Kindergarten Literature

[Teneo]

What have you chosen to do for literature in K and why? Which lit programs/lists (like Sonlight A, Ambleside, Memoria K enrichment, Living Books curric k, Peak With Books, FIAR etc) have you tried and what are your thoughts on their book choices/methods?

 

I'm debating between buying something like that after we finish p4/5 or designing my own from awards lists.

Hearing your experiences should be helpful!

[nerdybird]

I am using Ambleside Online Year 0 with my K-boy this year, with BOB books and some I Can Read and Step Into Reading readers.

 

Link to AO Y0 <<<

 

What We Have Read So Far (rough list):

• Winnie the Pooh series (so far we have read Winnie-The-Pooh, and The House at Pooh Corner, starting When We Were Very Young soon)
• The Little Engine That Could and several other train-themed books
• Poems from A Child's Garden of Verses (DD does recitations from this and he listens/watches us)
• The Golden Book of Fairy Tales + A few stories from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book
• A Bear Called Paddington and a few other Paddington books (bedtime stories)
• Generous Amount of Dr. Seuss books
• Eloise Wilkin's Poems to Read to the Very Young (this is a nap time/quiet time favorite with my littles)
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider and some other Eric Carle books

He also listens to some audiobooks and sits in our readings from SotW, and his older siblings' Y2 readings and Shakespeare selections.

 

Why do I choose these things for him? Mostly because he is the middle child and my youngest who does school at this time. I try to choose things for him that I think he will enjoy, but are not too different from what his older siblings are doing/reading. He is doing well with phonics and can do some reading on his own at this time, which is nice. I still love reading with and to him though. He likes to lead storytime for his two younger brothers now, which is cute. So I also choose some books (like Eric Carle books and Thomas the Train readers) that he can kinda-sorta read to them. It's good for them to see him reading and enjoying reading.

 

I didn't do pre-k at home. DS2 went to preschool up until last June. It was a good thing for all of us, I think.

 

Hope this helps. :)

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Dd doesn't care what I read so I read whatever I felt like. That was anything from Winnie the Pooh to Enid Blyton to Jane Austen.

[craftyerin]

We use FIAR, plus read widely from whatever else I want to read (chapter books and picture books).  I take recommendations from threads on here, The Read Aloud Handbooks, Honey for a Child's Heart, award lists, etc, etc.  

[MinivanMom]

K Literature we have loved:

Little House in the Big Woods

Little House on the Prairie

The Wizard of Oz

Alice in Wonderland

Winnie-the-Pooh

The House on Pooh Corner

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (& other Beatrix Potter books)

My Father's Dragon

Mr. Popper's Penguins

The Hundred Dresses

Beezus and Ramona

Henry Huggins

A Grain of Rice

Dolphin Adventure

Dolphin Treasure

more picture books than I could recount

A Child's Book of Art

The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature

Wild Places

Then & Now

Living Long Ago

 

With my oldest, I ordered a lot of the literature from what was then Sonlight Core K. Some were great, but several were not. I feel like there is this strange gap in many of the literature programs/lists where they focus on literature to fit a particular world view or history/science topic and wind up leaving off many award-winning books. Over time I've just done my own literature list for K based on which books I love and which books I think will fit with that child's particular interests.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Teneo]

With my oldest, I ordered a lot of the literature from what was then Sonlight Core K. Some were great, but several were not. I feel like there is this strange gap in many of the literature programs/lists where they focus on literature to fit a particular world view or history/science topic and wind up leaving off many award-winning books. Over time I've just done my own literature list for K based on which books I love and which books I think will fit with that child's particular interests.

This has been my concern looking over core A and other kindergarten packages. Thanks!

[lea_lpz]

We used the book list for mfw k and BFIAR last school year and loved the selections. This year I am using Wee Folk Art for a seasonally based book to row each week and a science book to read weekly to explain the science of our row (seasonal science). I also am using the mfw book list for math lit books. We typically read 1-2 of these for math on Wed. I also am using Honey for a Childs Heart book list for 4-7 year olds. I usually read 3 books a day during read aloud time m-th so between WFA, MFW and Honey I have plenty of choices :). We usually end up with 12 books a week we end up reading.

This us the link to WFA if you are interested:

 

http://weefolkart.com/content/homeschool-companion-guides

[Tanikit]

I used many of Sonlight (what was K) as well as many other readers that are just good literature - Pippi Longsticking, Enid Blyton, Dick King Smith, many picture books (we had read many of the classics in preK so I just kept taking more from the library) Also went through a number of less well known classic fairy stories as she had also covered the more common ones in preK multiple times. We also used these for comparisons.

 

We did also read Laura Ingalls Wilder (the first two) and a few Beverley Cleary books. We did also read a few different poetry books (most of these just came from what was available at our library).

 

I also went as far as reading books not regularly recommended for K such as the Indian in the Cupboard which she loved and the first Harry Potter (she has asked for the second but DH said she must read it herself or wait til she could - probably wise). 

 

The aim for me was to expose my child to good literature that she would enjoy - if she did not enjoy it we put it away - it was as simple as that. I find many of the set curricula do have good book choices and my child enjoyed them even if I would not normally have chosen those books myself. 

[CherryBlossomMJ]

We're reading P4/5 and have been slowly acquiring titles from Core A to read. We read these more on a fun basis. Memoria Press Kindergarten is our main. The literature is only one title per week but the enrichment adds in 1-5 extra titles on topic. We have loved everything! (And I cannot say that about SL 100%)

 

I could talk about MP JrK, Kinder, and First lists all day. So feel free to ask me anything about them. At this point the plan is for MP 1st for our K5 starting this fall 2014 addimg in SL A books for fun. With my older she started P3/4 at 2, MP JrK at 3, and a combination of P4/5 and MP Kinder at 4. My younger is approaching 3 and she is nowhere near ready for JrK, with her we'll continue to let her sit in on anything but go back through P3/4 and picture books in general. We're also probably going to revitalize the board book reading as the youngest is due in July!

 

Other add-ons: Pardington Treasury, Madeleine Treasury, Burgess Bedtime Book, Wizard of Oz, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Little Bo series and plan to read Teaddy Robinson Story Book.

 

We also add in Ambleside Online Y0 & Y1 with Yesterday's Classics for kicks. And My Book House, and Childcraft. I also stumbled upon A Child's World Story Time too. We enjoy the snuggles.

[Tonia]

I keep lists of our favorites - here's the one for K. (You'll also find lists for all ages from toddlers to 3rd grade in the sidebar).

 

We didn't use anything specific, just lots of good book recommendations from here, The Read-Aloud Handbook, and Honey for a Child's Heart.

 

Some of our favorites picture book authors -  Beatrix Potter, Robert McCloskey, Virginia Lee Burton, Ezra Jack Keats, Charlotte Zolotow, Patricia Polacco, William Steig

 

[Teneo]

We're reading P4/5 and have been slowly acquiring titles from Core A to read. We read these more on a fun basis. Memoria Press Kindergarten is our main. The literature is only one title per week but the enrichment adds in 1-5 extra titles on topic. We have loved everything! (And I cannot say that about SL 100%)

 

I could talk about MP JrK, Kinder, and First lists all day. So feel free to ask me anything about them. At this point the plan is for MP 1st for our K5 starting this fall 2014 addimg in SL A books for fun.

I am looking for a curriculum that uses award winners.

Since MPK uses some books that haven't won awards does it seem they were chosen just because it best fit the point they were making like some of Sonlight's books?

 

Part of what I want in k lit:

 

Well written. The illustrations may be beautiful but I don't want it reliant upon them.

I want the literary language to appeal to the imagination.

Similarly I don't want a read aloud to tell my child what to think. There needs to be room for him to reach his own conclusions.

[fourisenough]

I have MP K Enrichment guide on order. Since it is for my 4th girl (and we are big readers), I was delighted to see that most of the books will be new to us- I need some variety! We've read & loved and will continue to read most of the "typical" books for this age: Beatrix Potter, AA Milne, Robert McCloskey, Virginia Lee Burton, etc. I plan to use the read-aloud books AND the science/enrichment book suggestions, plus the picture, music, & poetry studies in the K enrichment guide. I think it will be a lovely K year. Truth be told, I'll likely begin right away...

[Teneo]

I'd love to hear more of your experiences using different reading methods in k! FIAR and MP especially.

[Teneo]

My current K'er has used the Favorites literature from Veritas Press (Kindergarten Favorites, First Favorites volume 1 and 2, and More Favorites), and my older kids read through them too. We thoroughly enjoy it. The activities are sweet and simple, and the comp work gently prepares the DC for future narrations. The books themselves are treasures that have become family favorites.

The study guides for First Favorites k weren't too difficult?

[SilverMoon]

The study guides for First Favorites k weren't too difficult?

No. Kindergarten Favorites is very gentle and age appropriate. My dd hasn't struggled with First Favorites either. She is currently using volume 1.The comprehension work starts with circling a multiple choice, and slowly works them up to writing a little bit about it. The activities are sweet and simple, like a maze or coloring.

[CherryBlossomMJ]

Of the books in MP K several are award winners and several more are written by award winning authors. They are all well written or generally classical illustrated and not fluff.

 

I'm a book reviewer as well and get many of the current publications for big publishers and while I love picking in my mind the next award winners there is a lot of fluff these days.

 

The books set the theme for the week. I do not think that they are shoved in there to serve a purpose. They truly are great choices 99% of the time. Lots of them are old classics (still in print due to overall demand but old copyrights of origin) and I love discovering things that are enjoyable that perhaps my mother or even grandfather was raised reading and learning from. Then there are some newer and fabulous finds as well.

[Jackie]

I use every list I can find, go to the library to look through the books, and then make my own list. I tried Peak With Books and FIAR and both felt too forced and artificial, and I'm pretty sure every other program would for me as well. We work on comprehension by talking about the books we read or playing with particular concepts in them that catch my daughter's interest.