Keep your soon-to-be or leaving 1st (first) graders, ages 6 and 7, practicing their growing reading skills with the best 1st grade books for summer reading.

It’s an important question because if the child can spell these words, s/he will be able to read them automatically—a critical marker for end-of-first-grade reading comprehension and proficiency.

The nearly three-decade-old Reading Recovery program provides intensive, individual instruction by trained teachers for 30 minutes each day to children reading at the lowest 20 percent of their grade.