5 Favorite Read Alouds for Spring

Once the craziness of Valentine's Day ends, I get the itch to look ahead towards spring, and one thing I love to do is pull out some of my favorite books to read aloud to students. Here are a few of my top picks, accompanied by a teaching focus to use with each one.

#1 Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens

Tops & Bottoms is the tale of a rabbit who lives on a bear's property. Through a series of cleverly made, self-serving deals with the bear, the rabbit grows and harvests a variety of vegetables, each time taking the crop's best parts for his own family. This time, Bear, you take the tops and I'll take the bottoms. Deal?... and off the rabbit goes to plant carrots and the like.

Use Tops & Bottoms to teach theme. The story contains several, including ones involving work ethic, the lengths one goes to help one's family, and the "little guy" besting the "boss man." Be sure to include the illustrations to help students discover and understand certain themes. For example, the bear wears boots throughout the story, adding to the impression that he is "the big boss." Some say there are even ties to plantation owners and the struggle of slaves, so even though the story is written at a third grade level or so, some pretty deep and meaningful discussions can be brought out.

#2 Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming

In Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, Mr. McGreely does battle against three little bunnies who continue to break into his garden and eat all of his vegetables. Mr. McGreely goes to great lengths to protect his garden... fences, moats, walls, you name it. But the bunnies always figure out a way to thwart his efforts.

Use Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! to teach onomatopoeia. Each time the bunnies break into Mr. McGreely's garden, a slew of snappy sound words accompany the illustrations, showing their sneaky exploits.

If you are interested in my literature unit for Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, you can see it HERE.

#3 The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

The Gardener is one of my favorite books with which to teach. Set during the Great Depression, Lydia Grace is sent to the city to live with her Uncle Jim and help in his bakery. The story is told through the letters that Lydia Grace writes back to her family. Though at first Lydia Grace is unsure of her new environment, her positive attitude and spirit help to change more than just herself.

Use The Gardener to teach character growth. Though Lydia Grace is the main character, use the details in her letters to infer changes in Uncle Jim. The clues can be subtle, as Uncle Jim never says a word, but the change is profound.

If you are interested in my literature unit for The Gardener, you can see it HERE.

#4 Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

In Weslandia, the main character, Wesley, a sort of social outcast at school, develops (with a little magic, of course) a brand new plant he calls a swist. Wesley's backyard gets filled with the new plant, and Wesley begins using parts of the plant for food, shelter, and various gadgets. Wesley eventually develops products from his plant that he sells to the same kids who bullied him! A whole new civilization is born in Wesley's backyard.

Use Weslandia as a companion to your science unit on plant growth or even in conjunction with your economics unit. (Yeah, it's that versatile.) Integrate engaging projects with students' plant learning, like asking students to develop a new plant of their own, with diagrams and explanations of its parts, needs, and uses. Extend the project into the economics realm by having students use their plant as their natural resource to create imaginary products to sell.

#5 City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems

Oh City Dog, Country Frog, how I love thee. Seriously, this simply told, touching story from Mo Willems (yep, the pigeon author) and illustrator Jon J. Muth (how this book didn't win the Caldecott I'll never know), takes the reader on a journey of friendship, at times full of love, and at times heart-breaking. Though the story travels through all four seasons, it begin in spring and ends in "spring again." The text is minimal, but very powerful, which makes it a perfect choice to reread and use multiple times during the year, even with upper elementary.

Use City Dog, Country Frog to teach how to create mental images. (Use it for a lot of things, actually.) The concise style paired with Muth's illustrations compel readers to use their five senses to dig into deeper understanding. After reading and discussing, try rereading the book once more, asking students upon completion to draw and explain their "lasting" mental image, the image seared into their mind that they will remember until they are old. (Yes, it's that good.)

*    *    *

What are some of your other favorite picture books to use during the spring?

A Few of My Favorite Fall Books

Hey y'all!  This is Francheryl from Primary Essentials.  This will be short and sweet.  I'm just dropping by to share three of my absolute favorite fall read alouds.  They are just plain great books to share with your students.

#3 Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant

 

This book is a great book about the life of a scarecrow and what it enjoys about being a scarecrow. This book would be great to use to teach visualization.  For younger grades, students could create a scarecrow and write a description of their scarecrow.

 

#2 Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

 

 

This great read aloud would be great for sequencing.  The animals make the soup the same way everyday until one day one of the characters decides they want to do something different!  Students could also write a pumpkin soup recipe. The recipes can be put into a Pumpkin Soup recipe class book.

 

 

#1 Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

 

 

I absolutely LOVE this book.  It is appropriate for students of all ages!  This book is great for teaching predicting and making inferences.  For older students you could pause a different points and have them generate questions to ask the class.  I have personally read this book to Kindergartens all the way to fourth graders and they all loved the book! 

 

 

I told ya' it would be short and sweet!  If you haven't read one of my favorites, I hope you'll give it a try this fall!  That's all I got!  See you around the blogging world!

 

Francheryl Harris







Back to School Read Alouds

Hello and Happy Summer Vacation! It's Allison from Stuckey in Second. I always love coming over here to post on Who's Who and it's been awhile! I thought that I would share some Back to School Read Alouds today. Last year, over the summer, I asked my readers for some suggestions and I was amazed with how many books I hadn't heard of. How can I have a classroom FULL of books (and I mean, FULL!) and also be so "out of the loop" on current books? It just goes to show how many books are out there and that we need each other to collaborate and share our finds with each other! I can't say that I didn't know about ALL of these, but I had kind of "forgotten" about them. 

First Day Jitters is just hilarious. The kids love it and it breaks the ice with them about being nervous for the first day. Spoiler Alert---it's the TEACHER that has the first day jitters, even though you assume through the entire story that it's a kid that has the first day jitters. A good book to make connections with your new students on the first day! Plus, it will make them laugh!

Just like the title says, this book is great for teaching kids how to treat others! I think everyone needs that reminder at the beginning of the school year! (And maybe again later!)

A great story for reminding kids how to act...OR ELSE..... Also for letting them know how they should act if they ever have a substitute teacher. You never know when an unplanned day could pop up. This past year I had to take a day off the first week of school! Talk about stressful! 

I have read Chrysanthemum at the beginning of the year for quite a few years. I like reading it because it reminds the kids again how to treat others and how we are all different and unique in our own way. Plus, I just love Kevin Henkes! 

Sadly, this past year was the first year that I read about filling each other buckets. Why didn't I do this sooner? We made a great anchor chart after reading the story and talked about how we could fill buckets in our room everyday. That chart was a reminder all year to ourselves, "Are you filling someone's bucket today? How CAN I fill someone's bucket?"

Love Enemy Pie. It's a cute story and AGAIN, shows kids how to treat others! (Even an "enemy"!)

The Recess Queen is a good story to show kids how to treat each other on the playground and how to make friends with people, even if they are being mean to other people. It teaches kids how to be the bigger person and maybe even be FRIENDS with the "mean" kid. Maybe you will find out they aren't actually mean....

Tattle Tongue is definitely one of my favorites and it's one that I just discovered this past year. It teaches kids about appropriate and inappropriate tattling, when you should and SHOULDN'T tattle. I found myself referencing this book all year long! I was even asking my own kids at home, do you have a "Tattle Tongue"? Then I remembered that I really needed to bring that book home and read it to them!   

Favorite Read Alouds!

Hi guys! It's Molly from Lucky to Be in First! I'm here today to share some of my favorite read alouds {and a freebie, too!}

First up, one of my closest friends in the world {Greta!} wrote a book along with her sisters and mom {isn't that the cutest?!} Well, her book is fantastic! It's a great story about being yourself.  Head on over to Amazon and get it! I'll wait here.  

Seriously...she sells her book on Amazon! Isn't that amazing?? They're actually creating an entire series of books! 

Another one of my faves stars little miss  Molly Lou Melon.  Again, this story is all about being yourself.  I love this goofy little gal! There's also a bunch more in the series now, too!

Now this next book, I can barely read aloud without cracking up! Have you read The Night I Follow the Dog? Its hysterical! Your kids are sure to love it, too! 

And here's my classic favorite book. I still get a little teary every time I read this one!

The good 'ol Giving Tree! 

I also love to show my students this video on YouTube - Shel Silverstein actually reads it!  

If you're looking to stretch those little minds a little further, click on the pic to grab this freebie! To use, simply ask the kids to roll a die and complete the activity that corresponds to the number they land on! 

Want to snag even more FREEBIES? Sign up for my newsletter to have an exclusive freebie delivered to your inbox each month :) 

2nd Grade Chapter Book Read Alouds

Hello! It's Allison Stuckey from Stuckey in Second!


I thought it'd be nice to put together a list of the chapter books that I plan to read to my class this year and have them all put together and ready to go. I asked this question on my Facebook page and OOOOOh my goodness I had a HUGE response! I need to somehow keep that post and/or make a huge list out of it so that I won't forget any of them! I thought I'd share my current (as of today!) plan for chapter books to read to my kids this year. I honestly felt like I was living under a rock because I hadn't even heard of some of these titles and they were ones that some teachers were suggesting over and over again in the post. Where have I been!? LOL

As teachers were responding to my question, I quickly ordered these three titles from Amazon because I realized these were obviously a big hit. They were suggested over and over and over again. I can't wait for them to arrive!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also plan to read some other books that introduce a series to my students, so they are motivated to read the other books in the series. Now, mind you, this is my PLAN, and even though this will be my 10th year teaching 2nd grade, I'm not sure how many books I will actually fit into the school year. I suppose it all depends on my new schedule! But, here are some of my ideas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, another classic, mentioned OVER AND OVER (so glad it's still popular!)

 

 

Click here to follow my Facebook page and see the complete list of teacher suggestions for chapter book read alouds!