Better grades with Harry Potter

Great timing with this one!
My soon-to-be 10 year old got the Potter bug over the summer. She is now on book 4. She is able to take the Accelerated (sp?) Reader tests on these books at school and earn points towards a trophy at the end of the school year, so this is a double bonus for me.
Since I was around 8, I've read for fun and am so glad to have my daughters do so. Soon-to-be 8 year old is still a little young for Harry, but I love "re-reading" Beverly Cleary, Barbara Park, etc. with her.
I had a great time reading Old Yeller with my oldest last year. I let her watch the movie after she had read the book and tested on it. Younger daughter is not quite ready for that one. I'm not sure how to explain why the Coates' family did not have Old Yeller vaccinated against rabies :)

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Aw, ame, that's nice about reading with your kids. My kids are younger, and I never thought about revisiting old favorites as they read them. I do have two sons, though, so I wonder if they'll read some of my childhood favorites, like Anne of Green Gables and the Little House books. Maybe I'll have to brush up on the Hardy Boys and (oh, wow, I really need to figure out some books male protagonists, and quick! What a fabulous idea for a blog post, if someone would put together a list of the greatest books by gender of main character. Who could do that? Hmmm......)

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Melissa, I read with my boys too and they really liked Matt Christopher books. A lot of them were about sports. My youngest tended to like ones about animals such as Black Beauty and Born Free. I did the same thing as Ame s did as far as watching the movies after the book was read. They also liked Judy Blume books. My granddaughter is just starting to get into Little House....MY FAVORITE ever so I'm over the moon about it. Happy reading all.

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Melissa, boys LOVE Little House on the Prairie books. You just have to start reading them to them before they learn from someone else that they're "girl books". I think Little House was the first chapter book we read. My boys were very late readers, but they loved the Little House series. We didn't actually finish them, though...I think I got bored at Plum Creek. There is a Little House cookbook, also, and you guys can make cool stuff that goes with the book. We're getting ready to make our own butter again for Thanksgiving and it's been 5 years since we read about it.

Joy, don't forget to look into The Martha Years and The Charlotte Years series. They were inspired by the L. I. Wilder books. I turned my nose up at those *imposters* for years, but I'm converted, now!! Awesome books, but they're not going to be keeping the originals in print...just dumbed down (I mean 'abridged', of course) versions.

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This book ( anime and manga) have kids who wouldn't read beofre reading. I don't see any harm if gets them reading. If you don't agree with the topic, then still let them read it but open a discussion about why you don't like it. That is a learning tool as well ( debate, and can be religion based ) ,

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My cousin is an elementary teacher (she changes grades every couple of years), and she has incorporated a similar teaching style. Because she works in an urban/economically challenged area, many of her students come into her class uninterested, unable to do the work, etc. Just generally uninspired. Well, my cousin is an extremely creative person, and here's how she solved the problem:

She took the kids around the world.

First day of school, before entering the classroom, the children are lined up in the hallway outside her door, and she hands each one a "Passport" that she has made for them, with their name on it. (later, afte school photos, they add that themselves). Then, as she brings them through the door, she stamps the passport, and they "board the airplane" (sit at their desks). She announces their first destination (Let's use Germany), and the plane "takes off" - complete with the kids making the engine noise.

Once they "land" in Germany, the passport gets stamped again, and all of the work for every subject is centered around the culture of the country - language/reading assignments include writing letters and postcards home, and reading books about the country. Math includes money calculations. Social studies and history involves reading news from there. On occasion, when she can locate someone, she has a guest come in and talk about their home in that country. Obviously, she taylors the lessons for the age of the kids. Younger students fly around the U.S.A. Older kids go around the world. Her room decorations even reflect the theme, with maps on the walls, a background of mountains, rivers, and trees, and she even once built an Amazon Rainforest, complete with cardboard tree, and stuffed snakes and monkeys hanging from the branches.

From the first destination, she "flies" them from place to place, often spanning half the globe in a year. On the last day of school, they return "home" through "Customs" and receive the last stamp of their journey, welcoming them home, and praising them for a job well done.

She has had kids who couldn't read start the year, and by the end, she would have to fuss at them to put the book away and do other work.

It's amazing what a truly good, engaged teacher can do with kids, and I see nothing wrong with using Harry Potter, if it gets the kids into the curriculum. Who says school has to be boring?

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Sandyone, my boys didn't think Little House was for girls either. Are they??? There was Willy and Albert and other boys. I guess we didn't know it was for girls...all the better still...LOL!!! We love them and we also love watching the series. I had them all on VHS and now have them on DVD's and can watch over and over. Both my boys still have favorite episodes. I laugh at this all the time. Trinity (granddaugher) just started getting into this series and whenever they are on, everyone just kind of stops what they are doing and end up watching with her. I LOVE IT.
I will check out the books you mentioned. Thanks.

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I guess this thread is a little old, but I loved the Little House books when I was younger. And the Boxcar Children, and Encyclopedia Brown! I don't even know if any of those series are still in print anymore. But they were great at the time!

Also, the Chronicles of Narnia!

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