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School Picture Day

By Lynn Plourde

Illustrated by Thor Wickstrom

This fun filled story will leave the kids in your class with smiles all day long. Josephina is a curious little girl who, on school picture day, decided to that all of her curiousities are much more important than taking a picture with her class. After wondering how things work and taking it upon herself to find out, she leaves herself and the rest of her classmates looking like a mess for their class photo. However, when the photographers camera won’t work, it is Josephina’s curious mind who comes to the rescue and fixes the camera. 

One thing that really stood out in this book is the use of onomatopoeia. In every illustration words such as “wiggle”, “crank”, and “splooch” make the story come to life. Reading it aloud to your class with these sounds will immediately make them more engaged. Similarly to “Katy Did it!”, a word study on sound words could be very beneficial for your class and this book would be a perfect mentor text for it.

It may also be interesting for your students to do a writing assignment about things that they are curious about. It seems like Josephina was just curious about how certain items worked but you may be surprised by some of the answers you receive when you ask your students what they are curious about.

You may also ask them to do a writing assignment about a time when they’ve fixed a problem. Josephina fixed the camera and helped her class take their class picture. Ask your students, “when was there a time that you related to Josephina and fixed a problem?” 

This story is hilarious and, between the illustrations and onomatopoeia on every page, your students will stay entertained and will learn that it is okay to be curious!

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Katy Did it!

By Lorrianne Siomades

Katy Did it is about an adventurous little cricket named Katy. Everywhere Katy went she seemed to cause trouble or make a mess. Her brother Lou constantly blamed the messes on her even though Katy never meant to do it on purpose. Finally, Katy’s big hops and leaps are proved to be helpful when she must remove a huge olive that a few ants got stuck in their home. 

The first thing that caught my eye in this book is the onomatopoeia. In every illustrated words like “boing” “bonk” are used to show Katy jumping and leaving. Doing a word study of sound words with your students could be a fun activity that could really improve their writing!

Another thing I loved about the writing in this book is their transition words after dialogue. After a character speaks the author didn’t just say “said”, she used various vocabulary to show how the character was feeling after speaking. For example she used words like, “cheered”, “shouted”, “shrieked”, “scolded”, and “moaned”. It happens so often in children’s writing that they constantly use “said” after putting in dialogue and it makes their stories very repetitive and hard to read. Learning the skill of using various transition words after dialogue is so important for our students and this book is a perfect model text to learn how to do this!

I highly suggest having this book in your classroom libraries! This story is written so beautifully and is a perfect mentor text to teach our students various different writing techniques. 

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Wild Child

By Lynn Plourde

Illustrated by Greg Couch

The beautifully written, rhyming story of “Mother Earth” trying to get her child to bed takes you on an adventure through each season. It starts with “Mother Earth” trying to get her wild child to bed but before her child can sleep it needs a song, a snack and some pj’s. 

This book is written so beautifully, between the rhymes and use of alliteration, students can do so much just by studying the way it is written. First, they can study the rhymes in this book. They can study how it makes the lines flow and even just making lists of words that rhyme in the story can help young readers and writers. 

The alliteration in this book is amazing and something, I think, that we don’t see enough in children’s books. Lines such as, “a freezing, frizzling, frosty caress” will teach kids how to use alliteration to provide details in their stories and/or poems. Alliteration is a great skill for students to have, especially had a young age when they are first learning to read and write. It can be a great skill to practice that could improve students spelling. 

This book also made me think they you could tie in a science lesson about the seasons. The illustrations in the books show the different colors of each season and how the weather changes from season to season. Reading this then dividing the class into four groups (one for each season) and having them do a project on each season, including their own rhyming page for this book, could be such a fun writing/science project for your students.

This book has so many great opportunities for your students and I believe every child will enjoy reading this book!  

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Same, Same but Different 

By Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

Same, Same but Different is by far one of my favorite books that I have read. About two young boys who are pen pals from across the world, they learn how their lives are similar but in different ways. 

One fantastic activity for your students to do after reading this book is to write a letter to a pen pal describing what life is like where they live. In the book the two kids talk about their family, their pets and their schools. Ask your students, “how would you describe life here to someone on the other side of the world”. Emphasize to students how important it is to include as much details as possible in their writing. After the students finish their letters the could exchange with another class or just another student in the class and the reader can draw a picture based on all the details in the letter. (Because the illustrations are so beautiful in this book, I wanted to give the students a chance to draw in this assignment).

Reading this book is a great opportunity to discuss different traditions around the world and potentially tie in a social studies lesson. You could even assign each student (or group of students) a different country to research and learn about their every day lives as a student their age in that country. 

This book has such a great message for kids about how even though people have different traditions, they are generally the same! It’s hard for kids to think about what life could be like on the other side of the world and I think this book uses amazing illustrations and an adorable story to teach them what life is like for a student on the other side of the globe.

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The Story of Ferdinand 

By Munro Leaf

Illustrated by Robert Lawson

The Story of Ferdinand is about a bull in Spain who is unlike all the other bulls. It’s a wonderful story about a bull who never wanted to fight but instead just wanted to relax under a cork tree, and even when he was taken to Madrid and disappointed everyone there when he did fight, he remained un-phased and true to himself. He just went back home to relax under his tree and stayed happy, no matter what anyone thought of him.

My first thought after reading this book was the cultural ties the story has to Spain and their bull fighting traditions. Tying in a Social Studies lesson about Spain or about bull fighting could be a great way to bring in a different culture into your classroom. The book even includes some spanish terms such as “Banderilleros”, “Picadores” and “Matador”, which your students could look up and define. 

Another thing I really liked about this book is that the words are simple and there are not too many words on a page. This book could be perfect for a child who is a struggling reader and needs to work on their fluency. As long as the student gets help with the Spanish words, this could be a great book to have a student read aloud with you because there are not many difficult words. 

For younger kids who are just learning to spell/read this book includes some great spelling words that kids must know how to spell. For example it includes such as “favorite”, “would”, because” and “very” . Working in a first and second grade classroom, I have seen that these are words kids often struggle with. Therefore, creating a “Ferdinand Word Wall” with some of these words found in the book, could be very helpful for your students. 

The Story of Ferdinand is a fantastic story to read to your class to bring in some Spanish culture and to teach your students that they should be happy being who they are.

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A Bad Case of Stripes 

By David Shannon

A Bad Case of Stripes is about a girl, Camilla, who loved lima beans but was always worried about fitting in so she never ate them. On the first day of school we wakes up with a bad case of stripes. Doctor after doctor and new pattern after new pattern on her skin, this book takes us on an adventure with Camilla as she learns to be herself and not be ashamed of liking lima beans. 

Immediately after reading this book, I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids to create their own skin pattern. I would introduce the activity by reading the book, then asking kids “What is something unique you like?” Then after they make a list of unique things they like, they could paint or draw themselves with their skin as the pattern of something on their list. Everyone could then share their self portraits and the students could see the diversity of interests in their class. 

I have also used this book in my own class. When we first started our fantasy unit, we introduced it to the kids as a story where there is some sort of magic happening. Camilla’s skin changing is the “magic” in this story. Reading this book and just asking kids “how could this book be considered fantasy?” could be a great way to talk about the genre and how it is not always princesses and witches in fantasy stories. I have both read this book aloud to my class and used the fantastic website “Story Line Online”, where celebrities read aloud popular children’s books.

Another fantastic part of this book is the detailed and colorful illustrations. I thought something interesting that you could do with the kids is just providing them with one illustration from the story and having them write their own page for that illustration. Camilla’s different skin patterns and the expressions of other characters throughout the story are so telling and I think kids could get very creative with writing their own page in this story.

This is one of my all time favorite books and I guarantee the students in your class will love it. The silly story, colorful pictures and relatable Camilla character make this an enjoyable and entertaining book for all!

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First Day in Grapes

By L. King Perez

Illustrated by Robert Casilla

First Day in Grapes is a story about a young Spanish boy, Chico, who is constantly changing schools throughout California due to his fathers job working on different fields. He struggles with  many subjects in school and is very nervous for his first day in yet, another school. However, as the story continues we learn that Chico excels in math and when faced with two bullies in the cafeteria, he uses his strengths to build his confidence and stand up to the bullies. 

One of the things I thought about after reading this book was doing a writing activity for the students. It is always hard to be the new kid in a school. Therefore, posing questions to students like “Have you ever been the new kid?” or “If you haven’t, how could you help make a new kid’s day easier?”, could help them develop great writing pieces. 

Another thing students can do with this book is closely at Chico’s character. He changes from the start of the book to the end and it is important that students recognize this. Splitting the class in two groups and creating a poster of Chico where the students write his thoughts on the inside vs. how he acts on the outside in the beginning and end of the book could be a great way to visualize his emotions and his actions, along with seeing how he grew over the course of the story.

A final thing I loved about this book was the vocabulary, in particular, the Spanish words. The author purposefully chose to include Spanish dialogue and vocab throughout the book so readers can learn more about Chico’s culture. Having students make posters of the different Spanish words with their definitions and, possibly even researching more Spanish vocab, could be a fantastic lesson to do with students. It is so important that we bring diverse cultures into our classroom. This may even give a Spanish student in your class the chance to show off their knowledge and teach their classmates!

First Day in Grapes is a wonderful story that I students could do so much with. Every child in your class can use this book as a window or mirror because going to school is something they do every day! I would highly recommend adding this book to your classroom libraries!

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Dancing in the Wings

By Debbie Allen

Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Dancing in the Wings is a beautifully written story about a young girl, Sassy, who endures the teasing of her brother and two bullies all while chasing her dream to be a dancer. Being tall and having big feet are two of the things Sassy is teased for the most but her courage to stand out, work hard and be herself ultimately help her reach her goal and dance with a partner in Washington DC. The funny dialogue and well developed characters will keep your students engaged and teach them what it means to be confident.

I have actually used this book in my own classroom during our realistic fiction writing unit. “Dancing in the Wings” was our mentor text. Sassy is a well developed main character that students used to help develop their own main character. Also, the problems that Sassy faces throughout the story perfectly show each step in a story mountain (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution). This story was an excellent mentor text for this unit and every student benefited from having read it before writing their own stories. 

Another way in which this story could be used in your classroom is taking a look at the dialogue. Sassy has several funny conversations with other characters throughout the book because her character has such an attitude. I found that every student in the class was laughing at some point throughout the book, which also made it much more engaging for them. The dialogue in this book is one of the main ways that the author shows the unique relationship Sassy has with other characters and is crucial to the story. Taking a close look at dialogue rules and how the dialogue between characters benefits the story will be very helpful for students. 

There are many more activities you can do with this book such as looking at illustrations, creating their own character they could add in to the story and adding more to the ending. This is an amazing text that is so useful to teaching the reading and writing process to students. Definitely a fantastic book to have in your classroom!

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Buzzy The Bumblebee

By Denise Brennan-Nelson

Illustrated by Michael Glenn Monroe

Buzzy The Bumblebee is one of my favorite books I have read so far! Written in rhyme it tells the story of a bumblebee who learns from a book that bumblebees are not meant to fly. Buzzy listens to the book instead of just being himself and feels discouraged that bumblebees are not meant to fly, until he returns home and his parents tell him not to listen to what others say and to believe in himself.

There are a number of lessons and activities that you could do with this book in your classroom. The first thing I thought of that you could do with this book is a rhyming activity. What I loved most about it was that it was written in rhyme, which could be very entertaining for younger students. Having students go through the book and find the words that rhyme could be one activity. Another activity could have the students write their own page to the book about Buzzy’s adventure, writing their own rhymes.

Another lesson you could do with this book is have them do a writing activity. You could start with asking them “Was there a time someone told you that you couldn’t do something?” and have them write an entry in their journals about that.

Students could also write their own picture books choosing a different animal that was told they couldn’t do something. Using, Buzzy’s story as a mentor text, they could choose an animal and write their own adventure story about confidence.

This book was adorable and I could see it being used for grades 1-3 for several fun activities. Between the rhymes and the lessons it teaches, it is definitely a book that I reccomend everyone uses in their classroom!

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The Magic Hat Shop

By Sonja Wimmer

The Magic Hat Shop is about a town full of people lacking confidence. Timid Tim, Sad Sally and numerous other people in the town visit a mysterious hat shop that appears in their town and when they leave the store wearing one of the hats they magically feel less timid or sad and their confidence rises.

Immediately after reading The Magic Hat Shop I thought of so many creative projects that students could do. Asking students the question “What is a characteristic of yours that a magic hat could help you improve upon?” could be an interesting writing promp for kids to use.

Another lesson you could do with kids is having them choose their own item other than a hat that could help people and have them write their own short stories about how their item could help people.

You could also pose the question to students of “Why do you think the magic hat helped people? Was it really because of the hat or because of another reason?” A whole class or small group discussion or poster representation of ideas could be very eye opening for students!

This is an adorable book that I could see definitely being used in grades 1-3 and could spark very interesting discussions in your classroom!

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It’s Okay to Be Different 

By Todd Parr

It’s Okay to Be Different is an adorable, colorful book listing all the differences people have and telling the audience that it is okay to have these differences. From differences in color to differences in the friends we choose to have, this book explores it all through vibrant illustrations and some funny pages!

This is a perfect book for grades K-2. One activity that I thought of right away that you could do in your classroom is having students create posters on different color construction paper about something that makes them “different” and creating their own page to the book by writing their own “it’s okay to...” sentence underneath their own illustration. These posters can then be hung on a bulletein board or around the classroom to show how different and unique your class is!

Another lesson you could do with this book is a similar activity but instead of having your students write one page, they can write their own “It’s okay to be different” picture book and write multiple pages that they can then share with the class. 

This is a fantastic, kid friendly book that teaches our students that it is okay to have different feelings, to have different friends or to look differently from others because it’s all part of being themselves and that is something they should be extremely proud of.

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What Do You Do With an Idea?

Written by Kobi Yamada

Illustrated by Mae Besom

What Do You Do With an Idea is about a young boy who has an idea one day. He questions whether people will like his idea or if they will think it is dumb but, as he learns throughout the book, it does not matter what other people think about his idea because it is HIS and it was ok if it was a little different or crazy. Yamada takes you on a journey with this “idea” through his book and teaches us all to be confident with our ideas and the way we think.

There are numerous activities you can do in the classroom with this book. One thing I thought of right away was having children write their own picture book using this story as a model. Besom’s illustrations in this book start being black and white with only the “idea” in color and as the “idea” becomes bigger the pictures in the book become more colorful. The illustrations were so well thought out that using this book as the model for a picture book would be perfect for children.

Another lesson that you could do in your classroom involving this book is teaching inner thinking in your students writing. There are several moments throughout the book where the main character asks himself questions about his idea. They are great examples of inner thinking that students should definitely take a look at so they can try this tool in their own writing. 

A final lesson you could do with this book is have a whole class discussion about the lesson it teaches. It could be a great moment to talk to your class about how all ideas are welcome in your classroom and how others should react when someone has an idea. We should never criticize someone’s idea just because it may differ from our own and this is an important lesson to teach, especially in a classroom full of young, opinionated students. 

All ideas should be welcome in your classroom and Yamada’s book is an excellent way to teach your students that all their ideas, no matter how big or how small, are always welcome and always good!

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The Dot

By Peter H. Reynolds

Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds is an adorably told children’s book about a young artist named Vashti, who believed she couldn’t draw. With a little help from her teacher and a little bit of self-confidence Vashti learns that she is a better artist than she originally thought!

There are so many fun activities you can do with this book! One thing I loved was that at the end of his book Reynolds dedicated the book to his “7th grade math teacher, who dared me to ‘make my mark’”. Immediately I thought about doing a simple water color painting activity with the kids, asking them what mark will you leave on your page? Why did you choose this mark? What does leaving a mark mean to you?

This book is a fantastic read aloud book. It can spark discussions with your class about what characteristics Vashti has in the beginning of the book vs at the end of the book. You can even talk about the role the teacher played in the book and how important it was for Vashti that the teacher framed her first dot painting.

Students can also participate in a free write in writing journals about a time when they may not have felt confident about something and had to learn to be confident or not doubt themselves. Students could even write about someone who has inspired them to “make their mark” or helped them to gain confidence.

The Dot is one of my favorite books with lessons that students will carry with them throughout their school career. There are so many creative activities that can be done with this book and I would definitely recommend using it in your classroom, especially for grades 1-2! Enjoy!

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The Invisible Boy

By Trudy Ludwig

Illustrations by Patrice Barton

A young boy, Brian, feels invisible around his peers until the new kid in class, Justin partners with Brian and through his friendship, helps Brian gain the confidence he was missing.

This book is a great story to read aloud to the class. It includes many themes such as friendship, kindness, confidence, including others and more. Having conversations with your class about each of these themes can be valuable for all students. Even breaking students into small groups and having them make a poster for each theme could be a fun way to discuss the book and its characters in your classroom.

Students can use this book to write about a time when they might have felt invisible or to work in small groups and discuss ways in which they might help someone else who is feeling invisible.

Another creative activity idea that I think could be fun for students is making a poster of Brian before he met Justin an write some other adjectives of how he might have been feeling when he was “invisible”. After, students can make a poster with both Brian and Justin and change the adjectives to show how Brian’s confidence has improved by meeting Justin.

This book was one of the cutest stories that I have read and I think every student in your class will love reading this book and participating in activities based on it!