An excellent, modern, engaging easy reader to get kids started reading on their own. My kindergartner thinks it’s so funny that he practically has it memorized.
Title: Watch Me Throw the Ball!
Author/Illustrator: Mo Willems
Publication Year: 2009
Website: www.mowillems.com/
Age Group: Kindergarten
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Comments: I am now a huge fan of the Elephant & Piggie series. We love other books by Mo Willems such as the pigeon series or the Knuffle Bunny books, but for some reason, the Elephant & Piggie book I picked up awhile ago, long before my kindergarten son was starting to read, fell a little flat. However, now that my son has started reading on his own, these are the PERFECT readers for him. He thinks they are so funny, he just wants to read them over and over again, especially Watch Me Throw the Ball.
I wouldn’t say that I’m exactly unschooling my kindergartner, but we have not really done much structured learning when it comes to reading. Instead, I started out this year by printing out books from The Measured Mom who offers several free, amazing emergent readers for kids who are just starting to learn to read. (His favorites are the Dinosaur and Fairy Tale #2 books.) Even though they are getting to be too easy for him, he still loves them. He also worked his way through all 3 sets of the Tug the Pup series with help.
However, up until now, no matter what sort of easy reader I put in front of him (Dr. Seuss, superhero phonics, Henry & Mudge, Frog & Toad, Little Bear, etc.), he’s happy to choose something to read when I ask him to, but he hasn’t been motivated to decide to read on his own. A lot of the books are great, he’s just not quite skilled or confident enough yet to enjoy them independently. That completely changed once we started checking out Elephant & Piggie books from the library. We got him his own library card, and for the past couple weeks, whenever we go to the library, he goes straight to that section to pick out another book. It’s so incredible to see him owning his reading selections. He still asks for help on a few words, but after the first reading, he’s eager to read them again and again often to the point of memorization. He thinks they are hilarious (and he’s right). Mo Willems is definitely a genius.
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This is a fun book! We adore the entire Elephant and Piggie series.
I’m so glad we discovered it! I need to find more easy reader series like this that get my son so motivated.