ShannonS Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Looking for feedback from other parents with advanced readers. This is our read aloud (literature plan) for a rising third grader. She is a strong reader, but all books will be (at least) started as a read aloud. The blanks are there because I expect the previous weeks' selection to take up that time. As I look at this, I feel a bit overwhelmed... I would also like to do a lap book on each of these. Week Of 2-Jul The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women 9-Jul Understood Betsy 16-Jul 23-Jul Beowulf 30-Jul Magician's Nephew (will be first intro to Narnia) 6-Aug 13-Aug Jungle Book 20-Aug Arabian knights 27-Aug 3-Sep Chinese Poems and fairy tales 10-Sep Because of Winn Dixie 17-Sep Swiss Family Robinson BREAK 24-Sep 1-Oct Alice in Wonderland/looking glass 15-Oct 22-Oct Norse Myths and legends 29-Oct Princess and the Curdie 5-Nov Princess and the Goblin 12-Nov 19-Nov King Arthur Tales/Gawain and the Green Knight 26-Nov 3-Dec Jewish Fairy Tales 10-Dec McCaughrean Canterbury Tales BREAK 31-Dec Smoky the Cowhorse 7-Jan Log of the Cowboy 14-Jan Water Babies 21-Jan Little Lord Fauntleroy 28-Jan 4-Feb Francie (Karen English) 11-Feb The Lost World 18-Feb 25-Feb Just so Stories/riki tiki tavi 4-Mar Treasure Island 11-Mar Break 18-Mar Darby 1-Apr The Cay 8-Apr 15-Apr Pied Piper of Hamlin 22-Apr Black Beauty 29-Apr Tales from Shakespeare Charles Lamb 6-May 13-May Secret Garden 20-May Indian in the Cupboard 27-May 3-Jun Flower Fables Am I nuts? We do a lot of reading here, but I've never planned a 'curriculum' for it. These are mostly TWTM and GBA recommendations. Over the past year, DS (who just turned 8) has independently read all the Little House, All Roald Dahl, All Lang Fairy Books, some Newberry, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 With the exception of a few titles that I'm not familiar with, I think your list is really good. It does seem like a pretty fast pace to go through the books, though. This may or not be helpful to you, but I've started doing something like a parallel strand reading list. One strand is for books that we just want to devour and can't put down, so we just read them as fast as we want to. Books like Little House on the Prairie and Trumpet of the Swan are in this category. The other strand (list) is books that I want us to linger over, and not hurry through. Those are read according to a pretty strict schedule (with some exceptions) and so they stretch out to last a longer period of time. These books tend to be more challenging ones that have themes I want to discuss or beautiful language that I want us to savor. We only do notebook pages, or a lapbook, for books on this second strand. So, we read from each list almost daily, but with different purposes each time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShannonS Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 I *really* like your two strand idea. My only concern is that in addition to the above literature "course", DD also has 40min/day of assigned reading, where she can pick among a limited amount of titles that I have chosen (These are usually non-fiction or biographies related to what we are currently studying in History.) Maybe I should put some of the lighter fare from above into that category and, as you say, savor the good stuff? Thank you! What would you put into strand 2 here? I def think King Arthur, Treasure Island, Canterbury, Shakespeare, Serpent Slayer....hmmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShannonS Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Also ALB - Are you using the abridged version of Pinocchio or are you going through the original? How is it going? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 (edited) Great list, but even for a fast reader (I have those) this seems like a LOT of reading on a rather tight schedule. I am not sure what you are meaning to accomplish. Why have such a detailed schedule at all? Why not simply make a list and go from the top, allowing your kid to take whatever time necessary, and to maybe explore rabbit trails and change the order? (Mine would for example have wanted to continue Narnia after getting hooked by Magician'sNephew, or would have wanted to dwell on Norse mythology for several weeks.) Btw, some of the selections are quite challenging language wise- I have very strong, accelerated readers, but Treasure Island in the original is a difficult read, and they might not have gotten through it in 3rd grade in a single week. ETA: Doing a lapbook for EACH will take a up a huge amount of time and would , for my children, have been a sure way to turn them of reading. I suggest you make sure your kids actually enjoy doing stuff like this. You also might want to do them just for selected books and leave others just for reading. Edited July 5, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trillian Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 I would think a list system would be better as well, mostly because I think some of your timing is off (but you may know best). IMO, Magician's Nephew, Indian in the Cupboard, Understood Betsy, the Cay (although DS would not have been ready for it content wise in 3rd grade - he's sensitive though) would all have been quick reads. On the other hand, Swiss Family Robinson - we slogged through that book, Treasure Island, another one that would be longer than 2 weeks for sure. For a while, we did a family book club and, while we didn't do a lap book for each book, we did have a scrapbook. It was just one book a month though. I also agree with Regentrude that DS would have wanted to continue with series, add in more of mythology, explore some of the genres on his own, which I encourage. Part of my exposing him to literature is to encourage him to be an independent reader, not to read what he's told, so personally, I would make sure there was time during school hours for that. But that's me. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ele325 Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 I agree with the list as well. I keep a list for dd9, which I continually add too and she reads through it at her own pace. There are always more books to add if she reads quickly, but if she is really taking her time with one we aren't "behind" either. This year we are going to add a more in depth study of a few books through the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 It is a good list of books. How detailed are your lapbooks going to be? For us lapbooks took about 45 minutes a day for a week or so to finish one. So if it were us I'd pick and choose which books get lapbooks. As for series, I addressed that by having the other books in the series available for after school reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 My kids are younger, but for a read aloud I'd think that wouldn't change the pace that much. It looks like a very rigorous/full schedule. I think as long as you are willing to deviate from the schedule, it isn't bad. I think a lapbook for each book at that pace could endanger a love of books for their own sake- if your child loves them and would work on it while you read, it wouldn't be a problem. I like to have a plan that is full and rich - then I am willing to not keep up with it, but am happy to have the resources planned out and available for myself so we are not left without something good to do. If you approach it like that, then I think it's great. If you need to keep up with the schedule or you will feel bad or you will push through books to keep up with it, then I think you should spread it out more. Tjej Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I do have a rough idea what we'll be reading for history, but otherwise we wing it. I just wanted to mention that The Princess and the Goblin comes before The Princess and Curdie. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessings2all Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I love the list. But it does seem like too much to get done. Have you allowed plenty of time for discussion each day? That really helps to solidify learning and make the books more interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Also ALB - Are you using the abridged version of Pinocchio or are you going through the original? How is it going? We just finished the original version of Pinocchio. I found a beautiful edition that has many full color pictures (and paid a pretty penny for it :tongue_smilie:). While this isn't carved in stone (AKA I could change my mind any time!), I think we're going to stay away from abridged versions until we're ready to read the originals. Exceptions will be Shakespeare and difficult works like Homer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Happy Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I also like the list, but we like to read our books slowly. Taking time to digest and enjoy. I find that they also retain what they've read better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShannonS Posted July 8, 2012 Author Share Posted July 8, 2012 We just finished the original version of Pinocchio. I found a beautiful edition that has many full color pictures (and paid a pretty penny for it :tongue_smilie:). While this isn't carved in stone (AKA I could change my mind any time!), I think we're going to stay away from abridged versions until we're ready to read the originals. Exceptions will be Shakespeare and difficult works like Homer. Will you share what Pinocchio edition you have? I am very interested... You may already know this, but Geraldine McCaughrean hardcover editions of The Odyssey and Black Ships Before Troy are fabulous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Will you share what Pinocchio edition you have? I am very interested...You may already know this, but Geraldine McCaughrean hardcover editions of The Odyssey and Black Ships Before Troy are fabulous! It's the Creative Editions version. I see that Amazon now has it cheaper than what I paid for it. It is a large book, but I liked it so much that I lugged it over here to Asia in my suitcase :tongue_smilie:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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