The last few weeks I've been excitedly starting to plan for the next school year. Why now? Because I like to plan for the following school year during the final 9 weeks of the current school year so I remember where my girls are and where I want them to go. Besides that, when I complete my planning by summer I can enjoy the summer break too!
This year is no exception and as such I've begun organizing a list of student readers for Peanut to read next year. As a Pre-K student she completed Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann and is reading on a solid first grade level. Next year she will be a Kindergartner and our hope is to round out her reading skills by completing Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes and reading some classic picture books every day. While we will just have to wait to see how fast she progresses through Phonics Pathways, the program boasts a solid 4th grade reading level by the end of the book so I've begun making plans to that end.
Recently I also discovered Scholastic's Book Wizard in which you can search for books based on reading level, interest level, lexile measurement and more. This source is great if you don't know what your child's reading level is or if you are searching for other books at a similar reading level for your child that is age appropriate. Just type in a book your child recently read and click search. The search results will not only tell you what the book's reading and interest level are, but you can also search for other books with a similar interest and reading level. It's great!
With this wizard as a guide and Amazon review's for customer ratings, I came up with the following list of readers appropriate for my upcoming Kindergartner. Knowing that there are other parents out there searching for books to read and/or have their Kindergartner read this summer or next year, I thought I'd share. Feel free to scroll through the list below or download a pdf of the list at the end for you to keep and browse later. The choice is up to you.
Not sure where to start with this list? The books with an asterisk are where we plan to start next year as most are classics that have stood the test of time and boast high reviews (often by more than 50 reviewers) . Whatever you choose I'm sure you'll find several keepers in this 5 star list ranging from a 1.0 to a 4.5 reading level.
Think I've missed a good book?
With so may good choices that wouldn't surprise me a bit. Please, let me know in the comments below and if it meets the criteria above, I'll be more than glad to add it and send you a pdf update too! Thanks!
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Kathy, I feel so blessed to have found your blog, especially since we think so similarly and your kids are JUST ahead of mine age-wise. Way to do a lot of my work for me! Haha. Keep writing. I love getting your posts in my inbox.
LOL. Good deal! So glad it helps. And thanks for the encouragement! It means a lot.
What a great resource!! I am pinning this one. We worked our way through about half of Phonics Pathways before we stopped mid-year. My daughter's reading exploded and we've never looked back. It was a wonderful tool to get us up to that point. I really love the Scholastic resource, but your list really does a lot of my work for me. You narrowed it down quite a bit. Thanks!
Thanks! I have a little one about the same age and I am excited to get to the library and give these a try.
Thanks! I got the email and then sent out a correct one. Sorry about that. For some reason the toggle menu got switched to A.M. Ooops! Thanks for pointing it out though just in case. Hope you have a great week!
Thanks Gabrielle! Yes, hopefully this post will save many a parents and teachers lots of time because you always want to share the best but sometimes you just don't know where to start.
You are welcome! Happy reading!
everyday. I'd like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal experience and thoughts online.