Best 'readers' for Kindergartener

My son just finished up Kindergarten, and I’d like to find some books for him to read this summer to keep up his practice. We are a little bit into AAR Level 2, and are done for the summer with official schooling. When I’ve gone to the library to look thru some of the reader books, I have a hard time finding ones that are easy enough for him, and the levels the books say they are don’t necessarily match his skill level. I think it’s also hard, b/c I don’t know that all reading programs teach in the same order, so what he knows from AAR may differ from other curriculum and may not match up to the skill level the book says. Does anyone have some suggestions?

A Beka has some enrichment readers for kindergarten: Friends and Helpers, Family Fun, and the Reading for Fun Enrichment Library. https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/ProductSearch.aspx?grade=&subject=READ&title=&sbn=&ods=
Fun with Pets, and Tiptoes are for the first grade but I think they match your child reading level.
Also I have seen the I Can Read! books in a bookstore and I really like them. They have different reading levels. I’m planning to buy some for my girl. https://www.icanread.com

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@Elizabeth Thanks for posting these links! We don’t use Abeka, but these books look great, and I hadn’t visited the I Can Read site before, although we’ve used several of the books via the library before. I think both of these sites will be helpful for me as I am looking for more books for my actively reading 6 year old! :slight_smile: Thanks so much!

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With my kids, “independent” reading at this stage mainly involved them looking at picture books. I did keep a basket of readers that they could read, but these were mostly books we had done together previously. Have you ever looked at Sonlight’s Fun Tales books? They have a set of 27 books that are similar to Bob books in size and shape but come in a nicer box. These cover short vowels and blends, so he would be able to read them without needing to learn new words after AAR 1.

My kids also liked the DK Flip the Page Rhyme and Read books: Pat the Cat, Jen the Hen, Mig the Pig, Tog the Dog, and Zug the Bug. These have large print for the child to read, and then there are some smaller print captions that a parent can read.

A few other ideas:

Usborne Very First Readers
Christian Liberty Press readers, (It Is Fun to Read, Pals and Pets)
I See Sam Readers (also available online for free)
Fun Phonics–the first 3 books
Progressive Phonics – Free phonics books that can be read online or downloaded and used right away.

You could consider a reading activity/game time instead of reading a “book” every day. For example:

He might enjoy making a book (if he can write, he might like to try on his own, otherwise, you can help him choose words & write them, and let him draw pictures). Use the words, phrases, and sentences from the AAR 1 fluency pages. Put one phrase or sentence on each page, and let your child draw a picture, or cut and paste pictures from a magazine on each page. My kids used to really enjoy making up little books like this.

Use the word cards to make sentences (and you could use white index cards for any additional words you need to make). You can also let your child make up silly phrases or sentences for you to read.

Cut some of the fluency pages into strips and let him play “feed the monster” (see the Top 5 Tips for using the Fluency pages for a downloadable monster). (You might also check the comment section on that article for game-like options, some great ideas in there!)

Play favorite board games like Candyland, Sorry, or Chutes and Ladders with the cards–every player reads a word before taking his or her turn.

There are some free games in the Reading Activity Bundle, or if you look through the freebies on the AALP blog, there are periodically games you can download (Bake the Cookies, Swatting Phonograms, the Penguin activities, Banana Splits, etc…).

If he enjoys games, the Ziggy supplement has some folder game options you can use for review.

Have fun!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I’ll have to look in to some of these and see if I can’t work in a little extra reading practice this summer :o)

Bob Books are another series to look into. My son is working in AAR level 1 and he enjoys reading Bob books for some extra reading. He thinks they are funny which helps with getting him to reread them (for fluency practice) We started with Level 2 but you can pick any level that you think your child will do well in.

Thanks Melinda. We have a whole set of Level 1, and I keep forgetting about them, so I’m glad you mentioned it! Level 2 looks to be about where my son is at too, so I’ll look in to those as well.