by Bonnie P. Murray
Available from Amazon.com
I found this book after my first year of teaching. Boy, do I wish I had it during my first year!
This book tells you how to set up your classroom, work with parents, set up a discipline plan—basically, how to manage your first year. The book is easy to read all at once, or as a quick reference to help with specific issues.
The best part is a complete schedule for what to do on the first day of school. The author gives a separate schedule for each grade K-4. I adapted it for 5th grade and it worked there, too. I think any elementary teacher can use this book.
I can’t praise this book highly enough. Beginning and experienced teachers will love it.
P.S. Next year, you can loan it to a new teacher!
By Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by Yuyi Morales (pronounced Ju-ji)
AR Reading Level 3.9; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: When Cesar Chavez was ten years old, his family had to move from their happy home in Arizona because of drought. So begins the story of working as a migrant worker in California under increasingly deplorable conditions. The historic 1965 strike against grape farmers, Cesar Chavez’s efforts to unionize migrant workers, and the dramatic 340 mile march for “La Causa” to California’s capital is the centerpiece of this dramatic and beautifully told story.
Activities: Harvesting Hope is poetically written, but simple enough for children to understand. Still, I would read this story aloud. Students will get much more out of it with an adult to explain the history and classmates to share the experience. Expect a long classroom discussion. Students will be indignant to learn that after Cesar broke a school rule against speaking Spanish, the teacher hung a sign on him that read “I AM A CLOWN. I SPEAK SPANISH.” Many stores displayed “White Trade Only” signs.
Like Chavez himself did, children will make the natural connections to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi.
This book reminds us all to respect the dignity of every man.
by Holly Keller
AR Reading Level 2.3; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: A twist on fables, this book is about a mouse who ends up stuck in a hole. None of the animals can rescue Mouse, so they recommend asking Snake. Mouse heard through the grapevine that his old friend Snake likes to eat mice, so Mouse won’t agree. Ultimately, Snake ties a vine to his tail and pulls Mouse out. Everyone learns a lesson.
Activities: This is good independent or group reading for grades 1-3. I use it as a springboard for discussing friendship, or as a prediction lesson. It’s also good for discussing relationships between characters and making connections to your life. With older students, I use it as an example of a non-Aesop fable.
by Dav Pilkey
AR Reading Level 3.1; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: The Dumb Bunnies are Papa, Mama, and Baby. They prepare for Easter—but it’s really a mashup of holidays. My favorite is when the Easter Bunny comes in a minivan—pulled by eight flying Pilgrims. Then he drops Easter eggs down the chimney with a “Ho, ho, ho! Look out below!” This book is very short, but jam-packed with jokes. The illustrations complement the text’s jokes—and add plenty of their own.
Activities: Don’t look too hard for intellectual things you can read into the book—it’s pure fun. You can’t predict the story. You can laugh so hard you collapse into giggles. You can let kids read it repeatedly, practicing their fluency and looking for more jokes. You can let analytical kids count the jokes, then calculate a joke-to-page ratio, or a joke-to-word ratio. I suspect Dav probably listed joke ideas, then wrote the book. I can’t think of any other way to pack the jokes so densely!
by Janet Stevens
AR Reading Level 3.2; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
When Spring is in the air, this is a great read!
Summary: This book is about Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear. Brer Rabbit lost a risky bet with a tortoise, so he is short of cash. He needs to feed his huge rabbit family. He hatches a plan to win vegetables off Brer Bear, who has farmland. First, Brer Rabbit says he do all the planting and split it with Bear. He gets tops, Bear gets bottoms. Rabbit grows lettuce, and things where the tops are good. Bear is mad, and says next time he wants tops. So Rabbit grows carrots and root veggies, because the bottoms are the good part. Bear says he wants tops and bottoms next time. So Rabbit grows corn, where the middles are best. The trickery is awesome, and I love how the book is rotated, so the pages are long—it’s like reading a picture book sideways, except the pictures are oriented for it.
Activities: This book is GREAT for predictions! Kids love to predict, and there is a real quandary when Bear wants tops and bottoms. How will rabbit solve that? My favorite prediction ever was when an English Language Learner said of Brer Rabbit, “He’s going to jack the carrots!”
I like to tie this book in with the tradition of Brer Rabbit stories: Brer Rabbit is a trickster. I would say Brer Rabbit cuts across cultures, because I always thought of him as a Southern character, but a British author I love, Enid Blyton, also writes Brer Rabbit stories (Amazon Link)
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Andrea Davis Pinkney
AR Reading Level 3.9; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: Peggony-Po is a wooden boy made by Galleon Keene, a whaler who lost his leg while trying to capture the best whale of all, Cetus. The story follows Peggony-Po as he rides Cetus around the world, ultimately convincing the whale to stuff himself and end up beached, dying fat and happy. Published by Hyperion Jump at the Sun, the book is definitely African-American.
Activities: This book is a great Read-Aloud, because the language is vivid and difficult and the subject unfamiliar. Sixth graders could read and understand it themselves, but anyone younger would need help, because they have so little experience with the topic. The kids could make many connections: to Moby-Dick, Pinocchio, etc. The afterward explains the history of whaling, and shows that the sea was “the great equalizer”—a good whaler was a good whaler, no matter the color of his skin. History and character lessons abound.
by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
AR Reading Level 2.0; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: After the farmer goes to bed, the animals rock out with a punk version of Old MacDonald. The illustrations are awesome and the animals look appropriately punk—they’ve earned their street cred.
Activities: With reviews by Rolling Stone and Spin on the back, this book is mostly for rockin’ parents to buy for their kids. However, I could use it for grades 1-3 as a Read-Aloud, or a book for independent reading. The kids could download the song from punkfarm.com and write their own versions of the song as a story frame activity.
by Lisa Campbell Ernst
AR Reading Level 4.4; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: The gingerbread girl was made by the little old woman and man, who were feeling lonely. The girl runs off, just like her older brother, gathering a crowd behind her. When she comes to the river, she outsmarts the fox, using a piece of her licorice hair to tie his snout shut so he won’t eat her. She brings the whole crowd to the little old couple to keep them company.
Activities: Any age would enjoy this as a Read-Aloud, but primary students benefit most from the rhyme, repetition, and structure. I would use it for prediction on the first reading. I might give the kids a paper with the Gingerbread Girl’s rhyme, and let them practice it for fluency. If the kids notice the feminist angle, well, that’s good for them to see!
by Margie Palatini
AR Reading Level 2.5; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: Ducktective Web and his partner solve crimes in nursery-rhyme land. The tone of the book is film noir detective style. The font is New Courier, like a typewriter, and the illustrations are simple but effective.
Activities: This book might be a cute Read-Aloud for primary, but older kids will appreciate the humor. The film noir style might appeal to fans of Chet Gecko. The connections to nursery rhymes are pretty sophisticated. This could springboard into a writing assignment of your own Nursery Rhyme Mysteries, or it could just be fun, light independent reading for grades 3-6.
by Janet Stevens
AR Reading Level 2.6; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: The characters from “Hey Diddle Diddle” need to reassemble so the story can be read again at bedtime tonight, but Dish and Spoon haven’t returned. The other characters search for them through fairy tale/Mother Goose land. Eventually they find Dish and Spoon, and the rhyme can resume.
This book is very witty and kids will enjoy the references to the nursery rhymes. That is, if they know the nursery rhymes. The wit is the main thing to study in this book.
Activities: This is a good Read-Aloud for 1-3, but only if children know the original nursery rhymes. Don’t assume children know traditional nursery rhymes! Read the nursery rhymes to younger kids; Mother Goose, in particular, is good for phonemic awareness. Older kids can read this book independently and appreciate the wit and wordplay.
by Francesca Greco
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: Cyril the Mandrill is the newest creature at the zoo. The other animals don’t like him because he’s new and different. Zoogoers love him, which makes the other animals jealous. Then, in winter, the monkeys have to stay indoors for months. Their world is grey, but Cyril brings the outside world’s color to them with eloquent phrases to match the colors on his nose. That spring, the animals vow to be Cyril’s friend, never forgetting how he got them through that grey winter.
Activities: This is a good Read-Aloud for 1-6, and a good independent reader for grades 1-3. The message of acceptance is a good lesson, and the kids will like comparing Cyril to Raffiki in The Lion King. I would use this book for prediction and character development discussions, as well as character discussions about celebrating differences.
By Sandra L. Pinkney
Foreword by Maya Angelou
AR Reading Level 3.0; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: This book is part of the Read and Rise literacy campaign to promote literacy, in which Scholastic teamed up with the National Urban League. A main goal was to promote a love of reading in inner city, predominately African-American children. The book opens with an inspiring poem by Maya Angelou. The book is illustrated with photos of kids who let reading take them places, sometimes by dressing up in costumes like they find in books they read.
Activities: Read and Rise is partly designed for parents, to increase buy-in for literacy. Teachers might consider making this book part of a Family Reading Night event. Read and Rise is inspiring for primary readers and preschool level.
Connection: Maya Angelou’s foreward to Read and Rise reminds me of “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, which is great for sharing with older students.
I use an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem “Choose Your Freedom – Learn to Read” to inspire my students:
Reading is the pathway
From the dungeon
To the door
Freedom
Reading is the highway from
The shadow to the sun
Freedom
Reading is the river
To your liberty
For all your life to come
Let the river run
Learn
Learn to read.
–Maya Angelou
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
AR Reading Level 3.9; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: Saraleen and Royce just want their daddy to come home for Christmas, but he can’t because he is working to build the NYC subway, and the foreman won’t let the crew leave. Mim (mom) sends in some of her famous jam, and the crew and foreman like it so much that they give the workers the day off after all.
Activities: I might help students use prior knowledge and experience by having them discuss favorite family recipes. Then, we’d read the book. This is a good Read-Aloud or independent reader for grades 2-4. This is a good book for predicting. At the back of the book is an author’s note on building the subway. That would be especially interesting for New Yorkers.
By Megan McDonald
AR Reading Level 2.6; 0.5 points
Available at Amazon.com
Summary: Beetle McGrady is a plucky character. She has red hair and freckles. Beetle wants to eat bugs, because where would the story be otherwise? Beetle also is learning about the food pyramid in second grade. At the end of the unit, a chef comes to school and makes all sorts of bug dishes for the kids to try.
Activities: The author got the idea from a Bug Day at a museum in San Francisco. Reading this book in a classroom setting could become a giggle fest. Kids would love to draw bug dishes and make up recipes. If my students came across this book, I would be happy for them to read it independently.
By Barbara Samuels
AR Reading Level 2.9; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: Dolores is a cat lover and recognized by her classmates as an expert. Then Hillary comes to class. With her Siamese cat and awesome cat projects, she steals all Dolores’s thunder. Dolores tries to make her cat cool, and her sister tells her “Let Duncan be Duncan.” Eventually, Duncan saves the day when Hillary’s cat gets stuck in a King Tut cat maze.
Activities: This book is a good Read-Aloud for grades K-1 and an independent read for grades 2-4. The messages of self acceptance and realizing a rival can be a friend are valuable. The book is excellent for predicting: the resolution makes sense, but it isn’t obvious and kids will keep guessing until the end.
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