Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a fun book to use in the kindergarten classroom to help your students learn their alphabet. Many use the song to help them with their letters. The book talks about the letters of the alphabet climbing up the tree in order, until they all reach the top. When all 26 letters reach the top, the tree can no longer hold them all and they fall down. It then goes on to name injuries in alphabetical order.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's classic! This book shows children a very hungry caterpillar that continues to eat all kinds of food and eventually big quantities of it. That is until he builds a cocoon and goes to sleep to eventually wake up, break free, and become a beautiful butterfly. This book is a great way to incorporate science and reading together in a kindergarten to first grade classroom. You could go into talking about the life cycle of a caterpillar and butterfly after reading this book aloud.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? is a great book to use in the kindergarten to first grade classroom to teach your students about repetition and prediction. Each page says, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" followed by him saying that he sees a different animal each time. With the repetition after a few pages, you should see your students begin to read along with you.
Amelia Bedelia is a book that I have noticed all students I have read to loved. There are a series of Amelia Bedelia books that go along with this one. This book is about Amelia being a house keeper that takes everything literally. Her bosses ask her to "dress a turkey" and instead of cooking it, she plays dress up with it. After learning that Amelia takes everything so literal, her bosses begin to write out her takes in a way that she will understand. This book series is for kindergarten to about third grade, depending on the book. It is a fun read for students that struggle with reading.
Bride to Terabithia is an amazing book that everyone should read! It is about a young boy, named Jess, trying to be the fastest runner in school, until a new girl shows up, named Leslie. The two quickly become friends and spend most of their time together in a magical land they created in the woods behind Leslie's house. After tragedy strikes, Leslie has to learn to grieve with the help of his little sister and the rest of his family. This book teaches students about the power of imagination and the importance of friendship. I would use this book in my fifth grade classroom.
Another on of my favorite children's books! The Rainbow Fish is a story about a young fish that is asked if he would give one of his beautiful scales to a small fish. After refusing in a rude way, the other fish no longer want to play with him. Rainbow Fish visits an octopus for advice that tells him sharing and being nice is how you make and keep friends. So when he runs into the small fish again, Rainbow Fish decides to give him a scale. Seeing that made the smaller fish so happy, Rainbow Fish begins to share his scales bringing happiness to others. I would read this book in kindergarten to second grade. This book would be a great way to show my students that it is important to share and be nice, so you do not hurt other peoples feelings.
Another Pete the Cat book! I just cannot get enough of this little guy. This book is about Pete wearing some super cool shoes and rocking out everywhere he goes in school. I would really like to read this book on the first day of school in my lower elementary classroom about kindergarten to 2nd grade. It is just a cute way to show students that there are ways to make school fun.
This book is about a curious 4-year-old boy named Harold, who creates a world of his own with a purple crayon. In the book, Harold wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, so he draws the moon. Whatever Harold wants to do, he draws it with the touch of his purple crayon. I would use this book in a kindergarten classroom to teach my students creativity.
Because of Winn-Dixie is a book that every child should get the chance to read. I remember reading this book when I was younger and it filled me with all kinds of emotions that left me not wanting to put the book down. This book follows a 10-year-old girl named Opal after she finds a dog destroying the inside of the grocery store Winn-Dixie. After claiming the dog is hers, she takes him home, names him Winn-Dixie (the place she found him), and the two become inseparable. In this book, Opal learns the background stories of her neighbors and becomes friends with people she originally did not like. Students in my classroom could joy read this, but I would like to read this as a class in upper elementary. It would teach my students that you should try your best to understand people before saying that you do not like them. Everyone has their own reason for acting how they do, so understanding background stories is always important.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was one of my favorite books growing up! I can honestly say I was so excited when it was turned into a movie. This book is about a grandfather and his grandchildren living in a strange town where the weather provides the citizens with their daily meals. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, until the forecast began to take a turn for the worst when oversized food began falling from the sky, endangering lives. This book could be used to compare and contrast real weather to the weather in the town Chewandswallow in the book. This could be used in any elementary grade, depending on how you use it.
This book is about a young bear traveling from the Darkest Peru to find someone to watch over him. His original name was one that no one was able to understand. So when the Brown family met him at the Paddington station, they ironically named him Paddington. This book is great for older elementary grades about 4th and 5th grade. I would use this book in my classroom as a joy read, but I would also use it as a way for my students to learn how to research and learn the history of the teddy bear. I could get my students to get on iPads, laptops, or other devices and research the history of teddy bears. Then get them to write a paragraph with their findings.
This text is about an ant that moves to the zoo and how she speaks in homophones. I would use this text in any elementary grade to teach my students homophones in lower grades or to review homophones with them in upper grades. It is a fun and creative way to get students interested and involved in a lesson.
This book is another twist to the book The Three Little Pigs. However, this book is about three wolves being followed by a big bad pig that just will not leave them alone. I really enjoyed reading this book. I would have this book in my classroom library for my students to joy read. I could also use this in a compare and contrast lesson. I would say this could be used 1st through 5th grade depending on the reason.
I wanted to share this book series because the students in the 5th grade classroom I am currently in loves these books. My CT says when the students get down in the dumps about reading, she often pulls one of these books out and they get so interested that they do not want to stop reading. I would have this book series in my 5th grade classroom for my students to joy read. I personally have not read one before, but by the way everyone has talked about them, I plan to.
I really liked this book when Mrs. Gilmore read it to the class. It is a great book about learning to love and accept yourself for who you are. I feel as if any grade would be a good grade to read this book. Children of all ages struggle with the problem of wanting to "fit in" and changing themselves to do so.
Pete the Cat and HIs Magic Sunglasses is such a good book for young readers. I really love the whole Pete the Cat series. In this book, Pete is grumpy until he discovers some cool sunglasses that makes him suddenly feel positive and happy. When he runs into his other friends that are feeling down as well, he lets them try the magical sunglasses and they also become happy. I feel as if this book promotes sharing and helping friends out when they are sad. I would use this book anywhere from kindergarten to 2nd or 3rd grade.
