Friday, June 29, 2012

Read Alouds that Compliment Curriculum



Amanda is hosting a "Fiction Friday Link-Up" at her very cool blog: The Teaching Thief.  This is a great opportunity to share some of the fiction books we all love to use because, let's be honest, no one can tolerate ONLY nonfiction books all the time!

I chose to stick to Virginia Studies and Science for my read-aloud books this time.  I could do an entire post on nothing but Language Arts books, but I'll save that for another day ;)


Historical Fiction

A Friendship For Today by McKissack, Patricia
This is a chapter book about integration in the 1950s and a friendship between two girls that overcomes prejudice.

A Good Night For Freedom by Morrow, Barbara Olenyik
This is a picture book about a family of Quakers that house runaway slaves and describes the resulting danger in which they find themselves.

Freedom On The Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Weatherford, Carole B.
This is a picture book about the integration/desegregation period and passive resistance. 

Sounder by William H. Armstrong
This is a chapter book about a sharecropping family that is torn apart when the father is imprisoned for stealing food.



Science

Ecosystems/Habitats

The Great Kapok Tree by Cherry, Lynne
Not only is this great for discussing ecosystems (rainforest in this case), but it also has a great tie-in to writing.  The animals are trying to convince the human not to cut down their home.  I use this to discuss persuasive language and which styles/phrases are most effective and human impact on ecosystems.


What fiction books do you use for read-aloud?  Come join the link-up and share your favorites!

7 comments:

  1. Hi Heather! I love that you broke your books down into genre. I love using historical fiction to teach reading. The kids always find it really engaging. I'm going to add those two pictures books to my list to check out. They sound really interesting and good. Thanks for linking up. Please do write a post all on LA books and link up again next Friday. I would love to see more books and more ideas. :)

    Till then, happy reading!
    Amanda
    The Teaching Thief

    P.S. Don't you just LOVE The Great Kapok Tree. I love to read it around Earth Day.

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  2. I read A Friendship for Today a few summers ago and liked it a lot!

    Another one you might want to check out on the same topic is Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman. It's about a white girl who moves to Mississippi and attends school with one of the first black students in her building. Very interesting!

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  3. Amanda: I will definitely be back once I get myself together for Language Arts favorites!
    Jill: I'll have to check out Yankee Girl. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I love Patricia McKissack! Such a good author.

    Megan
    I Teach. What's Your Super Power?

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  5. Love the Great Kapok Tree! I never thought to use it for persuasive writing. Thanks for the tip! My goal is to read more historical fiction this summer. Thanks for the great list.


    Kristin
    iTeach 1:1

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  6. I adore your title. So much truth in it :)

    Happy that I found your blog and looking forward to reading it.

    Stop by and explore my blog.

    Patti
    On The Road To Success

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  7. Kristin: I feel like I can never read enough historical fiction!
    Patti: Thank you for that sweet comment. I'm looking forward to reading more from you as well!

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