Rules by Cynthia Lord

 

Catherine is twelve years old and just wants a normal life.  Her brother, David, is autistic, so having a normal life is pretty much impossible.  Catherine tries to teach David rules, such as: "Not everything worth keeping has to be useful," and "If you don't have the words you need, borrow someone else's." One day during the summer, Catherine meets Jason- a boy who goes to the same clinic as David, who teaches her so much about herself and what it means to be normal. 

After reading this book, I would want my students to look back and discuss the character development throughout the book.  I would want them to ask themselves, "How did Catherine change as a person?" and "What influenced this change?" Students could answer these questions on a Glog.  Here is the one I created and I would want my students to do.   I would also use this book with students who have siblings that are disabled.  I feel like it would really shed a light into their lives and hopefully help them deal with the normalcy of life. 

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Charlotte's Web is a fantasy novel that tells the story of Fern and her pig, Wilbur's, life.  Wilbur teams up with Charlotte, a spider that tells Wilbur that his life will end as bacon on someone's plate and Templeton, a rat, who only focuses on himself, to escape Wilbur's death.  

A really neat thing to do in the classroom would be to have students pick out what could and could not happen in this book.  You could read this book at the beginning of a Fantasy Novel unit.  Have your students really examine this book and see what fantasy means. 

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

 

This historical fiction book is based on the time during the Holocaust.  Number the Stars is about Annemarie Johansen, a 10-year-old girl who lives in Denmark.  Annemarie and her family risk their lives to help Ellen Rosen, Annemarie’s best friend.  They pretend that Ellen is Annemarie’s older sister, who died earlier in the war.  The book continues to tell of the struggles that the family faces and what it takes for them to get to the end of the war. 

I would use this book when we were doing a World War II unit and talking about the Holocaust.  I might use this book as a read aloud and read a chapter a day to the class.  I would want them to listen to this book and imagine their lives as Annemarie or Ellen.  I would want them to really see how the Holocaust affected people’s lives. 

 

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

 

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary is a great book for students.  The books main character, Leigh Botts, is given a writing assignment to write a letter to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.  Mr. Henshaw writes Leigh back with questions of his own.  Leigh's mother requires him to write Mr. Henshaw back- and this is the basis for the whole book.  Leigh is dealing with so many issues (his parent's divorce, his relationship with his father, etc) and we see those come through in his letters to Mr. Henshaw.   Mr. Henshaw suggests to Leigh that he start writing in a diary, rather than letters.  

One activity you could do in the classroom would be to have your students practice writing letters to authors, other students, etc.  Get together with another teacher at a different school, maybe in a different state or country and have your class be pen-pals with those students.  Although technology is important, you could take students "back" to the time of no e-mail and have them hand write letters to their pen-pals. 

Frindle by Andrew Clements

 

Frindle is a great realistic fiction book for students! Nick Allen is in the fifth grade and has Mrs. Granger for language arts.  Mrs. Granger is a stickler for words- she loves the dictionary.  While Nick is in Mrs. Granger’s class, he learns a lot about how words are created- and decides to create his own word- frindle.  Nick starts out by just having his friends use the word, but then the whole school catches on, and then the whole town.  Mrs. Granger wants it all to stop, but the word frindle is catching on everywhere- and it is too late.

I would use this book as a book club book for my students.  I would break my class up into groups and one group would read Frindle by Andrew Clements.  I would have them read a chapter or two and then come back together as a group and talk about what they have read, make predictions for what is to come and discuss how they or anyone else they know relates to the characters in the book.

 

The Tale of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp by Eric A. Kimmel

 

The Tale of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp is about a boy, named Aladdin, who lived in China.  One day, Aladdin's claimed-to-be uncle showed up and asked him to retrieve a lamp from an underground cavern.  When Aladdin retrieved the lamp, his uncle asked for it.  But, Aladdin refused.  His uncle was so mad at Aladdin that he trapped him.  While Aladdin was trapped, he discovered that if he rubbed the lamp, a genie would appear! Aladdin's luck started to change, but soon he learned that the things he wished for wasn't all that he wanted.  He had to get things back to normal.

One thing you could do in the classroom would be to get all of the Aladdin books and compare and contrast the different books.  If you have time, maybe even watch the movie or clips of the movie to compare and contrast the differences.  Read other fairy-tales that have many different versions and compare and contrast those as well! 

Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

 

This Patricia Polacco book is about a Babushka who was known throughout Moscow for painting detailed and beautiful eggs.  While she is painting the eggs for the Easter Festival, she “adopts” an injured goose, that she names Rechenka.  Babushka and Rechenka get along great until one day, Rechenka knocks over a basket of eggs that Babushka had painted.  Babushka was very upset, but the next morning when she woke up, the basket had one beautiful egg in it.  Every morning, for the next 12 mornings, when Babushka woke up, there was a beautiful egg in the basket.  Babushka got to go to the Easter Festival after all.  When Babushka returned from the festival she went straight to sleep.  The next morning, Rechenka was gone, but there was an egg in her basket- an egg that was different than all of the others.  There was a break in the egg and out popped a baby goose.  

After reading this book in my classroom, I would read other Patricia Polacco books to my students.  I would want them to really study the illustrations on each page and compare them to one another.  I would also have my students look at the patterns in Rechenka's Eggs- on the eggs, carpets, blankets, etc- and look for similarities and differences. 

One Grain of Rice by Demi

 

One Grain of Rice is a great mathematical folktale.  This book is about a raja who kept almost all of the people's rice for himself every year.  When the famine hit, the raja did not share with any of the people- and they went hungry.  A village girl named Rani comes up with a plan.  She does a good deed for the raja and the raja lets her choose her reward.  She asks for only one grain of rice, doubled every day, for thirty days.  As you read in the book, one grain of rice, doubled every day, for thirty days, turns into more than one billion grains of rice.  Rani taught the raja a lesson about what it means to be fair.  

This book could be used to create a linkage from Math to Literacy.  You could read this book with your students have have them actually calculate how much rice they would get after doubling each grain for 30 days.  On the page that the foldout is on in this book, you could talk about division.  Have students discover how many elephants it took to carry the grains of rice!

Wolves by Seymour Simon

This nonfiction book provides great information for students about wolves.  The author provides facts such as the different types of wolves, how big wolves can get, why wolves howl, among many other things.  Simon and the Smithsonian team up to create a wonderful nonfiction book on wolves that all students will enjoy!

I would use this book in the fourth grade to go right along with the NC Standard Course of Study Competency Goal 1.  The specific objective I would want to cover would be: "1.03 Observe and discuss how behaviors and body structures help animals survive in a particular habitat." This book provides the information needed to discuss how behaviors and body structures help animals survive in certain habitats.  

Flamingo Sunset by Jonathan London

Flamingo Sunset is a nonfiction book that has the best illustrations.  This isn't the typical nonfiction book though.  The author shows the life of a flamingo- starting with an unhatched egg turning into a flying flamingo, and back to the beginning of the cycle again.  

This book would be a good book to show your students that not all nonfiction books have to be "cut and dry."  Nonfiction books can be fun and exciting- not boring like one would normally think.  This book also has great facts about flamingo's and their adaptation.  With other activities and lessons, this book could connect with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for fourth grade- specifically Competency Goal 1, which states "The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptation."

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild Things Are is a great fantasy book for students.  Max is a boy who has such a wild imagination.  His mother calls him "wild thing."  One night, Max is sent to bed without supper for being too wild.  Max then goes into a far off land to where the wild things are.  These wild things made Max the King of all Wild things.  Max loved being with these wild things, but soon Max got lonely.  So, Max gave up being the King of all Wild things and traveled back home, where his supper was waiting for him- still warm.

One activity that you could do with your students after reading this book is doing a seminar- sort of like Paedia.  Have the students sit in a circle and make connections with the characters in the book- specifically Max.  Have them talk about if Max acted appropriately and if what he did was right.  I'm sure most students have felt like Max at some point growing up, so they should all have connections.  You could even have them make text-to-text connections.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a wonderful book for students in grades 3-5.  It is a book about a boy named Peter who has a younger brother named Fudge.  Peter is always being "hassled" by his younger brother.  What he doesn't realize until the end of the book is that Fudge looks up to Peter and just wants to be like him. 

This book was written in Peter's perspective.  Have your students write a portion of the story in another character's perspective.  You could also have your students think about their lives.  I'm sure some things that have happened in their lives can be seen differently in another person's perspective.  

The Old Man & His Door by Gary Soto

This book is about a man who doesn't listen to his wife.  He always seems to be busy doing something else while his wife asks him to do something.  At the beginning of the book, the author explains how similar the words "door" and "pig" are to each other in Spanish.  The man and woman are going to a barbeque later that afternoon.  When the woman leaves for the barbeque, the man is preoccupied with something else, but she tells him to bring "el Puerco," meaning "pig."  Of course, the man doesn't really hear the woman and thinks that she said to bring "la Puerta," meaning "door."  This book follows the man on a journey to a barbeque- with a door.  Along the way, the man helps a baby, carries a goose (and receives an egg), saves a boy who is drowning, and helps a man move things onto a moving truck- all with the door.

With this book, you could really focus on listening skills.  The man wasn't paying attention when his wife told him to bring the pig, so he brought the door.  With older students, you could talk about active listening and how beneficial it is to both the student and the person they are listening to.  Another thing that you could do is to talk about the Spanish language.  In the book, The Old Man & His Door, they have a list of Spanish words/phrases at the back.  This could be a useful tool to talk about the Spanish language with your students.  

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola

This multicultural book is about a young boy named Little Gopher.  Little Gopher isn't like the other boys in his tribe- he is different.  He just wasn't fit to be a warrior like the other boys.  Little Gopher was good at making toy warriors from leather and wood.  He loved to decorate smooth stones with the juices from berries he would find.  A wise man in the tribe told Little Gopher that his path would be different from the other boys, but he would always be remembered.  This book follows the journey of a boy who is remembered by his People, but not by the name Little Gopher- but He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth. 

This would be a great book to talk about Native Americans in the classroom.  It is also a book you could read at the beginning of the year.  Our students aren't always going to be good at the same things- they all have different, wonderful talents.  When reading this, we should make aware to our students that although Little Gopher wasn't going to be a warrior like the others, he was still talented in a different way. 

Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz

This multicultural book is all about how to say Peace in different languages.  While reading this book, you meet several different children from different countries- India, America, Japan, Australia, Russia, Bolivia, etc.  In the book, it gives you the different ways to say “Peace” in all of these different languages.  There is a sense of community in the book because all of the children want peace! 

At the end of this book, it has an informational page on the International Day of Peace, September 21.  On this day (or close to this day) in school, we could talk about Peace and diversity in our culture and other cultures.  It would be really interesting to find all these different countries on a map and connect this book to a social studies map lesson.