5th grade reading list and fun book report project

I was torn between purchasing a pre-packaged reading program (because I’m lazy) or just using some elbow greased internet researching and our local library. 

In the end…our budget made the decision for me!  Library and elbow grease it is.     This post is because I’m nice (lazy people can be nice too!)…and thought it might help another 5th Grader mommy out if I were to share our reading list.  Our reading list was inspired by other homeschooling moms at The Homeschool Lounge ,Sonlight catalogues, and narrowed down to which books are available at our local library.  Have I mentioned how much I love that our library is fully web-integrated?  I already have his reading list all set up.  Now all I have to do is log in and choose the book I want to request next!  I can even organize my lists by subject or child or whatever.  It’s SO great!  

Let’s start with Read Alouds.  What are Read Alouds anyway?  I actually googled that term and what I learned is that Read Alouds are any book one reads out loud.  Profound, right?  Typically, Read Alouds are fun and easy to read.  Last year, I already started trying (key word alert - trying) to read aloud to the kiddos for a few minutes each day.  We enjoyed several Junie Bs together.  This year I’m going to try alternating between a book he likes and a book she likes.  It’s an experiment. 

5th Grade Read Aloud List

Around the World in 80 Days (we’re already digging into this one during Trevy’s Speech Therapy on Weds afternoons)
Seabird
Island of Blue Dolphins
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Journey to Jo’burg
All the Small Poems
The Sugar Creek Gang Series    

  5th Grade Independent Reading List

Water Sky
Henry Reed, Inc
Call it Courage
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Silkworms
Just So Stories
Star of Light
Homesick
King of the Wind
Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights
Li Lun, Lad of Courage
Louise-Braille – The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind
Born in the Year of Courage

Really Cool Book Report Idea

While I don’t officially test him on the books he reads, I do have him write a book report after each final chapter.  While out cyber idea gleaning today, I found this really really really great idea all created into printables and everything for me.  Remember, I’m lazy.    Each part of a sandwich is used as a guide to share his thoughts about the book complete with color guide instructions.   Which means it can count as a little Art too!  Love that!  I probably won’t use this method for every book report…that might be a little over kill.  But popping it into his folder every now and then’ll be fun.   

That’s our 5th Grade Reading for this year! 

…danielle