Literature with Memoria Memoria Press-REVIEW

This year we didn’t invest in our normal reading curriculum instead the girls focused on reading books simply for enjoyment. I usually ask them a few questions about the plot and setting, but that’s as far as my questions go. As the year has carried, it came to me that we haven’t done much in the area of comprehension therefore we all (girls included) decide that they should do at least one comprehension guide before we ended our school year. Currently, they are both using Memoria Press Fifth Grade Literature Guide Set .

The Fifth Grade Literature Guide Set from Memoria Press includes three student study guides and the corresponding teacher guides for each book. We received six physical books. The three novels are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Heidi, and Lassie Come-Home . My daughters have little experience reading books which are classified as classic literature by most lists although we have listened to the first three books of The Chronicles of Narnia. Since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a recent read neither of my daughters selected it to be read with the study. My oldest daughter chose Heidi while my youngest daughter chose Lassie Come-Home .

As you can see, there are several components to the study guides. Since guided literature is not something we have done in quite some time we had to create a schedule which worked best for us.  The girls had guided literature days three times each week.  This worked because it gave them time digest the previous chapter, and it kept their desire to read the books they selected intact.   My youngest daughter and I read Lassie Come-Home together on most days.  There are days where she wants to read it alone, and I follow up with the discussion questions.  My oldest daughter decided she wanted to read Heidi alone.  For her, I discuss her comprehension questions with her as she completes the lesson.  This helps her to think about what is being asked since she tends to not always understand the question by the way it is being asked. 

I am glad that the girls wanted to use the literature guides . They are definitely something I am making it a point to incorporate several times a school year to help them think more deeply about the literature that they are reading and to expose them to texts that we would not normally select.