GOLD Medal Summer Reading!
Lakeland Elementary Summer Reading Program 2013-2014
Gold Medal Readers at Home!
We encourage all our children to read every day and record their books on their Summer Reading Log.
You may include the same books as part of the local Library’s summer reading programs, and we have
included a list of recommended grade level books. Parents and caregivers are children’s first teachers.
The influence of a parent or guardian is the most important factor in a child’s early development,
behavior, and motivation to read. Home language, culture, and literacy experiences are the basis for
literacy. Good family literacy habits promote positive attitudes toward reading and writing!
This summer your child should:
 Log the books he/she reads at home on our school’s Summer Reading Log
 At the start of the 2013-2014 school year your child will return their Summer Reading Log to
their new teacher.
 Students will bring a favorite summer book to school by September 6, 2013
 Your child will be asked to participate in a classroom book discussion to share their summer
reading with new classmates.
 This experience will provide your child with the opportunity to get to know new classmates and
start the year off with meaningful literacy conversations.
All students who return their log and share their favorite book will earn a gold medal!
Readers Are Winners!
Strategies for parents to use when reading with their child at home
The purpose of Before
Reading is to help your child prepare to read
BEFORE READING
*Allow your child to select the book and discuss the
reason for the selection.
*Encourage your child to look at the title and cover
of a book and talk about what it might be about.
*Have your child tell you what he or she knows about
the story or topic to promote understanding.
*Ask your child to make predictions about the text
based on the cover illustration and the title of the
book.
*Introduce any new vocabulary.
The purpose of During Reading
is to give your child the opportunity to practice their
reading strategies while you observe their reading.
DURING READING
*If your child is a beginning reader, sometimes it’s
good to follow the words with your fingers.
*Your child may read the text silently or out loud to
you.
*Ask questions: What is happening now? What do
you think will happen next? Why is he or she doing
that?
*Encourage your child to look at the pictures for
clues for the story or unknown words.
*Make interactions brief as not to interrupt the flow
of the story.
The purpose of After Reading
is to help a child reflect on the reading strategies
they used and for them to consolidate their
understanding of the text and its features.
AFTER READING
*Talk about the book- characters, pictures, plots and
settings.
*Discuss what was learned if it was a nonfiction book.
*Compare the people and events in books with those
in real life.
*Relate the text to other text they have read.
*Reflect on reading strategies.
DEVELOPING CONCEPTS ABOUT PRINT
If your child is just learning how to read:
Elect one or two items from the following list to point
out and discuss with your child each time you read
together:
*Front and back of the book
*Right way up
*Books are read from front to back
*Pages are turned to reveal the next part of the book
*A page is read from left to right and top to bottom
*Print is different from pictures
*Point to the print as you read
*Pictures support the print
*Talk about letters, sounds, words, and sentences
*Numbers and letters are different
*Letters have 2 forms-capital, and lowercase
Here are some recommended books for your summer reading. We hope you enjoy many of the
books on the lists and find other exciting books at the library during the summer. So choose a book
and get reading! Be a gold medal reader!
Common Core Suggested Reading List Kindergarten and 1st grade
Kindergarten and 1st grade Suggested Literature Reading
 Little Bear (An I can Read Book) A boy, a Dog, and a Frog Mercer Mayer
 Are You My Mother?
P.D.Eastman
 Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss
 Put me in the Zoo Robert Lopshire
 Frog and Toad Together (I can read picture book) Arnold Lobel
 Owl at Home (I Can Read Book 2) Arnold Lobel
 Pancakes for Breakfast Tomie dePaola
 Hi! Fly Guy (Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Awards))
Tedd Arnold
Kindergarten and 1st grade Suggested Informational Text Reading
 A Tree Is a Plant (Let’s Read and Find Out Science)
Clyde Robert Bulla
 My Five Senses (Let’s Read and Find Out Science 1)
Aliki
 Starfish (Let’s Read and Find Out Science)
Edith Thacher Hurd
 Truck
Donald Crews
 I Read Signs (Reading Rainbow Books)
Tama Hoban
 Let’s Find Out About Ice Cream
Mary Ebeltoft Reid
 Garden Helpers, “National Geographic Young Explorers
 “Wind Power, “ National Geographic Young Explorers
Read-Aloud Stories for K-1 (Adult reading to child)
 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Books of Wonder)
L. Frank Baum
 Little House in the Big Woods
Laura Ingalls Wilder
 Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Paperback)
Richard and Florence Atwater
 Finn Family Moomintroll
Tove Jansson
 A Story, a story
Gail E. Haley
 The Paper Crane (Reading Rainbow Book)
Molly Bang
 Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
Ed Young
 Family Pictures, 15th Anniversary Edition/Cuadros de Familia
Carmen Lomas Garza
 Tomas and the Library Lady
Pat Mora
 Kitten’s First Full Moon
Kevin Henkes
Read-Aloud Informational Texts for K-1 (Adult reading to child)
 A Year at Maple Hill Farm
Alice and Martin Provensen
 Fire! Fire!
Gail Gibbons
 Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science2)
Arthur Dorros
 Water, Water Everywhere
Cynthia Overbeck and Mark Rauzon
 Earthworms
Clare Liewellyn
 What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?
Robin Page and Steve Jenkins
 From Seed to Pumpkin (Let’s –Read-and-Find-Out-About Science)
Wendy Pfeffer
 Amazing Whales! (I Can Read Book2)
Sarah L. Thomson
Common Core Suggested Reading List 2nd and 3rd grade
2nd and 3rd grade Suggested Literature Reading
 My Father’s Dragon
Ruth Stiles Gannett
 “The Fire Cat”
Esther Averill
 Amos and Boris
William Steig
 The Treasure
Uri Shulevitz
 The Stories Julian Tells
Ann Cameron
 Sarah, Plain and Tall
Patricia MacLachlan
 Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures
 Tops and Bottoms
Janet Stevens
 The Raft
Jim LaMarche
 Poppleton in Winter
Cynthia Rylant
 The Lighthouse Family: The Storm
Cynthia Rylant
 The One-Eyed Giant
Mary Pope Osborne
 Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
Erica Silverman
Cynthia Rylant
2nd and 3rd grade Suggested Informational Text Reading
 A Medieval Feast
Aliki
 From Seed to Plant
Gail Gibbons
 Bats: Creatures of the Night
Joyce Milton
 Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Traditions Around the World
Selby Beeler
 Art Around the World
Heather Leonard
 Martin Luther King and the March on Washington
Frances E. Ruffin
 So You Want to be President?
Judith St. George
 Crittercam
Andrew Einsprunch
 Boy, We Were Wrong About Dinosaurs
Kathleen V. Kudlinski
 Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
Brian Floca
 Where Do Polar Bears Live?
Sarah L. Thomson
Read-Aloud Stories for 2nd and 3rd grade (Adult reading to child)
 How the Camel Got His Hump Rudyard Kipling
 The Thirteen Clocks
James Thunder
 Charlotte’s Web
E.B. White
 The Cricket in Times Square
George Seldon
 The Search for Delicious
Natalie Babbitt
 Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
 Sign Painter
Allen Say
Read-Aloud Informational Texts for 2nd and 3rd (Adult reading to child)
 Lincoln: A Photobiography
Russell Freedman
 The Story of the Ruby Bridges
Robert Coles
 A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder
Walter Wick
 If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People
David J. Smith
 Ah, Music
Aliki
 The Museum Book: A Guide to Strange and Wonderful Collections
Jan Mark
 What the World Eats
Faith D’Aluisio
 Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature’s Footprints
 14 Cows for America
Carmen Agra Deedy
Common Core Suggested Reading List 4th and 5th grade
4th and 5th grade Suggested Literature Reading
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
 The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett
 The Black Stallion
Walter Farley
 The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt
 Zlateh the Goat Isaac
Bashevis Singer
 M.C. Higgins, the Great
Virginia Hamilton
 The Birchbark House
Louise Erdrich
 Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Grace Lin
4th and 5th grade Suggested Informational Text Reading
 Discovering Mars: The Amazing Story of the Red Planet
Melvin Berger
 Let’s Investigate Marvelously Meaningful Maps
Madelyn Wood Carlisle
 The Kid’s Guide to Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing It
Steve Oftinoski
 Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions
Don Wulffson
 Good Pet, Nad Pet
Elizabeth Schleichert
 Ancient Mound Builders
E. Barrie Kavash
 About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks
Bruce Koscieiniak
 England the Land
Erinn Banting
 A History of US
Joy Hakim
 My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World Margaret Ruurs
 Horses Seymour Simon
 Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
Sy Montgomery
 Volcanoes
Simon Seymour
 We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
Kadir Nelson
 Kenya;s Long Dry Season
Nellie Gonzalez Cutler
 Seeing Eye to Eye
Leslie Hall
 Telescopes
Colin A. Ronan
 Underground Railroad
Henrietta Buckmaster
How to Choose a Good Book
1. What makes a good book is your child’s reaction to it!
2. Look for books that
 Rhyme
 Have predictable stories and repeated phrases
 Have colorful illustrations
 Extend personal experiences
3. Look at the cover and read the summary on the back of the book. Does it sound interesting?
4. Ask your friends and family if they have read this book or other books by this author? Did they enjoy
reading this book or books by this author?
5. Look through the book. Do the illustrations, photographs, and print make you think that you would enjoy
reading this book?
6. Open the book to any page. Read it carefully. Can you easily understand and discuss what’s going on?
SUMMER READING LOG
Please return your log to school by September 6th, 2013. Be prepared to share what
you liked about your favorite book and why. When you return your log and share your favorite book
with your class you will earn a GOLD MEDAL!
Books I have read this
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(first and last name)
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