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I was looking through the manual- looking at the emerging readers section in the appendix (for Beyond)- My dd has read several of the selections, so I was looking for how many and seeing what else i had taht would work. I noticed that for each unit there is an additional recommended title- and I was wondering what this is about? Since my dd has already read some of the emerging readers, should I have her doing additonal reading? I didn't really 'get' what these were about- was this a possible replacement title for the suggested emerging reader text or was this something you just give them to also read through during that week.....?

Brenda

I'm pretty sure that the extra titles listed in the Emerging Reader section are just extra books at that level that your child might enjoy.

If it were me and my child had already read some of the books, I'd still do them anyway. Reading them aloud to you and answering the follow up questions will still be building oral reading skills and comprehension. If you could get your hands on the extras, your little reader may like it though.

Kathleen

My dd has actually read the ones we have already covered multiple times. She likes to read to my twins to put them to sleep and had to read at least parts out loud to me for school.... so, she has read them often enough that I feel she is done with them KWIM. Actually, the ones I picked to replace the ones we already read, are ones my other dd read in K12 2nd grade which is the grade level this dd will be at. Some of them also tie really well into the history we are reading about- like I have Wagon Wheels as one, and that deals with travelling west. I have George the drummer boy about a soldier in the Revolutionary army. Some of the other ones don't tie in as much- but I like them none the less- a proverbs pal reader....

But my questions is are those extra titles suggested for them to do extra reading? Or are they there in case someone wants a substitute? Is the emerging readers schedule enough as it is, or are we supposed to have them reading additional books as part of the program also- (hence the 'additonal readers' are encouraged because they need more reading practice?)

I didn't see a schedule for those extra readers, and I didn't see an explanation on them so I am confused. I did look over what they are- some are level 2 and higher readers- which I Would think would go with DITHOR 2/3-- like I already picked up Dolphin and Hannah- thinking these would be good when she starts DITHOR level 2/3-- but if she needs more reading to supplement the emerging readers she can read them now- or I have more of the Laura and Jack books (like the animal adventures but different in the series) and she has a collection of pony pals, plus we have LOTS of readers....

Brenda

Here's what I would do, if my dd had already read several of the earlier Emerging books. I would start the Emerging Readers schedule halfway in, or wherever I felt the reading level was appropriate. Then, once finished with that, go ahead and start DITHOR. You don't have to match the units/days of the Emerging Readers schedule with the rest of Beyond.

We just started the Emerging Readers schedule. My dd has already read 3 of the books, but we will do them anyway. Like another poster said, reading outloud and having to answer the questions is still beneficial, even if they are very familiar with the book. You could substitute different books, but then you would have to come up with the questions yourself.

Oh, and about the additional suggestions- I think they are just recommendations for good books if your child is wanting something else to read for fun. I don't think they are necessarily substitutions for the books in the schedule, since there aren't questions listed to go along with them.

This is what it says in the Appendix at the beginning of the Emerging Reader's Schedule:
Supplemental Book Titles: An additional supplemental title has been listed in the schedule each week to direct you to other excellent books your child will enjoy reading again and again. These supplemental titles are considered optional but were very carefully selected for their content and listed in order to gradually increase in reading difficulty throughout the year. Feel free to supplement with any titles that you prefer or may have on hand.

We found the Emerging Reader's Set to be enough on its own. We reread the books in the set even if my ds had read them before to work on his comprehension. He's enjoyed reading them again and again, and this is actually a normal part of the reading process at that age - we found it good to encourage rereading.

The supplemental titles are great for building your child's own beginning reading shelf. I purchased many of the supplemental titles for my dc to read before bed at that age. They liked to choose from them at night, and according to my one son he was a "real reader" then! During school, we only did the Emerging Reader's Set books though, and that was perfect! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

simplepamom,

The ladies have given you great advice! I agree that the questions in the back of the Beyond guide for the Emerging Reader's Set take the reading of the listed books to a whole different level. The questions encourage thoughtful reading and include different levels of comprehension and application. Beginning narration skills are also practiced. So, doing the Emerging Readers in that way is very different from purely reading for fun!

I also wanted to mention that the Wagon Wheels title is actually a part of the Emerging Reader's Set, so I was a bit confused by that part of your post. Anyway, happy reading!

Blessings,
Carrie

I am apparently still being unclear in my question. What I want to know is, do children of this age- about 2nd grade, working through emerging readers, around 8 yrs old- need additional reading above and beyond what they are doing in the Emerging readers set? The dd I am working with, is not one who will just go pick up a book and read it on her own without me telling her- go read. And then she will turn to me and say- how much should I read? She has a shelf FULL of books (we could open a libarary seriously), but she is not one to 'go read' without being instructed to do it, so if she needs additional practice in reading, beyond the 'assigned' schoolwork- I need to be prepared to tell her she needs to read 1 additional book per week or whatever.

Are the supplemental titles encouraged because children this age should be doing more reading than just the emerging readers set-- or is reading from the emerging readers set enough reading for a day for a child this age?

Sorry for the mix up- I though I needed to grab Wagon wheels from the box as something I was replacing- apparently I needed to grab it simply because I already owned it and did not need to buy it, but still needed it as part of the Emerging readers set. That was my mistake, sorry.

Brenda