Bones

Bones by Steve Jenkins is another great science fiction book that can help students with their science classes. Learning about bones is a difficult thing, and they are hard to remember, but learning in creative ways will help them to remember maybe one or two. This book is a great way to learn about different animals and species with bones in an interesting way. It has pages that flip open to show more pictures. It's also a picture book, because without the pictures you won't get a very good view of what the book is talking about. I think it's very entertaining and even taught me more about bones and animals I didn't know. This can bring interest in students who like the outdoors, science, and animals.

Some fun activities you can do with the students are to print out pictures of different skeletons and for them to pick out what animal it can belong to and to color in the arms, legs, skull, and then name as many bones as they know.

Mama, Do You Love Me?

This is a story about a little girl who keeps asking her mom if she does certain things, will she still love her. And of course the mother will always love her no matter what she does or says. It's a wonderful book to read with your children as a bedtime story or just to read aloud with them. It's a sweet book that has a powerful message that no matter what her mother will always love her.

The author Barbra M. Joosse did a great job incorporating the heritage of Native American's in the story by using different pictures that represent Native's and even words and animals. In the back of the book are all of the words that a student might not know and the meaning of them and what they do.

An activity you can do with the class is to write down something special to their parents to say, "I will love you, forever and for always, because you are my Dear One."

Looking at Lincoln

The biography/historical fiction book Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman is a great way to learn more about Abraham Lincoln. It's not a book with just a list of facts, it has a story line with it and allows the reader to enjoy it more instead of just reading a boring book. It's a great way to help with book reports and other assignments students have to do.

Students can do a time-line of his life and the things he liked to do.

A Bad Case of Stripes

The story of A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon is another great book to bring into the classroom. It brings mystery of why Camilla has stripes all over her body. Then it gets worse, she turns into different colors and different patterns and nobody can tell why she's like that. The only thing she can think about is her not eating her favorite food, lima beans. The ending has a great meaning that no matter what people think, do what you want and do what makes you happy. Everyone likes different things and they all have different interests and it's always okay to be different.

A fun activity you can do is before the ending of the story, ask the kids what they think the reason for Camilla's case of "stripes" is. And what they can do to fix her. Nobody's answer is right or wrong, it's all just fun and allows them to play doctor and detective at the same time.

Green Eggs and Ham

My favorite book of all time is the famous Green Eggs and Ham by the wonderful Dr. Seuss. This book is full of fun and adventure, and written in a poetic and rhythmical way. It's hard not to enjoy and get into the story because of how fun it is to read. Reading it to children, you can really get them involved because this book has 50 or fewer different words so the children can say out loud, "I do not like them Sam I am, I do not like green eggs and ham!" They really enjoy that because it's bringing them outside from just listening to actually enjoying the story.

A fun activity to do is to bring in eggs in the classroom and inject the eggs with green die and then crack it open and make eggs in the class and see how many students will try them even though they're green.

Astronaut Living In Space

Science fiction is a topic that most people don't enjoy too often, and space travel is also something with a little interest. Well a wonderful book to read that can change anyone's perspective of science fiction is Astronaut Living In Space by Kate Hayden it's extremely interesting and full of facts about astronaut's who live in space for a period of time and what they do for fun, eat, and sleep. It's full of science that can help expand a child's interest in space travel. Children even gain an interest to wanting to become an Astronaut. 

A fun activity to do is to have the children in the classroom guess how many miles it takes to get from earth to the moon, and how many days they think it will take, and even how fast the space shuttle travels. And then give a prize to whoever is closest. This will get them to use their own knowledge and the knowledge they learned from the book as well. 

First Flight

A good way to bring in historical fiction to a class is to have a discussion about the Wright Brothers who are the two American's who created and invented the first successful airplane. This book is a historical fiction book about a young boy Tom Tate and the first flight of the airplane. It's a great book to learn a little bit more of the Wright Brothers in an interesting way. That's a great way to get students into history or topics that might not be their favorite, if they can find a book that has something that can relate to them.

An activity to do with the students is to have them all draw/make their own airplanes and to decorate them and to name all the pieces they can remember of the airplane.

Freckle Juice

As a kid, one of my favorite first chapter books was Freckle Juice by the famous Judy Blume. This non-fiction book has a feeling of reality to it because of what he goes through to have the freckles. It's funny, entertaining and brings a lot of kids to enjoy it because of what he think's he can do to make himself have freckles. Kids always try to fit in and so this book gives a way that little Andrew wanted to because of his friend Nick having freckles and he didn't.

A fun activity you can do with the kids are to come up with a list of things they can put into their own "Freckle Juice" and then bring in supplies to make their own juice. With obvious control of the ingredients, and to not allow them to drink it after because of the things inside, but to just see what it will look like.

I'd definitely bring this into a classroom in the elementary school age. It's a good chapter book they can read and enjoy, and maybe even relate to.

Who Will Be My Valentine This Year?

Valentine's day has a different meaning to children and to adults. When kids think about valentine's day they think of which little cards they're going to get in class, and their favorite type of candy they're going to receive. So to bring in the fun holiday a great children's book to read to your class is Who Will Be My Valentine This Year? by Jerry Pallotta and David Biedrzycki. It brings a fun meaning of Valentine's day and how many friends the Hippo has, and that you don't need only one valentine, you can even have multiple! 

Usually teachers will read a book and then have the kids get their valentine presents that are in the bags they've made earlier in the week. I think this is a great idea because it's showing that you have an entire classroom of valentine's and not just one. This is important to express to your students, because it gives a positive example and allows everyone to feel comfortable and not left out.

The book is basically about a Hippo who is looking for a valentine, and all of their friends say that they can't be her Valentine because they aren't the same animal and don't like the same things, and in the end... well that's something you'll just have to read and enjoy yourself. But it's a wonderful book for the classroom!

Waking Beauty

My favorite Disney movie of all time would have to be Sleeping Beauty, and that's why I loved this book so much. Waking Beauty was written with the basic story line of the movie Sleeping Beauty, with a little twist. The humor of this fantasy story really got me to enjoy it so much. Even though I had a basic idea of what the story would be about and the ending, it was much different than I thought. I loved the twist of the story and how it became it's own story line.

An activity I would do with my classroom is to assign a project for the children to find one of their favorite movies and a book that is similar or has the same story-line as their movie and to compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the story and movie. Then present to the class.

It's a very appropriate book for the classroom and even though it has more of a girly style to it, it can also amuse young boys too. It's fun to have as a fantasy book in the classroom to get children to use their imaginations.

There's An Alligator Under My Bed

Children are known to have fears of monsters, bugs, animals, and especially alligators. Having a fear in something can always be turned into a positive way by making it into something fun, and that's exactly what the author of the book There's An Alligator Under My Bed did. Mercer Mayer made fear into something everyone can overcome, especially a young child. And that's what this book is all about, even though it brings fantasy of an alligator actually being under a child's bed, it can bring the reality of childhood fear into the story.

A classroom activity you can do with your classroom is to discuss the meaning of the word "fear", and ask the class if they know the meaning and to give an example. Then read aloud this book, and go over the fear of the alligator under his bead. Then ask the students to share their own fears in their past or now, and strategies they can come up with to avoid having that fear. Also, discuss positive ways fear can have and positive ways the child can get over his or her fears.

I enjoyed this book very much, it has a fun and entertaining story line to it that allowed me to read it with some humor. I've read it to younger kids I know and they loved it. The pictures are very colorful and draw you in. I will definitely bring this book into my classroom.

Every Friday

As a child, little boys love to spend a bonding experience with their father. This book, demonstrates it perfectly. Father-son walks and talks can impact a child and they can keep in their memory for a lifetime. It's about a young boy who goes on a walk around with their father and they show what they like. It's a very touching and loving story with a bit of humor at the end. This would be a great father's day gift to a dad from their son.

A great activity to do with a classroom are to discuss any activities children do with their fathers/mothers/guardians. Then to draw pictures and present to the class.