Z's 7th Grade Morning Book List & Literature Guides

We're actually starting this list now in the middle of 6th grade and may expand it as the next school year goes on.  He is reading the unabridged versions of:

• Perrault's Complete Fairy Tales
• Poems from Wordsworth and Poe
• Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• The Pied Piper of Hamelin
• Grimm's Fairy Tales
• Pilgrim's Progress
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• A Christmas Carol

(He may also read more science fiction from Verne and H.G. Wells.)

We're doing literature guides for several of the books and poems. 

Z's 5th Grade Evening Fun Book List

These are the books that Z will read in the evening for fun for 1 hour and once he completes this list, he will choose his own to finish out the year.

1. The Moffats
2. Where the Red Fern Grows
3. The Chronicles of Narnia
4. Hatchet
5. Old Yeller
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
   
8. The Trumpet of the Swan
9. Pinocchio
10. Pippi Longstocking
11. Phantom Tollbooth
12. Babe: The Gallant Pig

Z's 5th Grade Independent Morning Reading Book List

These are the challenging morning books that Z will be reading for 45 minutes:

1. Herodotus and the Road to History
   
2. The Children's Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy
3. Archimedes and the Door of Science
4. Cleopatra
5. Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
6. Detectives in Togas
7. The Thieves of Ostia (audio)
   
8. Medieval Tales
9. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

*We're using Memoria Press study guide with King Arthur

Z's 4th Grade Evening Fun Book List

These are the books that Z will be reading in his evening reading time for fun.  These are at or below his reading level for enjoyment.  If he finishes the first 11 books, I will be adding on to this list more later on in the school year.

1. Winnie the Pooh
2. The Cricket in Times Square
3. Charlotte's Web
4. The Cabin Faced West
5. Homer Price
6. The Whipping Boy
7. Sarah Whitcher's Story
8. Mountain Born
9. All of a Kind Family
10. Ginger Pye
11. The Borrowers
    
12. Ralph S. Mouse

Z's 4th Grade Independent Morning Reading Book List

This is Z's morning reading book list that he reads independently for 40 minutes daily.  Most of these are simpler versions of the original works using the Stepping Stones and Classic Starts series.

• A Child's Garden of Verses - Stevenson 
• Kidnapped - Bullseye Classic
  
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Stepping Stones
• Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes - Stepping Stones
• Heidi - Stepping Stones
  
• War of the Worlds - Stepping Stones
• The Time Machine - Classic Starts 
• Little Women - Stepping Stones
• Little Men - Classic Starts
• Secret Garden - Stepping Stones
  
• The Little Princess - Stepping Stones
  
• The Wind in the Willows - Classic Starts
  
• Peter Pan - Stepping Stones
  
• White Fang - Classic Starts
  
• The Elephant's Child - Kipling
  
• How the Camel Got His Hump - Raglin
• How the Rhino Got His Skin - Raglin
  
• The Jungle Book - Stepping Stones
• Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - Kipling (Pinkney illustrated)
• Phantom of the Opera - Stepping Stones
  
• Pollyanna - Classic Starts
• The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle - Classic Starts
  
• Laura Ingalls Wilder - some of the novels
• You Read To Me, I'll Read To You - Ciardi
• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - Eliot

Z's 3rd Grade Fun Book List

These are books that Z reads for fun in the evening that are below his reading level.  I will be adding to this list throughout the year.  We are using the 1000 Good Books List and others we come across and like.

1. The Courage of Sarah Noble
2. Little Pilgrim's Progress
3. Mr. Popper's Penguins
4. A Lion to Guard Us
5. The Apple and the Arrow
6. The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
7. The Selfish Giant
8. The Rumble Seat Pony
9. Lonesome Little Colt
10. Pony for Three
11. Crooked Colt
12. A Pony Called Lightning
13. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
14. Runaway Ralph
15. Ralph S. Mouse
    

Z's 3rd Grade Assigned Reading List

These are the books that Z is reading during his morning reading time, he'll be reading Classic Starts, Stepping Stones or Step Into Classics versions of some of the following:

• Robinson Crusoe
• Gulliver's Travels
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Little Pilgrim's Progress
• Les Misérables
• The Three Musketeers
• Grimm's Fairy Tales
• Treasure Island
  
• A Christmas Carol
• Great Expectations
• Oliver Twist
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• Around the World in 80 Days
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Last of the Mohicans
• Moby Dick
• Swiss Family Robinson
• Frankenstein
• Jane Eyre
• Black Beauty
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
• The Prince and the Pauper
  

Z's 2nd Grade Assigned Reading List

This list consists of Z's independent assigned reading time during school-time. These are higher grade reading-level books intended to be a challenge and introduce new words.  He reads out aloud to me during this time and usually for 20 minutes.

For the stories by Osborne (Mary Pope Osborne), we own her book, "Favorite Medieval Tales" and it is excellent!  Medieval tales are gory and some of the pictures represent that but I believe the tales of heroism and bravery are much needed, especially for boys that want to be noble men.

1. Beowulf - Osborne
   
2. Song of Roland - Osborne
   
3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Osborne
4. Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow - Souci
5. Saint George and the Dragon - Hodges
6. The Werewolf - Osborne
   
7. Knights of the Round Table - Gross
8. The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur - Hodges

Z's 2nd Grade Fun Book List

Z just finished up his 1st Grade Fun Book List and now we are starting his 2nd Grade list of fun books.  These are books that he reads for fun in the evening that are below his reading level.  I will be adding to this list throughout the year.  We are using the 1000 Good Books List that used to be online (I saved the lists) and Z is reading almost all in grades 1-3 lists.

1. Olivia Sharp (Nate the Great's Cousin) - The Pizza Monster
2. Oliva Sharp 4-book audiobook set
3. Amelia Bedelia
4. Thank you, Amelia Bedelia
5. Come Back, Amelia Bedelia
6. Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
7. Good Work, Amelia Bedelia
8. Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia
9. Amelia Bedelia Helps Out
10. Amelia Bedelia and the Baby
11. Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping
12. Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia
13. Amelia Bedelia's Family Album
14. Balto
15. George the Drummer Boy
16. George and Martha
17. The Long Way to a New Land
18. The Horse in Harry's Room
19. Daniel's Duck
20. A Bargain for Frances
21. Bread and Jam for Frances
22. A Baby Sister for Frances
23. The Carrot Seed
24. Bedtime for Frances
25. A Birthday for Frances
26. Sammy the Seal
27. Chester
28. The Littlest Leaguer
29. Sam the Minuteman
30. The Josefina Story Quilt
31. Julius
32. Mrs. Brice's Mice
33. A New Coat for Anna
34. Granny and the Desperadoes
35. George Washington's Mother
36. Clara and the Bookwagon
37. The Long Way Westward
38. Prairie School
39. Keep the Lights Burning Abbie
40. Finding Providence
41. First Flight: The Story of Tom Tate and the Wright Brothers
42. Abigail Takes the Wheel
43. The Battle for St. Michaels
44. Night Noises and the Other Mole and Troll Stories
45. Albert the Albatross
46. The Lighthouse Children
47. Barney's Horse
48. Danny and the Dinosaur
49. Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp
50. Oliver
51. Stanley
52. Grizzwold
53. Wagon Wheels
54. Dinosaur Hunter
55. Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express
56. The 18 Penny Goose
57. The First Thanksgiving
58. Christopher Columbus
59. George Washington: The First President
60. George Washington and the General's Dog
61. Chang's Paper Pony
62. Kick, Pass, Run
63. Hockey at Home
64. Arthur's Funny Money
    
65. Thomas Edison: Lighting the Way
66. Ben Franklin Thinks Big
67. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
68. Always Room for One More
69. Amos and Boris
70. Brave Irene
71. C D C?
72. And To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
73. Andy and the Lion
74. Angus and the Ducks
75. The Animals of Farmer Jones
76. Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing
77. Amish Christmas
78. Christmas in the Barn
79. Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
80. The Crippled Lamb
81. My First Christmas
82. The Birds of Bethlehem
83. The Grumpy Shepherd
84. Mary, Did You Know?
85. Peter Spier's Christmas
86. Silent Night
87. Who is Coming to Our House?
88. The Story of Christmas
89. The Big Snow
90.  The 12 Days of Christmas
91. A Apple Pie
92. Apricot ABC
93. The Biggest Bear
94. Biggest House in the World
95. A Color of His Own
96. Swimmy
97. It's Mine
98. Inch by Inch
99. Geraldine the Music Mouse
100. An Extraordinary Egg
101. Fish is Fish
102. The Church Mouse
103. Caps for Sale
104. The Cock, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen
105. Corduroy
106. Cross-Country Cat
107. Deer at the Brook
108. Doctor Dan and the Bandage Man
109. Dogger
110. An Edward Lear Alphabet
111. Emily
112. The Emperor's New Clothes
113. The Empty Pot
114. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
115. Flat Stanley
116. Goodnight Moon
117. The Color Kittens
118. Harry the Dirty Dog
119. The Sailor Dog
120. Big Red Barn
121. Hilda the Hen Who Wouldn't Give Up
122. A Hole is to Dig
123. Horton Hears a Who
124. The House That Jack Built
125. I Saw the Sea Come In
126. If You Give a Moose a Muffin
127. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
128. Just Me
129. James and the Rain
130. Johnny Crow's Garden
131. King at the Door
132. The Little Engine That Could
133. The Little House
134. Katy and the Big Snow
135. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
136. Little Red Hen
137. Little Toot
138. The Luckiest One of All
139. Madeline
140. Madeline in London
141. Madeline and the Bad Hat
142. Madeline's Rescue
143. Madeline's Christmas
144. Madeline Says Merci
145. Madeline in America
146. Made About Madeline
147. Make Way for Ducklings
148. Blueberries for Sal
149. Marshmallow
150. May I Bring a Friend
151. Millions of Cats
152. Miss Rumpius
153. Eleanor
154. Chanticleer and the Fox
155. Ox Cart Man
156. My Mother is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
157. On Mother's Lap
158. Owl Moon
159. Paper Crane
160. Penny Wise - Fun Foolish
161. Peter Spier's Rain
162. The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night
163. Petunia
164. Petunia Takes a Trip
165. White Snow, Bright Snow
166. Randolph Caldecott Picture Book
167. The Poky Little Puppy
168. Rain, Rain Rivers
169. Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book
170. Rome Antics
171. The Shy Little Kitten
172. Sir Frances Drake: His Daring Deeds
173. The Smartest Bear and His Brother Oliver
174. The Snowy Day
175. Brother Francis and the Friendly Beasts
176. Stone Soup: An Old Tale
177. The Story About Ping
178. The Story of Babar
179. Babar Goes to School
180. Babar the King
181. The Story of Ferdinand
182. The Tale of Peter Rabbit
183. Three Little Kittens
184. Thunder Cake
185. A Toad for Tuesday
186. Two Roman Mice
187. Veronica
188. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
189. Where Does the Butterfly Go When It Rains?
190. Where the Wild Things Are
191. My Father's Dragon
192. Abraham Lincoln
193. Blaze and Thunderbolt
     
194. Blaze Finds the Trail
195. Blaze and the Forest Fire
196. Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony
197. Blaze and the Mountain Lion
198. Blaze Shows the Way
199. Blaze Finds Forgotten Roads
200. Blaze and the Lost Quarry
201. Blaze and the Indian Cave
202. Temple Cat
203. Moses - Harriett Tubman
204. My America - Westward to Home
205. My America - A Perfect Place
206. Buffalo Bill - d'Aulaire
     
207. I Am Helen Keller
     
208. My America - The Wild Year
209. My America - Freedom's Wings
210. Cowboy Sam and the Airplane

Z's 1st Grade "Fun" Book List

The reason these are called "fun" books is because they are below Z's reading level.  He's currently on a 4th grade reading level, so his "fun" books are 1st-3rd grade reading level.  Z reads in the evening for 15 minutes right now but it will be going up to 30 minutes in 2 weeks.  Here's a list of the books he's read.  I will be adding to this as we go.

1. Little Bear
2. Little Bear's Visit
3. The Berenstain Bears' Big Machines
4. Paddington's Day Off
5. Paddington Cleans Up
6. Nate the Great and the Sticky Case
7. Nate the Great and the Lost List
8. Nate the Great Goes Undercover
9. Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail
10. Owl at Home
11. Mouse Soup
12. Uncle Elephant
13. Frog and Toad
14. Frog and Toad Are Friends
15. Frog and Toad Together
16. Frog and Toad All Year
17. Days with Frog and Toad
18. Nate the Great
19. Nate the Great and the Phony Clue
20. Nate the Great and Missing Key
21. Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize
22. Nate the Great and the Stolen Base
23. Nate the Great and the Pillowcase
24. Nate the Great and the Tardy Tortoise
25. Nate the Great Stalks Stupidweed
26. Nate the Great and the Musical Note
27. Nate the Great Goes Down in the Dumps
28. Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine
29. Nate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas
30. Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden
31. Nate the Great and the Case of the Fleeing Fang
32. Nate the Great and the Monster Mess
33. Nate the Great San Francisco Detective
34. Nate the Great and the Big Sniff
35. Nate the Great and the Owl Express
36. Nate the Great Talks Turkey
37. Nate the Great and the Hungry Book Club

Z's 1st Grade Assigned Reading List

This list consists of Z's independent assigned reading time during school-time.  These are 4th grade reading level books so they take him longer than his evening fun books.  Currently he's reading 15 minutes and we will increase that to 30 minutes in 2 weeks when we finish the phonics program.

1. The Golden Children's Bible - this is more of devotional time, not a book to check off the list and never read again
2. Christian Liberty's Nature Reader Book 1
3. Pompeii... Buried Alive - Kunhardt
4. King Midas and The Golden Touch - Craft
5. The Trojan Horse - Little
6. The Five Chinese Brothers - Bishop
7. Aesop's Fables

Z's 1st Grade History Read-Aloud Reading List

We are following almost the exact same path in history that we did with our daughter many years ago when she was in 1st grade.  You can see her list here.  This list below is going to be updated as we go on the books relating to history that we read-aloud to Z.  Z has a very hard time paying attention, so I try and get books that I think work for him and his attention span and comprehension level, which is both less than K's was at this age.  These books go along with the recommendations in the Story of the World Ancient Times Activity Book.

1. Archaeologists Dig for Clues - Duke
2. The First Dog - Brett
3. Little Grunt and the Big Egg - DePaola
4. Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile - DePaola
5. We're Sailing Down the Nile - Krebs
6. The Nile River - Fowler
7. Abu Ali: Three Tales of the Middle East - Van Woerkom
8. Mummy Riddles - Hall
9. The Story About Ping - Flack
10. Look What Came From Egypt - Harvey
11. Anansi the Spider - McDermott
12. Zomo the Rabbit - McDermott
13. Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper - Mollel
14. Anansi and the Magic Stick - Kimmel
15. The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories - Badoe

Z's Completed Independent Reading List (Kindergarten)

This list only contains readers that Z read by himself, not ones we read to him.


Bob Books:
Set 1 (12 readers)
Set 2 (12 readers)
Set 3 (8 readers)
Set 4 (8 readers)
Set 5 (8 readers)

Abeka Books:
Little Owl Books 1-8
Tim Can
Bib
My Pet Tim
Luke
Gail and Sue
Frisk
My Pet Fred
At the Beach
The Black Hen
My Pet Tex
Let's Play Ball

I Am a Rock
I Am a Truck
My Pet Dick
My Pet Zack 

Let's Play Dolls

I Am a Bee

My Pet Tom

I Am a Hen

My Pet Rab

Sounds Like Reading books:
The Bug in the Jug Wants a Hug
Stop, Drop, and Flop in the Slop
The Thing on the Wing Can Sing
The Nice Mice in the Rice

MCP Readers
Stan and Scott Are Twins

Don Dole

Grade Levels & OPGTR

These are approximations of when you have finished each grade level phonics at what lesson in "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading".  I found these online several years ago and don't remember exactly where but sharing them on here as a reference:

• Around Lesson 60, you have taught all of the requirements of Kindergarten
• Start 1st grade lesson material around Lesson 61
• Start 2nd grade lesson material around Lesson 120
• End of the book ends with 4th grade level words

Guide to Readers & OPGTR

Here is a PDF download on my Scribd page of the guide of when your child can read what readers while using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, enjoy!

*The Sizzy Books or Fun Phonics, are free online, see my post on that here.

https://www.scribd.com/document/395558580/Guide-to-Readers-OPGTR

When to Start Penmanship, Spelling & Grammar

Typically, you would start reading lessons first with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.  However, with my son, he was already writing letters and numbers before I could even teach him penmanship, much less reading!  Having a gifted son has taught me a lot - the rules don't always apply to him!

I did lay off teaching spelling and grammar until his reading is at a certain level, but he's already started asking how to spell certain words, as he likes to write everything now.  I will see how long I can hold him off from these next steps but here is the general "normal" starting times for these subjects along with the OPGTR.

• By Lesson 115 of the OPGTR, you can start penmanship and spelling
• After Lesson 181, the child is ready for copywork (and lesson 42 in FLL1)
• You can start First Language Lessons 1 after Lesson 140 of the OPGTR, but make sure you don't start lesson 42 in FLL1 until you've reached Lesson 181 in OPGTR.

These are the guidelines that were listed in an FAQ that is on longer available online but I will be putting the PDF in a post coming soon or you can email me if you would like it now.

Free Sizzy Fun Phonics Readers!

There used to be a list of what phonics readers go along with each section in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.  However, I couldn't find it online but you can download my PDF of it here.  On the list, they had Sizzy Fun Phonics readers and when I first went through the OPGTR with my daughter in 2009, we couldn't find those at our library, so we used the Modern Curriculum Press readers.  Now, with my son, we can't find the MCP readers, so I went looking for the others and that is when I found that you can download ALL of the Sizzy Fun Phonics readers for free!

You can download each book here or click this link to download ALL of the books in a zip file, enjoy!

8th Grade Renaissance & Modern Book List

We will only be choosing about half of the books (poems) from this list for the year.  Also, I haven't screened all of the books either, so I won't have a final book list of what she read till the end of this school year.

Late Renaissance/ Early Modern 

1. Adventures of Don Quixote - Dover
2. The Complete Fairy Tales - Perrault
3. Robinson Crusoe - Defoe
4. Favorite Poems - Wordsworth
5. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge
6. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle - Irving
7. The Pied Piper of Hamelin - Browing
8. Grimm's Fairy Tales - Grimm
9. Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings
10. Goblin Market and Other Poems - Christina Rossetti
11. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Twain
12. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Verne
13. The Raven - Poe

Modern

1.  Kidnapped or Treasure Island - Stevenson
2. The Man Without a Country - Hale
3. Little Women - Alcott
4. Sherlock Holmes stories - Doyle
5. The Jungle Book - Kipling
6. The Time Machine or The War of the Worlds - Wells
7. The Call of the Wild - London
8. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Orczy
9. Short Stories - O. Henry
10. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery
11. Murder on the Orient Express - Christie
12. Gone With the Wind - Mitchell
13. The Yearling - Rawlings
14. The Song of Hiawatha - Longfellow
15. The Road Not Taken - Frost
16. Collected Poems - Cummings
17. Poems 1919-1934 - de la Mare
18. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems - Hughes
19. Pygmalion - Shaw
20. The Hiding Place - Ten Boom

7th Grade Medieval History Book List

1. Beowulf: A New Telling - Nye
2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Tolkien
3. The Canterbury Tales - McCaughrean
4. The Inferno of Dante - Alighieri
5. Saint George and the Dragon - Hodges
6. The Sword and The Circle - Sutcliff
7. Shakespeare Stories - Garfield

6th Grade Ancient History Book List

K's book list for 6th grade to go along with what she is reading in her Ancient history studies:

1. Tales of Ancient Egypt - Green
2. The Golden Goblet - McGraw
3. Mara, Daughter of the Nile - McGraw
4. The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles - Colum
5. Tales of Greek Heroes - Green
6. The Children's Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy - Colum
7. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad - Sutcliff
8. Aesop's Fables - McGovern
9. Cleopatra - Vennema
10. The Bronze Bow - Speare
11. The Eagle of the Ninth - Sutcliff
12. The Silver Branch - Sutcliff