trade books

I have some 6th grade students who are into Magic Tree House books. The texts are at a lower level, but the topics are at an older interest level. I have found that my kids really enjoy these books!

I recently got some high interest/low reading level books from Scholastic. (www.scholastic.com) On their web site look at their Lexile paperback library 400-499. I also found some great books in a program they have called Read 180. Their Lexile code says that the 400 level books are 2nd, 3rd grade. You might do best to look at their catalog. Also, I recommend that you check out an audio book from the library and let them listen to an age appropriate book (for example, the Harry Potter books are wonderfully read as are many of the new audio books). Your students get to enjoy the same books their friends are reading.

my 5th grader read a Kenneth C Davis biography on Sitting Bull. This authors trademark is a Q & A format and it truly appealed to my son. It seemed easier to me than the 9-12 suggested age level because it was presented in such little chunks. You could read the answer to one question and then read a different one without worrying about following some obscure(to a poor reader)story line

Also, I think some 5th graders, esp boys, might prefer non-fiction.

I remember one of the worst reading selections my son worked on was an excerpt from “Little House on the Prairie”. It was page after page of descriptions of flowers and streams and the whole climax was some very emotional character connection(even I as a female cant recall)

It made me realize how important that ‘boy thing’ can be with a reluctant reader.

Check out the Time Warp Trio series and other books found on the guysread.com for good books especially for boys. My 9 year old is loving them and doesn’t ususally like to take time out to read.
Michelle

High Noon Books are excellent. They offer a variety of chapter books written as low as 1st grade. There re mysteries, biographies, etc. My 4th grades really enjoy them and they are not embarrassed to read them among their peers.

Kelly,

I would urge you to focus on remediating their reading so that they can read age level books. You should be using decodable readers to go along with your reading remediation. If you use a program like Phono-Graphix (or any of the three below), you can use the decodable J&J readers from the Language! program, Wilson readers, or those from Lindamood Bell which are also more mature looking but written on a low level. All of these programs were designed for older kids who have a reading disability.

What are you using to remediate their low reading?

Janis

I remediate their reading with SRA Reading Mastery, SRA Decoding and also Cognitive Reading Strategies from Kathleen Lewis Thompson. I also use multisensory types of instruction. I use guided reading with books at their level. When a student comes to me and cannot read I use a sight word Program, Teddy Bear Press. This program has books that have pictures along with words so the child can take a book home the first night he/she is with me. The first set is called I Can Read and has books A-G, the second set is called Reading is Fun and has books 1-6. If the child has difficulty with sight words I keep using this program along with my other programs.

Remediation is the first thing I do when I get kids in my program but once they can read I make sure I have many trade books available for them to read at their level. This is when I see a real enthusiasm for reading develop.

Sandy, I am sorry, I really meant the question about remediation to be for Kelly. I just think kids need plenty of practice with decodable readers as we teach using the decoding strategies. Here is an article in case Kelly is reading this, also.

http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/decodable.html

Janis