| Our school system has a book listing for the accellerated reader program. The books are ranked by grade level that they are most appropriate for. It contains a great deal of popular children's books, so hopefully you can find some listed that they already own. Or at least you could find some at the appropriate grade level, and go to the library to check them out. My daughter started 1st grade this year, reading dead-on at 1st grade level, but is now reading 3rd and 4th grade books, because the teacher has really focused on reading, as a building-block for everything else. As far as homework goes, my DD can sometimes breeze right thru her lessons at night. Other times, she just seems stubborn and won't try. I know she can do the work, because of the times she dives right in and sails thru. But on the nights when she seems blocked, I think she's usually tired, or hungry, or just plain not in the mood. On those nights when she's blocked, I will first make sure she's not hungry, and often I will go ahead and tell her to get her bath (seems to relax her). We then sit down together with all noise (TV, radio) off, and work thru it in small chunks. I will read a book or paper while she works, and help her sort it out when she's stuck. (Usually, I put the cat in the basement, too, because even kitty distracts her). She sails through most of the time, far more often than she gets blocked. But it seems like on the 'blocked' nights, sitting together to help her focus, is the key. Below is a link to our book list. The 'reading level' is the column that lists the grade level of the book. |
