The Great Kapok Tree is a compelling story that teaches about the importance of protecting the environment, particularly the rainforest. It makes a great 3rd, 4th, or 5th read aloud for Earth Day – or any time of year. Below, find questions and activity ideas to use in your upper elementary lesson plans when reading Lynne Cherry’s The Great Kapok …
Last Day Blues – Questions and Activity Ideas for an End of Year Read Aloud
If you start the school year off with the read-aloud First Day Jitters, then you need to end the year with Julie Danneberg’s Last Day Blues! At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Hartwell was nervous about teaching her class – but by the end of the year, she is sad to see her students go. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th …
Questions and Activity Ideas for the Winter Read Aloud Brave Irene
Brave Irene is an interesting story of a young girl that braves a blizzard in order to make sure the duchess has her dress in time for the ball. The vocabulary and figurative language that the author William Steig uses is vivid and captivating. It lends itself to a variety of different reading activities to do along with reading the …
Questions and Activity Ideas for the Folk Tale Stone Soup
Jon M Muth’s version of Stone Soup is a fun folk tale that describes how monks tricked a village into making stone soup and finding happiness. The villagers have a feast together at the end, making it a great book to read aloud around Thanksgiving, especially if you are looking for read alouds and activities for a school or classroom …
Read Aloud Books About Monsters for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade
Looking for some fun, engaging monster books to read aloud to your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students for Halloweeen? Or maybe you have a monster themed classroom, or are doing a monster unit with your upper elementary class. Whatever has lead you on a search for monster read alouds, you will find a book that works for your students …
Thank You, Mr. Falker Questions and Activity Ideas
Thank You Mr. Falker is a heartwarming story that contains themes of overcoming obstacles, persevering, and how kindness can make a huge difference. Patricia Polacco, the author and illustrator, wrote this to tell about the real teacher in her life that encouraged and helped her, and it will encourage your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. Below, find comprehension questions …
Questions and Activity Ideas for Teaching Enemy Pie
Enemy Pie is a sweet story of friendship where a boy finds out that his enemy is not really an enemy after all, but a friend. This theme of friendship makes it a great book to read aloud at the beginning of the school year to help you set a positive classroom culture in your 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade …
Thanksgiving Books to Read Aloud to 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders
Turkeys. Family. Feasts. History. Thankfulness. Thanksgiving covers so many different themes, and so the best Thanksgiving books for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students also cover a wide variety of topics and themes. Below, find a list of Thanksgiving books that will be engaging for your upper elementary students. While not every facet of Thanksgiving is covered in the book …
Getting 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Students to Love Reading – 8 Motivation Strategies
Written by guest blogger Cindy Koopmans On last week’s exit ticket, I asked my students what they enjoy most in class. The majority of them said, “Reading my Choice book.” That makes this reading teacher want to jump for joy. Now in my twenty-fourth year of teaching, I’ve finally arrived at what I believe to be a winning formula for …
Books About Inspirational Kids Who Are Changing the World
Written by guest blogger Cindy Koopmans Hope. Right now, we need it more than ever. 2020 was hard. We are all, to some degree, the walking wounded here. We are all a bit weary of pep talks, we are all feeling the strain of social distancing and wearing these (insert expletive here) masks…ready to throw up our hands, crawl into …