| As teachers, we know that keeping kiddos engaged during the final weeks of school can be a royal challenge. Every teacher has his or her own bag of tricks for this unique time frame. One of my go-to tricks was to get my students interested in a riveting read-aloud. Two of my top picks for graduating third graders are Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing by Judy Blume and How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell.I asked several of our editors (all former teachers themselves) to share their favorite year-end read-alouds. Here’s what they had to say. |
Jen Bragg says, “My kids liked listening to kooky poems by Jack Prelutsky, especially from The New Kid on the Block. Poems are a nice fit for those little blocks of time when waiting for an invitation to travel to a special year-end event, such as an awards ceremony or field day.”
Kim Brugger recommends “Yertle the Turtle” from Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss. “A burping turtle? What’s not to like about that!” she says.
Lynn Drolet suggests Rattletrap Car (a fun interactive tale by Phyllis Root) and Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London.
Amy Corkhill puts in a good word for The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble (hysterical!) and A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.
Sherry McGregor says Louis Sachar’s Sideways Stories From Wayside School and Holes are perfect picks for older elementary kiddos.
So now it’s your turn! What are your favorite year-end read-alouds?
Ready to read!
Diane
My JK/SK students read out loud the Dr. Seuss
books according to each individual reading level
by the end of the year. The children love the rhyming, repetition and the silliness of the stories.
We love the Dr. Seuss books! I also always teach ocean this time of year – so we read lots of ocean books!
My preschoolers love “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.”
My preschoolers love Pete the Cat. They love the repetition and helping me read it. They also love the Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly. Soemtimes i change it up by using puppets with the story.
The last book for this year was Gilbert in Deep. They loved it! But I think the thing that made it even more riveting was that we went for a walk before hand and then spread blankets out and read the story outside – killed my voice doing all the voices! But it was great – I think picking different places to read the story not in the classroom or if you can’t get out reading stories at different times or different ways can really be an attention getter! Happy Summer Everyone!
“How to Eat Fried Worms” is a big hit right now in my 3rd grade classroom. It’s easy to keep them engaged creating new “worm” recipes!
For 7th and 8th graders this a special challenge! Mine were totally engaged in Gary Paulsen’s HARRIS AND ME. They read ‘parts’, which kept them actively following along. Hilarious! (some ‘bad’ words, but they were good at improvising ‘appropriate’ ones when reading aloud…added to the fun.)
“Where the Red Fern Grows” or “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” are both favorites with fifth graders!! They run to the Reading Chair for these books! (Kinda hard to get fifth graders to “run for reading”, but these two classics do it!! 🙂
Our preschool children enjoyed hearing Press Here by Hurve Tullet. It is an interactive book that got the children laughing and interacting of course!
Martha – I agree! Press Here by Hurve Tullet is a great book! 🙂
Other favorites throughout the year in my pre-k class are:
David Goes to School, No, David!, and David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon
The Three Little Tamales by Eric Kimmel
The Jalapeno Man by Debbie Leland
Are You A Horse? by Andy Rash
Don’t Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus by Mo WIllems
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School by Joan Holub
The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray
The Three Bears’ Christmas by Kathy Duval
Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? by Jerry Pallotta
Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman
For the last 2 weeks of school, I put out the books that had been favorites throughout the year, and we read them all again. It feels like it brings the year full-circle, and the kids have a blast getting to hear their favorites once more.
I love these suggestions! I am definitely going to start reading outside!!! Thanks!