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OK - can I see your reading list for a struggling 3rd grade reader?


sunnylady303
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I'm getting a complex reading the reading lists for these other 3rd graders. :lol::lol::lol: My DD definitely struggles with reading and it is our top priority this year to work on reading skills and cultivate a love of reading.

 

She can comfortably read the Henry and Mudge books and I will really be stretching her having her read The Courage of Sarah Noble. I need more suggestions for her reading that she will love! Ideas?

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I replied in the other reading list thread. 2 of my kids turned being a late bloomer into an Olympic sport.

 

Here's some titles from our bookcase:

 

Magic Treehouse series

Bears on Hemlock Mountain

Tornado

Wagon Wheels

Clara and the Bookwagon

The Long Way to a New Land

Hill of Fire

Greg's Microscope

Nate the Great

The Littles

The Minstrel in the Tower

The Dragon's Hoard

 

eventually, my kids liked

 

The Whipping Boy

Riding the Pony Express

Viking Adventure

 

I hope that helps!

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Here's some of the books/series my dd loved -

 

These are right around the level of Henry and Mudge:

An I Can Read Book series, level 3

Young Cam Jansen series

Annie and Snowball series by Cynthia Rylant

Poppleton series by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and Tabby series by Cynthia Rylant

Mercy Watson series by Kate Di Camillo

 

When you're ready to step it up a bit (longer chapters, less pictures):

Rainbow Magic series

Cul-de-Sac kids series

Magic Treehouse series

The Imagination Station series

Cam Jansen series

The Tiara Club series

American Girl series

Neverland chapter books, Dave Barry

 

And just because I keep obsessive lists! :D Here's a list of books my dd read last year (her own reading time and the beginnings of assigned reading) These are a bit above Henry and Mudge but will give you some ideas when she's ready to progress:

Beezus and Ramona

Phineas and Ferb chapter books (her latest obsession!)

Imagination Station from Adventures in Odyssey, series

Magic Tree house, series

Northern Lights

Young Cam Jansen, series

Mercy Watson, series

Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle

Tornado by Betsy Byars

Five True Horse Stories

The Chalk Box Kid

The Tiara Club, series

Race into Space

The Courage of Sarah Noble

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree

A Grain of Rice

Never Land series, Dave Barry

Meet Kit, American Girl series

Sunshine Makes the Seasons

You Choose Books: Interactive History Adventure, series

Spinning Spiders

Earthquakes

Robin Hood, DK Reader

National Geographic Kids, series

Cul-de-sac Kids, series, Beverly Lewis

Adventures in Ancient Greece

Adventures with the Vikings

Pedro's Journal

Adventures in Ancient China

Bears on Hemlock Mountain

Pocahontas and the Strangers

The Borrowers

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I'm getting a complex reading the reading lists for these other 3rd graders. :lol::lol::lol: My DD definitely struggles with reading and it is our top priority this year to work on reading skills and cultivate a love of reading.

 

She can comfortably read the Henry and Mudge books and I will really be stretching her having her read The Courage of Sarah Noble. I need more suggestions for her reading that she will love! Ideas?

 

Books by Clyde Robert Bulla got my kids taking off with reading at that stage.

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Another vote for The Magic Tree House series. Those books really got my ds reading. Also don't ignore picture books with longer text. Books by Bill Peet (The Wingdingdilly, The Ant and the Elephant etc) really helped my ds take off with reading as well. Also picture books by William Steig, Tomie DePaola or Patricia Polacco. Poetry also helped my ds improve reading skills. Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein are favorites. The bigger Dr Seuss books (The Lorax, Horton, On Beyond Zebra, etc) really help struggling readers imo because of the nonsense words and rhyming--they really have to exercise their decoding muscles to read one of those books.

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My youngest is dyslexic and in 3rd grade, she was at a 2nd grade level. She read a ton of Rainbow Magic Fairies books that year. After those series (read through over 50 of the books), she moved on to Pony-Crazed Princess, Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, and Animal Ark Pets (the Pets series is 3rd grade reading level and the pet NEVER dies, not true of the other Animal Ark series).

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You got some really good suggestions in the previous posts. Just adding another idea. Have you looked at Memoria Press or Veritas for comprehension guides? You could back up and work on 2nd grade materials.

 

We used several 2nd grade guides last year from both publishers and really enjoyed them, they have some fun and sweet activities that tie into the books. Dd really enjoyed the books more with these fun extras. They do contain Christian content.

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You got some really good suggestions in the previous posts. Just adding another idea. Have you looked at Memoria Press or Veritas for comprehension guides? You could back up and work on 2nd grade materials.

 

We used several 2nd grade guides last year from both publishers and really enjoyed them, they have some fun and sweet activities that tie into the books. Dd really enjoyed the books more with these fun extras. They do contain Christian content.

 

We are actually using MP 2nd grade curriculum this year. I am trying to let go of feeling like a failure because of this. But even those readings will really stretch her. Little House in the Big Woods is the 2nd book and that will be tough.

 

Someone tell me I'm not a hsing failure because my 3rd grader needs a 2nd grade curriculum? (Except math - there she's more like 4th)

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Agreed with others that if a rising third grader is a struggling reader but can read Henry and Mudge comfortably, that getting him to read chapter books might be the best goal.

 

If you wanted to have required reading, then what about having four or five first chapter books in a series be the required reading. Like, the first Magic Treehouse, the first A to Z Mysteries, the first Stink, the first Secrets of Droon... that sort of thing. None of them are going to be great literature, but they're a good stage of reading. And then if he says, "But can't I read the next one instead?" then you know you did it. :)

 

For more literary offerings, I would personally stick with picture books. My boys are rising 3rd graders and this year we've really enjoyed picking quality picture books - especially for history - and having them read them independently then discuss them with me or write a short narration about them. It only takes a short time. The language in the picture books is higher quality and the stories are better, yet it's short enough to be digestible.

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We are actually using MP 2nd grade curriculum this year. I am trying to let go of feeling like a failure because of this. But even those readings will really stretch her. Little House in the Big Woods is the 2nd book and that will be tough.

 

Someone tell me I'm not a hsing failure because my 3rd grader needs a 2nd grade curriculum? (Except math - there she's more like 4th)

 

You aren't a failure. And I think Little House in the Big Woods is a 4th grade level book, as was Sarah Noble.

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If you are doing your best to meet your child's needs, wherever she is, then you are NOT a failure. ((hugs))

 

My son is starting 5th grade soon. We spent most of 3rd (when we brought him home) and 4th grade working on reading skills. He still isn't reading on a 5th grade level, but he's come so very far. In fact, I'm taking notes on some of the suggestions above. Thank you for being brave enough to ask this question. Good luck!

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My dd is only comfortable at Level 2 readers and I'm thrilled! She's really into the Young Cam Jansen stories right now, and will only read Level 3s that aren't fiction -- such as Splash! A Book About Whales and Dolphins (a chapter or two a day...takes about 3 days to get through.)

 

She's progressing right along in her own way on her own schedule. I would consider myself a failure if I insisted she follow some artificial path of perfection to emulate, as if it were the only true way.

 

:grouphug:

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I would consider myself a failure if I insisted she follow some artificial path of perfection to emulate, as if it were the only true way.

 

:grouphug:

 

:iagree:

 

Progress is more important than artificial standards. Really. Don't compare to other kids, compare to where you dd was half a year ago or a year ago.

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:grouphug:

 

To build up skills, I like working through the McGuffey Readers. (1879 version) Also, you can try the things on my how to tutor page, I recently added a checklist to make it easier to see the progression. It works through to 12th grade reading level skills. You just read and spell a few words from each section that are easy, but read all and spell a few more if the type of word is not easy.

 

I also like syllable divided books, they are high interest level but easily divided for simple sounding out of words.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllabledividedb.html

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We are actually using MP 2nd grade curriculum this year. I am trying to let go of feeling like a failure because of this. But even those readings will really stretch her. Little House in the Big Woods is the 2nd book and that will be tough.

 

Someone tell me I'm not a hsing failure because my 3rd grader needs a 2nd grade curriculum? (Except math - there she's more like 4th)

 

 

Sweetie, you're not a failure. My Ds will be going into 4the grade and he'll be using MP's third grade package.

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You're absolutely NOT a failure if your rising 3rd grader isn't reading Little House. Sometimes it takes time and a certain book to jumpstart their interest. I'm convinced that people have to *want* to read, assigning books to them and *making* them read will only get you so far. My rising 4th grader wasn't reading chapter books beyond MTH level stuff and then he discovered that he *could* read harry Potter and he was hooked and he's now on the 5th book. I was thrilled, but I feel as though if I pressed him he may have balked. Just keep reading aloud every day and possibly at bedtime too the types of literature you want your dd to be familiar with and that will expand her listening vocabulary. Just keep reading to her. Work on the phonics and spelling and grammar etc...other lang arts skills that will help her improve reading ability and then make reading aloud time a loving, joyful experience. Read Little House to her instead of expecting her to read it herself.

 

Also my 4th grader is still all over the place in his math skills as far as grade goes. Math is not his favorite subject. But that's why we homeschool right?--To allow our children the time and space to improve abilities and learn at a more reasonable and developmentally ready pace.

Edited by Walking-Iris
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I agree it's important not to judge yourself by your kids. They will think THEY are the failure. My daughters have both been slow at learning to read and to appreciate reading. My oldest didn't become a fluent reader till she was almost 10. At 14 she's an avid reader and scored at college level in her testing this year. My younger daughter has taken 2 years to accomplish a grade level. At 10, she's finally picking up speed and confidence. We talk a lot about difficulty not being a product of intelligence. Lots of famous people stories tackling problems.

 

As for reading suggestions, I really like the Let's-Read-and-See science books. My challenged readers have liked non-fiction better as they aren't struggling to follow a narrative as they struggle to just read the words. If they come to a word they don't know I either point out the difficult part of the word and let them work through it again, or if it contains spellings I know they know, I take them through the word sound by sound and part by part (affixes and bases).

 

 

Melissa

Minnesota

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We use Veritas Press which was great for my oldest who read well and early. Ds8 is much slower and still struggles somewhat. I still really like the VP book selections - he just does the ones listed for a lower level. That's where he is at and that is okay. If you have a VP catalogue, you can look at their intermediate books that are listed at the end of 1st and beginning of 2nd in the catalogue. They are a good bridge between Henry and Mudge and chapter books. The 1st Boxcar Children book was the first longer book I had Ds read. It only uses about 800 different words in the whole book.

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Someone tell me I'm not a hsing failure because my 3rd grader needs a 2nd grade curriculum? (Except math - there she's more like 4th)

 

 

 

You are not a failure!:grouphug:

 

 

My 4th grader is reading the Magic Tree House level books, and I am :party:!!! My 2nd grader is reading grade levels above that...and you know what? Her progress has *very* little to do with me. It's my 4th grader's progress (however behind it may be according to some standard) that is won step-by-step with blood, sweat and tears.;) (OK - no blood...:lol:) I am very proud of that.

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