reading story books to toddlers

I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

I don't know what series of books are appropriate for this age. While I
want the books to be kid oriented, they need not have only make-believe
world. Something fictional yet realistic (along the lines of little
house on the priarie) would also be fine.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

wrote in message
ps.com...
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

I wouldn't do chapter books until they can remember more than what is
happening ATM, especially when your little one isn't even paying close
attention. I just have lots of books laying around and when I yell,
"Storytime!" they go run and pick a book.


My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

It will all come in good time. You can certainly read chapter books to them
for your own pleasure, but it's not a problem to wait for them to be ready
to fully enjoy it. I would just go with what the kids enjoy. I think
that's the best way to foster a love of reading.


I don't know what series of books are appropriate for this age. While I
want the books to be kid oriented, they need not have only make-believe
world. Something fictional yet realistic (along the lines of little
house on the priarie) would also be fine.

Little House on the Prairie is a bit advanced for 2-3 yo's, IMO.
Personally, my kids like the silly books at that age, so that's what I read
to them. DD is 2yo and likes the Ten Little Ladybugs book. She learned to
count and recognize her numbers from it. Those little one word alphabet
board books are great for learning the alphabet. They're also great for
numbers, letters, colors and shapes.

I take my children (6 months and 3 years) to the library every 3 weeks
and we get 18 books (the maximum) every time. I let her pick out
whatever books she wants, however simple or complicated. They all come
from the "young reader's" section so there are never novels and such...
So some have an element of truth, and others are purely make believe.
If I feel that they have something I don't agree with, such as one book
where a girl "hated" her baby brother, I put it away and we bring it
back unread. If a book is too long I get her to put her bookmark in it
and she brings it to me the next morning when she wakes up! She loves
really long books and seems to know the story after just one reading.

I have no specific book recomendations, we read lots of great books! I
would just keep reading, maybe try a longer book with some chapters or
several stories in one book, try a story that isn't rhyming, etc... I
like rhyming books because I let my daughter say the last word in each
line and it's fun, but she much prefers imaginative and long stories!

KR

wrote:
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

I don't know what series of books are appropriate for this age. While I
want the books to be kid oriented, they need not have only make-believe
world. Something fictional yet realistic (along the lines of little
house on the priarie) would also be fine.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

Our library puts out lots of good booklists for various ages that might
give you some ideas. We've really enjoyed almost all of the "100 Books
Every Child Should Hear Before They Enter School" list that you can
find he

http://kcls.org/readytoread/100books.pdf

It's a good mix of silly, warm, visual, etc.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

wrote:
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

I don't know what series of books are appropriate for this age. While I
want the books to be kid oriented, they need not have only make-believe
world. Something fictional yet realistic (along the lines of little
house on the priarie) would also be fine.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

wrote:
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

Depends on the kid. At that age (I have a 3 yo, but she's going to be 4
in 3 months), both DDs liked *anything* my Arnold Lobel (the Frog and
Toad, Mouse Tales, Small Pig, books), and we thoroughly enjoyed
reading them to the kids. The 'easy readers' collection is a great
resource -- there are lots of illustrations, and the stories are
generally friendly. 'Mr. Putter and Tabby,' and 'Henry and Mudge' are
also good to read, again, ime.

We read a wide variety, ranging from The Magic Schoolbus Chapter Books
to the Curious George series. I think my preference is to find a
'winning' author, and stick with them if the child is interested. For
DD1, reading long books was fine (e.g., Stuart Little), for DD2, she's
more interested in several shorter stories (the current favorite is
'The Shrinking of Treehorn.'), although we've been working our way
through Charlotte's Web.

My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

Hmmm...for the whole 'Chapters in a Story,' for a 3 yo, the 'easy
readers' are great, although I didn't make a big deal about the
components of a story. DD2 goes along for the ride when I'm reading to
DD1, who can pretty much read whatever she likes now -- hence, DD2 has
been listening to the Wind in the Willows, and seemingly enjoying it,
but it might just be the whole 'reading while snuggled in bed' that's
been appealing, not the story line nor the archaic language.

I don't know what series of books are appropriate for this age. While I
want the books to be kid oriented, they need not have only make-believe
world. Something fictional yet realistic (along the lines of little
house on the priarie) would also be fine.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

I made a decision early on that I wouldn't abridge books, and wouldn't
omit things, so my approach may differ from others -- the girls enjoyed
(and enjoy) the Frances books (written/illus by the Hobans), the EB
White books (Stuart Little is a good starter), and (my boring default)
the 'old standbys,' like 'Millions of Cats' 'The Little House' and all
of those Caldecott winners of decades ago.

The Little House books, which I loved as a kid, left DD1 cold, and I
haven't the heart to pick them up yet for DD2. I think the real
challenge is to find books that work for the kids -- some kids find
nothing so cool as 'Ten Apples Up on Top,' whereas others are more
interested in 'I Had Trouble in Getting to Sola Solew' (my fave of the
Dr. Seuss books).

Our library allows adults to take out up to 50 books, so I'd grab some
guaranteed favorites, and then grab about 25+ 'could be good' books to
leave around for the smalls.

Hope this helps -- again, for a 2 yo, there's nothing so fun as the
Frog and Toad, ime.

Caledonia

wrote in message
ps.com...
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?


We always used to buy books, usually second-hand. That way we could re-read
favourites, and my DD used to pretend to read her favourites herself - it
would be really interesting hearing her, it really sounded like she was
reading - she often knew them word for word. This can help them make the
association between the spoken word and the written word - so don't ever be
afraid to re-read books, and often. Dr Seuss books were always a favourite.
There's just so much fun and silliness in them, and the rhyming helps with
word pronunciation.

Another thing I think is good is to read at bedtime. It helps to clear
their minds and relax them, and a routine becomes established to unwind at
bedtime with a book, when they're old enough to read themselves. We found
it an easy transition between us reading to her, and her reading herself
(esp. with her pretend reading so much) she could read every night, but
*we* didn't always have to do it.

Jen

wrote:
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

My younger one couldn't care less about what I'm reading. She just
likes to roll on the floor and play while listening to my reading. The
older one is very involved in my reading (to the point that once she
almost cried when Lisa lost Corduroy in the laundromat :-). So far I've
been picking books that have only 3 - 4 lines per page, mostly rhyming
sentences/verses. I think I want to introduce her to the concept of
chapters in a story, how each story begins, progresses and ends.

I read my kids lots of picture books -- things like _Blueberries for
Sal_, all the Beatrix Potter books (well, nearly all -- there are a
couple that are too long and deadly dull besides, even for me), the
Alfie and Annie Rose books by Shirley Hughes, the Frances books by
Russell Hoban, and so on. (I seem to be thinking of mostly quite old
titles today, but we did read lots of modern ones as well.) I let the
easy readers go until they could read them themselves, for the most
part. I did like some, such as the Little Bear books, but by and large
the limited vocabulary in easy reader books makes them not very
satisfactory to read aloud. I let the kids pick some books and I picked
some, generally at random (there aren't many pictures books that come
in series anyway).

--Helen

wrote in message
ps.com...
I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So
far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection.
Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books.

We always read at bedtime because it's a great way to wind down the
day. We still read with DS(8) every night, though DD(11) reads on her
own.

At that age we didn't worry so much about a variety, because the kids
loved certain books. We read a lot of Dr. Seuss -- good because the
rythm is almost like a song -- and Curious George.

I wouldn't read anything that took more than one night to read,
because they don't really have the ability to follow a story for
multiple days at that age. I would also pick books with big, colorful
pictures because it helps to keep their interest.

Bizby

We check out books from the library every week-DD puts some in the bag
herself (still mostly from the board book section at 23 months, but she's
found the concept books in the last 6 months or so and also usually selects
some of these), and then I add picture books. We also buy a ton of books at
used bookstores, Scholastic book orders and just about every other source.

Each night, DD picks 5 books to have read aloud before bed-and usually has
several more read during the day at various times when she brings them to
us. She has several she can "read" to herself now, presumably via
memorization, and often reads them again and again and again.

We haven't moved to chapter books yet, although she has enjoyed a lot of the
original Winnie the Pooh stories.

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Kindermusik
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

On 27 Oct 2006 13:48:24 -0700, "
wrote:

I pick up few books every week from library to read to my kids. So far
I've been borrowing random books from the kids "easy" collection. Kids
(ages 2 and 3) and I spend about 20 min after dinner reading these
books. I want to know what you typically read to these age groups. Do
you pick books randomly or do you pick a series and complete all books
in the series? Or do you pick one big book and read one chapter a day?

I didn't read chapter books when the kids were 2, though at 3 or 4,
they liked some longer books.

The Harold and the Purple Crayon series is a good one (not too long,
but not really short either). It encourages the imagination. My dgd
who is just 4 found a purple crayon on the ground at the library and
decided it was Harold's crayon and he must have been at the library
too.

http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/...ks/harold.html

There are actually more stories on dvd from a series that was on tv
http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Purple-.../dp/B0002TSZFQ

I wish these were out in book form too, but they are only on dvd.



--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits