book lists

[Emerson Squirl]

I am currently an education student and I'm hoping to start building my classroom library now. I do not know yet what grade I will be teaching so any suggestions for book titles or authors will be greatly appreciated. Anyone like "Henry and Mudge"?

[Brit]

Martin -- Chicka chicka boom boom (for young primary mainly)

lois lowry -- gooney bird greene. MUST have it for grade 2.

David Shannon -- the David books (there's 3).

Remy Phillip -- Fortunately

Greg Tang -- Math series

Not a Box

Not a Stick

These books are useful across primary grades -- in teacher's college, they pushed using pic. books for a variety of purposes with older grades, and I really believe it is a lot of good fun, and works well. don't buy too much now, though -- you'll have to store it until you get a classroom!

Other than a few REALLY GOOD books like above, buy books that YOU love. I will not have a book in my read-aloud library that I won't read 25 times a day (i.e. to each child individually). Not that I ever have time to do this, but for me, it's a good measure of if a book is good enough for my classroom. buy stuff you love. your love of the books will rub off on the kids.

you`ll want a few series at various levels for a young classroom. I enjoy the Magic treehouse series for my grade 2and3`s. Junie B Jones is popular but not the best (shes`sassy`). Geronimo stilton is wonderful. Nate teh great, also.

Get some good poetry. I like `Jelly on the Plate`and anything pruletsky (sorry if spelled wrong) and definitely some Silverstein -- good for drawing from for chart poems first year. also start digging around teh net for good shared reading poems that boys and girls alike will like, and make up a book of those.

Don't spend tons of money now. I know it's fun, but I just got 30 books for 40 bucks from Scholastic, PLUS all my free bonus extras. If you really want books, volunteer to run scholastic for a teacher who doesn't have the time -- and ask to keep the coupons. It is SUCH a good way of getting a library paid for! I've gotten over 100 books off my first order, over a quarter of them free, AND I have $50 of coupons waiting to be spent!

[ms.jodi]

I second the idea about using Scholastics..I have quite a library thanks to running that each month. I also love the Magic Tree House series as mentioned. I teach spec ed so I have a variety of reading ability levels. I like to build a library on topics, too. For instance, I will have several books set in China if we are studying this, but all at different levels--from picture books to older chapter books. I also have lots of picture books that can span age levels--like Dr Seuss's Lorax book, fun to look at if you are little, pollution message if you are older.

[Brit]

ooo...if you can get it, buy a copy of "learning to swim in swaziland". I LOVE that book, but ti's very hard to find.

[Just ducky]

I started our school year reading "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" to my fourth graders. It was an absolute joy. THEY found the website for Judy Blume and brought me some of the other books in the series. They check the library shelf every trip to see if the next one is available. (I am headed to the bookstore today to get it since I don't have time to check out Scholastic.) Which, by the way, is how most of my MANY classroom books were purchased or acquired FREE!
Our Title I program has a book cart and the other day they brought one of the books in wanting to know if I had $.50. They would walk around quoting favorite "Fudge" sayings. Any spare moment they want to know if I will read. They found out on Friday that they we will be grouping between classes beginning Monday and they may not be in my room all day. The FIRST question was to the jest of, "Does that mean we will not be reading Fudge books anymore?"

When kids are that excited about a book series, I will be reading!!!

[JennA]

Patricia Polacco books are great for kids reading above grade level in lower elementary grades. Some of my favorites of hers are My Rotten-Redheaded Older Brother, Lightening Bugs in a Jar.

For math, the Pig books by Amy Axelrod, Two of Everything by Lilly Toy Hong, 12 Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam are all great.

Cynthia Rylant, Kevin Henkes, and Tomie dePaola are great authors to have because the kids enjoy the characters.

Eric Carle-great pictures, good for grades K-1

Don't forget to include some non-fiction (animals, cars/trucks, history, science, and sports)!!

Easy-read chapter books (Junie B., Magic Treehouse, Geronimo Stilton, Boxcar Children, Sarah, Plain and Tall series, Cam Jansen mysteries, Judy Blume)

Fairy Tales (traditional and fractured)/Folk Tales

Poetry

It's important to have a variety of genres and reading levels available.

Have fun collecting, it's addictive!

[David]

As far as choosing books to read to a class I'm a big fan of Roald Dahl. Books such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "The Twits'," "Matilda". I find children love these books and others by Roald Dahl.

[SiobhanMarie]

Me too! I love Roald Dahl very much! Also Dr. Seuss, though may be a bit young depending on who the group is.

I really enjoyed the Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl, probably my favourite. I also have a 'revolting rhymes' book by Roald Dahl, which is really good for older primary because it's gross and disgusting and interesting!

[Brit]

could someone explain the sarah plain and tall thing to me? I found the book and read it to use for a grade 3 pioneers unit and HATED it. It was about a mail-order bride!!!!! it was the only book by that title I've ever seen, but from the sounds of it, there are more out there. what are they like, and who are they by?

by-the-by, there is a MUCH better book for a pioneers unit called "scared sarah". I highly recommend it.

[dsmms]

Regardless of what grade you teach, it is a good idea to have a variety of choices for the students to read. You will always have below and above grade level readers in you class, and you want to have reading materials for all of them. My first class was third grade. I made sure I had beginning readers through at least 4th or 5th grade. I teach 6th grade now and still have my original library. The older kids often reach for the Dr. Seuss books.:) I am always adding to my class library and I try to make a big deal of it when I introduce new titles to it. It gets them excited and they all want to be the first to get their hands on the new books.

I highly recommend finding a store that sells used books. It is a great way to inexpensively add to your library.

[JennA]

Patricia MacLachlan wrote Sarah, Plain and Tall. There are two more books in the "series." They are Caleb's Story and Skylark. When I taught 3rd grade, we did a Sarah, Plain and Tall unit. The kids seemed to enjoy it. Personally, I love the series.

As for other books to teach a pioneer theme, there are Little House on the Prairie picture books. Some others are:

Going West by Jean VanLeeuwen
Dandelions by Eve Bunting
**You can compare/contrast these 2 books**

Lewis and Papa by Barbara Joosse (story about the Santa Fe trail)