Finding Books for Beginning Readers

One of my own personal struggles as a teacher was to find easy books for my beginning readers. Even books that usually say "Level 1 - Beginning Reader" are way too hard for actual beginning readers. I just found this great post from www.123homeschool4me.com that has a good list of books for our young readers. Some of these books are not necessarily so easy that you could just hand them over to your reader and expect her to be able to read it on her own, but after a few readings together she could easily manage it.

Though parents are sometimes worried kids have just "memorized" the book, it is not something to be concerned about. They need to see themselves as readers and see and say those words over and over again before they are cemented in their minds.

Anna over at The Measured Mom has solved the problem of finding easy books by creating a ton of fabulous FREE printable books for beginning readers.You can find those here.

Happy Reading!

Celebrities Reading Books and other ways to give yourself a break...

Tired of reading out loud? So done with the same two favorite books? Let this website take over for a while...

Celebrities Reading...

I had no idea that the Screen Actors Guild has literacy programs. That makes me so happy! You can go to their site, StorylineOnline.net, and have your children listen to wonderful story books read by qualified orators ranging from Al Gore to Sean Astin to Rita Moreno. As they say on their site, "Reading to children has been repeatedly shown to improve their reading, writing and communication skills, logical thinking, concentration and general academic aptitude… as well as inspire a love of reading. The Screen Actors Guild Foundation records well-known actors reading children’s books and makes graphically dynamic videos so that children around the world can be read to with just the click of a Storyline Online video book image.Many teachers play SAG Foundation’s Storyline Online videos for their students. Doctors and nurses play Storyline Online videos for children in hospitals. And parents and children around the world watch Storyline Online videos millions of times every month."

Have Fun Practicing Sight Words

As my first grader is getting into the school year, we are receiving reminders from his teacher to keep practicing those sight words. I just found this super easy game from one of my favorite blogs, I Can Teach My Child. It definitely fits my requirements for very little set up involved and easy to understand. A great bonus is that if you have children at different levels, they can all work on their own word lists. Love it! I hope you enjoy it, too!