Seton’s Reading Program

Reading 2

Students improve reading fluency as they read stories, poems, and non-fiction selections from the Faith and Freedom series of Catholic readers:These Are Our Neighbors, This Is Our Parish, and A Book of Sanctity. Second graders use phonetic strategies to read orally with correct pronunciation and dramatic expression.

They also demonstrate beginning skills in comprehension. Students begin book reviews this year using Saint Francis of Assisi and Good Saint Joseph. These book reviews consist of forms that the student fills out, identifying the title, author, setting, main characters, and main events of the book. Students conclude each review by giving an opinion of the book.

Reading 3

Students develop reading skills using storybooks and short selections from the Faith and Freedom readers: This Is Our Town, This Is Our Valley, and The Story Tree. In third grade, students are able to read more fluently and accurately.

They improve their ability to draw conclusions, sense relationships between ideas, and use clues to discover the meaning of new vocabulary. Stories of St. Joseph and St. Bernadette are provided for the first two book reviews. Students complete book reviews by identifying the book’s title, author, setting, and main characters.

Students conclude the review by writing a paragraph about the story. Reading 3 for Young Catholics: Comprehension builds skills to aid in book reviews.

Reading 4

The transition from third to fourth grade is important. Students have moved beyond learning to read; they are reading to learn. They continue the Faith and Freedom series with This Is Our Land and A Book of Gladness.

They use the Reading 4 for Young Catholics: Comprehension and Reading 4 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills workbooks to learn comprehension and critical thinking. They begin complete book reports. The book report process is broken down into steps: gathering information, collecting examples to support the topic sentence, creating an outline, and writing a four-paragraph essay on the book.

For the first quarter, students are taught how to write a book report using the example book, The Small War of Sergeant Donkey. For the second quarter book report, students are provided with the opening paragraph and the topic sentences of the body paragraphs are provided. Students write their own opening paragraphs and topic sentences for the last two book reports. 

Reading 5

The fifth grade reading course continues with Faith and Freedom readers, These Are Our People, and A Book of Gratitude. Students continue to build comprehension and thinking skills using the Reading 5 for Young Catholics:

Comprehension and Reading 5 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills workbooks, and they continue with quarterly book reports. Students are expected to comprehend what they read and think about what the author is trying to convey to the reader.

Quarterly book reports expand to a five-paragraph format. For the first two book reports, topic sentences are provided in the lesson plans. 

Reading 6

Students work with Faith and Freedom readers: This Is Our Heritage and A Book of Valor. They continue to build their skills using the Reading 6 for Young Catholics: Comprehension and Reading 6 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills workbooks. Four book reports are required, continuing the same format the student practiced in grade five.

For the assigned books in the first two quarters, topic sentences are provided for book report paragraphs. In the third and fourth quarter reports, students rely on their own writing and analytical skills to write topic sentences. 

Reading 7

Seventh grade reading builds students’ abstract thinking and analysis skills. The Reading 7 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills and Reading 7 for Young Catholics: Comprehension workbooks are central in introducing new literary elements: conflict, motifs, and theme. Students learn to identify these and other literary elements in classic short stories and in episodes from the life of St. Margaret Mary, preparing them to analyze full-length novels for these elements later, in high school.

Each of the four book reports uses the five-paragraph format done in previous years. This year the student incorporates a thesis statement into the essay to tie it together.

Reading 8

Students improve comprehension and literary analysis skills using Reading 8 for Young Catholics: Comprehension as they continue to identify characters, plot, theme, and other elements that they will later encounter in high school literature courses.

In Reading 8 for Young Catholics: Thinking Skills, students apply these skills both to classic short stories and selections from the life of St. Joan of Arc. Each quarterly book report requires a thesis statement that is supported in the five-paragraph analysis. Students will find this classic five-paragraph format useful for years to come.