Summer Learning Recommendations
Incoming Kinder - Reading and Language Arts
● Sight words:
https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/150910
● Read 60 minutes or more of any book you choose weekly
● Letter recognition and Letter Sounds:
https://www.abcya.com/grades/k/letters
https://funlearningforkids.com/letter-sounds-alphabet-game/
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising First Grade - Reading and Language Arts
2024-25 Recommended Summer Reading List for First Grade
FICTION
1. Cat Kid Comic Club by Dav Pilkey
2. Bird and Squirrel on Ice by James Burks
3. Mr. Wolf’s Class by Aaron Nels Steink
4. Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye by Colleen AF Venable
5. The Magic Tree House The Graphic Novel Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope
Osborne
6. The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
7. Catnapped! Puppy Pirates by Erin Soderbergh
8. Jessica Finch in Pig Trouble by Megan McDonald
9. Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit’s Bad Habits by Julian Gough and Jim Field
10. Unicorn Academy: Sophia and Rainbow b Julie Syes
11. Books by Dr. Seuss
12. Ruby The Red Fairy by Daisy Meadows
13. Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne
14. Geronimo Stilton Series by Geronimo Stilton
15. Thea Stilton by Geronimo Stilton
16. I Survived Series by Lauren Tarshis
POETRY
1. Wet Cement A Mix of Concrete Poems by Rob Raczka
2. The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! by Kenn Nesbitt
3. The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems by Mary Ann Hoberman
JOKES
1. The World’s Best Jokes for Kids Volume 1 by Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar
2. The Big Book of Silly Jokes For Kids by Carole P. Roman
FRIENDSHIP
1. Do You Like My Bike? By Norm Feuti
2. Aggie The Brave by Lori Ries
3. Frog And Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
4. Kitty And Dragon by Meika Hashimoto
5. Good Rosie! By Kate DiCamillo
6. Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
NON-FICTION
1. Go Wild! Sea Turtles by Jill Esbaum for National geographic Kids
2. Plants Fight Back by Lisa J. Amstutz
3. Who Would Win Series by Jerry Pallotta
4. Doggy Defenders: Stella the Search Dog by National Kids
5. Bugs! Animal Planet Amazing Animal Facts Chapter Books by James Buckley, Jr
6. Animal Planet Animal Atlas
7. Time for Kids: Snakes! (Time for Kids Science Scoops) by Editors of Time for Kids
8. Dogsledding and Extreme Sports: A nonfiction companion to Magic Tree House #54
9. Shark-Tastic (Science with Stuff) by Lori Stein
10. You Can Be a Paleontologist! National Geographic Kids by Scott D. Sampson
“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” - J.K. Rowling
How can you find the perfect book for you?
1. Look for suggestions in the above list.
2. Go to the local library.
3. Go to a bookstore.
How long should you read?
1. Read 20 minutes per day (or more!)
How can you read?
1. Follow directions in the Reading Challenge here below.
2. Remember to do the suggested Writing Extension at the bottom of the Reading
Challenge. Keep a journal about the book you read.
Write:
1) the title.
2) the characters,
3) the setting
4) the plot (beginning, middle and end)
5) the main message of the story
6) visualize (draw) your favorite part of the story you have read.
3. Most of all: Read for fun!
Extension Hands on Activities for First Graders:
1) Cook and bake with your parents. Read the recipe to your parents and give directions.
2) Make your own playdough. Use your playdough to make letters and words.
3) Get the box of your favorite cookies or donuts. Read the words on it.
On paper or with playdough, create a different cookie/donut of your choice.
What will you name it? Describe it: how does it taste, smell, feel or look like? Draw it.
Design a box for your cookie/donut. How will you make it? What material will you use?
How will you decorate it?
Remember, you want to persuade other people to try your new cookies/donut!
4) Go outside and look for leaves, flowers, little rocks, and shells. Make a collage.
5) Play ‘I Spy the Sound'. This is a fun way to build phonics skills and phonemic awareness.
(Parents, ask your child to spy words that begin with a certain sound, rather than a letter.
For example, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with mmm.”)
6) Play Memory. Make your cards with an image and one with the word and have fun matching
them.
7) Make your own dramatic play project. Play pizzeria, vet clinic, zookeeper or anything else
you may think of. Create the needed material (menu, appointment and vaccination charts,
entrance tickets etc.). Retell your parents and friends what you did. Write it down if you
want.
8) Look at the world around you with enthusiasm and curiosity. Ask yourself WHERE, WHEN,
WHAT, WHY! Design your own diary of your summer. Draw pictures, write short sentences,
cut and paste objects of places you go to (entrance tickets, pictures etc). Experiment and
use your imagination!
9) Going to the beach? Awesome! Write as many words as you can in the sand!
Not going to the beach? No problem! Get flour, rice, salt, sand or shaving cream. Put one of
them in a tray and write as many words as you can.
10) Have fun, relax and enjoy your time with family and friends!
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising Second Grade - Reading and Language Arts
2024 - 2025 Recommended Summer Reading List for Second Grade
1. Rafi and Rosi by Lulu Delacre
2. Exploring Flower by Kristin Sterling
3. Detective Gordon: A Complicated Case by Ulf Nilsson
4. All Year Round by Emilie Leduc
5. Could You? Would You? by Trudy White.
6. Mr. Popper Penguins by Richard Atwater
7. Julian, Secret Agent by Ann Cameron
8. Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
9. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
10. The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
11. Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke
12. Cam Jansen by David A. Adler
13. Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown by Paula Danziger
14. Fox and His Friends by Edward Marshall
15. Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
16. The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
17. Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison
18. Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
19. Tacky in Trouble by Helen Lester
Have fun with reading this summer!
Can you come back to school with your Bingo Card completed?
Other Recommendations
1. Read books of interest daily for at least 20 minutes. This should include fiction and
nonfiction. Types include biographies, autobiographies, science, social studies and math.
2. Do a neighborhood book exchange.
3. Go to your local library weekly.
4. Do a nature scavenger hunt or other outdoor activities.
5. Take a local or virtual field trip to NASA, Nature, Arboretum, Science or Art Museum.
6. Write in a daily journal about your summer.
7. Play board games related to reading and social studies.
8. Read dictionaries, encyclopedias, and atlases.
9. Practice learning about the 50 states and capitals. Encourage your child to
understand the difference between a city and a state.
More importantly, don’t forget to rest, refresh and make memories with your
family.
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising Third Grade - Reading and Language Arts
Recommended Books from this Year’s Third Graders:
· The Who Was... Series
· One and Only Ivan
· The Wild Robot
· Charlotte’s Web
· My Weird School Series
· The Magic Tree House Series
· The Boxcar Children Series
Comprehension Questions to Accompany Readings:
https://www.rtsd.org/cms/lib/PA01000218/Centricity/Domain/841/Reading%20Comprehension%20Questions.pdf
Writing Prompts to Promote Critical Thinking and Reflection:
1. What is your favorite time of day and why?
2. Describe your best day ever? Give lots of details explaining why.
3. How do you deal with people who bug you?
4. What excites you and why?
5. Describe your favorite hobby.
6. What is your favorite quote by a famous person? Why?
7. What is your favorite song and why?
8. Climbing trees is…
9. I wish trees could._____________ because….
10. I want to be a ________ when I grow up. Then I will….
11. I wish there were a law that said ___________ because…
12. I wish I could forget the time I ___________ because….
13. I wish I could ___________ because…..
14. The perfect place in the whole wide world is…
Vocabulary Development:
Try to learn a new word each day of summer vacation and you will have learned over 50 new
words! You can keep a list of all your new words if you would like to share it with us at the
beginning of the year.
Summer Reading Bingo Board
Directions: Use this BINGO board to inspire your reading this summer. You will need to read 24
days this summer to fill in all the spaces on your BINGO board. Each day choose one of the squares
on the BINGO board to complete. Cross of each square as you finish it. Bring your BINGO board
paper to school on the first day of school. Happy reading!!!
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising Fourth Grade - Reading and Language Arts
1. Read 60 minutes or more with any book you choose weekly.
2. Check out and read 2021-2022 and/or 2022-2023 Texas Bluebonnet Award books.
https://txla.org/news/2023-2024-texas-bluebonnet-award-master-list-released/
3. Create an art project that represents a book you read this summer. Add a picture of your
art creation to your summer journal.
● Draw a chalk drawing of the main problem of the story.
● Build a Lego figure of your favorite character from the story.
● Bake a food dish that represents the theme of the book.
4. Create a summer journal. Share your adventures and creation in the first week of school.
Examples to include in your journal:
● Paste in pictures of your adventures and add a caption.
● Add artifacts such as a cool leaf you found while on a walk.
● Make lists of new vocabulary words you hear.
● Jot down activities you would like to do, and then write a detailed summary after you
finished, so you can remember each moment.
● Make origami, paste it in so it pops up when you open to that page. Write a poem to
accompany it.
● Draw and color pictures and write about them.
● Make a collage from newspaper and magazine clippings and write a poem to go with
it.
● Write a letter.
5. Review the nine parts of speech. Search ‘mad libs free’ online and print stories to share
with friends or family using those parts of speech. Read aloud the stories.
6. Watch a movie with the subtitles on.
7. Use the Reading and Writing choice boards/enrichment projects below.
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising Fifth Grade - Reading and Language Arts
Incoming fifth graders are expected to read the required book
Wonder
by R.J. Palacio and at
least three other books during the summer. Discussion and review of the required book will
begin the first week of school.
The other three books are student choice of the appropriate reading level and maturity.
Please refer to the suggested reading lists for books that will interest your student. Choice
is important. Children are encouraged to discuss reading choices with parents. Daily reading
habits begin at the home, please remind your child to pick up a book on a regular basis.
Suggested Reading Lists:
Education World List
Great Schools List
Goodreads List
Summer Learning Recommendations
Rising Seventh Grade - Reading and Language Arts
Students can explore the following resources that will be used in class:
• Khan Academy offers personalized, mastery-based learning and courses in grammar,
reading, storytelling, etc.
• CommonLit has a vast library of texts and effective learning tools (digital annotations,
guiding/assessment questions, paired texts, etc.). Students can filter by genre and grade
level to find high interest reading material.
• NewsELA is an excellent resource that allows students to adjust the Lexile level of each
article to match their reading level.
• NoRedInk is a platform that contains grammar and writing support. There are writing
prompts and a guided essay tool available, as well as SAT preparation. Students are
encouraged to complete grammar and standard practice lessons for grades 7-9.
• MackinVIA offers a library of free e-books that students can access through their HISD
Clever account.
• Study Island is a practice and assessment tool that can be used for ELA. Study Island is
well known for STAAR preparation, but its benefits go beyond that. 7th-graders will
complete every lesson, so it is encouraged to get a head start. Students may sign in to
Study Island for School using their student ID to access TX Programs > TEKS Mastery
and STAAR Preparation English Language Arts and Reading lessons at the 8
th
-grade level.
There will be a follow-up assignment in the fall over these titles, so please complete at least one.
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is a wonderful coming-of-age memoir about
adolescence, family, and identity written in free verse.
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a captivating journey of self-discovery,
written in a series of vignettes, following a year in the life of 12-year-old Esperanza.
Please consider donating to the 7th-grade classroom library! Students checked out over 400
titles in 2022-2023.
