especially - Zog , a Squash and a Squeeze, the snail and the whale, room on the broom
I have started typing them out and printing them without the pictures, just nice big words. He seems to like them just as much.
In Swedish
Lilleman , Nej Inte Tadlekeren (not not the dentist) , and Mimbo Jimbo.
W usually wants his Mum to read to him in Swedish and Dad to read in English. I translated Nej Inte Tadläkeren in to English, but W sort of melted and became upset and emotional and wanted his Mummy ! It was quite a strange reaction.
There seem to be quite a lot of kids books that are funny (for adults) in Sweden (many of which seem to be translated from French). Its hard to find funny books in England or English speaking.
Today we started A big ball of String. The nursery rhymes she wouldn’t read the same one again today so I gave her “Boys and Girls come out to play” As long as she reads them at least twice I do see some improvement in her fluency but I wish she’d agree to read them for a few days.
We have been reading shorter books now and going through them relatively quickly:
You Can’t Catch Me!
The Boy who cried Wolf
Clever Rabbit and the Lion
The Day the Sheep Showed up
Hre fluency is improving slowly and her reading vocabulary is advancing fast so I think she is sounding out words without saying the letters now - she just seems to know what they are. We are still doing shared reading most of the time.
Flat Stanley
Henry Huggins
Magic Tree House (again–he’s now catching up to the most recent installments, and reading them only by himself)
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (read by himself, requested the next)
Little House on the Prairie (loves it)
My 6 year old reads a lot of American Girl, Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, Jigsaw Jones and abridged classics. I saw a boy picking out American Girl books at the library one day. Try them if you have boys. My daughter has learned so much history from them.
Has anyone used these? I want to have a series for when the girls finish the Bob Books soon - which are really too easy for them, but beneficial nonetheless.
Book Description
ISBN-10: 0880620145 | ISBN-13: 978-0880620147 | Publication Date: June 1, 1982
Mott Media has Republished the 1830’s Version of the McGuffey Readers with the Original Christian Content! How would McGuffey teach reading if he were here today? His first concern would be that the content should promote moral growth and excellence of mind in habits, attitudes, and literary tastes. And Bible selections would be at the top of his reading list. McGuffey also believed in phonics for beginning reading. Methods and timing should be adapted to the individuality of each child. Parents should not send their dearest treasure off to school too early in life, but should proceed at the child’s own pace. This preserves the vigor of his mental action. McGuffey believed in memorizing as a way to develop habits of attention that promote understanding and mastery of ALL learning, even those studies which are not memorized. McGuffey believed that an obvious result of a cultivated mind is a wide vocabulary. And the best way to cultivate a wide vocabulary is to learn words in their context, as in studying the important ideas and noble thoughts presented in the Readers. These principles produce the education that shaped American character, particularly in the West, for over one hundred years. It’s the kind of education the majority of Americans want and need today. [from: http://www.amazon.com/McGuffey-McGuffeys-Eclectic-Readers-William/dp/0880620145/ref=pd_sim_b_14 ]
I like the idea of teaching morals and manners through readers, and since Muslims believe in the original books of the Old Testament and New Testament, I feel this series would be complimentary to our Islamic principles, as well as fostering inter-faith tolerance.
Hi Ayesha-
I just wanted to say that I purchased the entire boxed set when my daughter was very little, as I had heard great things about them from others in the very religious area that we are currently living in…I really wish that I had known they could be downloaded or even perused prior to purchasing them as they are not cheap. They are back in their box in the uppermost shelf in the library!
They do provide much moral guidance not present in today’s literature, but they are REALLY Antiquated…I really like that they are more advanced than what we typically see for teaching the same age group now (at least in the US!) , but they use a lot of language that we just don’t really use anymore.
Also, They just are very, very dull in comparison to newer literature…if this is all you are using, maybe, but If I tried to get mine to read from these after her regular books, She just might throw her first book-related fit!
Another thing-because of the time they were written, they are extremely patriotic, America-centered. Not a bad thing altogether, but they were considered ‘political’ for their time…The Original Blue Black Speller that you often see sold alongside the McGuffy Readers is actually part of the ‘Patriotic Textbook Series.’
That being said, they have some fantastic sections that we will be using when she is older, but I will be picking and choosing through them until she is old enough to understand some of the historical context! Also, for someone concerned that English is not your first language, I think they would be helpful because all of the pronunciation keys are provided within the text. I find that more than a little distracting, and if your child doesn’t know what those are, you would have to teach that as well…
Anyway, I would just advise having a look prior to purchase so that you are not disappointed like I was! You may well find them fantastic for your family…
Hope this helps,
Kerileanne99
I’m a little embarassed to admit this - but I was having a hard time getting through and keeping my sons attention with some of the books we were reading at night time like Charlottes Web, Peter Pan, etc. Soooo I looked for a new series and stumbled upon Captain Underpants. Yes that’s right, Captain Underpants. I bought it and started reading it to my 4 yr old. He is a big superhero fan and well, boys like potty humor. So we gave it a go. The funny thing is that we can’t put the books down. We are both laughing and enjoying the series every night. We’ve even been caught reading it in the middle of the day to find out happens next! Despite it’s name, the humor is in good taste and surprisingly has a complex vocabulary that makes it fun to read and listen to. An example of the chapter headings: Chapter 11 The Invention Convention Detention Suspension, or Chapter 21 The Deliriously Dangerous Death-Defying Dandelion of Doom. This series has been really fun and enjoyable for us to read, although it does seem a little out there! I’m not sure if it’s for every 4 yr old because there is some fighting between the good vs. bad, there are aliens and zombie nerds and talking toilets. The two boys do have some ideas that get them into big trouble. It does create some interesting dialogue between my son and I though and we will continue reading the set.
Thanks for that LDSMom!
Your post was timely as I am frantically searching for a gift for my six-year-old nephew who is seriously struggling with reading! So far, we have only been able to tempt him with ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’! as his parents have only rarely been seen with the latest copy of The Enquirer, this will be an on going battle! Although he insists that he ‘hates reading’, I would too if I struggled and was only exposed to required school reading (where I was ashamed, embarrassed, and ridiculed), and the only thing in my house to read was the cereal box!
I am going to buy the set for his Birthday!
DadDude-
If you are reading this, I have also purchased a six-month Internet package for my nephew’s family for his birthday–with one caveat! All four kiddos in the house (ages 18 mo-6 years) MUST work their way through Reading Bear! I am sure they are just one of the families your work will be influencing the live of–especially children with little or no options for EL! ( Or minimal learning at all!)
My dd just turned 4 and she is slowly starting the transition from picture books to small chapter books. I have been finding it difficult to find age appropriate content for her. She likes Little House on the Prairie and will read a few pages but she doesn’t seem to have the attention span for that big/long of a book. I need a slightly more abridged version - which I have not been able to find. I find she does not enjoy any magic books or talking animals. Small chapter books seem more geared towards early school and she either isn’t interested or doesn’t really understand the ideas of the books.
However, I found a really abridged version of Around the World in 80 Days. She loved it. There was a few paragraphs on each page and 1 small black and white picture. It was perfect and she loved it. She loved the idea of places - we have a world map on the wall and she was matching places in the book to her map. She loved the modes of transportation. We have been working on telling time lately so she was also intrigued with time in the book. Now if I could only find more books like this one.
When I was transitioning my daughter to early chapter books, she absolutely loved the Usborne Illustrated series. She has finished reading 7 books in this series and is currently working on the Shakespeare and Dickens ones, but she still loves to go back and re-read the other ones.
Don’t be turned off by the ones entitled “For Boys” as some of my daughter’s favorites (including Around the World in 80 Days ) are in the “For Boys” collections.
Totally agree with aangeles in the previous post… I happened upon a set of the Usborne Revised Claasics in a grocery store in the UK whilst on holiday…the set is leveled, but really stay true to the stories…obviously, some classics just lend themselves to different levels, even abridged for children! I bought five sets on holiday special and sent them by post back to the US!
L is now reading:
The Little Giraffe
The Scaredy Cat
Frog and Toad Together
I also agree with trying the Usborne Classics - if you search Usborne Young Reading Series 1-3 you will find a lot of abridged classics as well as other books which are at the early chapter book level. I have ordered a few for my 4 year old recently but did not order from series three as I feel the stories sre not suitable for her maturity yet.
As she moves into very early chapter books, I am starting her on Frog and Toad and also Nate the Great which I should get soon. I am still doing shared reading with her as she is not ready to read independently yet. You can also search reading series on Amazon or any other book sellers - try Step into Reading (from stage 3 and 4) and there are many others.
Depending how advanced your daughter is you could also look at trying The Boxcar children series and The Magic Tree House series (there is some magic involved but the stories are more educational than entirely about magic)
We just got a set of “My first steps to reading” by Jane Belk Moncure – these are hardcover books for each letter of the alphabet, with very simple story line, great illustrations and lots of new words. My 2.5 years old loved these!
At first I was a bit skeptical about getting them, but seeing the response of my daughter I am glad I did get the set.
E red separate words since she was about 14 months old. She loves me reading to her, and we read a lot. But these are the first books that she is determined to read on her own. She loves the fact that there is a new book for each letter, and sits there decoding new words and reading sentences, keeping on asking me to help her here and there!
Skylark those are fun books - my daughter read these too as we managed to get a set very cheaply (I think one of the set was missing which was why they were so cheap) She actually loved the simple story line and I will use them again with my second daughter when she is older.
Yes, we got ours used :yes: and 2 books were missing, but it is not a problem, as she has plenty of the others ones and she really has fun with them. To buy them new can be pretty pricey thought, so I was happy when I found them at the Library Book store
If you have not come across the American “if You Give…” series, take a look. Author is Laura Numeroff… I think they are geRe for the 4-6 set, but my 2 year old loves them…I love the new vocabulary, and can teach cause and effect…her favorite right now is “if You Give A Mouse A Cookie” and “if You Give a Moose a Muffin”
Also take a look at almost anything retold by Iza Trapani…she tetells nursery rhymes like The Itsy Bitsy Sider, first stanza is the same as expected, but then she veers off with her own beautiful stories and illustrations…we started with the Itsy Bitsy Spider because it is by far the easiest…I think we read that from about 1 year, bringing it out even a year later on occasion. My daughter must have nearly 500 books, spread throughout the house, and she always comes back to these. Personally, I think her version of ‘I’m a Little Teapot’ where the teapot travels the world, or ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ are the best!
One Caveat: The version od ''Shoo, Fly", for some reason scared A even to look at the cover. The Fly does look a bit menacing, and the pics are a bit darker than her other whimsical books…
) are in the “For Boys” collections.