End of First Grade
By the end of first grade, students are often increasingly social and increasingly adventurous. They begin to want to explore their world more with the friends and family. Kids at this time of year also look forward to summer adventures involving the pool, beach, fun trips like going to the zoo or even just exploring the backyard!
In addition to first graders thinking about the end of the school year, they will also start to think about the common endings of words! First graders will learn to decode words with -er, -ed and -ing suffix endings. They will also learn more challenging word families, compound words and contractions.
The Quick Stats for each book will list highly phonetic (short vowel, long vowel, r-controlled, compound words, contractions, -er, -ed, -ing suffixes), sight words and challenge words (words with ly, le, en, em endings, -ild, -ost, -ight word families and trickier contractions).
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Pete the Cat needs to cool off, but there is just one problem. Though it’s hot at the beach and his brother Bob is surfing the waves, Pete is hesitant to go in the water. As it turns out, Pete is afraid. The story slowly unravels and the reader will have a chance to begin putting clues together and thinking inferentially about why Pete is not going in the water. By the end, Pete overcomes his fears and joins his brother surfing. Author James Dean reinforces the idea that it is okay to feel afraid sometimes, and with a little perseverance, it’s possible to overcome fears.
Many of the pages contain sentences that are displayed in one line, making it easier for the reader to read fluently. Each page has about three sentences per, so this book will be a good fit for a reader who is ready for longer content.
The Pete the Cat website is lush with activities, songs and videos (petethecatbooks.com).
Quick stats: 342 words total, 132 unique. 121 highly decodable, 11 challenge (later, again, goes, okay, afraid, brother, castle, coming, lemonade, sandcastle, seagulls).
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Rocket and his (also adorable) friends Bella the Squirrel and Owl decide to play a game of hide-and-seek. But Rocket soon becomes discouraged because every time he hides he is found instantly. His friends explain that they can see him easily because of his size. So, in a creative problem solving way, Owl and Bella camouflage Rocket with leaves. Now they can’t find him anywhere!
This book is a particularly good choice for practicing vowel teams. For comprehension, this book lends itself well to thinking about problems and solutions. What is the main problem of the story and how is it resolved? Readers can reread this story for fluency, and as an extension, they can go outside and play hide-and-seek!
Quick stats: 154 words total, 71 unique. 55 are highly decodable and 16 challenge (away, behind, bigger, cover, every, find(s), flowers,, hider, idea, places, ready, right, together, under).
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This particular book, Waiting is not Easy, won one of the numerous Theodor Seuss Geisel awards within the Elephant and Piggie series. It will be a quick read with the valuable lesson of patience and how difficult it can be to wait at times.
After reading, ask your reader for one example of a time when it was challenging to wait. What strategies were used to help deploy patience?
Quick stats: 177 words total, 71 unique. 64 highly decodable and 7 challenge (anymore, anything, darker, okay, pretty, surprise, wasted).
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It’s summer time and the animals are hot! They obviously need a pool with a diving board. But when it’s the cow’s turn to jump in to the pool, it resists in its typical high-maintenance way, saying that the pool is too crowded and they do not like to be splashed. Ultimately, all of the animals and the two farmers end up together, nice and cool, in the pool.
Quick stats: 473 total words, 107 unique, 97 highly decodable, 10 challenge (animals, brothers, chickens, divers, diving, excellent, goggles, swim, together, towel).
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Digger the Dinosaur and Dadasaurus are set out to pick up the cake from the cake shop. When they can’t find the shop, Dadasaurus asks Digger to call Mamasaurus on the phone for directions. But on the phone Digger hears shark instead of park and new instead of blue! Readers will find themselves laughing along the way and will be happy and relieved when they do procure the cake in the end.
Quick stats: 240 words total, 99 different. 94 highly decodable, 5 challenging (dadasaur, dialed, dinosaur, mamasaur, raced). Some are written in past tense which gives extra practice with the -ed suffix.
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Readers will find themselves laughing out loud when reading this book. Morris the Moose finds himself in a heated debate with a cow, deer and horse over what types of animals they are. The animals discuss, compare and contrast themselves. This slapstick deliberation continues with every animal they find along the way until, ultimately, Moose sees his reflection in the water. After seeing himself, he realizes the animals don’t look like him at all and that he must have made a “moosetake.”
Quick stats: 355 total words, 103 unique. 98 highly decodable, 5 other (cried, mistake, moosetake, mother, sighed).
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Throughout these adventures, Digger and Daisy are mostly supportive of each other but as in most sibling relationships – not all the time. Sometimes there is a sliver of competition or even one laughing at the other. Ultimately, they come back together.
In this particular book, when the siblings go to the zoo, readers will laugh as Digger tries to do what some of the animals do. Young readers may also love seeing the giraffe’s blue tongue!
The books in this series in the aggregate contain around 450-500 words that are highly decodable for this age group. The text has some repetition but the relatively simple sentences will make this series an excellent choice for readers to work on fluent reading by scooping phrases together instead of reading word by word. There is much dialogue between Digger and Daisy as well and so readers can work to read with expression.
The book topics are fun and child-friendly and lend themselves well to embarking on the same adventures as Digger and Daisy. One idea - after reading about the zoo, go to the zoo!
Quick stats: 472 total words, 115 unique. 110 of 115 are highly decodable, 5 challenge (giraffe, goes, monkeys, wiggles, wobbles).
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A young and energetic Ty is the main character in each book. He is very close to his family and the text often includes dialogue between family members. Each page contains about three sentences of varying sentence structure. The texts sometimes include wonderful examples of beginning metaphor and simile.
Quick stats: 311 total words, 122 unique. 106 highly decodable, 16 challenge (about, almost, Ari, cameras, can’t, didn’t, finish, focus, I’m, racing, ready, scooter, we’re, wobble, you’ve).
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In all five books in the series, Max and Mo collaborate to devise solutions to their problems. As classroom hamsters, they have access to glue, tape, pencils and more. They use these supplies and other various tools to problem solve through trial and error. Readers will love these books for both the adorableness and the creativity. The text is lush with dialogue and will give readers an opportunity to read with expression.
The last pages of each book include fun activities related to each story which readers will love.
Quick stats: 242 total words, 104 unique. 97 highly decodable, 7 challenge (climbed, cottage, cried, moving, school, taped, tomorrow).
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Buzz first meets his pet fly in this opening book and begins their adventurous friendship. Readers will love this book (and the books to follow in the series) because of the situations in which they find themselves and the humor to go along with it. The illustrations are engaging and there is much dialogue between characters that sometimes includes speech bubbles.
The text and may prove to be slightly difficult for this age, but if the reader is ready for a challenge (perhaps over the summer) this series will be a good fit. Check out the books below for books around this level or buy the whole set if your reader would like to grow with the increasingly challenging texts.
Quick stats: 297 total words, 110 unique. 98 highly decodable, 12 challenge (balancing, didn’t, family, he’s, it’s, let’s, museum, picnic, planet, saved, wanted, yeah).
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Young readers adore this book because it is a highly entertaining book with funny pictures, rhyming words and wacky scenarios throughout. Each page cites how many wacky things should be found, readers will search the illustration to find, for example, a tiger in a stroller or an umbrella getting cooked on the stove. To make things even more wacky Theo is the only one who sees the wackiness. Readers will feel an allegiance to this character.
Readers will also appreciate the rhyming words and the accessible text. Alongside The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss wrote the book with text geared toward early readers with simpler words and sight words.
Quick stats: 293 total words, 128 unique. 107 highly decodable, 21 challenge (along, around, away, before, began, believe, couldn’t, don’t, eight, kitchen, McGann, nothing, oh, patrolman, scared, school, shouldn’t, Sutherland, Wednesday, window, you’re).
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This suspenseful story follows the clock as Brother and Sister continue to snooze as the bus grows closer. Readers will be relieved to find they do in fact make the bus, but they will have to move extremely quickly through getting dressed, brushing teeth and eating breakfast.
This book is an excellent source of rhyming for fluency and phonemic awareness.
The publisher Random House labeled this book as a “math reader” because of the analog and digital clock on each page of the story. Many first and second graders have begun to tell time or may have expressed interest in it, which is an added benefit of Catch the Bus.
Quick stats: 283 words total, 128 unique, 111 highly decodable, 17 challenge words ( after, alarm, almost, angry, around, asleep, breakfast, brother, coffee, downstairs, driver, eight, minutes, o’clock, school, seven, single).
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When Pete goes home to rest and still doesn’t feel better, his dad announces that its time to go see the doctor. But Pete doesn’t want to go; he’s scared of the doctor! Reluctantly, Pete goes and gets checked out. The process is not scary at all. His doctor is so nice and even lets Pete listen to her heart. It turns out to be just a bellyache and Pete returns home to rest.
Quick stats: 270 total words, 113 unique. 101 highly decodable and 12 challenge (again, bellyache, better, covers, doctor, fever, listens, office, picture, scared, scary, school).
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This set includes 5 of the 140 books in the Little Critter series. In Critter Who Care, Little Critter visits the firehouse and a sea park, and helps a neighbor. Young readers will love the cartoon style of Mayer’s illustrations. The text is large and clear with about two sentences per page.
Quick stats for Critter Who Care: 258 total words, 129 unique. 114 highly decodable and 15 challenge words (away, cookies, critters, don’t, everyone, flies, idea, juice, leaves, monster, parents, picture, shutter, sister, tiger’s).
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Readers will even learn that “tri” is a prefix that means three, hence the “tri” in “triceratops” owing to their three horns. The situations and illustrations are humorous and entertaining. The text rhymes from page to page which builds phonemic awareness and creates a nice rhythm when reading aloud fluently.
Quick stats: 161 total words, 91 unique. 81 highly decodable and 10 challenge words (triceratops, dinosaur, gentler, herbivore, pretty, protect, rough, tough).
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Whether debating which bunk bed is best or who is going go get the most ice cream, the two foxes can’t help but compete. Throughout each competitive feat lies an adventure and it’s typically a quite creative one.
Be sure to check out the last page of the book which includes a step by step drawing of how to draw Fritz the Fox.
Quick stats: 300 total words, 113 unique. 101 highly decodable and 12 challenge words (away, bottom, castle, diving, I’m, okay, pajamas, party, ready, story, submarine, volcano).
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Readers will join along with the students at Robin Hill as they learn what it takes to be part of a classroom and be kind to others. Students at the Robin Hill School often have to demonstrate flexibility and resilience. The books include events to which first graders can very much relate – from the first day of school to picture day to big feelings on the playground.
Every title in the Robin Hill School collection is worth a read. The book First Day of School is analyzed below.
Quick stats: 228 total words, 110 unique. 86 highly decodable words and 24 challenge (allowed, always, because, before, belong, Charles, Connor, cookie, every, everyone, guess, morning, Mrs., night, nobody, playground, school, summer, teacher, thought, tightly, together, told, tomorrow)
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