Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School what is your first grader reading?

At the time DD was reading the Rainbow Fairy books I was horrified. I know have more than one ranting post about them. Now in retrospect I understand why she read them. She could finish a 'novel' in about 15 minutes which was a huge confidence boost. I also think that they helped her to develop reading stamina. She read about 30 of them in the course of a month and then she played with them. She would stand them up all over the house and reenact the plot. I say plot because they are all the same! This past week she's become fixated on the Baby Sitters Club it's a bit d�j� vu. I think that I'm writing this post to remind myself to relax....

A.

Good point about the Rainbow Fairy books. My younger DD read them when she was struggling with reading comprehension and skipping words, and I think it helped that the books were all so similar.

Oh, and I forgot to add cookbooks to my list. Each girl has more cookbooks than I do. In addition to cooking, they read them for fun and as kind of a starting point for some of their games (e.g., if we were eating this, who/what/when/where would we be?).

That's so funny my DD also loved cookbooks for about a year... but she's never been interested in cooking or eating anything different or 'new'. She still loves to peruse them every so often.

I absolutely agree re the Rainbow Fairies. They became strictly read yourself books in our house because they bore me literally to sleep. But they really did boost dd's confidence with reading and she still picks one up every now and again when she just wants an easy read.

Re the Baby Sitters Club, the principal at dd's school said she hated kids reading them until she realised that they're very grammatically correct and have well formed sentences and then she used them as a learning aid because they were so popular (I have no idea if they are actually grammatically correct and well formed as I haven't looked at them myself, but I took her at her word).

Love the cookbook story! That's really neat.

I forgot to mention a series Chico loves: "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future." They're old British comics from the '50s which have been reprinted, and they're a hoot and a half, according to Chico (I haven't read any of them yet). They're the author's conception of what life is like around the year 2014--so very funny to read now, of course. There are a whole bunch of them (Voyage to Venus, Marooned on Mercury, Operation Saturn, etc.).

The second book was the Cosmic Hunt, can't remember what the first one was.

So a quick funny story...

This was a multi-day process for me. After reading several people mention "Catwings," I went to my library website. Ordered the first book in the series to be put on hold. Got a confirmation email. Went to the library. Saw how slim the book was and decided to go find the author in the stacks and check out all of the books in the series. Brought all 4 books in the car when I went to pick up my dd6 from 1st grade today.

DD6: "Oh, catwings! (teacher at school) mentioned that."

Me: "Here, read it."

No more than 15 minutes pass.

DD6: "Done. Now can I please have my Calvin and Hobbes book from xxx (fellow carpooler). He won't give it to me!!"

Me: "Done? Did you read the whole thing?"

DD6: "Mom! OF course! It's only 40 pages."

Me: "Did you like it?"

DD6: "Yeah."

Me: "Do you want the next one?"

DD6: "Not now. So will you make him give me Calvin and Hobbes??"

Now I still appreciate the recommendation and I have a feeling dd will read the other 3 books in the next day or so. But isn't this true of so many things? I complete 8 steps to bring her something I'm hoping she will like and she eats it up in a nanosecond. And then goes back to doing what she likes. These kids aren't easy, are they...

Oh no... I just bought the first four Catwings! $15.00 for an hours worth of reading!

Another quick read but a great story is Sarah Plain and Tall, not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet....

A.

Here are a couple of series/books that might appeal to grade 1 readers.

An Awfully Beastly Business

Puppy Place (very repetitive, easy to read, but good for DC who like animals)

Edgar and Ellen

Pippy Longstocking

Anne of Green Gables