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I am always searching
for just the right book to us with just the right activity.
What I am trying to do on this page is create lists of books that
you can use and search for your specific needs. I did NOT
create many (if any) of these book lists, instead these are books I
have collected from different website (www.teachers.net,
www.proteacher.com,
etc). If YOU have any ideas I would LOVE to
hear
from you!
Great Books to Start the School Year/
Building a Community
Manners, Respectful Behavior and
Accepting Responsibility
Holiday Books
Devices in Literature
Mentor Text for Persuasive
Writing
Literature Circles
Read Alouds
Using Pictures Books
in the Classroom
Excellent Book
Lists by Frank Serafini
Using Books in Math
Professional Reading
Great Books to Start
the School Year
These are some books that I
*try* to read at the beginning of the school year to build classroom
community. I may NOT read all of these, or just pick and
choose. You can read more about these book selections on the
Back to School page.
Click here for a printable version of this list
Manners,
Respectful Behavior and Accepting Responsibility
I DID not create this list. I cut and
pasted this list from a ProTeacher post.
Printable copy of this list
Holiday Books
Thanksgiving
Winter/
Christmas
I did not create this list. I
compiled it from suggestions Teachers.net
Thanksgiving
Click
here for a printable copy of
this list.
Christmas/ Winter Books
Click
here for a
printable list.
Devices in Literature
This is a collection of lists I
have found on the internet over time. It seems like I am
always looking for books to illustrate a concept!
Homophones:
Mentor Text for Persuasive
Writing
Click
here for a printable version of this
list.
Literature Circle Books
Lists
By Crystal
(This list is intended for fifth grade )
Indicates books in a series
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Westing Game (very high level)
Something Upstairs by Avi (also works w/ Civil War unit)
Bunnicula or
Howliday Inn by James Howe
(Click here for reading contract for
Bunnicula)
Any of the Chet Gecko mysteries (for lower readers)
Who Stole the Wizard of Oz? by Avi (for lower readers)
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Tuck Everlasting
Loser by Jerry Spinelli
Maniac Magee
Because of Winn-Dixie (for lower readers)
My Brother Sam is Dead (Revolutionary War)
Johnny Tremain (Revolutionary War)
The Hobbit (for higher readers...loooong!)
Bridge to Terabithia
Number the Stars
Redwall (higher readers or read-aloud)
My Side of the Mountain
A Single Shard
Harriet the Spy
Literature Circle Books for Fourth Grade
By Mandy
Indicates books in a series
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
How to Eat Fried Worms by Rockwell
Indian In the Cupboard By Lynn Reid Banks
There's A Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar
A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith
Skinnybones By Barbara Park
Shiloh By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Read Alouds
This
website
lists great ideas for read alouds for grades Kindergarten to fifth grade!
Third Grade Read Alouds
(Collected from many different teachers. net postings!). Please make
sure to check with the grade above you to make sure they do not use any of
these books instructionally! I made this mistake once!
Indicates books in a series
Hank
Zipper series
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Because of Winn Dixie
How to Eat Fried Worms
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Hank the Cowdog series
How to
be Cool in 3rd Grade
Little House in the Big Woods
Muggie Maggie
Poppy
Molly's Pilgrim
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Chocolate Fever
The
Witches
Suggestions for Fourth and Fifth Grade
(Collected from many different teachers. net
postings!)
Among the Hidden- Highly recommend this one!
Poppy-
I always start the year with this one!
Kid in the Red Jacket- great for beginning of year
Lion, Witch and Wardrobe
Wait Until Helen Comes
Crash- great for the end of the year if your kids are headed
to a middle school
Roald Dahl books
Where the Red Fern Grows
Inkheart-
VERY long
Hank the Cowdog
How to Make a Million Bucks in Just Four Days
The Giver
Dear Mr. Henshaw
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Freak the Mighty
Because of Winn Dixie
All of the Joey Pigza Books--probably a favorite. of my classes
Beauty--an animal tear-jerker
Wings by Bill Brittain--hard to find but awesome!! Strong
female characters
The Westing Game
George Washington's Socks
Go Free or Die - Harriet Tubman story
Tale of Desperaux
I love this book! Candlewick Press has a
FREE teaching guide on how to use this book as a read aloud and it is
excellent! Click
here
to see it.
La Bamba and Too Many Tamales - Gary Soto short stories
Bud, Not Buddy
Esperanza Rising
Gregor the Overlander
Using Picture Books in the
Classroom
I use picture books on a daily basis in my fourth
grade classroom. There are so many wonderful books out there that it is
easy to find a tie or a link to literature. Many of my mini lessons in
reading and writing are tied to a book. Check out some of my reading
mini lessons here.
Here is an excellent list of ideas of how to use literature as a
"springboard" for other ideas.
Another great site that matches skills to
literature is
Effective Teaching Solutions. The author matches books to reading
skills such as Cause and Effect and Context Clues. Check out this great
resource.
Below is a list of how Francie, a contributor to
teachers.net uses picture books.
Using Picture Books in
the Classroom
By Francie
I use these picture books each year in fifth grade with
great results:
How Many Days to America - Eve Bunting (I have the students
compare and contrast the Pilgrims Thanksgiving and struggle
to this modern day tale)
Nettie's Trip South by Ann Turner - If you want students to
feel how horrible slavery is, this is the book! (The
students can write a letter to Nettie, and explain how they
respond to her descriptions)
Another story I use is "Do Not Open" - by Brinton Turkle
for predicting. This is a great book to use! A woman isn't
afraid of anything, not even a genie. I stop the book right
before the students see the horrible illustration of the
genie. They have to predict what it looks like, and how the story will end.
We read for the first time:
Luba: The Angel of
Bergen-Belsen (Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards)) by Luba
Tryszynska-Frederick (Translator), Ann Marshall, Michelle
Roehm McCann (Illustrator)
This is
a very powerful tale of a woman in a concentration camp
that helps starving children, that were left to die in the
snow. We use this in our heritage unit.
We also just read:
Coolies. The Author is Yin
and the illustrator is
Chris Soentpiet. It was very helpful in showing how tough
life was for a Chinese immigrant during the building of the
transcontinental railroad. Teaches empathy for the
immigrant. We tied this in with an Open Court story on a
Chinese immigrant (from My Name is America series: The
Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California,
1852 by Laurence Yep - part of our Moving West unit
Sweet
Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson-
another tale of slavery. We contrast Clara to Harriet
Tubman, and compare their lives. My favorite read aloud for
Harriet Tubman is Go Free or Die.
A Bad Case Of Stripes by David Shannon "Camilla Cream loved
lima beans..." Great to talk about
conformity, learning to be yourself, and love yourself for
who you are.
Tuesday
by David Wiesner-
Great for teaching writing descriptive sentences about
absolutely crazy events.
Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco- I get choked up,
because it is about a teacher who cares, and helps a child
learn to read. This is good if you are going to teach about
tolerance to others with learning disabilities, and that each student can be
reached by a good teacher.
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest -
Lynne Cherry I was taught this lesson plan from another
teacher. I use this story in the first week of school to
teach Dr. Sandra Kaplan's depth and complexity icons. I
especially love looking at things with "multiple points of
view" - What if your dad worked as a logger, would you
still think it is bad to cut down trees? What if he was
going to lose his job, how would you feel about the issue
then? Even if the teacher does not take that point of view of a
logger, it helps the students see there are many sides to
questions. They could look at this tale through an
economist's perspective, from an environmentalist's
perspective. They could develop the "language of the
discipline" - words that this story is about: rain forest,
animal names, environment, etc. Dr. Kaplan has great ideas,
worth learning more about her, and attending any lectures
she gives at GATE conferences.
Swamp Angel (Caldecott Honor Book) by Anne Isaacs,
illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky . Great for teaching Tall
Tales. Heroine, rather than a hero.
Big Quiet House A Yiddish Folktale from Eastern Europe-
Great illustrations, good tale. Great for teaching Eastern
European heritage By Heather Forest Illustrated by Susan
Greenstein. A classic Jewish folktale, retold afresh for a new
generation. There once was a man whose house was very
small, It was cluttered with things from wall to wall. With a tiny, cluttered house, giggling children, and a
snoring wife, the poor man in this story can't get a good
night's sleep. If only, he thinks, I had a big quiet house!
He throws off his covers and goes to visit the wise old
woman at the edge of the village. Surely she can help him
solve his problem. And she does, but not without giving him
some very nonsensical advice. “Bring a chicken into your
house,” she suggests. And when that doesn't work, she has
him add a goat, a horse, a cow, and a sheep. The ending of
the story proves, as so many ancient folktales do, that
quite often, nonsense makes the best sense of all. Susan
Greenstein's bold illustrations—white pencil on black
surface with watercolor—carry the reader through the warm
interiors and peaceful nights of the shtetls of Eastern
Europe.
Who Took My Hairy Toe?
by Shutta Crum, Katya Krenina
(Illustrator) Great
read aloud for Halloween. Appalachian folktale. Stop and
make the students predict what will happen next. Read it in
your scariest, spookiest voice, "Who took my hairy toe?"
Hooway for Wodney Wat
by Helen Lester, Lynn M. Munsinger
I hesitate to list this one,
because if anyone in your classroom speaks with a soft "r",
then they might be offended by this book. The hero has a
problem saying "r" sound, and it makes for a great story,
with the hero becoming quite proud and strong of himself in
the end.
That's Good! That's Bad!
(An Owlet Book) by Margery Cuyler,
David Catrow
I haven't used this, but we love this as a family book.
This would be a fun project to have the students pair up
and write their own version of this delightful tale: The
boy fell out of the stork's mouth, Oh that's bad, no,
that's good....
Verdi. Written by Janell Cannon Read this to make sure your
students remember that us old folks are still alive and
kicking.
***
Below is a variety of quotes I
have found on www.teachers.net about
using picture books in the classroom.
Surprising Sharks is the best literary
nonfiction I have come across in a long, long time. Full of
facts, but the delivery is wondrous. Such writing! Great
lead, fantastic conclusions and everything in between is great. I can't say
enough about this book. This is a fine model for
nonfiction writing that is not dry. All traits. (From Lori)
Shortcut- Excellent book for inference. Very clever illustrations
(from Ted and Lee Johnson).
Excellent Book List By Frank
Serafini
I recently went to a conference
where Dr. Serafini spoke and he was amazing! He mentioned his website
which has several different kinds of book lists. For example, books
about readers reading, favorite picture books and so on. I found it very
helpful.
Dr. Serefini's
Book List
Using Books
in Math
Printable Copy
of This List
.
Professional Reading
I have stacks and stacks of professional
reading between my home and school bookshelves. Some I have
read and enjoyed and others...well, I keep
on saying I will get to them some day! I have a love affair
with books! Here are a few
of my absolute FAVORITE books that I reference often.
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