Got Books?

This children's bedtime story is about a brave little girl who deals with ridding her room of monsters in a clever way. It has rhyming and great vocabulary. Teachers might want to go over with younger students that monsters do not exist and this book is just for fun. The ending is so sweet and loveable, you can't help but love little Winifred, the main character.

One great activity for this book could be to have students create and color their own monsters out of construction paper, and then write one way that they would make their monsters leave them alone. 

Reading level: Pre-K-2

Lexile measure: AD580L 

Pete the Cat books are just so much fun to get into and this one shows the importance of not worrying about small things. As Pete says, "stuff comes and stuff goes." I love the illustrations and the rhyming in this book. This book would be great for a sequencing activity where students put sentences in order based off of what happened in the book. 

Guided Reading Level: J

Lexile Measure: AD350L

This is such a fun story for those students who love their super heroes and action packed books. Baby Groot gets a recap of his fun days spent with his friend and it even includes rhyming. I would use this book with caution in the classroom, as it does involve super heroes and fight scenes with the bad guys. A fun activity for this book would be to have students write short poems. 

Grade level: 6-8 years old

Flesch reading ease score: 106.2

This book gives a wonderful representation about the fears that come along with reading out loud. Students can greatly benefit from this book and relate to it. It also shows the worries that students can encounter in their life. I love that it shows how these reading fears can be overcome and worked with as students get better with practice. This book would be great to show students that all readers are different and you could have your students practice in pairs reading sentences out loud to each other at centers. 

Grade Level: Pre-k-2

Lexile Measure: AD380L

This book opens your heart up and shows the importance of giving relentlessly and with love. The illustrations are simple, yet so powerful. The storyline really touches children of all ages, as it progresses into the future, into scenarios in which we all can relate to. A wonderful activity students could do would be to create their own giving tree and write compliments to other students and then present them. 

Grade level: K-2

Lexile measure: 530L

This book puts such a fun, and creative new spin on The Three Little Pigs. It introduces students to challenges and how to overcome those challenges. I love that one of the main characters, and heroine, is the female pig. It is action packed, and full of illustrations that support them. An activity for students would be to have them fill out a compare/contrast handout.   

Grade level: K-2

Lexile measure: AD630L

A classic children's book that presents imagination and creativity to children. It has illustrations that grow bigger and bigger as Max's imagination grows bigger and bigger until he is lost in his own world. Students can really benefit from its descriptive characteristics and its relatability. One great activity would be to give students comprehension task cards to complete in centers. Examples of these task cards can be found here, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Where-The-Wild-Things-Are-Task-Cards-Reading-Comprehension-3165179 

Grade Level: Pre-K-5

Lexile measure: AD740L

This book can really entice children to love, and get into reading. It encourages students to become part of the books and let their imagination grow freely, no matter the role. I love the illustrations and the message it sends that children can be anyone they want to be if they put their minds to it. One activity would be to complete a character traits chart during a read aloud, or even to work on free writing with a prompt such as, "I Will Be... ."

Grade Level: K-2

Lexile measure: 680L

Pete the Cat is so much fun to read aloud with your students. They can use inferences to determine where Pete is throughout the book and sing along with the jingle that Pete sings. It is a great book to wipe out those worrisome fears and engage your students. Students could complete a cause and effect handout and then create their own Pete the Cat with his own school shoes. You could even create a class book, such as this, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/5911043234398880/ .

Grade level: K-2 

Lexile measure: AD430L

This book could be great way to introduce a different culture into the classroom, and also the concept of doubles for math. It has very large, simple, and fun illustrations and a creative story to follow along with. It seems to come to an abrupt ending to me, so I see a great writing opportunity for students to add more to the ending. I would incorporate this book into a math activity using examples such as these.  http://mathwire.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-of-everything.html 

Grade Level: 1-5th 

Lexile measure: AD620L

Another great counting book for children to learn money skills. This book also has activities in the back to help work on counting change. The setting is great for younger students and is relatable to something that they might actually experience in life. One fun math activity would be this example. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/165155511305014404/ 

Grade Level: 1-5th

Lexile Measure: 480L

Chrysanthemum is a very relatable story to students who are just starting school. Dealing with the anxieties of trying to make new friends and being afraid of not fitting in can be addressed to students in a read aloud. The illustrations are colorful and detailed and connect with exactly what the text is saying. A fun example of a class chart to complete can be found at the following link. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AVEzzFgNE5RXoPkSn2qTfz1ITgAdr5ht8-fY_sSpIhDRkSzapHSmFnI/. 

You could even have students create their own flower pots with each letter of their name written on a flower petal, and then everything they love about themselves written on the pot. 

Grade Level: Pre-K-2

Lexile Measure: 570L

This book includes a large vocabulary index, and wonderful, bright, illustrations. It brings a real life scenario into teaching mathematics to upper elementary age students. The end of the book also explains the mathematics that go into the book and you can really break it down for the classroom. This book would be great for charting out step-by-step how much food needs to be made, and different ways the seating could be set up. One example of this can be found at the following link. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/46584177368188172/ 

Grade Level: 1-5th

Lexile Measure: 530L

This is a fun book to read aloud for children. The illustrations are wonderfully large and bold. Aside from using this book in a ELA class, it could be used in a math class for counting. I love that it includes songs to go along with it. It would be fun to have students cut out each character in the book and stack them accordingly to the book.  An example of this activity can be found with the following link. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287597126176697047/ 

Grade Level: K

Lexile Measure: NP

Coraline offers a very imaginative feature for children in upper elementary grades. It has very detailed, and descriptive mannerisms that really engage the reader. Although, it can also be scary, so i would not recommend this for younger grades. This book can relate to children because it is given from a child's perspective in moving to a new house, and making new friends, which many children may experience. Vocabulary scavenger hunts would be a fun activity for this books, as would sequencing segments from the book and putting them in the correct order. Character traits would be another activity to work on with this book. 

Grade Level: 3-5th 

Lexile Measure: 740L

This book turned out to be a wonderful way to show perspective in the classroom. It really drives home the fact that we all see something different, but that does not mean we cannot get along. Students could play the game, “I’m Thinking of Something" and use words that describe shape, color, and size to give clues about the object. Students could also use cardboard boxes to come up with something that they see. 

Grade Level: K-1

Lexile Measure: AD300L