K-3 Readers
I’ve just finished writing four school readers for a new K-3 Guided Reading Program to be published by Macmillan Education in Australia and New Zealand. There were three fiction titles (Hide and Seek, Grandpa Comes to Live With Us and Train Trip) and one non-fic (Changing Weather).
All four readers are at Prep/Grade 1 level. It has been an interesting experience writing for this age group. I’ve only ever written for such a young age group once before — a book called Weather for Pearson Australia, published in 2010.
All four had to be short — 130 words, max. Humorous with a bit of a twist at the end. Lots of repetition. High frequency words repeated at least five times each. And phonic elements that also needed repeating. It’s a challenge to get all this stuff into a reader and still have a fun story that kids will want to read!
I’ve enjoyed the writing process with these readers. I hope I get to write more for this age group in the future.