Hello January

Preparing for a MLK Read Aloud! 

Books and ideas I have used in the past when I taught 4th grade. Below are two of my favorite books I share with my students:

Title: Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Title: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.?

The first thing we did in my classroom was sign a peace pact. I think I found the copy from my January books or Mailbox.com. I would then hang them on our classroom door.

A few different things I did over the years are listed below:

1. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in solving disagreements without violence. Write about a time you solved a disagreement in a peaceful way.


2. Make a poster with the heading :I Have a Dream" and have the children draw a picture of what their dream is for themselves.

3. Make copies of small doves. Anytime a student did something peaceful during the month, a student or myself would write it down and add it to a bulletin board with the title, "Keeping Peace in Room ____ "

I hope there is something you can use in your classroom.

Happy Reading!

December Book Break!

Snowmen Everywhere !!

I was at Barnes and Nobles today browsing the holiday books at 50% off and was THRILLED to find this book!

I have Snowmen at Night which I LOVE!!

Snowmen All Year tells the tale of a boy wishing his snowman was magical. He wishes he could take him to the zoo, camping, to see fireworks, out on Halloween night and to other fun seasonal events.

The text is short and could be written on chart paper for a variety of reading aloud or cloze activities. Certain text could be covered up and a new story could be written. Then students could each have a line to illustrate for a class book.

This story also makes me want to cut out white circles for the students to make their own snowman. Then draw a snowman in a different seasons doing something fun (that is not in the book). I would love to see a snowman in a Hawaiian shirt or on a surfboard.

Here's to another great read aloud for a snow theme!

Happy Reading!

Thanksgiving Read Alouds

Two Fun Books!

Bring on turkey this month! 

HaWhen Amelia Bedelia helps out with the school Thanksgiving play, she causes quite a scene. Let's all give thanks for another funny new Amelia Bedelia story!

10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston is a counting story.

Happy Reading! 

Halloween Party Day

Happy Halloween !

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a fun filled day at school!

Good luck with all those little ghost and goblins... or as in our school's case.. storybook characters!

Here I am: 

The Mouse was a hit! 

Halloween Read Alouds

It is that time of year for my favorite Halloween books!!! 

Scaredy-Cat, Splat!by: Rob Scotton

First graders love this cat! I love they way they giggle when Splat is a scaredy cat! Here is another clever story about Splat! He wants to be the scariest cat on Halloween, but when the teacher tells a ghost story in the dark, Splat isn't so brave.

We are teaching text to self connections right now. This books lends itself well to talking about what scares kids. It also gets them talking about Halloween and their costumes.

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler is a cute story!
A skeleton is bothered by hiccups and his friend Ghost tries to help him get rid of them.

One way I use this book with my students is to go on a word hunt because there are a lot of sight words in this book.

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson is a cute story about some helpful animals who find "room on the broom" of a generous witch. This clever story has rhyme, repetitive text, the theme of cooperation, and beautiful illustrations.

Happy Reading!