I have a favor to ask of you elementary teachers

It would be easier for you to go to the nearest public library, talk to the Childrens’ Section Librarian and check out books at the level you are interested in. Good luck.

No, actually, it wouldn’t. If it were just a matter of looking up children’s storybooks, I would indeed do what you suggest. What I seek, however, is text that is written at the level of each 1st-grade reading book that a first-grader reads, beginning with the first pre-primer and ending with the first-grade reader, so I can see at what level the stories in each is aimed at and how the first-grade series progresses. Just reading through library storybooks wouldn’t do the trick. I would be grateful, therefore, if any of the first-grade teachers who post here could post samples that I could copy and paste. Thanks!

Yours truly,
Kathy G.

Mary wrote:
>
> It would be easier for you to go to the nearest public
> library, talk to the Childrens’ Section Librarian and check
> out books at the level you are interested in. Good luck.

I am not going to do this research for you, I don’t have the time…and I don’t think the rest of teachers that post here have time to type pages of text for you to cut and paste either.

Jeanne Chall was a master reading teacher who taught at Harvard University. One of her passions was her collection of old textbooks that she found in her own search. In some of her books she showed how the textbooks have changed over the last 100+ years. I don’t know what you want but it sounds to me like you want a controlled vocabulary reader, moreso than a whole language reader.

You can go to a teaching supply store and for less than $3.00 you can purchase various controlled vocabulary texts written for grade levels in the homework booklet series that are available for reading by Instructional Fair.TS Denison. If you are looking for textbooks like Dick and Jane you can go to some old book stores and purchase some inexpensively. I have been doing this over years and have found some from my own childhood. Keep looking and you will find what you are looking for. You can even try E-Bay to purchase some old readers and have them sent directly to your home

Thanks for the suggestions. Actually, though, I’m not suggesting that anyone type “pages of text.” A few paragraphs from a lesson from each level first-grade reader would be sufficient.

Also, I’m looking for modern readers that are used now—not antiquated versions that were used decades ago. Trouble is, I’m not a teacher, so I have no ready access to children’s textbooks. That puts me at a considerable disadvantage in hunting them down for myself. Also, I can’t afford to purchase any. Not at this time. Therefore, I would have to be able to find someone who’s willing to loan them to me, and again, not being affiliated with any school, I would probably find that hard to pull off.

This Instructional Fair, where you can buy texts for less than $3—do they include modern lessons? Where is it located? I’ve never heard of it before, and I don’t know where to find it. Is it an online program, or what? I live in a major city in South Carolina, but I can’t drive, so it’s close to being impossible for me to travel to many places.

Yours truly,
Kathy G.

a busy tutor wrote:
>
> I am not going to do this research for you, I don’t have the
> time…and I don’t think the rest of teachers that post here
> have time to type pages of text for you to cut and paste
> either.
>
> Jeanne Chall was a master reading teacher who taught at
> Harvard University. One of her passions was her collection
> of old textbooks that she found in her own search. In some
> of her books she showed how the textbooks have changed over
> the last 100+ years. I don’t know what you want but it
> sounds to me like you want a controlled vocabulary reader,
> moreso than a whole language reader.
>
> You can go to a teaching supply store and for less than $3.00
> you can purchase various controlled vocabulary texts written
> for grade levels in the homework booklet series that are
> available for reading by Instructional Fair.TS Denison. If
> you are looking for textbooks like Dick and Jane you can go
> to some old book stores and purchase some inexpensively. I
> have been doing this over years and have found some from my
> own childhood. Keep looking and you will find what you are
> looking for. You can even try E-Bay to purchase some old
> readers and have them sent directly to your home

Textbooks of various levels (including beginning readers) are often available at large public libraries. Even if your local library is small, there is still usually an interlibrary loan system where you can borrow books from larger regional libraries. Libraries are not just for storybooks. Also a university with an education department is likely to have these books available for checking out from the education library. Your local elementary school may even be willing to lend you some books for a few days that you could photocopy pages from.

In our school system, there are no reading “text books” at any level. There are teach-made materials, and then appropriate level “real” books. They have found that kids are much more motivated to learn to read when they can read what is of interest to them, and the teachers tailor vocabulary lessons to fit those books.

Karen