Middle of First Grade
By the middle of first grade, many kids have formed new friendships and are continuing to evolve their older friendships. They are learning to increasingly give and take and navigate these friendships on their own. As they gain these more complex social skills, they are often losing teeth! And for this reason, many books catering to first grade revolve around these two topics.
While also working on more complex friendships, they will be working on more complex words! Phonetically, this is a critical juncture where many new phonics rules will be introduced, like vowel teams, r-controlled vowels and glued sounds.
Quick stats listed for each book will reflect highly phonetic words (short vowel, digraphs, blends, magic e, open vowel, y ending, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels and glued sounds ending in -ng and -nk), sight words and challenge words (words with phonics not yet explicitly taught such as suffixes -ed and -ing, contractions and more challenging word families)
-
Like the Primary Phonics series we recommend for kindergarten and early first grade, Set 2 includes ten books. The first five offer a review of phonics learned previously, while books five through ten include vowel teams (or “vowel digraphs” as Primary Phonics calls them).
-
-
Similar to Clifford, Tiny doesn’t always appreciate his own size while going on a series of adventures. The Tiny series includes visits to the movies, a parade, the library, various holidays and more.
Readers who have dreamed of camping will love Tiny Goes Camping. In this book, Tiny and his friend gather supplies for their big camping trip which turns out to be in the remote wilderness of… their own backyard! When Tiny is ready for bed, he slips into his tent but it pops because of his size!
Quick stats: 123 total words, 66 unique. 57 combined highly decodable and sight words, 9 challenge (camping, fireflies, flashlight, goes, goodnight, nightlight, oh, okay, something).
-
-
Fox pretends to be a tiger because they have many attributes which he admires. He introduces himself to Turtle and Rabbit, who playfully take on new identities as well. By the end, all three return to themselves with a newfound love and appreciation of their own talents and attributes. Author Corey Tabor won the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for two of the books in this series. Additionally, Fox the Tiger was chosen as the Cybils Award easy reader winner.
Quick stats: 222 total words. 76 unique. 68 combined highly decodable and sight words, 8 challenge (idea, oh, robot, hello, tiger(s), turtle, foxes).
-
-
Because this set is part of the overall Biscuit literary universe (32 books), readers will have familiarity with the main characters and their various personalities. Biscuit’s playful nature shines through in each book and is sure to entertain readers.
Biscuit Loves the Library, in particular, is a great book to read before or after visiting the library. Readers will love the last picture of the book which shows a set of adorable hamsters at the library as part of a “Read to a Pet Day” event.
Another advantage of reading books as part of a series is the familiarity of language. Readers will be able to easily recognize the name Biscuit or sight words like “woof” or “snack” with increased automaticity (the ability to do something without thinking, or in this case reading words without sounding them out) as these words are peppered across each book and throughout the series.
Most of these Biscuit books include pages with three simple sentences and more challenging words (special, which, everyone) compared to the set recommended for early first grade.
-
-
The Really Silly Animals Collection features swimming sheep, dogs who run a diner, roller skating bears and space cows. In Space Cows, author Brad Meltzer introduces all different kinds of cows. He then describes where they sleep and what they eat – chips, of course!
This book is excellent for building phonemic awareness that readers will hear in the rhymes when reading aloud. They will notice words like row and low predictably rhyme but also that words with different spellings – such as moo and blue or toys and noise – also rhyme.
These books are also excellent for fluency. The sentences provide much repetitio, which allows readers to leverage their growing decoding skills toward the more demanding tasks of challenging words.
Space Cows and Sea Sheep fall within the middle of first grade; readers may find Party Pigs an easier read and Diner Dogs, Roller Bears and Knight Owls slightly more difficult. This set is ideal for readers who love animals and creativity, and are ready to try out more challenging materials.
-
-
The yellow bird is Rocket’s teacher, and together they set out to find objects for their word tree. Rocket finds and then appropriately drops several objects until they come across a boot, which Rocket doesn’t want to let go. In this sweet story, owl creatively problem solves and works out a deal with Rocket to recover the boot.
Quick stats: 197 total words; 55 unique. This book is incredibly highly decodable for mid-first grade: 53 of the 55 words are highly decodable or sight words, with only 2 challenge words (ready, yellow).
-
-
We are In a Book is similar to Press Here and Don’t Push the Button in how the book breaks the fourth wall and invites a sort of relationship and interaction with the reader. Elephant and Piggie will ask readers to say the word “banana” and find it to be so funny that they can make such a request and get a result from being in a book!
Quick stats: 228 total words, 84 unique. 71 are highly decodable and sight words; 13 challenge words (again, banana(s), before , bubbles, going, hello, idea, monster, oh, reader, someone, whisper).
-
-
In What’s that Mittens?, Mittens the cat feels lonely until she hears noise coming from the other side of a fence. After much suspense (and digging), she finds a giant dog whom she quickly befriends.
Check out all titles in the series (listed below), but specifically around Halloween time, readers will enjoy Happy Halloween Mittens!
Quick stats: 146 total words, 66 unique. 58 are highly decodable and sight words; 8 challenge words (behind, eye, meow, under, alone, meows, rough, scratches).
-
-
Foxes are well-known to be tricky, and in A Pig, a Fox, and a Box, the Fox fits the stereotype. Fox will trick Pig using a wig and young readers will be there to witness! In addition to being entertained, young readers will enjoy the rhyme and repetition of text.
Quick stats: 133 total words, 77 unique. 64 highly decodable and sight words. 13 challenge words (oh, little, today, always, around, foxes, beware, enough, goodbye, high, inside, perfect, unlock).
-
-
In this book, Pete the Kitty’s friend named Bob teaches Pete how to wash his hands in sequential steps. Each step creates a different sound—splish, scrub,. splash, rub—and these words become a sort of chant to remember the process. Bob then proceeds to outline all of the times hands should be washed. Readers will laugh when Bob cites “after you go” in reference to the bathroom.
Many pages rhyme and readers will especially begin to hear the rhythm after reading this story a few times. There are also repeated words that will help make this book a fun and fluent read. The usage of sounds is unique to this book and makes this an excellent example of onomatopoeia (a word kids are also intrigued by)!
Parents and teachers alike may also like this book for the lesson of handwashing, especially around cold and flu season!
Quick stats: 209 total words, 78 unique. 71 highly decodable and sight words; 7 challenge words ( away, before, cough, I’ll, I’m, I’ve, someone).
-
-
At the very beginning of My Friends Make Me Happy, Sheep asks the other animals if they can guess what makes him/her happy. Sheep gives the hint that the word starts with “F” and the guessing begins. Readers can try to make a prediction along with the animals. Hint: they should use the title as a clue! No animals are able to guess but there are plenty of laughs along the way, especially when duck guesses turnip!
This book has the feel of a graphic novel in that the text is solely on dialogue between characters in speech bubbles. Because there is conversation between animals, readers will encounter more informal speech with contractions like it’s, that’s, don’t. This not only provides an excellent opportunity to decode, but also asks readers to extrapolate based on two words joined together. Readers will also have a chance to practice reading with expression as there are many question marks and exclamation marks!
Quick stats: 135 words total, 52 unique. 41 highly decodable and sight words, 11 challenge (doesn’t, don’t, donkey, guess, happiest, I’ll, letter, oh, okay, that’s, turnips).
-
-
Throughout Goat Wants to Eat, cat finds several places to set up for a nap. Unfortunately, goat comes along and eats everything that cat tries to nap on! Goat eats until feeling sick and so cat ultimately helps goat find a place where they can both nap happily.
This is an excellent text to work on vowel teams – words with “oa” (like goat and coat) and words with “ea” (seat and eat). The word feels, with team “ee” appears in this book a total of 29 times. Other words are highly decodable VC or CVC words with only a few sight words.
Quick stats: 93 words total; 22 unique. All 22 are highly decodable. 8 of the 22 words are vowel teams (goat, eat, boat, coat, feels, float, seat, moat).
-
-
Loose Tooth, in particular, will be a relatable read for any child who has lost a tooth or is soon to hit that milestone. In this story, the protagonist has a lose tooth and it’s just about all he can talk about. The young boy tries to bite into apples and carrots, wiggles it, pushes and pulls it, until it eventually comes out at the very end.
Quick stats: 133 total words, 55 unique. 46 are highly decodable and sight words, 9 challenge words (apple, brother, carrot, guess, let’s, won’t, pull, sister, there’s).
-
In Big Shark, Little Shark and the Missing Teeth, big shark has lost a ton of teeth over his lifetime - sharks continually shed and sprout new teeth. Little shark is envious until big shark suggests biting into an apple which does the trick! This book is the longest of the books in the Big Shark, Little Shark series and will provide a good challenge for readers who are ready for more sentences per page.
Quick stats: 175 words total, 75 unique; 65 highly decodable and sight words and 10 challenge words (apple, goes, gone, idea, little, oh, over, stingray, taking, wanted).
-
-
Whether it’s baby ducks or puppies or kittens, Carl finds a way to lend a helping paw in each story. In Carl and the Sick Puppy, Carl revives the puppy back to health with water, rest, a blanket and more. The text includes a wonderful combination of known sight words as well as two-syllable words that can be easily decoded phonetically.
For discussion, ask your reader for an example of a time when he or she helped someone. How did they feel after helping?
Quick stats: 154 total words, 71 unique; 66 are highly decodable and sight words and 5 challenge (better, blanket, puppies, walk, what’s).
-
-
Together, Brownie and Pearl do simple things and enjoy each other’s company every step of the way. Pearl needs a little coaxing at times, and is easily lured by snacks. Readers will appreciate that each book is simply focused on getting ready for bed, walking around, going for a drive and dressing up together.
The pages of each book contains one or two sentences with text that is highly decodable by the end of first grade. There are words with vowel teams and magic e that are mostly one syllable and easy to decode phonetically. Each book is relatively short and can be read in a single sitting. Readers can reread for fluency and try to read with expression when a character speaks.
Quick stats: 83 words total, 50 unique. 44 are highly decodable and sight words, 6 challenge (saltines, apple(s), else, salty, something).
-
-
Author Jonathan Fenske again delights readers with a fun and suspenseful plot twist in The Bug in the Bog. Readers interested in the natural world will especially enjoy the life-cycle of predator and prey. Fenske’s illustrations are animated, entertaining and humorous. One picture even shows the frog picturing a meal with a shaker sprinkling a little salt on top of the bug for added taste!
The text in this book is a nice balance of decodable, short vowel words with digraphs and/or blends. There are some trickier words with the vowel team “ou” that readers may not have yet seen (double and trouble). The “ea” vowel team should also be reviewed as it will appear in hear, leave and dreaming. Many pages of the book rhyme which will help to build phonemic awareness.
Readers will gain or reinforce some valuable science vocabulary in this book (bog, swamp, hollow). The Bug in the Bog will encourage readers to go out into nature and do further research on bogs and frogs.
Quick stats: 168 words total, 66 unique. 60 are highly decodable and sight words, 6 are challenge (bubbles, double, hollow, never, swallow, trouble).
-
