My Class' Read Alouds

We read a lot in my class.  :)  I know, you are probably thinking - um, duh!  I wanted to share what chapter books we read together in case you were interested...

FYI - Links go to Amazon if you want to see a description of the titles.

Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing

Kids get a kick out of reading something with their new grade level in the title.  That's the main reason we start out the year with this text - plus it's a funny book that helps them easily connect with the main characters.  

Beezus and Ramona

We start the year with these 2 since I want to compare and contrast a 4th grade boy and girl main character with younger siblings.  They love the books.  We also watch the movie version of Beezus and Ramona to do a book/movie comparison - the movie is when the characters are older.

Charlotte's Web

This is the first year that I'm adding Charlotte's Web to the mix.  We have a story in OCR that is a chapter from it, titled Escape - part of our Risk and Consequence unit.  It also happens to tie in to Food Chains/Webs & Spiders (for Halloween).  

& also

Lemonade War

Our 2nd Reading unit is a Business theme - so there is a tie in with vocabulary.

The Family Under the Bridge

I use this book to help teach about traditions.  In November we are creating our traditions books (as gifts for our families), and this book is all about thinking of someone else.

Stone Fox

Another winter favorite.  With it being a short book, it works great with this extra busy time of year.

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

This is a good book for those mystery/detective kids in class.  I stick it in there to work on predictions and inferences.  

The Chocolate Touch 

Chocolate Fever

It's Chocolate Month (at least February is Chocolate Month to me) - so we celebrate it by comparing/contrasting the main characters, story plots, etc.  

Island of the Blue Dolphins

In our OCR we have a chapter from Island, so I decided a while back to take the time to read the entire story...  it all starts back in my own 4th grade classroom that I remember reading it, then I was in charge of this book/unit during student teaching... and I really love the book!  

Tiger Rising is a pretty deep book.  I'm still not sure if this class will be able to capture it.  Last year was the first year I read it with them... 

and that was taking the place of Old Yeller.  So, we'll see what happens this year.  

In May we are coasting to the end.  We read Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger as a fun read.  

With all of these, I have made up little mini units (FREE) in my TPT store that help keep the kids on track and summarizing the story as we go through the chapters in class.  It's just a simple grid that they fill in during their silent reading reading response time.  After we finish up a book they also write a paragraph or two (depending on the time of year) about the text - making connections, favorite part, etc.

Where did I get all these class sets of books?  Well one set - Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing - I was given from Donor's Choose.  The others I picked up with bonus points or waited until they were only $1 through Scholastic over the years.  4 years ago is became very important to me (switching back to 4th grade from 2nd) that during class read alouds each child have their own book in front of them - so I started saving bonus points, using those $10 gift checks, using those free book picks, etc... all for class sets of books.  Now, I am literally out of time during the year and room to store them all.  Oh well!  

Happy Reading! 

P.S. - I uploaded a new FB Fan Freebie late last night.
It won't be there forever.  Hope it helps you!

{Like my products?  My TPT store is also 20% off through tonight.}