Reading Comprehension

Catholic Heritage Curricula Lesson Plans: Third Grade - Supplements

Book cover: 'Catholic Heritage Curricula Lesson Plans: Third Grade - Supplements'

The supplements are carefully woven into the third grade lesson assignments, but for those who prefer not to use the lesson plans the supplements alone could easily be used for enrichment and would make purchasing the plans worthwhile. For example the book report supplements contain clear guidelines for helping young students write book reports, a checklist to help the student in their efforts, creative ideas for written reports or oral reports and hands-on project reporting.

Devotional Stories for Little Folks

Book cover: 'Devotional Stories for Little Folks'
Author(s): 
Nancy Nicholson

Nancy Nicholson (author of numerous titles from Catholic Heritage Curricula including the My Catholic Speller and Language of God for Little Folks series) hits another homerun with this new title. Thirty-six stories centering around family life offer humor, entertainment and gentle lessons in morality. The stories are perfect for reading aloud during breakfast or lunch. Each story includes related quotes from the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, vocabulary words and questions for discussion.

The Trivium: the Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

Book cover: The Trivium: the Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Author(s): 
Sister Miriam Joseph, C.S.C.

This little gem was used as a freshman college course after the author met philosopher Mortimer Adler and understood the importance of teaching basic language skills as the foundation of other learning. After some years of study, she put together this course in the Trivium, the three language arts – of word relations (grammar), concept relations (logic), and composition (rhetoric). The result is a primer in Aristotle's Categories, a demanding course in logic, and a prerequisite to good composition.

God's Little Angels

Book cover: 'God's Little Angels'
Author(s): 
Mary T. Waggaman

This lovely story is reprint of the 1905 book The Transplanting of Tessie. Little Tessie spent six years at a convent boarding school before becoming ill. She finds herself at her uncle's country estate where she recovers and, through many adventures, brings her relatives to the Catholic faith. All of our children enjoyed this touching story. The author writes vividly and with just enough suspense to keep the reader wanting more.

Rare Catholic Stories and Poems

Book cover: 'Rare Catholic Stories and Poems'

Make sure you have a hankie close by when you read these books. These faith inspiring stories surely must have contributed to the steadfastness that Catholic children displayed years ago. The stories in both volumes include main characters that are young and old, male and female thus appealing to everyone. Each story is short enough to be read by an average 4th grader in five to ten minutes. Follow up comprehension questions range from simple recall to more the more thought provoking type that would open the door to many wonderful parent child discussions.

Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 2

Book cover: 'Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 2'
Author(s): 
Elaine Woodfield

This book provides twelve engaging saint stories (four to nine pages each) with a page or so of vocabulary words, comprehension questions, quotes from the saint and project ideas. Saints covered in this volume are: Saint Faustina Kowalska, Saint Juan Diego, St. Rose of Lima, St. Francis of Assisi (in two parts), Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey, St. Helena, Blessed Fr. Damien of Molokai, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Ambrose and Mother Seton.

Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 1

Book cover: 'Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 1'
Author(s): 
Elaine Woodfield

Ten Saint stories are told in an engaging manner for children (recommended for mid-grade schoolers): St. Maria Goretti, St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Bernadette Soubirous, Blessed Miguel Pro, St. Martin De Porres, St. John Bosco, St. Francesca Cabrini, St. Philomena, and Blessed Herman of Reichenau. Each story is approximately 6 - 8 pages long and is illustrated with pen and ink drawings.

Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 3

Book cover: 'Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 3'
Author(s): 
Elaine Woodfield

The ad for this book does not do it justice. It is far more than just a reading comprehension workbook and although the ad does list the activities involved, it doesn't express their depth or breadth. This book could be used as a unit study! I plan to have my 12 year old select a saint each quarter to prayerfully study and to immerse himself in the saints life and spirituality. Although Isaiah enjoys reading the lives of the saints, when he's done with a book (usually in a few days) his devotion to the saint usually doesn't last long.

Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 3

Author(s): 
Elaine Woodfield

This book contains four in-depth saint stories (approximately 25 pages each): St. Edith Stein, Blessed Gianna Molla, Blessed Father Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R and Blessed Junipero Serra. The stories are very nicely told, with all the interesting tidbits that people love to read about. Mrs. Woodfield likes to catch the reader's attention by starting out at a particularly interesting part of the story and "leave you hanging" while she goes back to the childhood and upbringing of the saint (or blessed) in question.

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