3rd Grade Lit - Constructive Criticism & Suggestions Please!

[lotusdebi]

This is my lit list for 3rd grade so far, and the amount of time I'm allowing per book. I'd love some help with putting these in order of difficulty, and I need poetry book suggestions! Also, any other helpful suggestions are also wanted and welcome - especially if you have a better idea of how much time to allow for each book (I have very few of these on hand, and I'm snowed in, so I'm guessing a lot). Thank you!

The Boxcar Children - 7 days
Mr. Popper's Penguins - 10 days
Fantastic Mr. Fox - 5 days
The BFG - 8 days
James and the Giant Peach - 10 days
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 10 days
Stuart Little - 8 days
Charlotte's Web - 11 days
The Trumpet of the Swan - 15 days
The Indian in the Cupboard - 16 days
The Return of the Indian - 11 days
The Secret of the Indian - 10 days
Sideways Stories from Wayside School - 10 days
Wayside School is Falling Down - 10 days
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger - 10 days
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - 10 days

Poetry books thus far (no time ideas here yet):
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost
A Child's Introduction to Poetry
A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein

[elizawill]

are you reading them to your child, or is your child reading them independently? i guess that would be the deciding factor in my household for the length of time needed. my dd doesn't read a certain amount of pages, but rather she reads for an "X" amount of time, ykwim? my dd is 8 and we'll be doing 3rd grade next year, so i'm going to borrow your list!

[lotusdebi]

He's reading them independently, to himself (not out loud). I want to have him read a little bit each day, plus do some comprehension questions and sometimes composition exercises (I'm still searching the internet for decent lesson plans to tweak). He was able to read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in less than a day per book, so I know he can read pretty quickly. I want to build up from less difficult books to more challenging books throughout the year. I know that my son will read and read and read until he's done if I let him, but that would negatively impact his ability to answer comprehension questions (he has an attention-deficit, so I want to be sure that he's really focusing and understanding his reading). If I give him specific chapters to begin and end at, he'll have an easier time putting the book down.

[TEAK's Mom]

One thing I might change is to make some of those sequels optional. If he loves The Indian in the Cupboard, then he'll be desperate for the next one, but if he doesn't, reading a sequel to a book one doesn't like can be frustrating.

A poetry book that my kids have really enjoyed is Poetry Speaks to Children. It has a wide range and a cd with many of the works read aloud (some by the authors). There is something cool about hearing Robert Frost, Roald Dahl, J.R.R. Tolkein, etc read their own works.

Other books that could be fun:
*George's Secret Key to the Universe and George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Stephen Hawking (fun and great science stuff)
*DragonRider by Cornelia Funke
*The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

[lotusdebi]

You're right - I should drop the sequels, and just have them available for fun reading. I think I just got caught up with the idea of getting the whole year figured out at once. And I remember how much my brother LOVED those books as a kid (they were the only books he read for pleasure), so I was excited to share them with my son (who adores his uncle), though I never read them.

I'll definitely check out your recommendations! Thank you!

[Momma Aimee]

http://www.amazon.com/Llama-Who-Had-...3&sr=8-1-fkmr0

The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems (Hardcover)
~ Mary Ann Hoberman

this is a fun book

A lot of them are short -- could be used for copy work or memory work.

most are easy to read.

and the amamzing fact -- so many differnt animals you would never think of -- the sloth, the tabir, and so on .....

[Lillian J]

I just had to click on your thread, because I've never before seen anyone ask for constructive criticism in a post .

My own two cents would be that I really think the reading of these books could be a more wonderful and rich experience for him if they were offered more in the spirit of treats to enjoy rather than assignments to follow. So I'd forget about any timing considerations and just let him loose to read and enjoy - and I think that would make them more meaningful and memorable to him in the long run. If he can simply own his experiences with the books - and casually share his enthusiasms, humor, questions, and observations in naturally occurring conversation with you - rather than having to respond in the way of answering comprehension questions or writing compositions, I honestly think it would make it more special for the two of you together, be more empowering for him in his educational process, and I think you'll easily see what he's comprehending. I'm saying this from personal experience with my own son - I think that kind of pure enjoyment of the literature in its own rite contributed greatly to his later love of reading on his own (I was still reading aloud to him at that age) and his great sensitivity to language and to writing styles. Lillian

[AAK]

Instead of comprehension questions, etc for the books, how about just "book discussions". My dd and I will read the same book and then have cocoa and discuss. It is so fun, and I can lead the discussion to make sure that she understood, etc the book. Or, forming a book club. I just worry that making it so blatantly educational might end up discouraging reading.

But, there is something to be said for being able to answer the comprehension questions, etc about a book. For that, we use reading detective from the critical thinking company. They use excerpts from well known books (fiction AND non-fiction). Each exercise only takes about 20 min. And if my dd liked a passage particularly well, we look up the book and read the whole thing.

http://www.criticalthinking.com/getP...ode=p&id=01506

Amy

[lotusdebi]

Thanks for your input! I don't want to ruin the reading experience for him at all. I'm looking at how much time the books will take simply for my own scheduling purposes - I expect for the Lit aspect of that to be somewhat fluid. I schedule things out so that there's structure to our days - something that has helped my son a lot this year (we were very unstructured unschoolers before this year, and he struggled with that). While I could just give him a bunch of books to read without any direction, it would annihilate the structure to our days, and I'm afraid that would cause him to backtrack on the progress he has made in regards to transitions and refocusing. He has an autism diagnosis and I have no desire to create more situations for him to be oppositional.

I'm fine with having discussions about the books, or having just a few comprehension questions to make sure he understands vocabulary words and doesn't get lost in unfamiliar content. I don't want to make reading about work at all, and that includes helping him with books that may be on his reading level but above his comprehension and experience level. I don't actually plan on overloading him with work or anything. I definitely fine-tune everything as we go through the year, adjusting as necessary to fit him and his style and interests. He likes worksheets that include games, cut & paste, that kind of thing, so I figured that I'd just create those with any comprehension questions that might be warranted. But, maybe I'll just use a reading comprehension workbook with short stories, excerpts, etc. instead, and stick to book discussions. He doesn't always like to talk about what he has read, though, and I get a lot of "I don't know" an "I don't want to talk about it" so I'm not sure how that's going to go... Maybe I'll plan for both, and then use what is working for him at the time...

I do want to do composition exercises, though. He LOVES to write stories, and I'd like to help him find ways of planning his stories so that he's able to follow through and write what he wants, instead of ending up halfway done and dropping them because he gets distracted and forgets what he wanted to write. He often writes stories based on tv shows and movies that he has seen, and books he has read (or I read to him). I'm going to show him some writing tricks so that he can put all his ideas down in an organized way and write (and adjust his story) from there. His attention deficits/ distractibility cause him a lot of anxiety, and I want to help him compensate for that.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by lotusdebi

Thanks for your input! I don't want to ruin the reading experience for him at all. I'm looking at how much time the books will take simply for my own scheduling purposes...

Sorry if it seemed as if I thought you were being overly obsessive - that's honestly not how I meant it, but I can certainly understand if it seemed that way. I just meant that by thinking in terms of planning times, it could cause undue pressure on you to make it fit that schedule and could make it seem more like projects than sheer pleasure.

He doesn't always like to talk about what he has read, though, and I get a lot of "I don't know" an "I don't want to talk about it" so I'm not sure how that's going to go... Maybe I'll plan for both, and then use what is working for him at the time...

You know, that sounded familiar, and the more I thought about it, I'd say I'm a lot like that myself. I might be thoroughly entranced by a book, but I don't want to try to talk about it (unless it's a nonfiction book - much more easily summarized/explained) because so much of it became a whole visual/emotional experience I went into as I read. Same with movies. If someone asks me about it, I can visualize things, but the last thing I want to do is try to put it into words. And I'm amazed at friends who can watch movies with an analytical eye as to cinematography, directing, and all that - because I'm completely lost in the story and characters. And that's part of why they can even watch scary or violent movies without being bummed out - because they're just movies to them rather than whole experiences. Maybe your son is a little like me. Lovely that your son loves to write, though! All the best in working it all out. Lillian

[AAK]

Originally Posted by lotusdebi

Thanks for your input! I don't want to ruin the reading experience for him at all. I'm looking at how much time the books will take simply for my own scheduling purposes - I expect for the Lit aspect of that to be somewhat fluid. I schedule things out so that there's structure to our days - something that has helped my son a lot this year (we were very unstructured unschoolers before this year, and he struggled with that). While I could just give him a bunch of books to read without any direction, it would annihilate the structure to our days, and I'm afraid that would cause him to backtrack on the progress he has made in regards to transitions and refocusing. He has an autism diagnosis and I have no desire to create more situations for him to be oppositional.

I'm fine with having discussions about the books, or having just a few comprehension questions to make sure he understands vocabulary words and doesn't get lost in unfamiliar content. I don't want to make reading about work at all, and that includes helping him with books that may be on his reading level but above his comprehension and experience level. I don't actually plan on overloading him with work or anything. I definitely fine-tune everything as we go through the year, adjusting as necessary to fit him and his style and interests. He likes worksheets that include games, cut & paste, that kind of thing, so I figured that I'd just create those with any comprehension questions that might be warranted. But, maybe I'll just use a reading comprehension workbook with short stories, excerpts, etc. instead, and stick to book discussions. He doesn't always like to talk about what he has read, though, and I get a lot of "I don't know" an "I don't want to talk about it" so I'm not sure how that's going to go... Maybe I'll plan for both, and then use what is working for him at the time...

I do want to do composition exercises, though. He LOVES to write stories, and I'd like to help him find ways of planning his stories so that he's able to follow through and write what he wants, instead of ending up halfway done and dropping them because he gets distracted and forgets what he wanted to write. He often writes stories based on tv shows and movies that he has seen, and books he has read (or I read to him). I'm going to show him some writing tricks so that he can put all his ideas down in an organized way and write (and adjust his story) from there. His attention deficits/ distractibility cause him a lot of anxiety, and I want to help him compensate for that.

In that case, I really think you have a great list of books going on there. Have you looked at Jerry Spinelli (author). I really like a lot of his books. Not all of them would work for third grade, but you might want to add him to your list of "read to decide on". Maniac Magee is often used with elementary kids.

Amy