https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:49:28 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915308 Tue, 12 May 2020 19:37:54 +0000 threeplusme 2915308@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Epic books is a great resource for online books <a href="https://www.getepic.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.getepic.com/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915284 Tue, 12 May 2020 12:37:31 +0000 Becky 2915284@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@meganmp: Flipgrid looks so cool and she would totally love doing book reviews but you need a code from your teacher :( And thanks for the book recommendations--we're running out of books.</p> <p>ETA I just created an educator account so am all set! She will love this! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915282 Tue, 12 May 2020 12:27:04 +0000 meganmp 2915282@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was just going to say a Reader's Notebook! Having her do book talks is another good one- she films herself reviewing the books, giving a summary and talking about what she liked or didn't like on Flipgrid, and then she'll have a whole library of them she could share as you see fit. You can do book clubs this way too- she would share the Flipgrid with another family member, potentially one that she doesn't get to see that often and then she gets the bonus of connecting with them. Getting her to infer about what the character is thinking/feeling and having her use text evidence to support her reasoning is a great set up for skills in older grades. My first graders are currently loving the Branches books from Scholastic- about a 550 Lexile, so appropriate for 1st-3rd grade. They both particularly love The Last Firehawk, my daughter loves Time Jumpers and my son Notebook of Doom. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915266 Tue, 12 May 2020 08:38:21 +0000 Foodnerd81 2915266@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Becky: have you asked her teacher about it, telling her how bored she is? My kindergartener was feeling the same way about her RAZ Kids app (which is similar- read a simple story and answer questions. Her teacher raised her level just by one and it helped a lot. It is sad when a kid loves reading but is bored out of her mind! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915264 Tue, 12 May 2020 07:57:35 +0000 Becky 2915264@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@charm55: I love these ideas, thanks! Especially the book club—I don’t have tons of time to engage during the day, but this is something we could do in the evening. I think she would like the Reading Notebook too. She likes to write, but she doesn’t like to be told what to write. I’ll have to check out Biblionasium. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915263 Tue, 12 May 2020 07:48:25 +0000 JennyPenny 2915263@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think letting her read what she wants and talking about it with her after is perfectly fine. I know I’ve seen lists of questions to ask kids about books, but I can’t seem to find them now. Some I remember are:</p> <p>- who was the kindest/bravest/etc character? What did they do that showed you that?</p> <p>- what part of the book surprised you the most? </p> <p>- did a character do something that you would have done differently? What and why? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915262 Tue, 12 May 2020 07:38:12 +0000 charm55 2915262@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh - that makes me so sad that that is what they are promoting for literacy. Honestly - if she is reading Junie B at 6.5 she is obviously a skilled reader. I would encourage her to read lots every day - and then encourage her to talk about what she’s read. You could even do a book club where you read the same book at a similar pace and have a time set aside to discuss the book. Make it fun like an adult book club with snacks and pre-set discussion questions to guide the conversation. </p> <p>Another option is to have a Reader’s Notebook where she has a place to jot down her questions, wonderings, predictions, etc. </p> <p>Writing reviews of the books she reads could be a powerful activity. Spend some time reading reviews of other books online - especially ones written by kids. </p> <p>Set her up on Biblionasium so she can keep track of what she’s read, rate her books, and find new books to read. She can set up shelves of her favourites, or sort them by genre etc.</p> <p>Finally - post it notes are a great tool for building comprehension. In one chapter, you could pre-place 3 sticky notes. Ask her to do a task as she is reading and gets to each post it. For example: if you’re working on character feelings, have her jot down the feeling and why the character is feeling that way. Or if you’re working on summarizing, have her paraphrase what she read into one or two sentences. </p> <p>Basically - keep it as authentic and engaging as possible. As an adult, when I finish a book I usually want to discuss it with someone. I might jot down my favourite quotes as a I read, keep a list of future “to read” books, give my books a rating on Goodreads or stop as I read to think about a really profound part. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915261 Tue, 12 May 2020 07:22:15 +0000 lady baltimore 2915261@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What about a choice board? There are a bunch of free ones on Teachers Pay Teachers (you do not need a teacher email to make an account). That would give her a bit more freedom to pick tasks that are interesting to her, and many examples you'll find will have more creative/project-based tasks to keep her engaged. You could even have her help you brainstorm ideas for tasks to out on there.</p> <p>These activities could probably be completed with her pleasure reading books, but lots of reading websites have free access right now. Epic! and Vooks come to mind, but I am sure there are others.</p> <p><a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:reading%20choice%20board/Price-Range/Free" rel="nofollow">https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:reading%20choice%20board/Price-Range/Free</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/teacher-bees-reading-compliteracy-alternatives#post-2915260 Tue, 12 May 2020 06:25:05 +0000 Becky 2915260@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm looking for suggestions to replace the reading comprehension assignments assigned by our district. My DD is 6.5 and in first grade. She's doing really well with the at-home work the district has assigned. The one thing she really doesn't like is what they have assigned for reading comprehension/literacy/language arts (not sure what specific standards it's supposed to meet). They have to read a chapter from a reader and do one or two accompanying worksheets every day. The worksheets are a combo of multiple choice and short answer reading comprehension questions. Unlike her other assignments which vary from day to day, this is always the same boring assignment (it really is boring). It's also very, very easy for her. For anyone familiar, the website on the back of the book is amplify.com/ckla and the other logo is for "Core Knowledge." The book says "Skills Strand" at the very top.</p> <p>I'm ready to just stop assigning the books and worksheets to her because it really is soul-sucking and unengaging, and it sets her up to not want to get through the rest of her work (she doesn't have to actually hand the worksheets in--I just have to click a box on Google Classroom that she did them). However I don't want to just not do any reading comprehension. She enjoys reading and I make sure she reads to herself or others every day (when reading to self, it's chapter books--she's into Junie B. Jones right now; when reading to others it could be chapter or picture books, and she either reads to her little sister or her cousin via FaceTime). I don't have to remind her to read as she really needs and enjoys having some quiet time every day to do this.</p> <p>They provided a bunch of supplemental materials for other topics so I swap or add those pretty often, but there isn't anything else that gets at reading comp (other than reading to herself--and if that's good enough I'm fine with that!).</p> <p>Any recommendations? </p>