What are your first graders reading?

[Neera]

My Kindergartner is reading pretty good. I am just wondering if your first grader reads then what is he/she reading. I'll see if I can advance dd a little to the next level.

[Vancouver Mommy]

In grade on my dd loved the Rainbow Fairies books. I personally found them tedious, but she seemed to enjoy them thoroughly. She also read Ivy and Bean, Just Grace and the Magic School Bus books.
 

[Neera]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

[LuckyMommaToo]

I agree that Rainbow fairies are tedious. My first grader likes, but doesn't love them. Here's her tops right now:

-- Ivy & Bean

-- Keeker (a series about a girl and her pony)

-- Heidi Heckelbeck (another series about a second grade girl who's a witch. DD LOVES these books.)

-- Princess Posey series

-- Snowflake (and the rest of the Breyer Stablemates series)

-- Bink & Gollie

-- Mercy Watson series

Hope this helps!

-e

[Daffodil]

If you go to the Scholastic Book Wizard site, you can enter the titles of some books your DD reads now to find out what level they are, and you can search by level to find examples of books that would be a bit more difficult.

[pbjmama]

My fathers dragon,

[Neera]

Thanks.

[pek64]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

If you go to the Scholastic Book Wizard site, you can enter the titles of some books your DD reads now to find out what level they are, and you can search by level to find examples of books that would be a bit more difficult.

How is the grade level equivalent determined? It doesn't seem to me to be the difficulty of the words. Is it subject matter combined with words used? What do you all think?

[Daffodil]

Some quick Googling indicates that it's based on sentence length and word length. So longer sentences and/or bigger words make for a higher grade level equivalent. Apparently there are different formulas that can yield different results; it's not an exact science. 

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by pek64 


How is the grade level equivalent determined? It doesn't seem to me to be the difficulty of the words. Is it subject matter combined with words used? What do you all think?

If your child is in public school, then I believe the child is supposed to be reading at level 18 by the end of the first grade year. If you go to the public library, in the early readers section there are numbers on the spines. Try some books around 6-7 and see if your child reads those pretty well, and move up if so. I think the rule of thumb is that if a child runs into 4 or fewer words that he cannot read in a book, he is ready to move up to the next number. 5 or more words and he should stay on that number until he gains skill.

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie 

Originally Posted by pek64 


How is the grade level equivalent determined? It doesn't seem to me to be the difficulty of the words. Is it subject matter combined with words used? What do you all think?

If your child is in public school, then I believe the child is supposed to be reading at level 18 by the end of the first grade year. If you go to the public library, in the early readers section there are numbers on the spines. Try some books around 6-7 and see if your child reads those pretty well, and move up if so. I think the rule of thumb is that if a child runs into 4 or fewer words that he cannot read in a book, he is ready to move up to the next number. 5 or more words and he should stay on that number until he gains skill.

There are a lot of different reading level systems.  The Book Wizard site uses grade level equivalent, lexile, DRA, or guided reading.  Here is a chart I found that shows how the levels in each system compare to the levels in other systems.

[Neera]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy 

In grade on my dd loved the Rainbow Fairies books. I personally found them tedious, but she seemed to enjoy them thoroughly. She also read Ivy and Bean, Just Grace and the Magic School Bus books.
 

I am not aware of the Rainbow Fairies. Is this one of them?

Selena the sleepover fairy

Edited by Neera - 10/7/12 at 8:01am

[Juvysen]

My first grader likes the rainbow fairies series.  Also Dragonbreath series and the bunnicula series, though I think those are a bit harder in reading level.  She also likes the American Girls series, which I think is also a bit harder. 

**ETA** OH! and the Magic Kitten and Magic Puppies series'

[Vancouver Mommy]

Originally Posted by Neera 

I am not aware of the Rainbow Fairies. Is this one of them?

Selena the sleepover fairy

Yes, it is. I think when my dd and I looked at the list there were approximately 140 books in total. The are written in theme sets of 7 books and I believe are written by a team of monkeys chained to keyboards all writing under the nom de plume Daisy Meadows.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy 

Yes, it is. I think when my dd and I looked at the list there were approximately 140 books in total. The are written in theme sets of 7 books and I believe are written by a team of monkeys chained to keyboards all writing under the nom de plume Daisy Meadows.

team of monkeys!  YES! 

AFAIK, it is numerous authors, though.

[luv2eatamango]

My first grader is really taking off now.  She loves animals and so I bought a Daisy Dawson pack of three paperbacks; she had the biggest smile.  Her first chapter book - she showed it to the whole class.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

There are a lot of different reading level systems.  The Book Wizard site uses grade level equivalent, lexile, DRA, or guided reading.  Here is a chart I found that shows how the levels in each system compare to the levels in other systems.

I know. My point was that if she was going to be using public school, she might as well use the system they are using.

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie 

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

There are a lot of different reading level systems.  The Book Wizard site uses grade level equivalent, lexile, DRA, or guided reading.  Here is a chart I found that shows how the levels in each system compare to the levels in other systems.

I know. My point was that if she was going to be using public school, she might as well use the system they are using.

Public schools don't all use the same system.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by Daffodil 

Public schools don't all use the same system.

Oh I see. Well, anyway, the library might have a useful system if she wants to follow some kind of progression that generally goes in the right direction at the right pace and that probably meshes pretty well with the school district. It was just an idea. I was in her place a year ago, bewildered by the different measurements and systems... it was nice when her teacher pointed out to me how it worked and how I could just use the library because things were so nicely numbered and made sense. Before that I was frustrated by how "Level A reader" on one book could be so very different from "blue reader" on another and "Level One Reader" on yet another and so forth.

[Neera]

I have to go the library to check the levels. In the mean time does anyone know for what grade is this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Pinkalicious-School-Rules-Read-Book/dp/0061928852/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349958944&sr=1-13&keywords=pinkalicious