First grade... read alouds, independent reading, SOTW reading... how to do it?

[staceyobu]

Okay, we just finished week one of school and I'm trying to clarify and adjust things as we dive into week 2! How do you juggle suggested activity guide reading and independent reading and read alouds and free reading? I'm confused by all this!

 

So far, I've been giving DD the easier suggested activity guide readings for her to read, and I've been reading the more complicated ones. Should I work in an additional time frame of read alouds that are unrelated or is that not really necessary? Then, she should be doing free reading for 30 minutes a day? Does Junie B Jones count? :001_huh:

 

We also have books I'm pulling to go along with science. We've also been splitting those between read alouds and independent reads.

 

I think I'm just a little confused after using Sonlight the past two years! I really liked my nice little schedule with read alouds and independent reads scheduled! I guess I just want to know if others are kinda randomly dividing these out or if there is some sort of scientific formula I can apply!

[ClassicalTwins]

:bigear:

[Farrar]

I think you'll get different answers. I don't give my kids any history reading for them to do independently. They could do some, and I briefly considered getting some stuff just for them to read, but I would rather keep independent reading and history separate. Anything they can read for K-3rd just isn't going to be as informative or rich as the read alouds and I'd much rather they read interest-driven books for independent reading. So, here's what we do:

 

* history read alouds 3-4x per week for anywhere from 15 mins - 1 hour (we're pretty loose with scheduling our morning school time)

* daily independent reading - books of their choosing - 20 mins daily

* literature read alouds at bedtime - 30mins-1 hour daily - sometimes history related (we did Detectives in Togas for example), but usually not usually

[boscopup]

I do literature reading everyday - book of my selection, often pushing the reading level, though sometimes not... assigned a certain number of chapters per day, though it's ok if he reads ahead. ;)

 

Then we also have about 20-30ish minutes of "book basket" reading. These are library books that include history, science, and sometimes Star Wars (boy equivalent to Junie B. Jones :D).

 

Outside of that, he randomly picks up books of his choice to read whenever. I don't schedule that.

 

I really don't do that much read-aloud right now because I have a jealous 2 year old. :glare: Also, DS1 learns more by reading it himself than listening to me. He LOVES history books! In a couple years, I'll probably increase the read-aloud time. We go through spurts. I do read SOTW out loud, and I try to get some old fairy tales and other such books read to them when I can. We go through phases. For a while there, I was able to read every night at bed time. Lately, the 2 year old has been melting down at that point, so no read-aloud. :(

[alpidarkomama]

In 1st grade my DD did OPGTR, plus anything else she felt like picking up on her own. Everything else was read aloud by me (history, science, fiction, etc.). By ONLY doing that, and following up with the 2nd McGuffey Reader, she reached a middle school reading level at the end of 2nd grade. She likes reading, so she didn't have any assigned reading per se in 2nd grade either. This year (3rd) she'll have assigned reading in history and science (30 minutes-ish per day) + she'll read the 3rd McGuffey Reader (2-3 stories/week) out loud.

[Miss Tick]

We do a read aloud every evening (non-academic).

 

My two read aloud to me a few times a week (usually 3x about 15 min. each) from a mutually agreed upon book (also generally non-academic).

 

I read the SOTW sections out loud. Sometimes we will refer to a "suggested" book to see what it says about "x", or, of course, if anyone makes any mention of one. ;)

 

BUT every week I bring home as many books as I can carry from the library, a large proportion of which are suggested books for history, science, sometimes math, art and music and my kids generally go through them within the first couple of days. They won't read all the words unless they are reading out loud to me, though. :)

[ScoutTN]

We do literature RA at lunch.

 

I read the SOTW chapter aloud and kids do the coloring and/or map. On Mondays usually. Later in the week we do a project and do the other half of the reading.

 

I usually get several of the recommended books from the library each week - selections from the lists for three chapters are currently in our house. I lean towards picture books or those with good visual appeal. They stay for three weeks and usually all get read at least once. But I don't schedule or plan that.

 

So far I haven't done any chapter books for history. But I expect that will come. I think that will go well right before rest time, to help them settle down and be quiet. Maybe? ;)