Jefferson County Schools Grades K-5 SUMMER READING LIST Summer reading is essential for children! Reading experts note that most young readers suffer a loss of reading skills during summer downtime. Studies show that some children loose as much as 6 months to one year reading progress over the summer. This need not be the case if families can make reading a priority during the summer months. It is important that our children will learn that people never take a vacation from learning. Read often. Read for fun. Read together. Let your child see that you value reading. Benefits of reading Aloud to Children! Why read aloud to children at home? To build an interest in books and learning To show that reading can be fun and informative To appreciate a variety of printed materials (magazines, stories, poems) To build pleasurable family experiences How can reading this summer benefit my child in school? To improve attention span and listening skills To improve fluency and pace To help understanding of story structure (characters, plot, setting, problem, solution) To increase memory skills To foster vocabulary and language skills To stimulate creativity To help children learn about themselves and their world To collect cherished memories of favorite stories Helpful Hints for Reading aloud at Home! Read to/with your child every day. Obtain a library card. Let your child help you choose books that you both will enjoy. Build an appreciation for different kinds of books. With younger children, sit close together in a comfortable place. Discuss the title and author. Look at the pictures in the book and predict what the story might be about. Never cover up the pictures. Let the child point to the words, read along with you, or read aloud to you. Read with expression. Exchange thoughts and feelings about the story. Find ways to relate the story to your own experiences or the experiences of the child. Keep books and story tapes in the car and pack them when you go on errands or out to eat. Be a good reading model. If you show your child that you enjoy reading, they will, too. Remember! Children who are read to often will tend to enjoy books more and tend to be better readers than children who are not. -Jeannette Mulholland, Reading Specialist 1
Suggested Summer Reading List: Grades K-3 Fairy Tales (Read Alouds to the Child): Cinderella Goldilocks and the Three Bear Jack and the Beanstalk Little Red Riding Hood Princess and the Pea Puss n' Boots Three Little Pigs The Gingerbread Boy Nursery Rhymes (Read Alouds to the Child) Dragon Kites and Dragonflies, Demi A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes: English and Spanish, Denton Over in the Meadow, Keats Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose Mother Goose Fiction Titles (Read Alouds to the Child): Amazing Grace, Hoffman, Aansi the Spider, McDermott Arthur (series) Brown, Baby Sister for Frances Hoban Best Friends, Kellogg Blueberries for Sal, McCloskey Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom, Martin The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, Noble Flossie and the Fox, McKissack Gregory the Terrible Eater, Sharmat Harry the Dirty Dog, Zion King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, Wood A Letter to Amy, Keats The Little Engine that Could, Piper Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth, Bates The Mitten, Brett Mother Goose, Many versions Owen, Henkes The Owl and the Pussycat, Lear 2
Suggested Summer Reading List: Grades K-3 (continued) Owl Moon, Yolen Paul Bunyan, Kellogg Pig Grows Up, McPhail Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore, McPhail Rainbow Fish, Pfister Rumplestiltskin, Zelinsky Seven Chinese Brothers, Mahy Stellaluna, Cannon Story of Ferdinand, Leaf Strega Nona, DePaola Tale of Peter Rabbitt, Potter Talking Eggs, San Souci Thunder Cake, Polacco The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Cleary Molly's Pilgrim, Chen Miss Rumphiaus, Cooney Tops and Bottoms, Stevens Whistle for Willie, Keats Whv Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, Aardema Winnie the Pooh, Milne Junie B. Jones books, Park Amber Brown series, Danziger Cam Jansen series, Adler Non-fiction books (Read Alouds to the Child): Amazing Animals, (eyewitness junior series) Biographies by D'Aulaire, Eating Fractions, McMillan Fire! Fire! Gibbons Freight Train, Crews Johnny Appleseed, Kellogg Paper Airplane book, Simon Picture Book Biographies, (series) Adler Pond and River, Parker (Eyewitness) Sun, (series) Simon, Town and Country, Provenson Volcanoes, (series) Simon Whales, the Gentle Giants, Milton 3
Suggested Summer Reading List: Grades K-3 (continued) Beginning to Read Books: All Fall Down, Wildsmith Cat in the Hat, (series) Seuss Count and See, Hoban Have you seen my Duckling? Tafuri The Little Red House, Sawicki Roll Over, Peek Little Bear, Minark In a Dark, Dark, Room, Schwartz Amelia Bedelia, (series) Parish Arthur books, (series) Hoban Fox on the Job, Marshall Go Dog Go, Eastman Henry and Mudge books, (series) Rylant Hop on Pop, (series) Seuss Hungry, Hungry Sharks, Cole Nate the Great, (series) Sharmat Frog and Toad books, (series) Lobel Beast in Ms Rooney's Room, Giff Bony-Legs, Cole Cam Jansen mysteries, (series) Adler Dinosaurs before Dark, Osborne Henry and Mudge books (series) Rylant Horrible Harry and the Green Slime, Kline Junie B, Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Park Knights of the Kitchen Table, Scieska Lucky Baseball Bat, Christopher Marvin Redpost: Alone in his Teacher's House, Sachar The Titanic: Lost and Found, Donnelly, Libros En Espanol,- Un libro illustrado sobre Martin Luther King, Hijo, Adler Willy el sonador, Cole La isia, Dorros Te presento a la orquesta, Hayes El chico karateka, Morris Dos amigos, Rodero Cincuenta en la zebra: Contando con los animals, Tabor El senor enejo y el hermoso regalo, Zolotow 4
Suggestions for Summer Reading: (Grades 4-6) Fiction Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp, Mayer American Tall Tales, Osborne Anastasia Krupnik, Lowry Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave, Mayer Babe the Gallant Pig, King-Smith Baseball Saved Us, Mochizuki Big Book for Peace, Durrell Black Beauty, Sewell Black Stallion, Farley The Blue Fairy Book, Lang Charlotte's Web, White Dear Mr, Henshaw, Cleary Falling Up, Silverstein Gawain and the Green Knight, San Souci Ghost Fox, Yep Harriet the Spy, Fitzhugh Harris and Me, Paulsen King's Equal, Paterson Klara's New World, Winter Kneeknock Rise, Babbitt, MeMummy, Byars My Father's Dragon, Gannett Native American Animal Stories, Bruchae Number the Stars, Lowry The Hundred Dresses, Estes Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Sachar Sarah Plain and Tall, McLachlan St, George and the Dragon, Hodges Strider, Cleary Undercover Tailback, Christopher Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, Curtis Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes, Coerr Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear, Namioka The Castle in the Attic, Winthrop 5
Suggested Summer Reading List: Intermediate-Advanced All Together Now, Bridges Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery Athletic Shorts, Crutcher Circlemaker, Schur The Clock, Collier, The Contender, Lipsyte The Giver, Lowry Death on the Nile, Christie, Eva, Dickinson Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury Girl Named Disaster, Farmer Golden Compass, Pullman Heidi, Spyri Homecoming, Voight Let the Circle Be Unbroken, Taylor The Moves Make the Man, Brooks Outsiders, Hinton Road to Memphis, Taylor Scorpions, Myers Secret Garden, Burnett Shane, Schaefer Walk Two Moons, Creech Where the Lilies Bloom, Cleaver Non-Fiction: Diary of Anne Frank Exploring the Bismark, Ballard The Long Road to Gettysburg, Murphy, Traitor: the Case of Benedict Arnold, Fritz The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi 6