Free Read-Aloud Story for Kids Ages 5-8: Rocky, Jamie, and the One-Day Town

Looking for a read-aloud story that builds your child’s love of reading? Adventures with Rocky follows a golden retriever and his kids on gentle adventures written for Kindergarten through Grade 3.

How to use this story at home

• Read one page aloud, then let your child read the next sentence.
• Pause and ask, “What do you think happens next?”
• Point to tricky words and sound them out together.

Read the opening: Rocky, Jamie, and the One-Day Town

Adventures with Rocky, number three, Rocky, Jamie, and the one day town, chapter one, the mayor has a tail. Jamie was going to be a grown up, only for Saturday. She had a coat with four pockets, an old bag with a broken zipper, and a notebook that said important things on the front. She was ready.

He said, not all of them. Not all of them. Not all of them. Mom is important.

Jamie looked at mom. Mom was wearing a T-shirt with a tomato stain. That's different. That's different.

Mom folded a dish towel. Mom folded a dish towel. What are you doing as grown-ups? What are you doing as grown-ups?

Running a town. Running a town. Where? Where?

The backyard. The backyard. What does the town need? What does the town need?

Jamie opened her notebook. Jamie opened her notebook. A shop. A cafe, a school, a bus, a post office, Rocky lifted his head, a butcher, a biscuit office, Jamie wrote, Biscuit office, maybe, mom looked at the loose tie, Rocky needs his neck comfortable, could your mayor wear a badge instead, Jamie cut a cereal box, she wrote, mayor, she clipped it to Rocky's bandana, Rocky studied it in the oven door, much better, much better, Jamie opened the back door, outside, outside, lay the whole empty backyard, by lunchtime, it would be a town, at least, at least, that was the plan, chapter two, a town of a town of large boxes, the boxes came from the shed, one had held a washing machine, one had held a chair, one had held so many smaller boxes, nobody remembered its first job, mom helped carry them to a dry corner of the yard, she checked the edges, cut the doors, no sharp tools, no sharp tools in the town office, she said, Jamie stood on the grass with her notebook, the big one is the shop, what about the cafe, the next one, the biscuit office, you can work from home, you can work from home, Rocky laid beneath the apple tree, excellent employment, Jamie painted a sign, Jamie's town, then she crossed out, a town needed a grander name, she wrote, sunny street, the sun came out, just as she finished, Jamie took that as approval, at the side gate, two faces appeared, one was her friend, Priya, the other was Priya's little brother, Max, we heard there's a town, Priya said, I'm in charge, can we play, can we play, Jamie opened her notebook, yes, you're the shopkeeper, Max, you're a customer, Max frowned, I want the bus, there isn't a bus yet, I'll make one, Jamie looked at the boxes, she had not planned a bus until after the cafe, but Max was already pulling four small chairs into a line, Rocky raised one ear, the town is growing, chapter three, the first customer, Priya arranged pine cones on a shelf, these are bread, Jamie frowned, those are supposed to be apples, then I'll put them in the bakery, apples aren't bread, they are if we pretend, Jamie wrote something, important things, Rocky came to the shop window, one bread, Priya handed him a pine cone, he looked at it, I shall admire this, a distance, no eating the pretend food, mom called from the patio, Rocky put the pine cone down, I had reached that conclusion, Max drove the chair bus, past the shop, tickets, Jamie stepped in front of them, you can't drive through the shop, it's the road, the road goes there, Max looked at the place she pointed, that goes into the flower bed, Jamie looked too, it did, she drew a new road on the grass with a piece of rope, the bus went around it, Priya sold another pine cone, Rocky returned to the apple tree, everything was working, except Jamie had not played anything yet, she had only told everyone where to go, chapter 4, the letter with no stamp, Jamie made the post office from a shoebox, she cut a slot in the lid with mom's help, Priya wrote a letter, Max wrote a ticket, Jamie dabbed a little washable, he pressed it on the paper, then she washed his paw right away, Jamie put the papers in the box, I'll deliver them, where's mine going, Priya asked, Jamie looked to the mayor, she took the letter to Rocky, he lay on his paws in the air, the mayor is resting in his office, Jamie opened the letter for him, it said, dear mayor, we need a park, from the shopkeeper, Jamie looked around the yard, we are in a park, we're in a town, the town needs a park, with a bus stop, Jamie wrote in her notebook, then she looked inside the mailbox again, there was another letter, she had not put it there, the envelope was yellow, on the front, on the front, in big letters, two sunny streets, urgent, chapter 5, the little blue house, Jamie opened the envelope, inside was a note from the neighbors next door, their youngest child had been sick and had missed the school fair, her dad had passed the note over the fence, would Sunny Street like to send her a card?

Talk about it

• How did the characters feel at the start?
• What would you have done?
• Retell the story in three sentences.

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