Welcome to our Step into Reading
Teacher Web Site! The Step into Reading leveled series includes
age-appropriate font and decodable text—
perfect for guided reading or any reading program!
Promoting fluency and providing quality
content, Step into Reading hits curricular topics
and is perfect for integrating science, social
studies, and even math. Step into Reading
offers fiction and nonfiction
favorites, and includes popular characters such as Disney
Princess and
Barbie™, who will excite even your most
reluctant readers.
Check out our What’s New section for featured
books by level and classroom activities. We hope Step into Reading
brings you one step closer to fostering your students into life
long readers. Enjoy and please feel free to share any of your Step
into Reading success stories!
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Preschool–Kindergarten
- Big type and easy words
- Rhyme and rhythm
- Picture clues
For children who know the alphabet
and are eager to begin reading. |
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Corn Aplenty
by Dana Meachen Rau
Illustrated by Melissa Iwai
978-0-375-85575-7 |
Activities:
After reading Corn Aplenty, discuss with your
students the difference between fruits and vegetables. Which ones
grow in trees and which ones grow in the ground? Have students pretend
they are the farmer—what fruit, vegetable, or plant would
they like to grow? Write a couple of their suggestions on the board.
For each suggestion, ask students to help come up with a list of
words associated with that crop and write them on the board. Which
words are descriptive and which words are verbs or nouns? Next,
ask students to help you create another list of all of the supplies
they will need to grow their crop and keep them healthy.
As a follow-up, provide art supplies for students
to create a picture of their ultimate farm. Where will the crops
grow? Is there a barn or a house on the farm? Allow students to
decorate their picture with cutouts from magazines, newspapers,
and articles.
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Preschool–Grade
1
- Basic vocabulary
- Short sentences
- Simple stories
For children who recognize familiar
words and sound out new words with help. |
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Monster Parade
by Shana Corey
Illustrated by Will Terry
978-0-375-85638-9 |
Activities:
After reading Monster Parade, have students come
up with a list of other holidays that they celebrate. Discuss the
common ways in which these holidays are celebrated. Is there one
right way to celebrate a holiday or many different ways? Invite
students to give personal examples of a special tradition or activity
they like to do to celebrate their favorite holiday. Next, ask students
to make a list of all of the pairs of rhyming words in Monster
Parade. Challenge them to each create their own rhyming poem
about a favorite holiday. Host a poetry reading in which every student
can read their poem aloud to the class.
Since food plays a role in celebrating Halloween
in Monster Parade, ask students to bring in a dish or snack
related to their favorite holiday. Host a grand feast in the classroom
and encourage students to come up with a name for this multi-holiday
celebration.
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Grades 1–3
- Longer sentences
- Engaging characters
- Easy-to-follow plots
For children who are ready to read
on their own. |
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Amazing Armadillos
by Jennifer Mckerley
Illustrated by Paul Mirocha
978-0-375-84352-5 |
Activities:
Before reading Amazing Armadillos, have students
create a KWL chart with three columns labeled Know, Want to Know,
and Learned. Students should fill out the first two columns before
reading and the last column afterwards. The “know” section
accesses their prior knowledge, the “want” section helps
create a purpose for their reading and the “learned”
section will assess their comprehension after reading Amazing
Armadillos. Their finished KWL chart should include information
about the armadillo’s habitat, size, food requirements, and
enemies.
Next, have students come up with a KWL chart
for an animal they would like to learn more about. Give students
access to kid-friendly Web sites, books, and articles on a variety
of different animals. Once each student has filled in his/her chart
with five new facts about the animal, have him/her share the findings
with the class.
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Grades 2–3
- More challenging vocabulary
- Short paragraphs
- Exciting stories
For newly independent readers who
read simple sentences with confidence. |
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Escape North! The Story
of Harriet Tubman
by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Teresa Flavin
978-0-375-80154-9 |
Activities:
Have students fill out a graph for the events in Escape
North! List major events in the story and then rate their importance.
They can use five for the highest and one for the lowest.

Challenge students to write a diary entry from
Harriet Tubman’s perspective. Be sure that students include
details about the time and setting in which her story takes place.
Encourage them to imagine what her emotional and mental state must
have been like before, during, and after her escape north.
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Grades 2–4
- Chapters
- Long paragraphs
- Full color art
For children who want to take the
plunge into chapter books, but still like colorful pictures. |
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Baseball’s Greatest
Hitters
by S. A. Kramer
Illustrated by Jim Campbell
978-0-375-80583-7 |
Activities:
Working in pairs, have students locate and copy a list of all the
verbs on pages 1–3 of Baseball’s Greatest Hitters.
Then sort the list into active verbs or passive verbs. Discuss which
ones create a picture in the reader’s mind. Which verbs should
writers try to use more often? Why?
Baseball is filled with mathematics. Have students
find out what creates a player’s average and how it is calculated.
Share the baseball statistics in a newspaper and ask students the
following questions: which player had the best game? How do you
know? Which team has the best overall average?
Activities prepared by
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, a reading specialist and author of Reaching
for Sun.
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