Who Was Walt Disney? (Nonfiction)

By: Whitney Stewart

Walt Disney was a creative and mischievous boy growing up. Walt grew up with innovative ideas and collected money to create Disneyland by first showing cartoons on television. In addition to being the creator of Mickey Mouse, he was also ambulance drive in France during World War I.

This chapter book tells about Walt Disney’s life growing up and gives a lot of interesting facts that students normally would not know without any type of research. This book is part of a series of biographies that include; Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman, King Tut, Neil Armstrong, and many more. I would use these series to give my students their own choice of what historical person they would like to research. After reading this book and finding additional resources, the students would create a PowerPoint presentation to share what they learned with the class.

When the Moon is Full (Multicultural)

By: Penny Polluck

In this poetry book, there is a poem for each month of the year. Each month is named corresponding to a seasonal activity that was popular with the Native Americans. I would read each poem at the beginning of each month and discuss the month’s moon name. This book could also help students learn a little each month about the Native Americans.  During the holiday season, the students will make Wordle pages using descriptive words to describe their holiday experiences or favorite parts. I would connect math with this by comparing and contrasting the number of repeated words within my student's work, as well as making graphs to help quantify these values. Also, I could use the book as an example for students to create poems and depict them on Wordle as well.

Sami and the Time of Trouble (Multicultural)

By: Florence Parry Heide & Judith Heide Gilliland

“We can have another day,” I say. “We can have another time when children march in the streets.” Quote from the last page

This book is about a boy named Sami who lives in Lebanon.  Sami tells of his life with his family living in his uncle’s basement. While spending all day inside the basement, because it is too dangerous to go outside. He remembers a quiet and safe day at the beach with his sister and grandfather.

I would have my students make comprehension connections to the story and write about happy memorable moment that they had with their family.  Using the story as an example of how important details can be to a story, I would focus on the students using more detailed vocabulary. Once my students are done writing, I would have them illustrate their writing and share their story with a partner. 

Addy Learns a Lesson (Historical Fiction)

By: Connie Porter, Part of the American Girl Series

Addy is an African American girl who moves to from North Carolina to Philadelphia with her mother due to the civil war. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, Addy is confronted with a new friendship and a new education, in which she learns a lesson about both.

This chapter book and other books from this series would be a good group reading activity.  Each series of books refers to a different time in history. Students will be learning about history, as well as a social skills lesson like friendship and trust. I think the books are easy enough for the students to keep one another accountable and discuss their thoughts within their groups. After the students have finished their books, I would have them share a summary to the class.

Dinosaurs and Dinosaurs (Nonfiction)

By: M. Jean Craig

I really like this chapter book because of the way it organizes dinosaurs from different periods and gives a description of each dinosaur. I would review multiple descriptions of different dinosaurs and, as a class discuss how important good descriptions and details are. Then I would have my students research and write a detailed description of their favorite dinosaur. As part of the research, students will discover where the dinosaur most likely lived and break into groups with common areas. Students would use their research information to create a web of their own.