Reading has been an important part of my life ever since I was little. I still remember reading Dr. Seuss books with my dad. As a teacher I want to instill in my students a love for reading. Reading helps creativity grow in a child and lets them explore worlds that may never exist.
3rd Grade
This is a compilation of poems by Shel Silverstein. This book would be great to help children with rhyming and poetry. When I was in school we had to memorize one of these poems to recite and I would do that with my class. These poems also encourage students to bring out their creative side when creating poems in class. It lets them know it is okay to be silly when writing poetry.
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5th Grade
The BFG (big friendly giant) spends his time blowing happy dreams to children. Soon he finds a companion in a young orphan named Sophie. Together they save the world from nine other man-gobbling giants. This book has made up words and bad grammar which might confuse some students. I would still love to use this book in my classroom to talk about finding friends in unexpected places. First I would make sure my students knew this book used improper grammar and had made up words. I could find an activity for students about the made up words.
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2nd Grade
This is a book about nouns. It shows the read what nouns are through rhyme, illustration, and humor. I would use this book in my classroom when I was introducing nouns. Parts of speech are hard for children to learn because there are so many different categories. This book would greatly help students identify nouns.
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4th Grade
Grace is young girl that loves reading. Her elementary school is putting on a production of Peter Pan and she can't wait to audition for the role of Peter Pan. Her classmates soon find out the part she wants and they tell her that she can't play that part because she is a girl. Grace does not let this stop her and still auditions for the role. This book is great for teaching kids to stand out and lets them know that they can do anything they set their mind to. If there was a school play coming up I would read this to my class to encourage them to try out for a part in the play.
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3rd Grade
This book is about a little girl named Camilla Cream and she will not eat lima beans even though she loves them! All of her classmates will not eat lima beans and in order to fit in she refuses them. Soon the pressures to fit in are too much and Camilla comes down with a terrible case of the stripes. I would use this book in my classroom to teach students how important it is to be themselves. There is pressure from peers in every grade level and this book would be a great use to tackle this topic or to bring this topic up in a class for discussion.
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2nd Grade
Amelia Bedelia takes everything literally. When house sitting for the Rogers family, she is asked to do several things throughout the house. She was told to draw the drapes and instead of closing them she sat down and drew them on paper. Her literal way of thinking is always getting her into trouble but somehow she always manages to come out on top. This book would be a great use when teaching idioms. It allows students to have a better understanding of phrases that are commonly used and the different meanings they could have.
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5th grade
Newbery Medal winner
Karana is an Indian girl that lives on an island that is shaped like a dolphin when you see it from above. She lives there with her family and tribe until one day a ship comes and tries to take over the island in order to hunt sea otter. The men on the ship capture and kill the village leaving Karana by herself on the island. Karana lives alone for many years until one day she finds she is no longer alone on the island. This novel incorporates a lot of survival skills and Native American women's history that could be incorporated into a lesson about people from other places moving Native Americans out of their homeland.
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5th grade
This story is a sequel to Island of the Blue Dolphins and is about a young Indian girl named Zia. The story focuses on traditions of her mother and the present world. She is helped by her Aunt Karana who was the main character in Island of the Blue Dolphins. This would be a great story to introduce while teaching a social studies lesson on traditions and/or culture.
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5th grade
Newbery Medal winner
This novel is about sixteen people who are called together for the reading of the will of Sam Westing. Shortly after meeting everyone finds out that the will is actually a contest in which they are all supposed to participate. The potential heirs take their clues to figure out the answer to the Westing game. The prize is worth $200,000,000. This book would be great for a literature circle and would be a great book to work on character analysis.
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