used K12 for 3 years, and I did like their Lit program--a bit too intense, in my opinion, but very good. Overall, I thought their LA was overkill, and we picked and chose what appealed to us, but their Lit section was quite good--too pricey for what it offered, which was basically similar to the Elson readers--but good. I don't know if you can buy Lit seperately from LA, however.

[Donna T.]

Have you considered Drawn Into the Heart of Reading? You can use it with multiple children at the same time, assigning each their own books at their own level. Even with different books at different levels, the children will study the same basic things at the same time as long as you have assigned them a title from the same genre. You determine the pace of their reading. You select your own books. It is not dependent on any particular set of books. HOD does offer book packs but those are optional. They also have a book list that you can buy to assist you in finding books. And, they are currently putting together new packages of books that should be up on their web site very soon. It is a thoroughly Christian curriculum, so if you prefer secular, it probably wouldn't work.

 

http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into.php

[lovemykids]

Classical House of Learning is authored by one of our members. Although I am not sure that she is finished. I think she has partial units for sale, so you may be able to grab one inexpensively.

 

Oops! I think it’s called Classical House of Literature, sorry about that.

Edited March 12, 2010 by lovemykids

[lovemykids]

Oh, Deconstructing Penguins is an excellent book!

[EKS]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but Mosdos has good selections, nice pictures (which is important here), and is very easy to implement.

[coffeefreak]

Have you considered Drawn Into the Heart of Reading? You can use it with multiple children at the same time, assigning each their own books at their own level. Even with different books at different levels, the children will study the same basic things at the same time as long as you have assigned them a title from the same genre. You determine the pace of their reading. You select your own books. It is not dependent on any particular set of books. HOD does offer book packs but those are optional. They also have a book list that you can buy to assist you in finding books. And, they are currently putting together new packages of books that should be up on their web site very soon. It is a thoroughly Christian curriculum, so if you prefer secular, it probably wouldn't work.

 

http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into.php

 

:iagree:

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE DITHOR!!! We don't use any of the book lists, I pick the first book she reads in the genre, she picks the second.

 

Dorinda

[MelissaMom]

I agree that those Elson readers look EXCELLENT! I feel like such a bad curriculum junkie....I've never even heard of these!!!:confused:

 

I'm thinking of using these next year now. Seems reasonably priced....wonder if you can find them used?

[usetoschool]

FWIW the Elson Readers are available for free on Google books.

[Kirch]

Have you checked out HOD's Drawn Into the Heart of Reading?

 

ETA: Oops--someone beat me to it! :)

[Jennefer@SSA]

Oh, Deconstructing Penguins is an excellent book!

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[MelissaMom]

Ok....I just did some searching and found that Amazon, Alibris and Abebooks has lots of these. Now not all are published by Lost Classics, some are the original old school book from the '20s and '30s. If you live in a big metro area, I'll bet you could find them in a used bookstore or thrift store.

 

I ordered the Teacher's Guide for book three and found the TG for book five on Paperbackswap! How cool is that! Now I'm just waiting for a great deal on student books 3 and 5 and we'll be good to go!

 

I did find them on Google Books and will consider that....I'm just so stingy with my ink. And I don't want them reading on the screen.

 

Thanks so much for telling me about these. I know I'll love them :D

[Lovedtodeath]

The Phonics Road has literature study. I know that you can buy level 2 separately. It is only one book all year.

[JennW in SoCal]

Before you buy anything, please do download and listen to SWB's lectures on teaching literary analysis.

 

You do not need a program for elementary aged kids. Just let them read, read aloud to them, and simply enjoy books together. Talk about the books you share, ask them about what they are reading for fun. You don't need to worry about analysis for several years, and even then, it is mostly discussion and fairly simple at that. If you need book ideas, use the lists from the WTM as a starting point, ask your librarian, jot down titles from discussion here.

 

Really. Reading is supposed to be fun, and you don't need a pre-packaged curriculum for that!

[rowan25]

There is the Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus series.

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series24.htm#441

:bigear: Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Lovedtodeath]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14041 post on literature programs

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1459041 another

 

I akso tagged a thread with "suppose the wolf"

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151639&highlight=garlic here is one on literary analysis

Edited March 12, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Arch at Home]

I agree. I have my daughters read on book a week for "school" to challenge them. I read that book and we discuss it a bit perhaps tying it into what ever else we are studying or what is going on in our lives or world. I work in gradually some literary terminology over the years. Other than that they read what they want.

[Pata]

Before you buy anything, please do download and listen to SWB's lectures on teaching literary analysis.

 

You do not need a program for elementary aged kids. Just let them read, read aloud to them, and simply enjoy books together. Talk about the books you share, ask them about what they are reading for fun. You don't need to worry about analysis for several years, and even then, it is mostly discussion and fairly simple at that. If you need book ideas, use the lists from the WTM as a starting point, ask your librarian, jot down titles from discussion here.

 

Really. Reading is supposed to be fun, and you don't need a pre-packaged curriculum for that!

 

:iagree: I just listened to this lecture and it has really put my mind at ease about lit. analysis. It's given me an end goal to shoot for and a road map so that we'll actually get there. Well worth the money!

[Laura Corin]

It worked fine. At younger ages we just read a lot together and separately.

 

Laura

[Halcyon]

Ok....I just did some searching and found that Amazon, Alibris and Abebooks has lots of these. Now not all are published by Lost Classics, some are the original old school book from the '20s and '30s. If you live in a big metro area, I'll bet you could find them in a used bookstore or thrift store.

 

I ordered the Teacher's Guide for book three and found the TG for book five on Paperbackswap! How cool is that! Now I'm just waiting for a great deal on student books 3 and 5 and we'll be good to go!

 

I did find them on Google Books and will consider that....I'm just so stingy with my ink. And I don't want them reading on the screen.

 

Thanks so much for telling me about these. I know I'll love them :D

 

Thanks for the tips! I am loving these too, and like how the TGs look. Off to try and find them used :D

[johnandtinagilbert]

much more than just lit, The Phonics Road does offer a literature component that includes very nicely literary analysis and also elementary writing skills. We love it.

[kokotg]

:bigear: Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Here's what I wrote in another thread about them: ETA: about Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus, that is

 

I bought the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th grade books this year to use with a kids' book club I'm running, and, honestly, I'm kind of disappointed in them. Other than a few pages of introductory material, all they are is lists of questions for different books. I don't love the book choices (there are a bunch of Judy Blume books in the 3rd/4th grade level, ranging from Freckle Juice to Blubber....my son has read and enjoyed the Fudge books, and they're fine, but I don't think of them as especially deep. For another thing, Freckle Juice and Blubber are targeted at completely different reading and maturity levels; it just seems strange to me that they're even in the same book). I also wasn't particularly impressed with the questions. A great many of them are simple comprehension questions; the suppose the wolf was an octopus type questions are very rare (maybe one to two per book). The level of analysis it calls for doesn't seem very challenging at all to me. It's all based on Bloom's Taxonomy, so maybe my real issue is with Bloom .

 

It's also filled with typos and, more annoyingly, in a lot of cases the author doesn't seem to have actually read the books very carefully before writing the questions. For Stuart Little, he asks, "Suppose the little cat was mean and nasty? How would that have affected Stuart's life?" It's hard to imagine anyone reading Stuart Little and coming away with the opinion that Snowbell isn't "mean and nasty." I mean, his meanness and nastiness is a pretty major plot point. For James and the Giant Peach, he suggests, "Predict what the aunts will do when they find out where James is." Well, since they die at the beginning of the book, my guess is they won't do a whole lot.

 

So, yeah. I was disappointed, especially for the price I paid. You can do as well looking around online to find discussion questions for most of these books.

[Jen500]

can people who have used this chime in with their thoughts on this?

 

I own the 5/6 and 7 books. I think they are great for a list of questions and activities using Bloom's taxonomy. Sometimes it's hard for me to think of questions on my own...especially if I errrr....haven't read the book or haven't read it in a long time. There are no answers or worksheets, just the questions and suggested activities.

To respond to one of the pp about these, I haven't found any typos in my books. For each book, each of the 6 levels (knowledge, comprehension, application, etc) includes 4-6 ideas. Maybe the younger books don't have as many synthesis and evaluation questions as the older grade books? And each book I have includes about 50 books, so it's pretty easy to find some books that are a good fit for our family. As always, use your own judgement.

If you are looking for something with more info about the author, worksheets, and teacher's notes, these books wouldn't be a good choice.

Hope that helps someone.

[cin]

I understand and completely agree that a literature program for younger kids isn't necessary. Unless, of course, you are me. I am homeschooling my 2 kids by the skin of my teeth. I canNOT keep on task with unit studies. I need curricula that is 'next day next page'. It also helps keeps my daughter on target. I couldn't keep us going with FIAR cuz our life is going in so many different directions and I just couldn't stay on task. If i were more organized and disciplined, (and less busy) I would LOVE to read side by side with her, her MANY books and discuss them. She LOVES reading and I would love to be able to buy study guides for the books she reads, but she easily reads a book a week (which are hand picked) and the study guides run $10-20/book.

[Laura Corin]

She LOVES reading and I would love to be able to buy study guides for the books she reads, but she easily reads a book a week (which are hand picked) and the study guides run $10-20/book.

 

Was that you don't need to 'study' books in elementary school. To be honest, Calvin and I barely discussed the books he read. We might have chatted casually about something that he had read, but mostly he just read.

 

Laura

[rowan25]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14041 post on literature programs

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1459041 another

 

I akso tagged a thread with "suppose the wolf"

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151639&highlight=garlic here is one on literary analysis

Thanks so much. Good reading!

[Lovedtodeath]

I am glad I could help. I was stuck rocking a sleepy toddler. ;)

[Lovedtodeath]

I understand and completely agree that a literature program for younger kids isn't necessary. Unless, of course, you are me. I am homeschooling my 2 kids by the skin of my teeth. I canNOT keep on task with unit studies. I need curricula that is 'next day next page'. It also helps keeps my daughter on target. I couldn't keep us going with FIAR cuz our life is going in so many different directions and I just couldn't stay on task. If i were more organized and disciplined, (and less busy) I would LOVE to read side by side with her, her MANY books and discuss them. She LOVES reading and I would love to be able to buy study guides for the books she reads, but she easily reads a book a week (which are hand picked) and the study guides run $10-20/book.

If what you need is a schedule, comprehension questions and their answers, then Sonlight has it. We are using the 2 Intermediate, there is a 2 Advanced which is 3-5 grade level. http://www.sonlight.com/readers-2-adv.html Unfortunately, the other levels are not available separate from the Core IG. I have seen old IGs sell for as little as $15 though, and then you would have what you need. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SonlightReruns/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsedSonlightHomeschool/

Edited March 13, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[StephanieZ]

Stephanie, have you used these? What do you mean by not HS friendly? is it difficult to implement in a HS? My daughter is a voracious reader and I really want to hold her accountable, so to speak. Honestly, I can't keep up with her and her reading. To be constantly reading ahead of her would take a TON of time that I don't have. There's facebook, farmville, WTM msg boards...

 

Well, I have bought the Utopia TM & Student book, and now most of the novels. . . to use next year w/ my dd13. I am excited to use it but it will take some leg work to prepare it -- making copies of things, figuring out the methodology. . . The authors assume a lot of teaching lingo/knowledge

 

It's just not put together in a hs friendly way. I'll have to stand around m aking copies from the TM for a couple hours at some point (no separate student sheets to use or copy. . . they are mixed in with the TM text. . . so it will just be time consuming)

 

and pricing is a pain b/c the only sell the student book in bundles of 10!! (I have 7 or so I'd be happy to sell if anyone wants to try Utopia!!)

 

That said, it looks very very cool to me and I am excited to use it next year. They have levels for younger ages, and I am tempted to try another level for my little girl, but have decided to give Utopia a good go next year before committing to any more levels. . .

 

HTH

[Jennay]

I understand and completely agree that a literature program for younger kids isn't necessary. Unless, of course, you are me. I am homeschooling my 2 kids by the skin of my teeth. I canNOT keep on task with unit studies. I need curricula that is 'next day next page'. It also helps keeps my daughter on target. I couldn't keep us going with FIAR cuz our life is going in so many different directions and I just couldn't stay on task. If i were more organized and disciplined, (and less busy) I would LOVE to read side by side with her, her MANY books and discuss them. She LOVES reading and I would love to be able to buy study guides for the books she reads, but she easily reads a book a week (which are hand picked) and the study guides run $10-20/book.

 

I also couldn't keep going with FIAR. I've tried many times because I love the idea of it but burn-out too easily. Have you looked into Sonlight? That's what we have been able to implement on a consistent basis. Lots of books and there is a study guide for each one (except the poetry books). Add in some questions from The Well-Trained Mind chapter on Literature or Reading Strands and you're good to go!

Edited March 14, 2010 by Jennay