Public. In 5th they did the book clubs and read in class, whatever wasn't finished was assigned. I know some kids who are slower at reading couldn't finish in class time. In 6th, so far seems to be one book every 2-3 weeks, first was assigned, second was chosen by the kid.

The earlier grades had no assigned reading, just a generic read 30min/night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

At which grade?

Off the top of my head, in 5th grade they read Prince Caspian, The Golden Goblet, and 2 others I'm forgetting. 6th grader is currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and will be reading City of Ember sometime later this year. 7th grader read The Hobbit, Inside Out and Back Again, something from Shakespeare, and others I'm forgetting. I know in 3rd grade they read Charlotte's Web, but there were more I'm not remembering (and 3rd is the last year where novels are mostly read alouds - they do other assigned reading in ability groups). 4th includes Misty of Chincoteague, Sign of the Beaver, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I know by high school they are reading Beowulf, Lord of the Flies, and other lit that most of us would remember from, well, high school.

Is this private? We are private and our list is somewhat similar but yours has a few more recent releases, nice mix.

Yes, I mentioned that in my first quoted PP (buried in the responses of course). Our kids never had a whole-class novel in public, though I did think there were always good options on the book club book list (ex: Wizard of Earthsea).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

At which grade?

Off the top of my head, in 5th grade they read Prince Caspian, The Golden Goblet, and 2 others I'm forgetting. 6th grader is currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and will be reading City of Ember sometime later this year. 7th grader read The Hobbit, Inside Out and Back Again, something from Shakespeare, and others I'm forgetting. I know in 3rd grade they read Charlotte's Web, but there were more I'm not remembering (and 3rd is the last year where novels are mostly read alouds - they do other assigned reading in ability groups). 4th includes Misty of Chincoteague, Sign of the Beaver, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I know by high school they are reading Beowulf, Lord of the Flies, and other lit that most of us would remember from, well, high school.

Is this private? We are private and our list is somewhat similar but yours has a few more recent releases, nice mix.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

At which grade?

Off the top of my head, in 5th grade they read Prince Caspian, The Golden Goblet, and 2 others I'm forgetting. 6th grader is currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and will be reading City of Ember sometime later this year. 7th grader read The Hobbit, Inside Out and Back Again, something from Shakespeare, and others I'm forgetting. I know in 3rd grade they read Charlotte's Web, but there were more I'm not remembering (and 3rd is the last year where novels are mostly read alouds - they do other assigned reading in ability groups). 4th includes Misty of Chincoteague, Sign of the Beaver, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I know by high school they are reading Beowulf, Lord of the Flies, and other lit that most of us would remember from, well, high school.

This elementary reading list sounds like some school out of 1990. Hard to believe any elementary school is picking these instead of newer literature where characters are mostly non-white and mostly have some theme about marginalized people and racism

Um, Inside Out and Back Again was published in 2013 and features a Vietnamese main character. But, Not Buddy won the Newberry, is about an African American character, and was published to late to be featured on any school reading lists in 1990. City of Ember also could not have appeared on any school reading list in 1990. The Golden Goblet is set in ancient Egypt.

It's really OK to mix new and old, fantasy and realistic fiction, themes of marginalized characters with other kinds of themes too. I'm glad my kids get exposed to a variety both in the literature we bring home for them and what their school assigns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

At which grade?

Off the top of my head, in 5th grade they read Prince Caspian, The Golden Goblet, and 2 others I'm forgetting. 6th grader is currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and will be reading City of Ember sometime later this year. 7th grader read The Hobbit, Inside Out and Back Again, something from Shakespeare, and others I'm forgetting. I know in 3rd grade they read Charlotte's Web, but there were more I'm not remembering (and 3rd is the last year where novels are mostly read alouds - they do other assigned reading in ability groups). 4th includes Misty of Chincoteague, Sign of the Beaver, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I know by high school they are reading Beowulf, Lord of the Flies, and other lit that most of us would remember from, well, high school.

This elementary reading list sounds like some school out of 1990. Hard to believe any elementary school is picking these instead of newer literature where characters are mostly non-white and mostly have some theme about marginalized people and racism

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

At which grade?

Off the top of my head, in 5th grade they read Prince Caspian, The Golden Goblet, and 2 others I'm forgetting. 6th grader is currently reading Bud, Not Buddy and will be reading City of Ember sometime later this year. 7th grader read The Hobbit, Inside Out and Back Again, something from Shakespeare, and others I'm forgetting. I know in 3rd grade they read Charlotte's Web, but there were more I'm not remembering (and 3rd is the last year where novels are mostly read alouds - they do other assigned reading in ability groups). 4th includes Misty of Chincoteague, Sign of the Beaver, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I know by high school they are reading Beowulf, Lord of the Flies, and other lit that most of us would remember from, well, high school.

Anonymous wrote:Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

What are some of the novels?

No they don’t. None at all. But we read at home a ton anyhow. I don’t need their guidance. But I’m sure plenty of families do.

I have a 2nd grader and he is definitely behind with learning to read but he has had challenges with speech and wasn't properly treated for ADHD until winter 2025, so he wasn't making much progress being he got on the right medication. He reads with us at least 15 minutes a night (comes out to 2-3 SUPER easy books) and then another 15 minutes of us reading more elaborate picture books to him; the ones with detailed pictures and have a lot of facts. He's a super visual kid and isn't into books without pictures yet.

Our school doesn't assign any reading, but honestly I wish they WOULD send home books or a book list of books on his level that we could read optionally with him. It would be helpful, especially when they still very early on with reading.

My older child is not assigned any books to read at home, but I wish he was! He WOULD read them and it would help him to get hooked into more novels and broaden his interests.

Our public school never assigned a whole class novel. At the end of the year starting in 2nd they did do "book club" where kids would pick from a group of several books and discuss them with the group of other kids who picked the same book. There was occasional short passage reading comprehension homework in the reading packet as early as 1st, but that was highly teacher dependent and most years the kids didn't even have homework. When they did have homework one part of it might be "read for 15 minutes and log it."

Contrast that with our private, where whole class novels start as read-alouds in the primary grades but become homework or classwork (depending on the kid) in upper elementary and the middle and high school literature curriculum could have come straight out of the 1990s, with many of the same assigned books parents might recognize from that era.

We have a 4th grader. There's never been assigned reading for at home; they obviously assign whatever they're reading in class. We used to get sheets with reading "tasks" like "reading outside" or "read to a parent" but that was the extent of the guidance.

My kid reads a lot, so I don't really keep track. When she was younger, I'd time it, but when she really got reading on her own that stopped being necessary. We still have her read aloud to us, because of a speech delay. I also read her a story before bed a few days a week, because she likes that and it gives us a chance to read something more advanced than she can do on her own.

No assigned readings. Just read 15 -20 minutes recommend.

My kid has library once or twice a week and picks out 2 books every time. She has assigned 10-15 minutes of reading every night, but reads far more than that. I will say that both of my children did not really enjoy reading until the books got better and longer - I think for both that was around 4th grade. I'm only just now getting my 4th grader to read chapter books, she was stuck on graphic novels for so long and the school really encouraged it.

Anonymous wrote:Do they assign books or let the kids pick? How much does your kid read? - assigned or not. For ours, they sent home books in K and the expectation was every night if possible, but no minimum time. In 1st they didn’t send books, but suggested 15 minutes of reading whatever per night. Now in 2nd there is no suggested time, but DD reads alone for maybe 30-45 minutes. Should I be sitting down and listening to her read aloud, or is her independent reading enough?

I would have her read aloud to you at least once at week. But her independent reading sounds great.

Do they assign books or let the kids pick? How much does your kid read? - assigned or not. For ours, they sent home books in K and the expectation was every night if possible, but no minimum time. In 1st they didn’t send books, but suggested 15 minutes of reading whatever per night. Now in 2nd there is no suggested time, but DD reads alone for maybe 30-45 minutes. Should I be sitting down and listening to her read aloud, or is her independent reading enough?