Key Features

Exceptionally appealing characters.
Every book in the First Grade Collection is about the King School Kids, spirited students in Mrs. Hall’s class at the King School.  Mirroring the diversity of today’s classroom, the King School Kids represent various ethnicities and come from a variety of family structures. Your students will have no trouble finding King School Kids with whom they can identify. Once they read just one book about their favorite characters, they will clamor for more.
 
Engaging leveled stories.
Your students will be “hooked” by these vibrantly illustrated stories based on young children’s interests, concerns, and experiences: losing a tooth, being afraid of the dark, learning to ride a bike, squabbling with a sibling, wondering what it’s like to be a grown-up, and much more. Besides being charming, these stories have been written to fit carefully defined leveling criteria, which are compatible with several widely used reading systems (see “Leveling Criteria” tab). From one level to the next, the books advance slowly but steadily in difficulty, making The First Grade Collection ideal for new readers—whether early emergent, emergent, or early fluent.
 
Ideal for differentiated instruction.
Because the leveled books in the First Grade Collection progress gradually in difficulty, every student can be matched with just the right book—not too hard, not too easy. Five separate titles at each of the twelve levels give students plenty of practice reading at one level before moving to the next. This upward spiral of achievement fosters confidence. The more confident students feel, the more they want to read. The more they read, the better readers they become.
 
Colorful illustrations and a student-friendly format.
Brimming with humor and warmth, the illustrations do more than grab students’ attention. Great care has been taken to make sure the illustrations support students’ understanding of the text. In the early books, the illustrations actually cue the text, helping students figure out unfamiliar words. Font size, text placement, text spacing, and line breaks have also been carefully designed to foster students’ reading skills.
 
Lively, compact stories.
Experiencing the sheer pleasure of well-plotted stories is an important step in turning new readers into accomplished, eager readers. Even the most basic books in the First Grade Collection have compelling narratives that drive the stories forward and keep students reading to see how things work out. Though varying in complexity, all books in the Collection are 16 pages long, with at least 8 of those pages being fully illustrated. This compact length means that even brand-new readers have the satisfaction—and fun—of reading a book, from start to finish, in just one sitting.
 
Unbeatable price.
This title, one of 60 books in the First Grade Collection, is priced at just $3 each. When purchased as part of the First Grade Classroom Library, which features 6 copies each of all 60 first-grade titles (360 books total), the price drops to $2.70 per book—a savings of 10%!

Leveling Correlations and Criteria in The King School Series,

First Grade Collection (Levels 3–14)

The carefully leveled books in the First Grade Collection feature the following: word counts that advance incrementally from one level to the next; many high-frequency words; a clear, child-friendly font; consistent text placement; and line breaks that encourage reading in meaningful word groups.

The graphic below includes details about the correlation between levels in The King School Series and grade / developmental levels. Information about the collection’s leveling criteria is also provided. This material will help you match students with books at exactly the right level. Easy-to-master books offer struggling readers the success they need to persevere; more demanding books offer strong readers the challenge they need to develop higher-level skills.

About the Series Creator

Download Samples

Click the links below to download PDF versions of three books in The King School Series, First Grade Collection. The books represent three distinct reading levels within the Collection. An annotated version of each book, complete with commentary highlighting the book’s key features, is also available by clicking below.

Sample 1: Early First Grade / Early Emergent Book: At the zoo
     Word count: 64
     Download book
     Download annotated book

Sample 2: Mid First Grade / Emergent Book: The cupcake
     Word count: 151
     Download book
     Download annotated book

Sample 3: Late First Grade / Early Fluent Book: The reading contest
     Word count: 230
     Download book
     Download annotated book

First Grade Common Core State Standards Fulfilled by the

King School Series Teacher's Guide (Levels 3–14)

As you strive to meet the Common Core State Standards in your classroom, you will find a key ally in the King School Series and its Teacher’s Guide (TG). Offering a well-rounded treatment of the stories, our materials prompt students to use a variety of cognitive, verbal, reading, and writing skills along the way. Every story and its corresponding TG supplements cover most, if not all, of the standards listed below. The Instructional Sequence, which is further customized in every story’s Lesson Plan in the TG, references the below codes to demonstrate where and how the King School Series fulfills specific standards [1].