Grades K-2

Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics

Book cover: 'Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics'

Unit one has twenty five lessons. The first eleven are Listening skills (stories and poems), Visual Discrimination (broad similarities, detailed similarities and detailed differences), and Motor Skills (straight and curved lines, detailed dashed, detailed straight, and slanted lines and geometric shapes).

The next nine lessons are on auditory/visual discrimination. There are then three lessons on visual discrimination involving capital and lower case letters, letter identification and tracing. Then there is a another motor skills lesson and one on nursery Rhymes.

What the Moon is Like

Book cover: What the Moon is Like
Author(s): 
Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator(s): 
True Kelley

This book covers the appearance of the moon from the earth (in regards to its surface rather than its changes over the month), the explanations people have given for the appearance of the moon (man in the moon, etc.) and why it really looks that way. It covers many interesting details about the surface of the moon (including a simple map of the moon's surface marked with the locations of moon landings), its atmosphere, the length of day and night on the moon (and the extreme temperature difference between the two), the difference in gravity on the moon, etc.

Chanticleer and the Fox

Book cover: Chanticleer and the Fox
Author(s): 
Barbara Cooney
Illustrator(s): 
Barbara Cooney

This is an illustrated, children's adaptation of "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It's a simple moral tale, reminiscent of Aesop's Fables, with a lesson about the dangers of flattery and pride. A prideful rooster faces danger as he is flattered by a cunning fox. Truly a classic.

The Little Bear Treasury

Book cover: 'The Little Bear Treasury'
Author(s): 
Else Holmelund Minarik
This treasury incorporates the stories Little Bear, Little Bear's Friend and Little Bear's Visit - sweet stories from the "I Can Read" series of the 1950s and 60s. Little Bear is a walking and talking bear who makes friends with other animals and a girl named Emily. The stories involve humorous adventures and stories told by Little Bear's parents and grandparents. The stories involving Little Bear and his mother are especially sweet and portray some of the simple questions and worries of childhood. Another family favorite.

Catholic Children's Treasure Box Books 1-6, story of St. Therese


A multi-part story of St. Therese's life is told in these six books with lovely colorful illustrations. This version would be especially appealing to three to six year old children. The story includes quite a few interesting details focusing on Therese's acts of sacrifices and offerings to God of everything she did – both those things that were hard for her to do (such as giving some flowers that she had just picked to her grandmother to use at the altar) to those things that she enjoyed doing. Also included are instructions for making the St.

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?

Book cover: And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
Author(s): 
Jean Fritz

This is a humorous yet informative account of Paul Revere's famous ride to alert the countryside that "the Redcoats" were coming. The details are quite interesting and carefully researched (down to a few details that Paul Revere liked to include when telling the story to his own grandchildren). There are a few slightly annoying details in the illustrations, but I wouldn't consider them serious (e.g. a picture of a Boston scene that includes a picture of a pirate's head – not detailed enough to be gory, but a bit gross) .

Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism

Book cover: Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
Author(s): 
Bennet Kelley

This beautifully illustrated (in full-color) gem is designed to prepare a child for First Communion and would be appropriate for Kindergarten through second grade. The text follows the Baltimore Catechism, but also includes basic prayers, parts of the Mass and Holy Days of Obligation. In a few places, the explanations given to expand upon the Baltimore Catechism are not as well-written as I'd like them to be, but for the most part they are quite good.

The Story About Ping

Book cover: The Story About Ping
Author(s): 
Marjorie Flack
Kurt Wiese

This charming, classic children's story tells of Ping, a young duck who lives on a boat in the Yangtzee River in China. He runs away from the boat and his family in order to avoid a spanking for returning late to the boat. He has some interesting adventures and sees many aspects of life on the Yangtzee River, but discovers that it's much happier to face the consequences in order to be back at home with his family.

This is a well-loved book in our family – particularly in the preschool set. The illustrations are beautiful, the story simple and meaningful and the lessons timeless.

The Moon Seems to Change

Book cover: The Moon Seems to Change
Author(s): 
Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator(s): 
Barbara Emberley
Ed Emberley

This book, through simple illustrations and very readable text, gives young children (approximately Kindergarten thru third grade) an excellent explanation of the moon and the changes we can easily observe in it during a month. What often seem like complex concepts - the phases of the moon and its movement relative to the earth - are made very understandable through the text and a very simple experiment involving an orange stuck onto a pencil (a styrofoam ball stuck onto a chopstick worked quite well for us with less mess) and a flashlight.

Sound Beginnings

Author(s): 
Julia Fogassy
Sound Beginnings is a reading, spelling, handwriting, phonics and listening program. We have been using it for many months and it's amazing how much our Kyle has learned. It is an intensive program and it works. No color pictures or flashy pages. The program includes step-by-step dialogue and well organized daily lesson plans.

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