OT - need some help from moms of boys

[missesdisney]

I know a bunch of you, my swap buddies have boys. My son is in 2nd grade and loving reading - I mean loving it! I'm impressed and amazed and at the amount of reading he is trying to do but not sure what book series would be good for him or where to find books inexpensively (the library it not a great option for our busy lives). He has some Nate the Great. Loves them. Loves Pokemon.

Hope this was ok to post here? If not kick me somewhere else?

 

[rlovew]

I am not a mom of boys but as a former 3rd grade teacher I would recomend:
1. Magic Tree House- these are great because not only do children enjoy them but they learn about history as well.
2. Jigsaw jones series (another mystery series at a slightly higher level than Nate)
3. Cam Jansen series are good also although the main character is a girl
4. Henry and Mudge books are good if Nate the Great is hard for him
5. while not great literature many of my students loved the Captain Underpants series (it does have a number of crude jokes and undermines principal authority but it got sdome studnets reading).

If you need more ideas I can look out in the garage and see what other things I have from teaching.

One great place to get books is from a school scholastic order form. When I started teaching I oredered book lots from ebay as well. Garage sales are a great source of books as well. Contact his teacher and see if she does scholastic order forms. If she doesn't ask if she will consider it (you have a minimum order of $20 as a teacher to not have to pay shipping and handling), if not find out if another teacher orders and can give you a form. I could get lots of books for $1 or less from the order form and many times they had book packs for great prices. They used to sell the Narnia series for $15 although on the last order I saw it the series was up to about $20 still much cheaper than a bookstore.

Rebecca

 

[PrincessNancy96]

ITA : w/ Rebecca's listing!!!

DS8 (2nd grade) love these stories all of them.. even Captain Underpants.. while he may not get the jokes.. if DS12 & DD14 are reading w/ him and they giggle.. he giggles too because he knows it was funny by their reaction!!!

He loves Henry and Mudge we have read and re-read them..

 

[missesdisney]

OOh a former 3rd grade teacher was exactly what I needed then!

Thanks for the info. He is tearing through Nate the Great so I want something to challenge him a little more so these are great! I'll check ebay for them as well. We do have scholastic and I ordered a few books the first week of school but haven't received them yet.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[ddavis860]

I was going to say the scholastic books too...we used to pour over those things, and the excitement of waiting for the books to arrive was great...

As for any other suggestions, it's too far back for me to remember...

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

DS6 and 7 love the Spiderwick series, Avatar the Last Airbender has chapter books, and anything Transformers.

DS6 doesn't like reading so we have opted out of the required reading for school and just read fun stuff.I refuse to force him to read, or he'll end up like me. I didn't crack a single book in High School.

 

[MazdaUK]

DS(8) loves Captain Underpants, but he also likes some quite adult comic books (like the Far Side and Dilbert ), Dick King-Smith, Roald Dahl - go to the library and ask the childrens librarian (if you have one) and see what they suggest.

 

[bearbear]

We were having the same problem with my DS7. He is now reading Ready Freddy. We of course ordered them from school. He is really liking them.

 

[SusieStone]

I have been buying book lots off ebay.

Stone is DRA 26 right now at the beginning of second grade - he has had two years of not much encouragement in the classroom so hopefully we can work on getting that level up.

I weeded through the books and pulled out ones that I don't want him to read (personal preference but we don't do mystical/fantasy type of stuff).

He loves true things that he can learn - Egyptians, scince etc.....

In a pile I have
- odds and ends
- some of the shorter/easier Magic School Bus books
- June B Jones - he loves Junie B jones
- Nate the Great
- Jigsaw Jones
- Scooby Doo
- Goosebumps(hes not ready yet but when he is - it is there)
and there are some others I can't think of.

I know there is a brand new series of Dinosaur type mystery books.....The second one was available for purchase through the scholastic form this month and I picked up the first one at the school book fair.

When he is through with the books, I am giving them to his teacher to add to the class library or another teacher. The school library doesn't want paperbacks.

Brand new ones, I am giving to the PTA to give away at Book Bingo.

Hope this helps and I didn't hijack the thread.

 

[Lorix2]

My son loves the "A to Z Mysteries" series where every book starts with a letter from the alphabet. I believe the first one was "The Absent Author", then "The Bald Bandit" followed that one. Every book in the series solves a mystery. He's told me that he likes them so much because they are interesting and easy to "get into".

He loves them and will not read them out of order either, he's actually waited for the next one to come in from B&N before he'd skip a letter. You can buy them at B&N or Scholastic.

 

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

ds just started reading some Geronimo Stilton books....
(other things are just repeats of things that other people already mentioned!)

 

[missesdisney]

I have been buying book lots off ebay.

Stone is DRA 26 right now at the beginning of second grade - he has had two years of not much encouragement in the classroom so hopefully we can work on getting that level up.

I weeded through the books and pulled out ones that I don't want him to read (personal preference but we don't do mystical/fantasy type of stuff).

He loves true things that he can learn - Egyptians, scince etc.....

In a pile I have
- odds and ends
- some of the shorter/easier Magic School Bus books
- June B Jones - he loves Junie B jones
- Nate the Great
- Jigsaw Jones
- Scooby Doo
- Goosebumps(hes not ready yet but when he is - it is there)
and there are some others I can't think of.

I know there is a brand new series of Dinosaur type mystery books.....The second one was available for purchase through the scholastic form this month and I picked up the first one at the school book fair.
QUOTE]

Thanks for the info! You didn't hijack the thread!

What is DRA 26 ?

 

[SusieStone]

I have been buying book lots off ebay.

Stone is DRA 26 right now at the beginning of second grade - he has had two years of not much encouragement in the classroom so hopefully we can work on getting that level up.

I weeded through the books and pulled out ones that I don't want him to read (personal preference but we don't do mystical/fantasy type of stuff).

He loves true things that he can learn - Egyptians, scince etc.....

In a pile I have
- odds and ends
- some of the shorter/easier Magic School Bus books
- June B Jones - he loves Junie B jones
- Nate the Great
- Jigsaw Jones
- Scooby Doo
- Goosebumps(hes not ready yet but when he is - it is there)
and there are some others I can't think of.

I know there is a brand new series of Dinosaur type mystery books.....The second one was available for purchase through the scholastic form this month and I picked up the first one at the school book fair.
QUOTE]

Thanks for the info! You didn't hijack the thread!

What is DRA 26 ?

DRA is a reading level - then it translates over to guided reading level. Ask his teacher what his guided reading level is.....I am not a teacher but it is my experinece that they like them to read 1 or 2 levels below what they currently test at so they aren't becoming so frustrated with new decoding and strategies. Different schools and districts test using different systems but I found a chart on the internet somewhere that equates it out to the other systems. So if someone is sellign books on the net with AR numbers posted I can follow along and see if they are where he is and higher so I am not buying books that are way over his level or too too easy.

 

[SusieStone]

ds just started reading some Geronimo Stilton books....
(other things are just repeats of things that other people already mentioned!)

I got one of those for him at the book fair the other week because it looked so cool to me. He said it looked hard so I am going to let him work his way up to it.

 

[rlovew]

I got one of those for him at the book fair the other week because it looked so cool to me. He said it looked hard so I am going to let him work his way up to it.

It would be a great book to read together. I loved the Gernimo Stillton books as a teacher and my students read them (3rd grade) but they didn't understand all the allusion in them. For example they didn't connect New Mouse City with New York City. The book is full of twists on things from our country but many students don't see any of it.

Within 2 weeks of the school year starting (and it sahould be earlier) you child's teacher should be able to give you your child's reading level specifically from 1 of a number of tests and then a range for their indepedent reading level. A level of 3.1 is 3rd grade month 1. Generally for an independent reading level they are considered on grade level if they are less than 2 month behind their actual position. They should be tested again at midyear and once again at the end of the year.

Rebecca

 

[MazdaUK]

DS(8) read some Goosebumps at school and liked them a lot.