Read Aloud Books for April 21

The Matzah Man is an excellent adaptation of the classic story, The Gingerbread Man, for the Jewish holiday of Passover. The story incorporates many of the details of the Passover celebration, so this is an excellent multi-level book to work with a variety of ages. My classes were also able to make a connection with another book we read aloud, "A Fly Went By" since both books employ the device of a cumulative chase. This book also has a very catchy refrain, that is repeated often throughout the book. The children loved to shout out these words as they read along with me:

Hot from the oven, I jumped and I ran,

You can't catch me, I'm The Matzah Man!

The Easter Egg is a book written and illustrated by Jan Brett (best known for her book, The Mitten). It is a beautiful book with lovely, detailed pictures. The story is about Hoppi the rabbit who wants to win the egg decorating contest and he goes around looking at what the other rabbits are doing. The winner of the contest gets to help the Easter bunny deliver his eggs. I like to use the story to emphasize with children all the creative ideas. There are painted eggs, wooden eggs and robot eggs! Also, every illustration has pussy willows framing the page and this is an excellent link to our discussion and investigation of actual pussy willow branches in the classroom.

Read Aloud Books for April 15

Skip Through The Seasons is a good book to review the seasons, the months of the year and the changes that happen in each. The story is written in rhyme and the illustrations are very detailed so that when a child reads this book in the reading corner it is easy for them to pick out the different activities for each month.

Lego House is an adult book that I chose to show to the class because we were talking a lot about lego this week. The photographs document the life-size house made out of lego that includes everything in the house made out of lego (chairs, tables, sinks). I used this to show the children two things. First, never give up on your dreams (James May faced many obstacles in getting this project finished) and second, how many people worked together to get the house finished. (If you are interested, youtube has many short films on this project. Just search "James May Lego House")

Chicken Soup With Rice (A Book of Months) is a Maurice Sendak classic from 1962. I remember reading this book as a child. It is a great read aloud because of the engaging cadence of the rhyming text and the repeated words encourage the children to read aloud with me. Ask your child to finish the following : Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice!


The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree was another of my sons' favourite read aloud books when they were little. It follows the adventures of Arnold, a little boy who loves an apple tree in his backyard. The text details the different things he does through the seasons (for example, he gathers apples to make apple pie and apple cider). I really like how the text is written to clearly demonstrate the cyclical nature of the seasons, as this is a concept that is difficult for small children to understand.

Read Aloud Books for April 8

Let's Look At Spring is a good non-fiction book for talking about the spring season. In class, we have been talking about the different changes that are happening as winter fades into spring. When we are outside each day, we are watching the buds on the shrubs around our playground to see when they change from brown to green (not yet!). This book talks about other signs to look for, like seeing robins.

What! Cried Granny is another of my all-time favourite stories. I have the text memorized because this was another of my son's preferred bedtime books and we read it every night for ages. It was also one of the first books that he could read completely by himself. This is a funny story about a boy staying overnight at his grandmother house and finds all kinds of ways to delay going to bed. The text has several repeated phrases that allows for a enjoyable read along style read aloud. The students love to yell out "What! Cried Granny". Whenever, I read aloud this story to a class at the end, there are always pleas for me to read it again. So, of course, we did!