What books did you read to your kid as they were learning to read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Junie B Jones series. The main character is in kindergarten, which can be very easy to relate to. Even though they are chapter books, they are easy enough words to have the early reader attempt to recognize some familiar site words or sound them out. Also can try comic books, such as Dog Man, which is what got my now first grader motivated to read.

I banned those books. She's such a horrible brat, and my kid started being bratty and sassy like her. So I told DD we weren't reading those books anymore and found books with nicer characters. Later found out a tons of parents in DD's grade did the same thing.

Yep. Also banned in our house.

My kindergartener banned them in our house. She said Junie made bad choices and she didn't want to read them.

Elephant and Piggie is the BEST for this stage. You read all of the parts now, and soon you can take turns with her reading one character and you reading the other.

[Anonymous]

I like the Mercy Watson series for this stage. It's kind of a hybrid of picture book and short chapter book.

On Junie B... we also took a bit of a break from it in kindergarten too but the kids came back to it later. That series, IMO, is really for kids in 1-2nd grade. It's for kids older than K who can look back at a kindergartner as being silly and immature, not someone you want to emulate. It's not written at a kindergarten level. The Ramona books are similar, particularly the first couple books -- Beezus and Ramona (Ramona is 4) and Ramona the Pest (she's 5). Those are fun read-alouds but the reading level is targeted to the Beezus of the sisters, not the Ramona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d decouple your reading to her and her reading to herself. She’ll read, and it doesn’t really matter if it is next month or at the start of first grade. What she could lose is the love of words and reading because learning to read is a slog for some kids (my son and I are both dyslexic, so I know of what I speak). Read out loud to her (or let her listen to audiobooks) all the wonderful things that are at her cognitive level but beyond her reading level. Open doors for her she can’t open on her own. Plan to keep doing that for as long as she’ll let you - I read out loud to my son until he was 11 or so, just like my dad did for me.

When my son was in K I read him the first three Harry Potters, then took a break till he was in 2nd for the next few. After Potter we went through all the Percy Jackson books. He wasn’t a fan of the old classics I had loved so I didn’t push it - the point was to have him love the experience of reading.

I echo this post and the one above it. Unless you get to the point where your daughter is struggling to read and needs extra help outside of school to meet the standards, I'd focus on reading books that you enjoy. There are a lot of benefits to being read to, and she will learn more advanced vocabulary, sentence structure, etc. from what you can read to her vs what she will start out reading. Plus, I personally hated reading the easy readers out loud.

For shorter books, I liked Library Lion, Stellaluna, the Mercy Watson books (which will be books she can read herself once she learns) and the Anna Hibiscus books (ditto).

For longer books, I liked Charlotte's Web, The House at Pooh Corner, Little House in the Big Woods, Tumtum & Nutmeg, The Story of Diva and Flea, A True Home (Heartwood Hotel), Mr. Popper's Penguins and Stuart Little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

OP here and we actually bought this book a few months ago, but it was a bust for us. We still offer it sometimes, but it's too dry for her. It feels like a chore for both of us.

What has worked better for us is a Highlights phonics workbook (it's one of the ones with the dry erase pages so she can do it however many times she wants) and the Hooked on Phonics app. We are not big on screen time but she'll do like a 5 minute game on there and it has really helped her with sounding out words and also figuring out long and short vowels, as well as blends. The key to both is that they are fun for her, especially in small doses, and there's this immediate payoff. Yesterday she did like 4 pages from the workbook and even chose not to do the writing practice (we don't push) but also sounded out like 5 new words I had no idea she could sound out (including "oo" words and some with the silent "e" at the end which had previously been really frustrating for her). It was exciting and made me realize she is really just about to cross a big threshold with reading.

Just putting this here for anyone else who has tried the 100 Easy Lessons and found it unhelpful. There are other ways to support reading skills that might work better for your kid. I'd seen that suggested a million times here and elsewhere and felt mildly defeated when we got it and my kid didn't like it at all.

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was dry and felt like a chore for us too but if you just consistently stick with it, it absolutely works. I had to balance it with listening to fun audiobooks after each lesson, which is something I still have to do with my fifth grader after we grind through his homework.

[Anonymous]

I agree about starting with Bob and Dear Dragon books. A little later, look into We Both Read books. National Geographic has some similar ones, too. The books have a harder page that the adult reads, then an easier page for the kid to read.

Examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Tiger-We-Both-Read/dp/1601152604/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LJA9YGAXVA9C&keywords=we+both+read&qid=1661276042&sprefix=we+both+read%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Readers-Reptiles-Co-reader/dp/142633883X/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3UFCQ7CVHNPQ4&keywords=national+geographic+co-reader&qid=1661276084&sprefix=national+geographic+co-reader%2Caps%2C57&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyS09RSUxLM0g5VUNaJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTA5NzMwMkhaNlFLVzRKNEVRJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxMzg2MDEyTkpLNlpONkNOV1hTJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d decouple your reading to her and her reading to herself. She’ll read, and it doesn’t really matter if it is next month or at the start of first grade. What she could lose is the love of words and reading because learning to read is a slog for some kids (my son and I are both dyslexic, so I know of what I speak). Read out loud to her (or let her listen to audiobooks) all the wonderful things that are at her cognitive level but beyond her reading level. Open doors for her she can’t open on her own. Plan to keep doing that for as long as she’ll let you - I read out loud to my son until he was 11 or so, just like my dad did for me.

When my son was in K I read him the first three Harry Potters, then took a break till he was in 2nd for the next few. After Potter we went through all the Percy Jackson books. He wasn’t a fan of the old classics I had loved so I didn’t push it - the point was to have him love the experience of reading.

OP here. Thanks for the Harry Potter rec -- I was wondering when might be a good time to start those. I think she might find them a bit to scary still, but good to know some K kids do well with them and I could read them when she seems ready for the content.

I'm not terribly worried about her losing a love of books or words -- she's obsessed with reading and loves books. But I actually think right now our reading to her and her reading practice are too decoupled -- she has her books that she memorizes and reads (mostly her Bob books) and then she has the books we read to her (a broad variety) that she doesn't engage with as much outside of our read-together times. We'd like some books that we could read to her but also that she might spend more time with when we aren't reading, to help her start to put that together a bit. Not with pressure, but just to passively make that connection in her own mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

OP here and we actually bought this book a few months ago, but it was a bust for us. We still offer it sometimes, but it's too dry for her. It feels like a chore for both of us.

What has worked better for us is a Highlights phonics workbook (it's one of the ones with the dry erase pages so she can do it however many times she wants) and the Hooked on Phonics app. We are not big on screen time but she'll do like a 5 minute game on there and it has really helped her with sounding out words and also figuring out long and short vowels, as well as blends. The key to both is that they are fun for her, especially in small doses, and there's this immediate payoff. Yesterday she did like 4 pages from the workbook and even chose not to do the writing practice (we don't push) but also sounded out like 5 new words I had no idea she could sound out (including "oo" words and some with the silent "e" at the end which had previously been really frustrating for her). It was exciting and made me realize she is really just about to cross a big threshold with reading.

Just putting this here for anyone else who has tried the 100 Easy Lessons and found it unhelpful. There are other ways to support reading skills that might work better for your kid. I'd seen that suggested a million times here and elsewhere and felt mildly defeated when we got it and my kid didn't like it at all.

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was dry and felt like a chore for us too but if you just consistently stick with it, it absolutely works. I had to balance it with listening to fun audiobooks after each lesson, which is something I still have to do with my fifth grader after we grind through his homework.

Yep. Really dry, but kids learn to read really well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d decouple your reading to her and her reading to herself. She’ll read, and it doesn’t really matter if it is next month or at the start of first grade. What she could lose is the love of words and reading because learning to read is a slog for some kids (my son and I are both dyslexic, so I know of what I speak). Read out loud to her (or let her listen to audiobooks) all the wonderful things that are at her cognitive level but beyond her reading level. Open doors for her she can’t open on her own. Plan to keep doing that for as long as she’ll let you - I read out loud to my son until he was 11 or so, just like my dad did for me.

When my son was in K I read him the first three Harry Potters, then took a break till he was in 2nd for the next few. After Potter we went through all the Percy Jackson books. He wasn’t a fan of the old classics I had loved so I didn’t push it - the point was to have him love the experience of reading.

OP here. Thanks for the Harry Potter rec -- I was wondering when might be a good time to start those. I think she might find them a bit to scary still, but good to know some K kids do well with them and I could read them when she seems ready for the content.

I'm not terribly worried about her losing a love of books or words -- she's obsessed with reading and loves books. But I actually think right now our reading to her and her reading practice are too decoupled -- she has her books that she memorizes and reads (mostly her Bob books) and then she has the books we read to her (a broad variety) that she doesn't engage with as much outside of our read-together times. We'd like some books that we could read to her but also that she might spend more time with when we aren't reading, to help her start to put that together a bit. Not with pressure, but just to passively make that connection in her own mind.

You're looking for Elephant and Piggie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is right in the thick of learning to read -- she knows all the letters and their sounds and can sound out words with support, and is starting to gain real phonetic understanding. But she still can't sit down and just read a book on her own. But it does feel like this is probably coming in the next 6 months or so, especially with the support she'll now get at school (my understanding is that they do a lot more reading practice in kindergartener whereas there wasn't really much in PK)/

We have been reading a combination of picture books, early readers, and chapter books to her through this process. Do people have specific book recommendations for this age/reading level that were a hit with your kids? We'd especially love books that you read to your kids and then became the first books they read on their own (do those exist?). She loves books and loves being read to and we want to keep that interest alive through this process. She's a bit of a perfectionist and I think one reason she doesn't attempt to sound out words unless prompted is that it is so much harder than just having us read to her. We aren't going to stop that, but we'd love books that might inspire her to try it out on her own and will accommodate her level and help her to feel successful quickly. I'm guessing that means early readers but I've struggled to find good ones she finds engaging.

This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

Not being snarky -- is there a potential that doing this will conflict with/confuse what they are teaching in kinder? My DD is at the same point and she is eager so I want to feed the interest but now that she is finally in "real school," I am worried about confusing the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

OP here and we actually bought this book a few months ago, but it was a bust for us. We still offer it sometimes, but it's too dry for her. It feels like a chore for both of us.

What has worked better for us is a Highlights phonics workbook (it's one of the ones with the dry erase pages so she can do it however many times she wants) and the Hooked on Phonics app. We are not big on screen time but she'll do like a 5 minute game on there and it has really helped her with sounding out words and also figuring out long and short vowels, as well as blends. The key to both is that they are fun for her, especially in small doses, and there's this immediate payoff. Yesterday she did like 4 pages from the workbook and even chose not to do the writing practice (we don't push) but also sounded out like 5 new words I had no idea she could sound out (including "oo" words and some with the silent "e" at the end which had previously been really frustrating for her). It was exciting and made me realize she is really just about to cross a big threshold with reading.

Just putting this here for anyone else who has tried the 100 Easy Lessons and found it unhelpful. There are other ways to support reading skills that might work better for your kid. I'd seen that suggested a million times here and elsewhere and felt mildly defeated when we got it and my kid didn't like it at all.

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was dry and felt like a chore for us too but if you just consistently stick with it, it absolutely works. I had to balance it with listening to fun audiobooks after each lesson, which is something I still have to do with my fifth grader after we grind through his homework.

Yep. Really dry, but kids learn to read really well.

Only if they don't mind how dry it is. If you try to do 100 Easy Lessons with a kid who is bored to tears while doing it, you really do risk making them view reading as dull and rote, and would be better off using phonics games and workbooks.

Kids are different. Some kids will sit through a dull reading lesson every day for 10 minutes and won't mind. Some kids will complain and get distracted and look for any way or reason to get out of it. If you have the latter kind of kid, it doesn't mean you need to force them to change, and it doesn't mean they won't learn to read. It just means you need a different approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is right in the thick of learning to read -- she knows all the letters and their sounds and can sound out words with support, and is starting to gain real phonetic understanding. But she still can't sit down and just read a book on her own. But it does feel like this is probably coming in the next 6 months or so, especially with the support she'll now get at school (my understanding is that they do a lot more reading practice in kindergartener whereas there wasn't really much in PK)/

We have been reading a combination of picture books, early readers, and chapter books to her through this process. Do people have specific book recommendations for this age/reading level that were a hit with your kids? We'd especially love books that you read to your kids and then became the first books they read on their own (do those exist?). She loves books and loves being read to and we want to keep that interest alive through this process. She's a bit of a perfectionist and I think one reason she doesn't attempt to sound out words unless prompted is that it is so much harder than just having us read to her. We aren't going to stop that, but we'd love books that might inspire her to try it out on her own and will accommodate her level and help her to feel successful quickly. I'm guessing that means early readers but I've struggled to find good ones she finds engaging.

This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

Not being snarky -- is there a potential that doing this will conflict with/confuse what they are teaching in kinder? My DD is at the same point and she is eager so I want to feed the interest but now that she is finally in "real school," I am worried about confusing the issue.

I think 100 Easy Lessons works better for preschool kids who are very eager to learn to read and can handle a more academic approach. They don't really teach phonics in preschool (usually) so it's a comprehensive approach to taking a kid from 0-60.

But a kid who is already in kindergarten is going to be getting phonics and literacy every day at school. I'd look into what they are doing at school and seek to support at home. That *might* mean something like 100 easy lessons, but is more likely to be some workbooks or apps/games that support phonics, as well as of course lots of reading to your child. I don't necessarily think 100 Easy Lessons would confuse a kindergartener, but I think it might overwhelm them because they are going to start getting a lot of reading instruction at school and since it's dry, it risks being overkill. Supporting with more fun, game-based instruction probably makes more sense at that age IMO.

I also recommend just asking the teacher at your first parent-teacher meeting what you can do to support at home, or what their approach/philosophy for teaching reading is so that you can do things that will be in line. It will also give you a sense of how much focus they tend to put on phonics and how much "drill" type instruction kids are getting. You don't want to overdo that kind of learning at this age because it will kill enthusiasm. But if you have a teacher who doesn't do drill exercises at all and focuses more on read-alongs and song and game type literacy learning, most kids will benefit from more phonics instruction at home. This is why it's really helpful to know what is going on in the classroom first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is right in the thick of learning to read -- she knows all the letters and their sounds and can sound out words with support, and is starting to gain real phonetic understanding. But she still can't sit down and just read a book on her own. But it does feel like this is probably coming in the next 6 months or so, especially with the support she'll now get at school (my understanding is that they do a lot more reading practice in kindergartener whereas there wasn't really much in PK)/

We have been reading a combination of picture books, early readers, and chapter books to her through this process. Do people have specific book recommendations for this age/reading level that were a hit with your kids? We'd especially love books that you read to your kids and then became the first books they read on their own (do those exist?). She loves books and loves being read to and we want to keep that interest alive through this process. She's a bit of a perfectionist and I think one reason she doesn't attempt to sound out words unless prompted is that it is so much harder than just having us read to her. We aren't going to stop that, but we'd love books that might inspire her to try it out on her own and will accommodate her level and help her to feel successful quickly. I'm guessing that means early readers but I've struggled to find good ones she finds engaging.

This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

Not being snarky -- is there a potential that doing this will conflict with/confuse what they are teaching in kinder? My DD is at the same point and she is eager so I want to feed the interest but now that she is finally in "real school," I am worried about confusing the issue.

NP- I taught my kids with this before they went to "real school" and there is no conflict. Kids enter K/1st with a wide variety of reading/writing abilities. Teachers do not have the time or the inclination to "undo" any reading skills that have already been learned at home or in pre-school and reteach them in the school's preferred way. If your child enters K as a reader, they will be given materials to read a their level. The teach will spend more time on the kids who don't have reading skills. At least that has been my experience, but I'd be curious to hear if someone actually did have conflicts with their children's K teacher over reading skills that were acquired before school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener is right in the thick of learning to read -- she knows all the letters and their sounds and can sound out words with support, and is starting to gain real phonetic understanding. But she still can't sit down and just read a book on her own. But it does feel like this is probably coming in the next 6 months or so, especially with the support she'll now get at school (my understanding is that they do a lot more reading practice in kindergartener whereas there wasn't really much in PK)/

We have been reading a combination of picture books, early readers, and chapter books to her through this process. Do people have specific book recommendations for this age/reading level that were a hit with your kids? We'd especially love books that you read to your kids and then became the first books they read on their own (do those exist?). She loves books and loves being read to and we want to keep that interest alive through this process. She's a bit of a perfectionist and I think one reason she doesn't attempt to sound out words unless prompted is that it is so much harder than just having us read to her. We aren't going to stop that, but we'd love books that might inspire her to try it out on her own and will accommodate her level and help her to feel successful quickly. I'm guessing that means early readers but I've struggled to find good ones she finds engaging.

This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

Not being snarky -- is there a potential that doing this will conflict with/confuse what they are teaching in kinder? My DD is at the same point and she is eager so I want to feed the interest but now that she is finally in "real school," I am worried about confusing the issue.

No. There is zero reason to think that a well designed phonics curriculum like 100 Easy Lessons would undermine anything. If anything, the phonics instruction is more likely to be undermined by a teacher who uses a discredited balanced literacy curriculum (e.g., Lucy Caulkins) where a child is taught to guess words based on pictures. In that case it's more important that ever that the students gets solid phonics instruction at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is a good stage to do How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It's a great foundation.

OP here and we actually bought this book a few months ago, but it was a bust for us. We still offer it sometimes, but it's too dry for her. It feels like a chore for both of us.

What has worked better for us is a Highlights phonics workbook (it's one of the ones with the dry erase pages so she can do it however many times she wants) and the Hooked on Phonics app. We are not big on screen time but she'll do like a 5 minute game on there and it has really helped her with sounding out words and also figuring out long and short vowels, as well as blends. The key to both is that they are fun for her, especially in small doses, and there's this immediate payoff. Yesterday she did like 4 pages from the workbook and even chose not to do the writing practice (we don't push) but also sounded out like 5 new words I had no idea she could sound out (including "oo" words and some with the silent "e" at the end which had previously been really frustrating for her). It was exciting and made me realize she is really just about to cross a big threshold with reading.

Just putting this here for anyone else who has tried the 100 Easy Lessons and found it unhelpful. There are other ways to support reading skills that might work better for your kid. I'd seen that suggested a million times here and elsewhere and felt mildly defeated when we got it and my kid didn't like it at all.

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was dry and felt like a chore for us too but if you just consistently stick with it, it absolutely works. I had to balance it with listening to fun audiobooks after each lesson, which is something I still have to do with my fifth grader after we grind through his homework.

Yep. Really dry, but kids learn to read really well.

Only if they don't mind how dry it is. If you try to do 100 Easy Lessons with a kid who is bored to tears while doing it, you really do risk making them view reading as dull and rote, and would be better off using phonics games and workbooks.

Kids are different. Some kids will sit through a dull reading lesson every day for 10 minutes and won't mind. Some kids will complain and get distracted and look for any way or reason to get out of it. If you have the latter kind of kid, it doesn't mean you need to force them to change, and it doesn't mean they won't learn to read. It just means you need a different approach.

Kids should only be truly bored if they already know phonics and its not new content. If it's new material, then there is stuff for their brains to learn. For that reason I'd never recommend it for a 1st or 2nd grader. The start of K really is the latest or many of the early lessons will be too repetitive of stuff they already know.

[Anonymous]

Elephant and Piggie. My son LOVED them.

Also fun: The Toys Go Out series. So funny. The whole family loved to listen.