Read Alouds, lit for 1st grade

[RachelFlores]

Background, we will be covering SOTW 2 next year. Dd likes some read alouds, but is kind of picky. We've been reading the Burgess animal books and she liked them for a while, but she is no longer excited by them. She has started fighting read aloud time. :glare: I want her to love reading and read aloud time. I have been going back and forth about what to do for read alouds next year. Here are my three ideas, what do you think would be best to create a love of reading? (pretend at the moment that cost is not a factor) Also, I'm not especially good at comming up with comprehension/ discussion questions, I wouldn't use them everyday, but it would be nice to have them.

 

1. Create a list from the SOTW 2 AG so that most, if not all of our read alouds go with our history reading. I thought discussions would be easy to come up with for these since I can always bring up what we studied in SOTW.

 

2.Buy Sonlight core A or B (what would be best for a young 1st grader?) I would get a schedule and discussion questions, but probably wouldn't read ALL the books on the schedule or maybe read them over 2 years?

 

3. Put together a list of classic read alouds for her level and make my own discussion questions. (What read alouds would you suggest if you think this option is best?)

 

So WWYD? Thank you for your input!

[boscopup]

I just randomly pick good chapter books. You might start with short, interesting ones. If you're worried about her enjoying it, I'd stay far away from "questions". Just let her listen and absorb.

 

There are several good options in WWE, plus you can get books you remember as a child, like the Mouse and the Motorcycle series, Charlotte's Web, etc. We just finished Misty of Chincoteague, and my boys liked that. They also liked the James Herriot Treasury for Children. That had nice animal stories.

 

Don't overthink read-alouds. Just pick books you think she'll like, keeping in mind her age and ability to comprehend. Books that are around a 4th to 5th grade reading level should be good. Or even lower than that. I think we started out with Magic Treehouse books, increasing difficulty from there.

[Lady Q]

I've struggled with the issue of what to do when my children aren't enjoying school-related read-alouds. Part of me wants to say "tough, it's school and we're going to read this if it kills us" and another part of me is worried about turning read-aloud time into a dismal chore.

 

I think flexibility is key here. I tend to have a short short list of must-reads, and then a larger pool of books to at least just try. I don't think you need to be worrying too much about set comprehension/discussion questions with a first-grader. Most discussions will arise naturally as you read. After every chapter I ask my son the main thing that happened to make sure he's getting the gist of the story. Sometimes we stop to discuss the meaning of a word. Other times we talk about the differences between the characters' lives and our lives (easy to do when we read a lot of historical fiction!). Sometimes I ask what he thinks of a character (after the first chapter of Pippi Longstocking, my 6 yo said, "She's a liar" in answer to *that* question). Or what he thinks will happen next. Or I make a comment on something I found noteworthy and go from there.

 

It's also important--and this I learned the hard way--to have read-alouds that are just for fun. My son listened to his Dad read aloud almost the entire Bunnicula series this year. :P

 

My personal preference is a combination of options 1 and 3. For option 1, I'm more wedded to a topic rather than specific books. We're doing SOTW 2 next year, and we will read Arthurian legends, but I'm just as happy to read Margaret Hodges' picture books as I am the Howard Pyle King Arthur. I want ds to read some historical fiction set in the Middle Ages, but it could be Castle Diary or The Minstrel in the Tower or whatever.

 

Some of the read-alouds that my children have enjoyed:

 

My Father's Dragon and sequels

The Little House books

The Hobbit

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook

Misty of Chincoteague

The Railway Children

Catwings

Ramona books (Beverly Cleary)

Little Pear

Understood Betsy

HTH!

[newhsmom]

I would recommend finding wonderful book lists and just reading great books for pleasure. This is one area that I wouldn't ask a lot of questions. I would just read for the true pleasure of reading. I would read from a variety of sources such as chapter books, picture books, poetry, etc.

 

Jim Trelease is a great resource for wonderful read alouds. His website and book The Read Aloud Handbook are great starting places.

[RachelFlores]

Thank you for your replies. I think I will just make a list of books to "try" and see how many we get through. I am a scheduler and I often want to make things harder than they need to be.

[Farrar]

I would do a mix of 1 and 3. If you're doing SOTW, then I don't think it's the same without accompanying read alouds. But it's also nice to break away from the middle ages and read something else that's just fun. I try to mix the read alouds we do between things that are tied to history, things that will stretch the kids a little and things that are good but that I know they will really love. I also try to mix up the length of things. We did Dragonrider for fun last summer (it's VERY long tough a quick read) so afterwards we read something short, though I can't remember what.

 

I think reading things above a kid's comprehension level is also a surefire way to kill their enjoyment of read aloud time. And first graders still need picture books and short things too. If she's getting to dislike read alouds, I would stop what you're reading and find a string of stuff she'll really like right now. I agree with the above suggestions of anything by Roald Dahl, Ramona, My Father's Dragon... I'll toss into the pot Arabel's Raven, The Jamie and Angus Stories, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Finn Family Moomintroll... those are all ones my kids loved.

 

As for comprehension questions... we don't do this at this age, so it's hard for me to relate. Why can't you just talk about the book? Sometimes dh and I switch off nights and the kids have to explain what happened to him, which is a nice informal comprehension check. Or sometimes if something big is foreshadowed then I pause and say, hey, what do you think will happen? I also encourage the kids to compare and find connections - though they do this on their own. And sometimes I try to use some very, very basic terms to discuss the books - hero, protagonist, climax, plot, etc. Also, sometimes, we just read something and all enjoy it and then let it go. I don't think every book has to have questions.

[Embassy]

I would make a list of books. My 1st grader had never been a fan of read alouds. I had attempted to read chapter books to him for years without much interest. I chose books differently this year and I have a changed boy. It is one of his favorite things about school now. You can see our list of books here. It was designed for a little boy, but there may be some books on there your daughter would like. I started off with lots of picture books and slowly built up to chapter books.

 

I would just discuss the book as you read it. You will be able to tell if comprehension is happening.

[Critterfixer]

Dd likes some read alouds, but is kind of picky.

What does she like? Lots of illustrations? Character dominated storylines? Repeated plot elements? (Think fairy tales) Find out what it is about the books she likes and try to chose books with one or more of those elements.

 

I would not tie my reading selections entirely to a history or literature outline. Some things, yes. All things, no.