Reading/Literature 3rd grade and up

[sweetpea3829]

Every so often, I feel the need to reassess what we are doing, lol.  Particularly with reading/literature because I'm just not sure I'm doing "enough" or that we are doing "the right things".  

 

So....once your kids have accomplished learning HOW to read, what do you turn your attention to in terms of reading and literature?  What are your goals for middle to late elementary level reading/literature?  What are you using/doing to accomplish those goals?  

 

 

We have used LLATL and I just absolutely detested it...lol.  

 

Over the last two years, I have assigned my 3rd/4th graders a chapter book.  They read a chapter a day on their own, choose two vocab words of their own from that chapter, look them up and share them with each other during our reading discussion.  Last year, we had discussions about the chapter.  This year, we do that, but I also give them a comprehension worksheet for each chapter, with questions specific to that chapter so I can gauge how well they paid attention while reading.  (This has proven important because one of my "Bigs" apparently doesn't pay very good attention when she reads). 

 

I guess I haven't really sat down and actually mapped out my short and long-term reading goals.  I mean...there are a LOT of goals!  And those goals are going to be different depending on WHAT they are reading (pleasure reading vs informative reading).  

 

I like the freedom that comes with choosing our chapter books, having the group discussions with the two Bigs, etc.  But I'm not positive its enough.  

 

So...what are YOU doing?  

[alisoncooks]

Listening in because I am currently struggling through this with my 4th grader.  

She *just* learned to read near grade level at the end of last year, and we've been using CLE Reading...but I've got a wandering eye....  :001_unsure:

She reads on her own in the evenings, but I wonder if we're missing something by not reading "real" books.

I picked up Mosdos 4, but the selections were/are mostly too long for her (she has mentioned doing it next year).

[Hunter]

What I am NOT doing anymore is looking at AP lit and planning down from that as the one and only goal and priority and plan.

 

The world is a much bigger place than that with all sorts of other worldviews.

 

I'd given the narrow ideas up, then...I'm not sure what happened. I made one last grab to hold on, and then...drama followed by peace.

 

Lit discussion can be about what YOU believe is important and a priority.

[SilverMoon]

As soon as mine know how to read fluently we just read good books and discuss them. I make a specific stack of books for each particular kid and set it aside for them. These books are all high quality children's literature of various levels: some easy, some challenging, some between. 

 

Elementary kids read daily from the book of their choice from that stack. We discuss what they've read. The end.

 

In junior high we'll discuss lit terms and work through Figuratively Speaking. By high school both of my teens were more than ready for Great Book based courses and have thrived. I'd say it worked. 🙂

Edited July 9, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Sherry in OH]

Through at least grade 6, my goals for reading and literature are 1) to introduce my children to a wide range of literature and 2) for them to enjoy reading. 

 

To accomplish this, we read, listen to audiobooks and read some more.  For the most part, discussion is spontaneous.  The exception being discussion of the book they read for montly book club.   

[HomeAgain]

We dropped LLATL in favor of lit guides from Moving Beyond The Page and using Deconstructing Penguins after that.  My main goals after third were:

-comprehension

-exposure to different genres/writing styles

-ability to relate

We used everything from picture books to classics, tying in lit to history, current events, and science.

[Holly]

We tried LLATL last year and didn't care for it.  We are currently using ELTL and I plan on sticking with it.  It uses books from the public domain, so they are almost all on Librivox as well.  For writing, she teaches narrations and outlining, which I really like.  We are using level 2 for 3rd grade and all narrations are oral at this point.  Every other week it has me write out one of her narrations for her to copy in her copywork lesson...I think this is a great way to transition to written narrations.  I don't have level 3, but levels 4 & 5 include written narrations every other week.  The narrations are based on their model story (usually a folk tale).  

[shernandez]

Like many of the other posters, I just choose great, quality children's literature for DD to read.  She keeps a notebook, and she makes a page for every day after she reads.  Sometimes, I will have written in a question.  Others, she just writes a part she enjoyed and draws a picture to go with it.  At one point, I did look through Teaching with the Classics.  I do really like that idea, and our discussions roughly follow the questions they posed.  As a Lit major, I didn't really need that book to feel confident, but it is a great place to start.  Starting with 7th graders, I teach a class using Excellence in Literature, so DD will probably start that in 7th, too.  Before then, it is all about great books and a lot of open discussion.  

[My3girls]

With my 4th and 5th graders, we alternate between them picking a book and me picking a book for them to read. They do a quiz at the end from either Book Adventure or Sparknotes and write a brief summary. Also, we have a book we read popcorn style. Right now, we are reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. We read a couple of chapters a week. I ask for a narration from one then ask the other if they have something to add. I usually pull a few vocabulary words from it for them to look up. When we finish, they do a book report of some fashion.

[Heidi]

I pick a few books (history/science topics) that they read a chapter and then give a written narration or oral narration or answer comprehension questions & vocabulary, but then I also require that they read good, high quality books of their choice for 30 min. a day that they just enjoy.  I was thinking of using a more analytical type program in 7th and 8th grade; that seems appropriate.  

[sweetpea3829]

Ok, so it sounds like most folks are doing pretty much the same general thing that we are for elementary.  Read good books and discuss them.

 

But what about teaching them how to pay attention to characterization?  Setting?  Plot?  Foreshadowing?  Making predictions, etc?  Sure, we do discuss those aspects somewhat during our group discussion, but is that enough?

 

 

****Side note****

 

If you have homeschooled kiddos that had to take standardized tests for reporting purposes, what reading skills were required of them for 4th-8th grade testing (probably CAT-E or PASS)?  

 

 

[HomeAgain]

 

 

But what about teaching them how to pay attention to characterization?  Setting?  Plot?  Foreshadowing?  Making predictions, etc?  Sure, we do discuss those aspects somewhat during our group discussion, but is that enough?

 

 

This is why we started, and continued using the MBTP lit guides.  I chose from various age levels for books he would enjoy and we did them a bit more slowly, but they cover literary elements within their guides and make the students pay attention to them.  The Giver guide was mostly about symbolism.  The Hobbit - foreshadowing was a big lesson.

When we switched to basing studies off of Deconstructing Penguins he had most of this down already.  He ended up acing his freshman year lit class because of all the work he had put in previously.  Nothing was new at that point, and he could read the pieces better since he wasn't learning how to read them at the same time.

[mom31257]

I always used some kind of reading curriculum (BJU, CLE) along with whole books. I usually throw in some reading test practice books here and there as well because I am in state where kids do testing, although, I'd do testing even if we weren't. I want them to be used to standardized tests before they get to the tests that really count for college. The curriculum included teaching literary terms and elements, finding main ideas, inferences, etc. I know many people leave it to middle school, but I don't see a problem with including those earlier. In fact, I think using shorter chapter books to teach those things might be easier than with longer, middle school/high school books. 

 

I have lead a book club for 5 years and had kids as young as 3rd grade in some of my groups. Some were able to grasp concepts easier than others, but it didn't hurt to have the exposure. I had a mom of one of my participants thank me because her daughter, in 9th grade literature, had already learned everything she's had thus far this year from the book club. 

 

I read Deconstructing Penguins and went through Teaching the Classics before I began the book club. If you want to do more with literature, I say go for it! 

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

Ok, so it sounds like most folks are doing pretty much the same general thing that we are for elementary.  Read good books and discuss them.

 

But what about teaching them how to pay attention to characterization?  Setting?  Plot?  Foreshadowing?  Making predictions, etc?  Sure, we do discuss those aspects somewhat during our group discussion, but is that enough?

 

 

****Side note****

 

If you have homeschooled kiddos that had to take standardized tests for reporting purposes, what reading skills were required of them for 4th-8th grade testing (probably CAT-E or PASS)?  

 

My kids did the PASS tests, and I don't think they were ever required to discuss elements of literary analysis on there. Maybe there were predictions (what is most likely to happen next)...it's been awhile! My oldest has also done the ACT, and I don't think that required it either. 

 

My goals in 4th-8th grade:

 

Enjoy reading

continue improving skills (reading with expression, learning new vocabulary and cultural idioms)

Some basic literary elements.

 

We mainly worked on the 2nd and 3rd items through read-alouds and casual discussions. I did not discuss literary elements with every single book, but I did highlight things that a book did with excellence. Sometimes I did this through copywork, as I share in this blog post about The Journeyman.

 

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a great book for discussing basic symbolism (questions such as, "Why are there "wolves" in the title when the wolves play a minor role in the book?" can easily lead children to discover that the wolves are symbolic). This is a great book for teaching about nature metaphors or how setting creates mood as well.

 

Sing Down the Moon is a good book for teaching students to read between the lines and to understand metaphorical language. (Spoiler alert--skip this paragraph if you haven't read it and don't want some things given away.) What was Bright Morning's secret name? (The book never says directly.) How are her two names appropriate--how do they portray things she actually does? What are the men like when they are captured (they're asleep)? Who is awake in the story? I had my kids (in elementary school at the time) write about this one. My son wrote about how Bright Morning was bold and mysterious, and how she "woke up" Tall Boy. My daughter wrote that to sing down the moon, you have to sing softly--and that the moon wants to hear so it comes closer and closer to the earth. What a beautiful description of the dawn--and of a gentle way to make a powerful change in someone's life! 

 

You can do a lot through discussion and narration. Have fun with it! 

[Mystie]

Ok, so it sounds like most folks are doing pretty much the same general thing that we are for elementary.  Read good books and discuss them.

 

But what about teaching them how to pay attention to characterization?  Setting?  Plot?  Foreshadowing?  Making predictions, etc?  Sure, we do discuss those aspects somewhat during our group discussion, but is that enough?

 

 

****Side note****

 

If you have homeschooled kiddos that had to take standardized tests for reporting purposes, what reading skills were required of them for 4th-8th grade testing (probably CAT-E or PASS)?  

 

 

 

For the most part, my kids simply read lots of books and I try to stay out of the way of their enjoyment of them. I don't want to turn their reading - that they thought was pleasurable - into "school." I provide scads of books, all good fiction and non-fiction, and make sure they always have at least one book going and plenty of time to read. Discussion and questions are spontaneous and organic rather than planned out. I hate comprehension questions and multiple choice quizzes. Do we use them for adult reading? If you had to fill out paperwork after reading a book, how would that change your relationship with the reading process? I don't think it would make you a better reader. You'd be looking for the answers while you read instead of immersing yourself in the book. 

 

My friend does a monthly book group with the elementary kids and they talk about setting and plot with questions inspired by Teaching the Classics, but she keeps it a very natural-feeling  discussion. I don't think they need to analyze literature until high school.

 

With my 7th grader now we have 2 books we are reading this year (The Odyssey and The Aeneid) very slowly. I gave him two themes to look for and once a week we discuss what happened in that week's assignment and where he saw the theme pop up (for The Odyssey, it's food/eating/hospitality). If I mention some literary term (I'm an English major, so sometimes I can't help myself), he gets it because his mind is full of stories he's read over the years. He now has a term for something he's experienced a lot already, but the experience should come before the terms, I think. 

 

Before analysis, love and familiarity.

 

I was homeschooled also and only read books with no curriculum and very little interference, and we always aced the reading skills of standardized tests (as do my kids) without having to do any of that junk in school time. I don't think those sorts of activities help anyone actually read better. Reading helps you read better. I like how Brandy wrote on that premise: http://afterthoughtsblog.net/2015/11/curriculum-include-hard-books.html

 

I was an English major - I learned all I needed to know about literary analysis in my entry level English classes and was not worse off because I hadn't learned it in elementary school.

[texasmama]

We read good literature and discuss. The literary techniques come up organically as I read aloud, but I don't belabor these until middle school. We do not do any literature "program" - no vocabulary words, no comprehension questions, etc. I use Deconstructing Penguins (loosely) and Figuratively Speaking beginning in middle school. My kids could all identify alliteration by 1st grade.

[OvercomingSchool]

My kids have assigned reading either by number of pages or amount of time. We choose those books together so that they are enthused about what they are reading. We talk about those books once a week, maybe twice.

 

I am always reading aloud a novel to the kids. We talk about it everyday, narrating or just musing about characters and plot and what we are thinking about it. 

 

We listen to audiobooks in the car, and the kids always have a bag full of audiobooks from the library to listen to at night.

 

The point is to get enjoyment out of a wide and constant stream of good literature. Now that my eldest is in high school, as soon as I mention a particular literary device, he has a large bank of examples to draw from. He is doing One Year Adventure Novel for his English curriculum and is finding what he is learning in every novel now. He's making amazing connections without having to do the busywork that is so prevalent in reading curriculums.

[redsquirrel]

Ok, so it sounds like most folks are doing pretty much the same general thing that we are for elementary.  Read good books and discuss them.

 

But what about teaching them how to pay attention to characterization?  Setting?  Plot?  Foreshadowing?  Making predictions, etc?  Sure, we do discuss those aspects somewhat during our group discussion, but is that enough?

 

 

****Side note****

 

If you have homeschooled kiddos that had to take standardized tests for reporting purposes, what reading skills were required of them for 4th-8th grade testing (probably CAT-E or PASS)?  

 

I didn't really worry about those sort of things until middle grades.  One year, maybe 7th grade, we worked through 'Figuratively Speaking" but I didn't make a big deal out of it. It was like a once a week thingy.  It took 20 mins and we were done.  I checked his answers and that was that. He seemed to pick it up easily.

 

I did use reading guides for his middle school reading.  I mostly followed the books suggested in TWTM for his year, that means it was also keyed to his history, which I like.  But not always.  I did try to hit some middle grade classics, like "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" and a few others.  I would just google "Name of book reading guide"  or "name of book middle school reading guide"  You get the idea. But I usually got more than enough material to work with, and it was free. There might be chapter by chapter vocab lists or story element pages etc etc.  I used them as I saw fit. I usually used written questions as oral discussion.  I didn't require much, if any, writing about literature in the middle grades beyond what WWS required.  That was plenty for us.

 

 

And my kid did use the PASS, but then we switched to the CAT, for no particular reason, lol.  It is mostly reading comprehension questions. You read a short passage and answer questions. It is really easy for a kid with typical reading skills.  There are also questions where they present a sentence and a vocab word is highlighted and then you have to pick the definition that best matches how the world is used in sentence.  And there is always a grammar checking part.  That is like 'spot the missing comma' type questions.

 

If you are at all worried, then incorporate some "Reading Detective" and "Editor in Chief" on a weekly basis.  I use both and they cover those bases.  I wouldn't use either as anything more than a supplement though.  EIC isn't really a grammar program, IMO. It is more like a spot check and gives the kids practice putting their grammar knowledge to work.  We do one or two exercises once a week and a book lasts us two school years. It's something he does while I get lunch ready.

[3girls4me]

We read TONS of whole books at our house. And in their free time, they read even more. But, we also do CLE reading program 3rd grade and up to introduce some of the things you are talking about. I'm thinking at some point we will switch to perhaps some teaching the classics online classes or so excellence in literature, but we will likely do cle through 6th or 7th.

[SeaConquest]

Along with our read-alouds, we have been using Mosdos Press and the Junior Great Books series to discuss literature. It might serve your needs.

 

http://www.mosdospress.com/

 

http://www.greatbooks.org/product-services/classroom-products/

[cintinative]

I have been loosely using the Teaching the Classics method about twice a month with easy story books (that they recommend) and going through the story chart (Plot, characters, setting, climax, conflict). We are starting to talk more about figurative language such as what is a metaphor or a simile, what is alliteration, etc. We do this at most twice a month. This year I have been using one of their Ready Readers (http://www.centerforlit.com/Materials/RR.aspx)  just so I can be sure I am covering it properly. This is a real weak point in my own education.  I survived two years without the Ready Reader but honestly it has made it go so smoothly for me this year I am glad I splurged.

 

Sometimes I will take a chapter from a read aloud and ask about the problem in the story, etc.  We're still keeping it very simple. We do not do vocabulary other than to discuss what a word means as I read.  I do not use a vocabulary curriculum.

 

For this age, we really liked It Figures! Fun Figures of Speech--http://www.amazon.com/It-Figures-Fun-Speech/dp/0395665914

 

If you want to cover figurative language, try reading just a little bit of It Figures every month or so and discuss (it is a short book btw).  Figuratively Speaking is on my radar for a few years from now.

 

If you are interested, Reading Roadmaps has a list of learning objectives by grade level. http://www.centerforlit.com/Materials/RRM.aspx

I would love to tell you that we have totally kept up with those. We have not, but I am certain we will be okay.  =)

 

Other than that, like the rest of you, I try to keep a list of good books to read and give my kids a choice from those. I also try to read aloud good quality literature.  That's about it.