Read Aloud Books for Dec. 17

How the Grinch Stole Christmas has been a part of my holiday celebrations for over 40 years. I love this story! The humour, drama and rhyming text build to expertly give the message that toys are not what this time of year is about. It's about celebrating and being thankful for the love of friends and family. Although this is a Christmas story, the message can be appreciated by anyone. I read this story as a preamble to our watching the cartoon version.

The class watched this as a companion piece to hearing the book version read aloud. Hearing Boris Karloff's voice telling the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas brings back lots of memories for me and my children. This cartoon stays faithful to the story by Dr. Seuss, but adds some wonderful songs to help the story along. When my children were little, I bought the video version of this cartoon and to my horror, there was a different voice telling the story over the original cartoon. How disappointing! I believe that Boris Karloff makes this verison the classic that it is. The director, Chuck Jones (he directed many of the "Loony Tunes" cartoons) did a brilliant job adapting the book. In my opinion, this cartoon is perfect.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is another holiday classic. Even though many students do not celebrate Christmas, it is important to give them context for many of the songs and images they see this time of year. This is a great story to discuss important universal themes like bullying and being different. The students are now becoming more sophisticated in their ability to discuss books by answering questions like, "Why was Rudolph so sad at the beginning of the story?" and "How do you know" and giving evidence from the text to support their answers. It was a powerful lesson for the students when they realize that the very thing that Rudolph was bullied for (having a different nose) was the thing that saved the day at the end of the story.

Read Aloud Books for December 10

Dinner at the Panda Palace is an engaging story that uses the basic structure of a "+1" growing pattern, to tell a story. The Panda Palace is a restaurant and different groups of animals enter to eat there (i.e., one elephant, two lions). After repeated readings, the students were able to read along with the predictable text. The ending is sweet, showing that Mr. Panda was a kind host, but also showed how the numbers 1 to 10, when added together, equals 55.

Snow is my Favorite and my Best is a cute story about winter and winter activities. I also chose this book because there are two children in my class with the same name as the little girl "Lola" in the story. Many of the illustrations use paper snowflakes and I will use this book later as a link to when the children learn how to cut paper snowflakes in class next week.

Dewey - There's a Cat in the Library is a non-fiction story of how a small, abandoned kitten became a world-famous library cat. I found this book after I read the book that Vicki Myron wrote for adults about her 19 year relationship with this amazing cat. People from all over the world came to visit the library in the small town of Spencer, Iowa, just to see this cat. I also brought in a small, stuffed Dewey look-alike for the children to play with.

As a connection to the first book, Dewey's Christmas at the Library, is a nice companion story for the children to listen to. The students can then use what they know about the character to help them understand the second story. As not everyone celebrates Christmas, this is a good story to talk about the kinds of activities that people do to celebrate this holiday.

Read Aloud Books for December 3

Eric Carle's book, Today is Monday is a great review of the seven days of the week. As well, the students learned the names of some new animals (e.g., pelican) and followed and repeated aloud the growing word pattern of the text. The illustrations were also a talking point for the class as Eric Carle uses torn and cut paper for his collages (as did Leo Leonni in Little Blue and Little Yellow that we read last week) and the students also made tissue paper collages in class this week.

In this classic TV special, now on DVD, the story of Frosty the Snowman is told through animation and songs. Personally, I am quite fond of this video as I remember looking forward to watching it every year on TV when I was a child and then watching it with my own children at this time of year. The class talked about how a video is also a story but just told in a different way. There was a lot to discuss as the children realized the science of why Frosty couldn't be inside with his new friends (he would melt) and why he was trying to get to the North Pole (where it is winter temperatures all year round).

Frosty the Snowman, the book, was a new find for my teaching practice this year. I wanted to illustrate to my class the different ways to tell a story by watching the video of Frosty. Then I found this wonderful book that illustrates the lyrics to the song, "Frosty the Snowman" (which I learned was written in 1950). After reading the story, the students talked about how it was the same as the video and how it was different. When I pointed out that the words were actually the words in the song and then "sang the story" to them, they realised that a song is another way to tell a story.

The story, I Have a Little Dreidel, is a book about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It is very accessible to young children as the focus in on how Jewish families celebrate this holiday over 8 days by lighting the candles on a menorah (candle holder), making potato latkes (potato pancakes) and playing the dreidel (spinning top) game. As my family celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas at our house, I was able to bring in a menorah, candles and dreidels to show the children. The students also learned that the words in this book are also the lyrics to "The Dreidel Song". Another example of song as a way to tell a story!

Read Aloud Books For November 26

Children love books that pop-up and have moving parts. Unfortunately, they are not always the most gentle users of this kind of book. I found Slide and Surprise Numbers at my favourite bookstore (Indigo/Chapters) and immediately I knew it was a book for my class. Because it is a board book, it is very durable. The book also reinforces the numbers 1 to 12 through pictures, numbers and words. It was a very popular book this week in the reading corner during centre time.

The Color Kittens ( 1949 )is a classic book from Margaret Wise Brown (who wrote Goodnight Moon). Brush and Hush are two kittens that are trying to make the colour green. The book is, of course, about colour mixing but it is also about experimenting and not giving up. My class learned from this book that when you mix all colours together, you get brown. This fact was talked about extensively during our next painting time. A nice gentle story about colours in our world.

Put Me in the Zoo (1960) is another Ms. R family favourite! I remember reading this book as a child and it was also a favourite of my own two sons. It served as a great review of colour identification for the students. It also has easy to read language for the beginning reader. The creature has a lot of magical talents and tries to convince two children that he is special enough to be in the zoo. Watch for a cameo from our favourite character, The Cat in the Hat!

Little Blue and Little Yellow (1959 ) by Leo Leonni is destined to be a class favourite as he also wrote Swimmy which we read at the beginning of the year. The children loved this story of two friends that had an adventure together. The book also reinforces some of the colour theory the students have been talking about. The simple collage illustrations and limited text were a good discussion point for the class. We talked about how to use their imaginations to help them understand the story.

Read Aloud Books for November 18

This is the POP UP version of the book, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, that we read last week. There are lots of moving parts and pieces that "jump" off the page to help add an extra dimension to this funny story.

Chameleons' Colours is a book (translated from Japanese) that follows the adventures of a chameleon that is tired of changing colours all the time. He helps the other animals change colours too but there are problems and so, in the end, the animals realize that they were happy just the way they were. This is a good book to read and compare with the book Elmer in order to talk about what the main character learns in the story.

Elmer is a classic story that teachers have read aloud for over 20 years. We read this story to compare with the book, Chameleon's Colors. The main character has a patchwork of different colours on his skin, which makes him different from the other elephants. One day, Elmer covers himself in grey berry juice so he looks like the others, but his friends don't recognize him. Through a sweet storyline and gentle humour, the message of the story (that it is okay to be different) shines through.

Read aloud books for November 12

This is a wonderful book to introduce colours to children. It follows the thinking of a cat who is trying to figure out which colour is his favourite colour. Our class used the pattern of this book to write a class book using the sentence starter, "I like...." so each student can state his/her favourite colour. The illustrations are fun and informational so that, upon the second reading, the students were able to "read" along.

It is very difficult to talk to very young students about Remembrance Day and what the day means to Canadians. Luckily this book talks about peace in an age-appropriate way. The focus is on peaceful living and the things that people can do to lead a peaceful life. It really appeals to the students and the words and pictures communicate the message very well. At the end of the second reading, the students in one of my classes started to applaud!

The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a strange book but with a very cool concept. The book begins with Henry finding out that if he eats a book, he gets smarter, even smarter than his teacher! However, things start to go horribly wrong and in the end, he realizes that reading books is a much better way to learn new information and enjoy books. At first the students are perplexed by Henry's actions but then they realize the important lesson that he learned by the end of the story.

Read Aloud Books for November 5

This is a new publication with a wonderful story. Don Freeman (author of "Corduroy") wrote this story in the 1960's but it wasn't published until his son found the manuscript many years after he passed away. His son arranged for an artist to finish Freeman's original illustrations and the book was published. The story follows a little grey squirrel, named Earl, as he gathers acorns for his family. This was a great connection to the "Grey Squirrel" song our class learned this week and our study of oak trees and acorns.

This is the first story of Earl the squirrel that Don Freeman wrote. In this story, the squirrel needs to find acorns to help his mom. He has some exciting adventures along the way, culminating in an encounter with Conrad the bull. Conrad inadvertently helps Earl find a fantastic source of acorns. The illustrations are black and white with red accents and really demonstrates the range of Don Freeman as an illustrator.

The book on animal homes (featuring squirrels) is, sadly, out of print.

This book by Canadian author Melanie Watt has won numerous awards. It is a humorous look at the life of a squirrel that is afraid to leave his tree. Because this book has a lot going on in the story, we read it twice. The class was challenged to think about how the squirrel was feeling at the beginning of the story and how he was feeling at the end. We even discussed the idea of, "What did the squirrel learn?"

Read Aloud Books for October 29

This book was a favourite book of my two boys when they were younger. I've read it so many times that I have the words memorized. It's the story of "a big skeleton, a little skeleton and a dog skeleton" who go out on an adventure. The combination of unusual story and the repetition of key phrases, (for example, "in a dark, dark street, there was a dark, dark house and in the dark, dark house, there was a dark, dark staircase..."), makes this book one that the children really enjoy and they begin to read along as the book is read aloud. We read this story together twice this week.

This is a good story to read in the classroom because it shows how a classroom of students celebrates Halloween at school. I particularly like it because it demonstrates how the children chose what his/her costume would be based on the interests of the child. For example, a child who went to visit the fire station with his family, chose to be a firefighter. One who liked a particular TV show, she chose to be the main character of that show. On Halloween there was a parade and the children had cupcakes for a treat. This connected nicely with our own school's Halloween parade and the fact that we also had cupcakes for a treat.

I chose this story because it integrates the subject of dinosaurs with celebrating Halloween very nicely. It's a charming story of how a dinosaur tags along with a boy and his dog trick or treating. When some nasty kids start causing trouble for the boy, the dinosaur saves the day in a way you don't expect.

Read Aloud Books For October 22

This is our class book for October. "Thanks for..." details the things that the students are thankful for in their world. The children were thankful for everything from their parents to pizza! Each child glued the typed words and his/her photo on a piece of paper and then they drew a picture to go with it. The books were read aloud to the class. It was wonderful to see the pride on each child's face as his/her page was read aloud!

This non-fiction book is a great overview of a farm. It talks about the buildings, the land and the animals. I chose this book to get the students thinking about our trip to the farm next week. The photographs are clear and the text is written in kindergarten appropriate language. After reading this book, we listed the animals that could be found on a farm and then sang the song "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" using the animal names we wrote down.

This is a great book for playing with language. I chose this book because it brought together two of the things our class is talking about, trees and the alphabet. I also happened to have bought a version of this book that came with a CD that had the musician, Ray Charles, reading aloud the story. I had the students lie down on the carpets and close their eyes to listen to the story. It was a good introduction to the fact that you can listen to a story and make the pictures in your mind.

Read Aloud Books for October 15

This is reprint of a lovely book from the late 1950's. It details many reasons why trees are important to our world. It provides a great starting point for discussion with the students about the role of trees in our lives and how trees change through the seasons. At the end of the story, it talks about planting trees and how to take care of them. I a lso like this book because the illustrator, Marc Simont, also illustrated the wonderful early reader series, "Nate The Great".

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger is a wonderful find! The little yellow leaf is all alone and unsure about leaving the security of his tree but when he finds another leaf still clinging to its branch they decide to take the leap together. The story is told in a spare, lyrical way and it complimented by the muted colour palette of the collaged illustrations. We read this book twice in our class this week and the students really understood the book's message and how the little yellow leaf felt at the end of the story.

I read the "big book" version of this Robert Munsch story to the class. My own children loved this funny tale of a mud puddle that hides and jumps on Jule-Ann and gets her "all over muddy". The mud puddle hides in an apple tree, on the roof of the house and even jumps over the fence! Jule-Ann is a clever little girl and uses her brain to outsmart the mud puddle. This story is excellent for the students to act out, to demonstrate their understanding of the story structure. Our class will do this next week.

Read Aloud Books for October 8

This is a real gem for teachers wanting a simple, Canadian book about Thanksgiving. It describes the changes happening outside during October and how one family works together to not only create a special meal, but also to spend some quality time together. It also details how each member of the family is thankful for something special in his/her life.
Our class used the books' text format, "Thanks for..." to create pages for a class book.
This is a simple, clear book with beautiful illustrations. It talks specifically about leaves and the changes that trees go through during autumn.

This is a great companion book to Zoe Hall's "Fall Leaves Fall". It details the growing and harvesting of pumpkins and the role pumpkins play as a symbol for autumn and Halloween.

Read Aloud Books for October 1

This is another classic for children starring the lovable character, Curious George the monkey. Despite the old-fashioned references (like pipe smoking), this is still a tale that captures the interest of children. This was the first book published and, if your child likes this book, there are many Curious George books that follow the little monkey through various adventures. Curious George encounters many challenges but always learns a valuable lesson at the end of the story.

This is a very clever book. The premise is that there is a make-believe world where when a character reads a book about a particular subject, pictures of that subject appear all over the character. For example, when a man read a book about flowers, he became flowers. When a mouse read a book about elephants, pictures of elephants were all over him. The collage-style illustrations are fascinating, with levels of detail that will have you finding something new every time you look at them. I like to talk to the students about how when a reader reads a book the information gets inside them and in this story, the information inside can actually be seen. A lovely, visual treat.

This is a multi-level book that is, on the surface a counting book. On the first reading that is the emphasis. However, it is also about growing vegetables and fruit and also about how one seed can produce multiple fruit and vegetables that, in turn, produce many seeds.
At the end of the book, it talks about how 10 seeds grew 10 corn plants with 100 ears of corn and 1000's of kernels. These kernels in turn, can make delicious popcorn. This is the type of book that will be referred to throughout the school year. It's also a good link to having a "popcorn" party for your class.

Read Aloud Books for September 24

These books were written by the students in Room 101. The text was based on the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" (see the September 17 post). Instead of pictures of animals, there are photographs of the children. This book, with easy, predictable text is perfect for the students to read or "pretend read". This is a wonderful way for all the students to feel good about reading a book on their own (as well as learning the names of the students in the class).

This is a Dr. Seuss classic! The combination of rhyming words and crazy creatures never fails to captivate the attention of the children. This book was a favourite of my own children, and so I have probably read this book at least 100 times. If you are looking for stories to help children develop phonemic awareness (awareness of the individual sounds in words), Dr. Seuss books are some of the best.

Ah, the little red fish...where does it go? This is a wonderfully original book, with beautifully crafted illustrations. JeJe brings his pet fish to the library and the fish escapes to have an adventure inside a book. Some pages are without text and allow for some deep discussions about what is happening in the story.

This book is another classic. I read this book when I was a child. The little boy wishes for duck feet (and other changes) and ultimately realizes that he is happiest just the way he is. This was a good story to talk to the class about what the boy learned in the story.

A crazy story that features a crabby pig who is trying to write a book and constantly asks the reader to stop bothering him so he can get back to work. The children always enjoy the funny illustrations and the odd feeling that we are "breaking the rules" by opening the book and turning the pages even though the pig keeps asking us not to...

Read Aloud Books for September 17

We read a book called "My Goldfish" by Christine Butterworth which, unfortunately, is out-of-print. I found a similar book on goldfish on amazon.ca. Our class is doing a unit on fish, so this type of non-fiction story is good for the students to learn facts about fish. This book was used as a launching point for our discussion of the differences between humans (living on land) and fish (living in water).


This is a classic story from Bill Martin, Jr. and the incomparable illustrator, Eric Carle. The combination of beautiful collage pictures and the bouncy, predictable text makes for a wonderful read aloud for the students. After a few pages, the students pick up on the word pattern, take clues from the illustrations and begin to read along. After hearing the story read twice, students were seen in the reading corner, with this book, "reading" the story aloud.
Watch for our class version of this story, "Kindergarten, Kindergarten, What Do You See?", coming next week...


One of my very favourite stories, "Swimmy" by author/illustrator, Leo Leonni, was read to the students twice this week, as a link to our study of fish. I like to call this kind of book a "thinking story" because the depth of the storyline allows for lots of discussion. Swimmy was a brave fish that was not like the others, but he used his differences to ultimately be a hero and save the day. We also learned that great things can be accomplished when we work together.

Read Aloud Books for September 10

During this four-day week, the class listened to 4 books. One was "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, mentioned in the August 30th posting. Here are the others:

This is a classic story by Robert Munsch (a Canadian author). When we read the story together, the students would read along with the words, "This is kindergarten. In kindergarten we share. We share everything!" A humourous look at sharing.

I chose this book because we could make connections to our class pet fish. It is a very good story to help the students identify the "problem" in the story and then how the problem is solved. A very funny book with simple language that kept the students' interest to the very end. It was also good as a talking point for the "lesson learned" in the story. The children quickly learned the refrain, about feeding the fish "never more than a spot, or something may happen, you never know what!"

I chose this book because it is about friendship and, because it begins in a pet store, it is a good opportunity to make a connection to the book "Fish Out of Water". We talked about how Brian the guinea pig was feeling sad when his best friend Bob went away and how he almost "burst" with happiness when he saw him again.

Wonderful parent reading resource book

This book is amazing! There are thousands of books referenced and the author gives very useful descriptions of all of them. She gives pointers about choosing books for your child and how to inspire them to be life-long readers. Themed activities are also included. Her writing style is so engaging that you will want to read all the books she writes about! I've been teaching for many years and I still use this book to help me find a fiction or non-fiction book on a particular topic.



I learned about Esme Raji Codell through her book, "Educating Esme". This book chronicles her first year of teaching at an elementary school in Chicago. She is very candid about her experiences and writes about them not only with humour, but also with a deep respect for her students and her profession. Teachers will thoroughly enjoy her successes and trials and non-teachers will appreciate all the things that teachers do in the course of a school year! I believe in the power of this book so much that I always give a copy to my student teachers as a gift, to thank them for their help in our classroom.

First Day of School Read Aloud

This is my FAVOURITE book to read on the first day of school. (It was also a favourite read aloud book of my two sons.) It is a lovely story that introduced me to the tradition of placing a kiss in a child's hand as a reminder during the school day of the power of a mother's love. A wonderful heart-warming story with beautiful illustrations.

Planet 5 Books - New Blog!

This blog will document the books used in our classroom. There will be a mix of books for children, teachers and parents. I will also be partnering with Amazon.ca to aid followers in the purchasing of these titles. Any referral monies earned will be redirected to our classroom budget.