Mrs. Pinson's Library

Hooray for Reading Day! is a great book to build confidence in student's reading. The main character, Jessica, stumbles over words while reading and worries about everyone laughing at her. With the upcoming Reading Theater Day arriving, she begins practicing her reading over and over with her pet dog because her biggest fear is messing up in front of her parents and friends. On the big day, Jessica reads her part aloud with no flaws, and she is so proud! The book is wonderful to use as a read-aloud for students who may fear reading. One activity would be to do a reading theater day as Jessica did in the book. 

Lexile level: 380L 

The Giving Tree is such a precious book to introduce to children of all ages. The plot consists of a little boy and a tree becoming the best of friends. The boy plays, sleeps. and talks with the tree the majority of his time. As the boy gets older, he spends less time with the tree but she still gives all she has to offer him such as her apples, branches, and trunk. As the story concludes and the boy becomes an old man, he realizes the importance of his relationship with the tree and resorts back to spending most of his time with her. This story is a great way to teach students character education and the gift of giving. One activity could be to allow students to make a tree out of construction paper and get them to list ways in which they can give.  

Lexile level: 530L 

The Rainbow Fish is a great book about the importance of sharing and friendship. In the text, the Rainbow Fish brushes off all other fish when they comment on and want one of his beautiful scales. Soon, he learns to share them in order to be a good friend. This is a great text to provoke some awesome conversations about friendship and expectations in the classroom. One fun activity would be to have students make a rainbow fish and then put qualities of a great friend on each of the scales. 

Lexile level: 410L

When Max gets in trouble with his mom and gets sent to bed without supper, his rage sends him to the land of the wild things. He goes on many adventures and eventually becomes their king. However, it does not take long before Max realizes he misses his mom and wants to go home. This is such an awesome children's classic and one of my personal favorites! This would be such a fun read-aloud and could lead to some great writing prompts. Some prompts could include: "When I feel wild..." or "If I were king of the wild things..."

Lexile level: 740L