Recommended Reading List

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Reading List

Kindergarten Core Literature List:
  • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom-Martin
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar-Carle
  • Courduroy-Freeman
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear
  • The Big Red Strawberry
  • Cat In the Hat-Suess
  • Cookie’s Week-Ward
  • Gingerbread Man-Aylesworth
  • Goodnight Moon-Brown
  • Gregory the Terrible Eater-Sharmat
  • Harry the Dirty Dog-Zion
  • Where the Wild Things Are-Sendak
  • It Looked Like Spilt Milk-Shaw
  • Jack and the Beanstalk-Galdone
  • Little Engine That Could-Piper
  • The Mitten-Brett
  • Make Way for Ducklings-McClosky
  • Happy Birthday Moon-Asch
  • Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
  • Rosie’s Walk-Hutchins
  • Runaway Bunny-Brown
  • Swimmy-Lionni
  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit-Potter
  • Ten Black Dots- Crews
  • The Three Billy Goats Gruff-Galdone
Grade 1 Literature List:


  • Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day-Viorst
  • Sheep in a Jeep—Shaw
  • Is Your Mama a Llama?–Guarino
  • Little Red Hen-Galdone
  • Blueberries for Sal—McCloskey
  • Curious George-Rey
  • Goodnight Owl—Hutchins
  • Ira Sleeps Over—Weber
  • Love You Forever—Munsch
  • Princess and the Pea-Ziefert
  • Rainbow Fish-Pfister
  • Seasons of Arnold’s Tree-Gibbons
  • Sylvester and the Magic Pebble—Steig
  • There’s a Nightmare in My Closet—Mayer
  • Tikki Tikki Tembo-Mosel
  • Very Busy Spider-Carle
  • Leo the Late Bloomer-Kraus
  • The Velveteen Rabbit–Willilam
  • Whose Mouse are You?-Kraus
  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever–Robinson
  • Arthur Writes a Story—Brown
  • Bread and Jam for Frances-Hoban
  • Charlie Needs a Cloak—De Paola
  • George and Martha-Marshall
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie—Numeroff
  • Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth—Bate
  • Napping House—Wood
  • Rechenka’s Egg—Polacco
  • Stone Soup—Brown
  • Tacky the Penguin—Lester
  • Three Little Pigs—Kellogg
  • Two Bad Ants—Van Allsburg
  • Woman Who Outshone the Sun—Martinez
  • Caps for Sale—Slobodkina
  • Are You MyMother?—Eastman
  • Nate the Great—Sharmat
Grade 2 Literature List:


  • Fossils Tell of Long Ago-Aliki
  • Frog and Toad are Friends-Lobel
  • Giving Tree-Silverstein
  • Story of Johnny Appleseed-Aliki
  • The Adventures of Taxi Dog-Barracca
  • Anansi the Spider-McDermott
  • Amelia Bedilia-Parish
  • A Bargain for Francis-Hoban
  • The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash-Noble
  • Chair for MyMother
  • Corn is Maize-Aliki
  • Digging up Dinosaurs-Aliki
  • Hailstones and Halibut Bones-O’Neill
  • Happy Birthday Martin Luther King-Marzollo
  • Helen Keller-Davidson How Many Days to America-Bunting
  • Magic Tree House Books- Obsborne
  • Milk Makers-Gibbons
  • A New Coat for Anna-Ziefert
  • The Ox Cart Man-Hall
  • Patchwork Quilt-Flourno
  • New Kid on the Block-Prelutsky
  • Polar Express-Van Allsburg
  • Ramona the Pest-Cleary
  • Snail’s Spell-Ryder
  • Strega Nona-De Paola
  • Ugly Duckling-Cauley
  • Wednesday’s Surprise-Bunting
  • The Whingdingdilly-Peet
  • Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears- Ardema
  • What Happened to Patrick’s Dinosaurs- Carrick
Grade 3 Literature List:


  • Charlotte’s Web-White
  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins–Atwater
  • Little House in the Big Woods—Wilder
  • Ramona Quimby, Age 8-Cleary
  • All About Sam—Lowry
  • Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar—Anno
  • Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, A Message from — Chief Seattle–Jeffers
  • Cinderella—Perault
  • Coulbus—D’Aulaire
  • Courage of Sarah Noble—Dalglisesh
  • Song of the Swallows-Politi
  • Girl Who Loved Wild Horses—Goble
  • Each Orange Had Eight Slices-Giganti
  • Fables-Lobel
  • From Sea to Shining Sea—Cohn
  • James and the Giant Peach—Dahl
  • Knots on a Counting Rope-Martin
  • Louis Braille-Davidson
  • Mouse and the Motorcycle—Cleary
  • Mrs. Piggle Wiggle—MacDonald
  • Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine—Ness
  • Sarah, Plain and Tall–MacLachlan
  • Squanto—Bulla
  • When I Was Young in the Mountians—Rylant
  • Where the Sidewalk Ends—Silverstein
  • Wump World—Peet
Grade 4 Literature List:


  • By the Great Horn Spoon-Fleischman
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins-O’Dell
  • Two Years Before the Mast (juvenile version)- Dana
  • Fudg-a-mania-Blume
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Dahl
  • The BFG-Dahl
  • The Black Stallion-Farley
  • Blue Willow-Gates
  • Carlota-O’Dell
  • Children of the Dust Bowl-Stanley
  • Hank the Cow Dog-Erickson
  • How to Eat Fried Worms-Rockwell
  • If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake-Levine
  • Junipero Serra-Gleiter
  • Little House on the Prairie-Wilder
  • Misty of Chincoteague-Henry
  • My Side of the Mountain-George
  • Pasquala: The Story of a Californian Indian Girl-Faber
  • Patty Reed’s Doll-Laurgaard
  • Pedro’s Journal-Conrad
  • Rascal-North
  • Stone Fox-Gardiner
  • War with Grandpa-Smith
  • Zia-O’Dell
Grade 5 Literature List:


  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- Lewis
  • Sign of the Beaver-Speare
  • Where the Red Fern Grows-Rawls
  • Secret Garden-Burnett
  • Ben and Me-Lawson
  • Ben Franklin of Old Philadelpia-Cousins
  • Brighty of the Grand Canyon-Henry
  • The Cabin Faced West-Fritz
  • Caddie Woodlawn-Brink
  • Dear Mr. Henshaw-Cleary
  • Fighting Ground-Avi
  • Frindle-Clements
  • A Gathering of Days-Blos
  • George Washington-Krensky
  • I, Columbus: My Journal-Roop
  • In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson- Lord
  • A Week in the Woods-Clements
  • Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher-Coville
  • Letters From Rifka-Heese
  • Number the Stars-Lowry
  • Sarah Plain and Tall-McLachian
  • Shiloh-Naylor
  • Sing Down the Moon-O’Dell
  • A Single Shard-Park
  • Tolliver’s Secret-Brady
  • The Trouble with
  • Tuck-Taylor Tuck Everlasting-Babbitt
  • Walk Two Moons-Creech
  • Wheel on the School-De Jong
Grade 6 Literature List:


  • The Boy of the Painted Cave–Denzel
  • The Book of Greek Myths-D’Aluare
  • The Bronze Bow–Speare
  • The Cay–Taylor
  • Hatchet-Paulson
  • The Egypt Game–Snyder
  • The Chronicles of Narnia–Lewis
  • Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler
  • Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
  • Summer of the Swans—E.B.White
  • Tales of Ancient Egypt
  • Aesop’s Fables–Aesop
  • A Wrinkle in Time—L’Engle
  • Bridge to Terabithia-Paterson
  • The Rainbow People-Yep
  • The Cricket in Times Square-Selden
  • Phantom Tollbooth-Juster
  • The House of Sixty Fathers—Dejong
  • Mara, Daughter of the Nile—McGraw
  • Holes-Sachar
  • Bud, Not Buddy-Curtis
  • Maniac Magee-Spinelli
  • The Westing Game—Raskin
  • Julie of the Wolves—George
  • Homesick, My own Story–Fritz
  • Absolutely Normal Chaos-Creech
  • Sounder—Armstrong
Grade 7 Literature List:


  • The Giver-Lowry
  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry-Taylor
  • The Samurai’s Tale-Haugaard
  • Catherine Called Birdy-Cushman
  • Adam of the Road-Gray
  • A Day No Pigs Would Die-Peck
  • The Black Pearl-O’Dell
  • The Castle in the Attic-Winthrop
  • The Door in the Wall-de Angeli
  • Dragonwings-Yep
  • I, Juan de Pareja-Trevino
  • Jacob Have I Loved-Patterson
  • The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood-Pyle
  • The Pearl-Steinbeck
  • Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes-Coerr
  • The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
  • Trumpeter of Krakow-Kelly
  • Yeh Shen; A Cinderella Story From China- Louie
  • Zlata’s Diary-Filipovic
Grade 8 Literature List:


  • Across Five Aprils-Hunt
  • Slave Dancer-Fox
  • My Brother Sam is Dead-Collier/Collier
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-Twain
  • Outsiders-Hinton
  • The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle-Avi
  • Anne Frank-Frank
  • Farewell to Manzanar
  • To Be a Slave-Lestera
  • Witch of Blackbird Pond-Speare O Poineers-Cather
  • Night-Wiesel
  • Summer of My German Soldier-Greene
  • The Education of Little Tree-Carter
  • Nothing But the Truth-Avi
  • Kidnapped-Stevensen
  • Little Women-Alcott
  • Call of the Wild-London
  • The Ox Bow Incident-Clark
  • The Red Badge of Courage-Crane
  • April Morning-Fast
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin-Stowe
  • And Then There Were None-Christie
Grade 9-10 Literature List:


  • To Kill a Mockingbird-Lee
  • Romeo and Juliet-Shakespeare
  • Odyssey-Homer
  • House on Mango Street-Cisneros
  • Old Man and the Sea-Hemingway
  • Ethan Frome-Wharton
  • Black Like Me-Griffin
  • Tale of Two Cities-Dickens
  • Great Expectations-Dickens
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings-Angelou
  • The Chocolate War-Cormier
  • Death in the Family-Agee
  • The Martian Chronicles-Bradbury
  • Barrio Boy-Galarza
  • The Hobbit-Tolkein
  • The Red Pony-Buck
  • The Hounds of Baskerville-Doyle
  • The Color Purple-Walker
Grade 11 Literature List:


  • The Grapes of Wrath-Steinbeck
  • The Scarlet Letter-Hawthorne
  • Raisin in the Sun-Hansberry
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Twain
  • A Farewell to Arms-Hemingway
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls-Hemingway
  • Fahrenheit 451-Bradbury
  • The Awakening-Chopin
  • Death of a Salesman-Miller
  • The Glass Menagerie-Williams
  • Dear America, Letters from Viet Nam
  • Catcher in the Rye-Salinger
  • The Great Gatsby
  • The Jungle-Sinclair
  • Heart of Darkness-Conrad
  • The Good Earth-Buck
  • I Heard The Owl Call My Name-Craven
  • Sound and the Fury-Faulkner
  • Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman
  • I Never Promised You a Rose Garden- Greenberg
  • House of Seven Gables-Hawthorne
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God-Hurston
  • Ramona-Jackson
  • The Bourne Identity-Ludlum
  • The Heart is a Lonely Hunter-McCullers
  • Beloved-Morrison
  • The Bluest Eye-Morrison
Grade 12 Literature List:


  • Frankenstein-Shelley
  • Hamlet or MacBeth-Shaekspeare
  • Wuthering Heights-Bronte
  • Crime and Punishment-Dustoyevsky
  • Oedipus Rex-Sophocles
  • Pygmalion-Shaw
  • Dolls House-Ibsen
  • Metamorphosis-Kafka
  • Rosencranz and Guildenstern-Stoppard
  • Iliad-Homer
  • Am I Blue-Walker
  • The Stranger-Camus
  • Mrs. Dalloway-Woolf
  • Trial and Death of Socrates-Plato
  • A Modest Proposal-Swift
  • Candide-Voltaire
  • Cry the Beloved Country-Paton
  • Tess of the D’Ubervilles-Hardy
  • Graduation-Angelou
  • Shooting an Elephant-Orwell
  • Hard Times-Dickens











12 Powerful Words

Study12 Powerful Words are a list of words used in testing. It is important that you talk about these words with your child.  Larry Bell, educational consultant, believes that all students can be achievers on standardized test if our students become familiar with these testing words.

There are many websites about these words.  Please take some time each day to go over these words with your child: make and play a matching game, draw a picture for each word or make a poster with all words and pictures.

Each of these ideas is an excellent way for your child to prep for the upcoming standardized tests.


  1. Trace – list in steps
  2. Analyze – break apart
  3. Infer – read between the lines
  4. Evaluate – judge
  5. Formulate – create
  6. Describe – tell all about
  7. Support – back up with details
  8. Explain – tell how
  9. Summarize – the short version
  10. Compare – all the ways they are alike
  11. Contrast – all the ways they are different
  12. Predict – what will happen next

Parent Links

school supplies on yellow background

California Department of Education Website
www.cde.ca.gov

Newest math Program
www.aleks.com

Online Curriculum
www.odysseyware.com



Teachers' Corner – Websites We Love

Teachers’ Corner– Websites We Love

Submitted By Lisa Bernal

Dibels- (K-6) developed by the University of Oregon, a free program to use to test and track reading levels, there is a small charge per student if you want the program to track results year to year.

Read More»

Getting it Together!

Getting it Together!

Teachers Helping Each Other Excel

Submitted By Ann Weaver

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