Favorite read-aloud for kids aged 4-8
"Woolbur"
"Would I Ever Lie to You?"
Here are some of our favorites:
Silly Little Goose! Nancy Tafuri
Kitten's First Full Moon. Kevin Henkes
The Seals on the Bus. Lenny Hort
Oliver Finds His Way. Phyllis Root
Princesses Are Not Quitters! Kate Lum
The Library Lion. Michelle Knudson
Wild About Books. Judy Sierra
One
Turk and Runt (Thanksgiving, responsibility, funny, & no one has heard
it 'cause it's old)
Voyage to the Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells (coping with bad days;
read to every entering class)
Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley (flat out funny,
multiple voices)
The Teddy Bear (empathy, one of my all time faves)
Brava Strega Nona (tried not to love this pop-up, but it's a jaw-dropper, & summarizes much in 6 words)
Ginger Bear by Mini Grey
almost anything by Bill Peet
One Is a Feast for a Mouse by Judy Cox, and my kinders
also said READ IT AGAIN!
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Stray Dog
those by Polacco and McKissack.
Thank you Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco always leaves them in stunned silence.
The Minpins
The Boxcar children
The red book
No, David! and others in the series
I got my first applause after reading a first grade class
Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude. You really got to get into the voices, but they loved it! I used it in a unit where we were defining/discussing
characters......
Any book by Patricia Polloco.
I have gotten spontaneous applause from a _tough_ second grade group
by reading The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling, and it's LONG but
most of it just holds them enthralled.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein keeps kids speechless throughout.
Books that fly off the shelves after the teacher reads are ones written by
Bill Wallace and Peg Kehret. Bill writes a variety... Some funny, but mostly adventure/mystery type... Those are the ones the kids like. Trapped in death cave, Beauty (tear jerker), Dog called Kitty, etc., Bill is one of our Oklahoma authors, so you may have never heard of him, but he is well worth the read.
Gift of the Crocodile
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
Bug Pumpkin
I sit my kiddos down and I say "Hey! Today we're gonna read a great
book! I don't want you to miss it, so I'm reading it to you now. I
hope that you enjoy it and that you read it to your kids and your
grandkids someday." Then, we sit back and enjoy the magic.
We need to catch them while we can. If your teachers need
"permission" to read a good book, they can always tie it into
character ed, health, or writing...Learning how to think about and
respond to literature is a good enough reason for me.
Here are my TOP 12 ALL-TIME FAVORITE MUST READ ALOUD BOOKS
1) The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
2) The Rough-Face Girl
3) Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
4) How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Joseph Bruchac
5) Conejito by Margaret MacDonald
6) Teeny-Tiny
7) The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg
8) The Runaway Tortilla (or any version of the Gingerbread Man)
9) The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza (or any version of the Little Red Hen)
10) Anything by Robert Munsch...He's a hoot and a half!
11) The Giving Tree
12) Owl Moon
I'm also reading chapter books
The Dragonling with 1st grade
Stone Fox with 2nd grade
Freak the Mighty with 6th grade.
Nim's Island to 1st grade and we had a BIG Nim's Island literacy event with learning centers after we finished.
THe Tale of Despereaux By Kate DiCamillo
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane By Kate DiCamilllo
Wolf by Becky Bloom