Books to help learn reading

[Neera]

Hi,

Dd can read the Bob books but I don't really know of any other. There are other books that we have that say Level 1 but she finds some of the words hard to read in them. Need recommendations for absolute beginner's reading books if you know of any.

Thanks.

[frugalmama]

I think I saw they are coming out with a new BOB books level 2 type set. Other than that all I can recommend is the Leap Frog DVD's for reading - they are a huge help. 

DD went from just knowing letters to fully reading in about a week, so I'm not a lot of help, sorry. 

[Geofizz]

What age?

We liked Progressive Phonics (free, but you have to register).  It's shared reading, so a bit more interesting and varied than BOB.  I started underlining sight words in red as DS started to gain them to give him additional practice and starting to shift the reading from me to him very slowly and gently.

Parallel to that, find early readers at the library labeled with DRA reading levels.  They are much more consistent with each other on levels, and progress very gently.

[LynnS6]

Many libraries have sections for early readers. There are a lot of different systems.

DRA level B or C might be a good place to start. I remember we did some books called "Word Bird"  that were good for ds; we had some Clifford books that were very easy and a good first readers.

Another thing to try is the Scholastic Book Wizard: http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/ -- you can search for books that have similar levels to the ones your daughter can read.

You might also post in the Learning at Home forum, because I'm sure a lot of the parents there have recommendations for starter books.

[Neera]

Thanks. What is DRA? And to the pp that wanted to know her age. She is a couple of mths away from 5.

[Geofizz]

DRA is one of the forest of reading levels.  I think part of the problem you're seeing with "level 1" is that there about 50 flavors of level 1, ranging from barely emergent readers to 1st or second grade. 

Here's a chart comparing:

http://library.springbranchisd.com/sbisd_library/reading_levels_comparison_chart.htm

I think Lynn is suggesting levels B/C was thinking of the "guided reading levels" or Fountas & Pinnell

Each publisher will use their own scale to add to the confusion.

Not-yet-5 is quite young.  Take is slow and easy.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

I think Lynn is suggesting levels B/C was thinking of the "guided reading levels" or Fountas & Pinnell

Dang, you're right! I get those confused. DRA is developmental reading assessment, which is what my kids use now. My kids used the Guided Reading System (the letter system) in Kindergarten -- it's easier than looking for "level 1" which varies, as Geofizz noted. Level A is absolute beginning.

Another easy rule of thumb is "5 words" per page rule. If there are more than 5 words on a page that she can't decode, then the book is too hard. That works pretty well for the earliest levels.

However, if she's not yet 5, I'd actually back way off reading instruction unless she's really driven to read. If she's not driven to read, it's better to wait. What you really don't want is to have reading be a chore for her. Reading should be fun, cuddle time. You can "work on" important skills for reading by reading to her, telling stories together, guiding her through recounting things that happened to her, playing letter games and just talking to her. Decoding is just one of the skills (an important one, mind you), but she also needs rich vocabulary, rich experiences to relate to what she's reading and to want to read.

[Geofizz]

Lynn, I'm so looking forward to getting to the point where I can no longer keep the forest of reading level systems straight!  I'm just now coming out of the stage of needing to carefully examining levels and determining appropriateness for my new reader. 
 

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

Another easy rule of thumb is "5 words" per page rule. If there are more than 5 words on a page that she can't decode, then the book is too hard. That works pretty well for the earliest levels.

 

For a kid not yet 5, I'd knock it down a few initially until you have her tolerance -- just 1-2 words to decode.  Bob books won't have more than 4-5 words total per page.  The 5 words/page metric is based on a typical first grader's tolerance for struggle and frustration.  A 5 year old, even a very precocious reader, may have a significantly lower tolerance.  My daughter, however, was like feeding the monster.  She needed more interesting, more involved stories, and she was willing to work at the words to get them.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Lynn, I'm so looking forward to getting to the point where I can no longer keep the forest of reading level systems straight!  I'm just now coming out of the stage of needing to carefully examining levels and determining appropriateness for my new reader. 
 

For a kid not yet 5, I'd knock it down a few initially until you have her tolerance -- just 1-2 words to decode.  Bob books won't have more than 4-5 words total per page.  The 5 words/page metric is based on a typical first grader's tolerance for struggle and frustration.  A 5 year old, even a very precocious reader, may have a significantly lower tolerance.  My daughter, however, was like feeding the monster.  She needed more interesting, more involved stories, and she was willing to work at the words to get them.

My daughter was the same way. Her reading level shot up so quickly. Ds was the one with a low frustration tolerance until he hit the middle of 2nd grade. I'm so glad they're both past that stage now!!

OP, I agree. 1-2 words that she struggles with per page is probably the max she can handle right now. Don't be afraid to either step in to lower her frustration or to take a break for a few months and pick it up again in a few months.

[A&A]

My theory is that reading should be fun, not a chore.  Therefore I recommend the "Piggy and Gerald" series of books.  (Look for them at Amazon or other bookstores.) They are lots of fun to read!  (For adults and kids.)  They use simple words in large print.  My son really took off on reading because of those books. 

[AAK]

Many early readers are really terrible for "early readers".  My opinion of the bob books is that they were great but they progressed really fast.  We have had lots of success with "I See Sam" readers http://www.3rsplus.com/index.htm and the readers from the makers of all about spelling http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/categories/Supplemental-Products/Readers/.  Skip the yellow ones since she can already read.  Both sets progress very specifically and don't introduce "sight" words for quite a while.  We also liked this set.  http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Phonics-First-Steps-Boxed/dp/0375825770/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1324699157&sr=8-5  there are three boxes total that you can get.  My oldest child (who picked up on reading quickly) did well with this set.  My second child really needed the repetition of the "I See Sam" books.  In the "I See Sam" books, you can see which sounds get introduced before each story (inside the cover).  They do introduce one way of making a long e sound right away --- the ee.  Later they introduce using an open syllable to make the long 'e' sound as in "me".  Other than that, it is all basic consonants and short vowels for a long time.  You don't have to explain the "open syllable" to your child, I am just explaining it to you so you understand the progression.  Also, the "I See Sam" can be found free online for the first several levels if you want to print it yourself.  My current 5 year old is enjoying all the sets I just mentioned.  She is so proud of knowing that she CAN sound out the words on the pages, rather than stumbling across difficult names and things.  

Amy

[Daffodil]

For an absolute beginner, you can't beat making your own little "books" or comics.  Nothing fancy, just some poorly-drawn pictures and words to go with them.  You can make them exactly the right level for your particular kid, and you can make them funnier than any easy reader you'll find at the library.

[4alt]

Try the Margaret Hillert books (Dear Dragon and Fairytale series).  She was a first grade teacher for about 30 years and has written over 30 early reader books.  It is very similar to the Dick and Jane books but they are better.  In the back of the book is a list of words that are used throughout the book.  We made flash cards with the words and my daughter was able to pick up reading much faster.  Between all the books we took out from the library, I think I had close to 125 common words..  Within a month she was able to read the Hillert books within 5 min and move onto the Level 1 & 2 "Step into Reading" and "I Can Read" series.

Here is a list of words that we made flash cards for.

a

all

am

an

and

are

at

away

baby

ball (s)

be

big

birthday

black

blue

book

boy

but

can

can't

car

cat

come

cookie (s)

cowboy

day

dear

did

do

dog

down

dragon

dream

eat

father

find

for

friend (s)

fun

funny

get

girl

go

goes

good

grandmother

green

guess

Halloween

happy

have

he

helps

her

here

home

house

how

jump

I

in

into

is

it ('s)

jump

let

like

little

look (s)

make

man

me

mother

my

need

no

not

now

oh

on

one (s)

orange

out

play

pony

pop

pretty

put

red

read

ride (s)

run

said

school

see

she

sits

sleep

snow

snowball (s)

so

some

something

somewhere

spot

take

that

the

them

there

these

they

thing

this

three

to

too

two

TV

up

us

walk

want (s)

was

way

we

what

where

white

who

will

with

work

yellow

yes

you

us

up

[Neera]

Thank you all for the information. Will start working on them after my hiatus. She loves reading. We had ordered the Bob books from the library a few months ago. At that time she was getting a little frustrated. But this time, she just picked them up and was reading every book in the series by herself. I thought maybe her dad had read them to her once this time. But, he hadn't.

[Justmee]

I also like the "Now I'm Reading" books (or I should say my kids do). We have all 5 levels of BOB books and one kid is through almost all of them, the others are not quite as far along. The Now I'm Reading books are a bit harder, but they are very phonics based.

[SweetSilver]

What my girls love is books we read together.  These could be any books, but we especially like Garfield comics collections.  They read the sounds and whatever bubbles they want, and I read the rest.  In a favorite graphic novel, I read the narration and my oldest (now 6.75) read the bubbles.  We also loved getting the baby board books from the library.  My 5yo just read "Biscuit' from cover to cover for her aunt.  She's never read anything more than a single word aloud to me ever!  Though I knew she "got" reading at an early age she has never read anything to me.  So, so sneaky!  I guess that's just life being a younger sister, living in the background.