im teaching english at a summer program and i want to start by having the class read portions of a book. I expect to finish the book within the 3 weeks of the program. kids are ages 10-13 (grades 5-8)
2007-07-27 05:59:50 · 11 answers · asked by Nik7777 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Teaching
Assuming that they aer alllistening to you read at the same time you would need something that would cross grade levels for enjoyment. That being said are you reading to them or letting everyone take a turn to read out loud? Some of these may be longer than others. I leave it to you to judge which are the right length for a 3 week course. It's hard for me to judge as I read quite quickly.
Some books (other than the Harry Potter series):
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (mark twain)
Alice in Wonderland
Wizard of Oz (frank baum)
The Time Machine (h.g. wells)
Woodsong (gary paulson)
The Golden Compass (phillip pullman)
Eragon (chris paolini)
Jeremy Thacher, Dragon Hatcher (bruce coville)
A wrinkle in Time (madeline l'engle)
Any of the books from the Chronicle of Narnia (c.s. lewis)
The Hobbit (tolkien)
Most of these have been pulled from various schools summer reading lists. The link below is a library link that has more books divided by age group. I'd suggest if you know the interests of your students pick something that will keep them intrigued. With the popularity of Harry Potter I would suggest sticking to fantasy books, a few of which are listed above. If you have a lot of young boys in the group Twain might peak their interests. Good Luck.
2007-07-27 06:29:26 · answer #1 · answered by grk_tigris 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since this is a summer school program, it should have the same curriculum requirements as the regular year. Most districts and states have a recommended and required reading list, I suggest you look at that resource first. Since the grade and ages of the students are so spread out, I also recommend getting a sample of the classes reading level and pick appropriate books by the reading level as well - most state approved books come with the Flesh Reading Ease or the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level as part of the information available.
If you can’t get any of that, I suggest copying a typical paragraph from one of the books into MS Word and use the Spelling and Grammar tool to do it for you.
2007-07-27 19:28:04 · answer #2 · answered by Lou 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I was in the 6th grade, on of my teachers read a chapter a day from the book "Where the Red Fern Grows," by Wilson Rawls.
The Uglies, by Scott Westerfield is good (and there's a whole trilogy, if some students want to go on with the other two books). Plus - bonus for you - the unabridged audiobook is available (I checked it out from the library).
Or you can read the first Harry Potter book. There are plenty of details in the book that didn't make it into the movie.
Alice in Wonderland is great, too, but if you do read that one, get the book "The Annotated Alice," which explains all the little jokes that Lewis Carroll wrote in for the people of his time. It's a brilliant piece of work, esp. when you know all the background behind it.
2007-07-27 15:24:24 · answer #3 · answered by ♥≈Safi≈♥ ☼of the Atheati☼ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read Holes with a summer day care group one summer and it was highly successful. We did the whole book as a read aloud and then we watched the movie and had a fantastic group discussion comparing the movie and book. We talked about which was better and why, what was the same in the two, what was different, and whether we'd rather read a book or watch a movie and why. They came to the conclusion that books are better and they all said they think they'd rather read!
2007-07-27 14:12:03 · answer #4 · answered by leslie b 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I remember a book that was read to the class in 5th grade, called Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. It's easy to read, but full of adventure. That book left an impression on me, so I imagine it wouldn't be a bad book to try out on your class. It says the reading level is ages 9-12.
2007-07-28 20:19:01 · answer #5 · answered by Bella 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I remember reading the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl when I was in 6th or 7th grade. The whole class loved it. Also, it's not terribly long, so it should be able to be read during a summer course. Anything by Roald Dahl is good though.
2007-07-27 15:40:54 · answer #6 · answered by garciajennifer@att.net 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Double Fudge- or anything by Judy Bloom is always a good choice
The Phantom Toolbooth-my nephew's favorite book he is 11
Bridge to Terabithia
Also, feel free to ask them what they would like to read.
Good Luck!
2007-07-27 15:02:00 · answer #7 · answered by txldybug43 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they haven't read The BFG, that's a great one. Be prepared to read aloud in accents (I choose "regular" British for the main character and Cockney for the BFG). It's a great read-aloud. The Watsons Go to Birmingham is a good one to read aloud too. They're easy reads for read-alouds, so finishing within 3 weeks shouldn't be a problem.
2007-07-27 15:03:10 · answer #8 · answered by elizabeth_ashley44 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I did a search and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli came up quite a few times.
Here is a list of books for children 9-12 from Barns and Noble.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-junior/childrens-books.asp?pid=13877&kids=y&z=y
2007-07-27 13:26:27 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The REAL Grimms Fairy Tales. I don't know if one exists but my grandmother read to my sister and I and BOY oh BOY have I got an imagination now........ok wait..... you're a teacher...... shoot.... that means you can't really inspire.......Darn...... ok then how about Charletts Web, Alice in Wonderland or Old mother goose. That should do the trick. oh maybe I'm thinkin to far back. Why not ask them?
2007-07-27 13:33:09 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋