What is your favorite book to use in the classroom? The book could be fiction or nonfiction, a chapter book or a novel, a book of poetry or anthology of short stories, a picture book or board book, etc.
Please tell me why this is your favorite book and also tell me the age or grade level for which you use it.
Leave your contribution in the comment section below, and I'll post the round-up next weekend along with a new round table question for librarians.
I'm looking forward to seeing your responses!
While I'm no longer a teacher, I did teach ESL to middle and high school students before I changed careers.
ReplyDeleteFor my Intermediate English ESL students, my favorite books were Margy Burns Knights' Talking Walls series. I developed a 9-week unit of instruction based on these books that included a variety of cross-curricular activities, including map-reading, vocabulary, creative writing, and internet research.
I love these books on many different levels, but the biggest benefit I saw was that they helped me teach about different cultures and helped students develop an appreciation for diversity. My classes were very diverse, and there was sometimes a bit of conflict between the students from different races and cultures in the class. Talking Walls helped me teach out different cultures from an outside perspective.
Great question - very difficult choice. I've taught children from K-6. I read to my classes every single day because I am passionate about children's literature, and favorites are whatever the kids love.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there was a resource book I used across the grades, and still refer to when giving literacy activities at my blog. It is called Adventures in Thinking, by Joan Dalton, subtitled Creative Thinking and Co-operative Talk in Small Groups, (Thomas Nelson, Australia, 1985, ISBN 0170065553).
It has many models for teaching kids to think, regardless of subject. But what I loved were all the questions and activities suggested for various topics. Too often we spoon-feed kids, shoving information into them because of the constraints of time. Dalton's book was a way of adding value to every single lesson, by challenging kids to think about what they did.
This fall, I used HOW TO STEAL A DOG as a read aloud with a group of struggling fourth and fifth grade readers. Georgina, the main character in the book, is living in her car with her mother and younger brother in their car, because her father has abandoned the family. She decides to steal a dog and use the reward money to help her family get an apartment.
ReplyDeleteMy kids LOVED this book. My school is in a pretty touch neighborhood- we have lots of single parents and grandparents raising grandbabies, parents without jobs, family members in jail, foster care, being evicted from apartments, etc. My kids, I think, came away with the life lesson that sometimes good people make bad choices. The also, I think, felt comforted that there were other people surviving the same hard lives that they have. Four months later, they are still talking about this book.
I use the Dr. Seuss big books to teach theme/Big Idea to my 6th graders. They're usually familiar with the story, so after a trip down memory lane we can get right to the analyzing. I read Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet to them every year because I love that book. I also read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi and Sir Cumference and the First Round Table to all 3 of my math classes on Pi Day every year. They're great!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a teacher, but I am a library student on the school media track who recently put together a guided inquiry unit featuring Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series that might be of interest to folks here. The unit was designed for 5th graders, but could very easily be used with 4th and 6th graders if need be. I wrote up a detailed description of it over on my blog. Here's the link if you're interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://devinqwalsh.blogspot.com/2008/12/grimm-assignment.html
I'm a substitute teacher, but on numerous occasions have been able to teach my own lessons. One of my favorite books to teach with is "I'm Gonna Like Me" by Jamie Lee Curtis. I think it teaches students (3rd grade and up) a very important lesson about being true and respectful towards their own selves. I have used it at the beginning of the school year as well as mid year when students seem to need a refresher in self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteI've been using Not a Box by Anotoinette Portis with the at-risk kindergartners and first graders I work with. I've noticed some of them have a very hard time with 'using their imaginations'. We have to do a lot of coaxing to get them to be creative. They are loving this book. I had a small group draw a square on a piece of paper and draw other things they imagined a box could do.
ReplyDeleteHubby likes, "The Stories Julian Tells" by Ann Cameron the best for his first graders. They are short stories which make it easy to squeeze in as a read-aloud. They are humorous which means even the squirrely kids maintain attention. And best of all they are wonderful moral tales that teach the values of friendship, obedience, loyalty, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite resource for homeschooling is probably, "American History in Verse." Originally published by Houghton Mifflin in the 1930's & reprinted by BJU press. We LOVE this book.
I like to start off the year with a read-aloud to prove that books can be fun. I teach 8th grade and I've found Gary Paulsen's HOW ANGEL PETERSON GOT HIS NAME is good for quite a few laughs and gets reluctant readers interested.
ReplyDeleteTough decision, for sure. I love reading Christopher Paul Curtis's "The Watson's Go to Birmingham" to my fifth grade classes.
ReplyDeleteOn the opposite end of the silly spectrum, I've also had great success reading Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events." After reading Book the First, the kids were begging for more.
I've taught both fifth and sixth grades - "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" was always a favorite. The other book that I always teach usually ends up being performed by my students is "The Phantom Tollbooth".
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.
ReplyDeleteMy students love Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen.
I've read two new books with my 7th graders so far this year, both destined to be favorites. RULES by Cynthia Lord is such a great book for sharing because of its warmth and humor, and CHAINS by Laurie Halse Anderson is my new favorite historical novel.
ReplyDeleteWow...thanks everyone for your comments and so sorry I haven't responded earlier. This has been a super busy work week.
ReplyDeleteThere are some familiar and well-loved books here and new ones that I definitely need to take a look at.
Thanks for contributing!
In my 4th grade class I always start the year out by reading Banner in the Sky by James Ransey Ullman. We stop often for great discussions. After we get into the climbing parts, I show a short rock climbing movie. After we read the book we also watch the movie of it called Third Man on the Mountain. It's a kind of cheesy Disney old movie, but they love it.
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