Core Reading
The Academy for Enriched Sciences
Core Suggested Reading List
Grades K–1
Stories
Minarik, Else Holmelund. Little Bear
Eastman, P. D. Are You My Mother?
Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham
Lopshire, Robert. Put Me in the Zoo
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Together
Lobel, Arnold. Owl at Home
DePaola, Tomie. Pancakes for Breakfast
Arnold, Tedd. Hi! Fly Guy
Poetry
Anonymous. “As I Was Going to St. Ives.”
Rossetti, Christina. “Mix a Pancake.”
Fyleman, Rose. “Singing-Time.”
Milne, A. A. “Halfway Down.”
Chute, Marchette. “Drinking Fountain.”
Hughes, Langston. “Poem.”
Ciardi, John. “Wouldn’t You?”
Wright, Richard. “Laughing Boy.”
Greenfield, Eloise. “By Myself.”
Giovanni, Nikki. “Covers.” Merriam, Eve. “It Fell in the City.”
Lopez, Alonzo. “Celebration.”
Agee, Jon. “Two Tree Toads.”
Read-Aloud Stories
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods
Atwater, Richard and Florence. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Jansson, Tove. Finn Family Moomintroll
Haley, Gail E. A Story, A Story
Bang, Molly. The Paper Crane
Young, Ed. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
Garza, Carmen Lomas. Family Pictures
Mora, Pat. Tomás and the Library Lady
Henkes, Kevin. Kitten’s First Full Moon
Read-Aloud Poetry
Anonymous. “The Fox’s Foray.”
Langstaff, John. Over in the Meadow
Lear, Edward. “The Owl and the Pussycat.”
Hughes, Langston. “April Rain Song.”
Informational Texts
Bulla, Clyde Robert. A Tree Is a Plant
Aliki. My Five Senses
Hurd, Edith Thacher. Starfish
Aliki. A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver
Crews, Donald. Truck
Hoban, Tana. I Read Signs.
Reid, Mary Ebeltoft. Let’s Find Out About Ice Cream
“Garden Helpers.” National Geographic Young Explorers
“Wind Power.” National Geographic Young Explorers
Read-Aloud Informational Texts
Provensen, Alice and Martin. The Year at Maple Hill Farm
Gibbons, Gail. Fire! Fire!
Dorros, Arthur. Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean
Rauzon, Mark, and Cynthia Overbeck Bix. Water, Water Everywhere
Llewellyn, Claire. Earthworms
Jenkins, Steve, and Robin Page. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Pfeffer, Wendy. From Seed to Pumpkin
Thomson, Sarah L. Amazing Whales!
Hodgkins, Fran, and True Kelley. How People Learned to Fly
Grades 2–3
Stories
Gannett, Ruth Stiles. My Father’s Dragon
Averill, Esther. The Fire Cat
Steig, William. Amos & Boris
Shulevitz, Uri. The Treasure
Cameron, Ann. The Stories Julian Tells
MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall
Rylant, Cynthia. Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures
Stevens, Janet. Tops and Bottoms
LaMarche, Jim. The Raft
Rylant, Cynthia. Poppleton in Winter
Rylant, Cynthia. The Lighthouse Family: The Storm
Osborne, Mary Pope. The One-Eyed Giant
(Book One of Tales from the Odyssey)
Silverman, Erica. Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
Poetry
Dickinson, Emily. “Autumn.”
Rossetti, Christina. “Who Has Seen the Wind?”
Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Afternoon on a Hill.”
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Field, Rachel. “Something Told the Wild Geese.”
Hughes, Langston. “Grandpa’s Stories.”
Jarrell, Randall. “A Bat Is Born.”
Giovanni, Nikki. “Knoxville, Tennessee.”
Merriam, Eve. “Weather.”
Soto, Gary. “Eating While Reading.”
Read-Aloud Stories
Kipling, Rudyard. “How the Camel Got His Hump.”
Thurber, James. The Thirteen Clocks
White, E. B. Charlotte’s Web
Selden, George. The Cricket in Times Square
Babbitt, Natalie. The Search for Delicious
Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy
Say, Allen. The Sign Painter
Read-Aloud Poetry
Lear, Edward. “The Jumblies.”
Browning, Robert. The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Johnson, Georgia Douglas. “Your World.”
Eliot, T. S. “The Song of the Jellicles.”
Fleischman, Paul. “Fireflies.”
Informational Texts
Aliki. A Medieval Feast
Gibbons, Gail. From Seed to Plant
Milton, Joyce. Bats: Creatures of the Night
Beeler, Selby. Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions Around the World
Leonard, Heather. Art Around the World
Ruffin, Frances E. Martin Luther King and the March on Washington
St. George, Judith. So You Want to Be President?
Einspruch, Andrew. Crittercam
Kudlinski, Kathleen V. Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs
Davies, Nicola. Bat Loves the Night
Floca, Brian. Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
Thomson, Sarah L. Where Do Polar Bears Live?
Read-Aloud
Freedman, Russell. Lincoln: A Photobiography
Coles, Robert. The Story of Ruby Bridges
Wick, Walter. A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder
Smith, David J. If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People
Aliki. Ah, Music!
Mark, Jan. The Museum Book: A Guide to Strange and Wonderful Collections
D’Aluisio, Faith. What the World Eats
Arnosky, Jim. Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature’s Footprints
Deedy, Carmen Agra. 14 Cows for America
Sample Performance Tasks for Informational Texts
Grades 4–5
Stories
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden
Farley, Walter. The Black Stallion
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de. The Little Prince
Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting
Singer, Isaac Bashevis. “Zlateh the Goat.”
Hamilton, Virginia. M. C. Higgins, the Great
Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House
Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy
Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Poetry
Blake, William. “The Echoing Green.”
Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.”
Thayer, Ernest Lawrence. “Casey at the Bat.”.
Dickinson, Emily. “A Bird Came Down the Walk.”
Sandburg, Carl. “Fog.”
Frost, Robert. “Dust of Snow.”
Dahl, Roald. “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.”
Nichols, Grace. “They Were My People.”
Mora, Pat. “Words Free As Confetti.”
Informational Texts
Berger, Melvin. Discovering Mars: The Amazing Story of the Red Planet
Carlisle, Madelyn Wood. Let’s Investigate Marvelously Meaningful Maps
Lauber, Patricia. Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms
Otfinoski, Steve. The Kid’s Guide to Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing It, Sharing It
Wulffson, Don. Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions
Schleichert, Elizabeth. “Good Pet, Bad Pet.”
Kavash, E. Barrie. “Ancient Mound Builders.”
Koscielniak, Bruce. About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks
Banting, Erinn. England the Land
Hakim, Joy. A History of US
Ruurs, Margriet. My Librarian Is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World
Simon, Seymour. Horses
Montgomery, Sy. Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes
Nelson, Kadir. We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
Cutler, Nellie Gonzalez. “Kenya’s Long Dry Season.”
Hall, Leslie. “Seeing Eye to Eye.”
Ronan, Colin A. “Telescopes.”
Buckmaster, Henrietta. “Underground Railroad.”
Grades 6–8
Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time
Cooper, Susan. The Dark Is Rising
Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings
Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Hamilton, Virginia. “The People Could Fly.”
Paterson, Katherine. The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks
Cisneros, Sandra. “Eleven.”
Sutcliff, Rosemary. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad
Drama
Fletcher, Louise. Sorry, Wrong Number
Goodrich, Frances and Albert Hackett. The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play
Poetry
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!”
Carroll, Lewis. “Jabberwocky.”
Navajo tradition. “Twelfth Song of Thunder.”
Dickinson, Emily. “The Railway Train.”
Yeats, William Butler. “The Song of Wandering Aengus.”
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.”
Sandburg, Carl. “Chicago.”
Hughes, Langston. “I, Too, Sing America.”
Neruda, Pablo. “The Book of Questions.”
Soto, Gary. “Oranges.”
Giovanni, Nikki. “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long.”
Informational Texts
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Written by Himself
Churchill, Winston. “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940.”
Petry, Ann. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
Steinbeck, John. Travels with Charley: In Search of America