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Search Results for: summer reading list

20 Greatest Children’s Books About Perseverance And Grit

Looking for the greatest children's books about perseverance and grit? Look no further! I've read hundreds of picture books about perseverance, grit and stick-to-it-iveness, and these are the best ones. You can effectively teach perseverance to your elementary students stress-free with these books! This is a great mix of true stories, realistic fiction and fantasy books to dazzle and delight your kids. There are suggested lessons and activities included as well as a free lesson and activities as well! If you’re a member of the Picture Book Brain Trust Community, you already have access to EVERY lesson plan and activity for these books! Just click on the Lesson Plans button in the menu! The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires A girl has a wonderful idea. She is going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! She knows just how it will look, and she knows just how it ... read more

Best Picture Books About Activism For Kids

Explaining what activism looks like to a Kindergartener or even an upper elementary school student can be a complicated task. Raise your hand if you've taught about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and your students then tell you that he made everyone equal because he gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech? Everyone can lower their hands now. The point is that teaching activism to students can be quite a task and understanding what actually goes into activism can be complicated. These books are an excellent mix of picture books about activism for kids that feature child activists, American social activism, and international activism. Lesson plans and activities are available individually on my TPT store where indicated or you can get INSTANT ACCESS to ALL of the lesson plans and activities by joining the Picture Book Brain Trust. If you're already a member, you ALREADY have access ... read more

Best Empathy Books For Kids New and Noteworthy

What are the best empathy books for kids? Teaching your kids to see the world through the eyes of others, to empathize, can be difficult. These stories about empathy are great ways for teachers to teach empathy to elementary students. Many of the books have attached empathy activities for kids. Can empathy be learned? Through books all things are possible. Reading is probably one of the greatest forms of empathy for elementary students. Through books we get to live in the minds of characters who have backgrounds and experiences far different from our own. As teachers, we show our students how to listen with empathy as we read aloud books to them. They need to show empathy for others by listening to the read. If you’re a member of the Picture Book Brain Trust Community, you already have access to EVERY lesson plan and activity for these books! Just click on the Lesson ... read more

Back to School Ideas

Finding fun and engaging back to school ideas and activities can be a challenge. As you try to set up your rules and routines for the beginning of the school year, there are a lot of demands on your time. Getting ready for open house and meet the teacher, curriculum night, and setting up your perfect theme. Add in the latest in trying to think about setting up your classroom for social distancing, and it's even more difficult! It's A LOT! Here I've compiled my favorite resources and ideas to help you get back to school stress-free! Back to School Books At back to school time, there are a few things you are looking to accomplish with your interactive read alouds: Books for the first day of schoolLearn student names - I have a great list of the best books about namesTeach rules and expectations - I have some great books about rules and expections for back to schoolFind out ... read more

A Picture Book A Day Challenge Week 6 Recap

Another week of my picture book challenge where I have been reading a picture book each day and reviewing it. Last week I read a number of winter/Christmas books, and this week I had rather wide variety. My library holds list is so large that what's been coming in has been quite the mixed bag. This week has been a difficult week, though.  I had no shortage of books to read.  On the contrary, I currently have 32 holds on books from the library.  I got a lot of recommendations this week for books (see below).  No, this week was difficult because my wife and I are learning that pregnancy is far more difficult than anyone ever let on.  Since about week 8 of the pregnancy, my wife has had SEVERE morning sickness.  This week, we finally accepted that we needed more help than we ourselves could give each other.  Our families had to help out and we ... read more

Tips and Tricks For Launching Thoughtful Logs

4 years ago I had just gone through an intense 3 day training on Comprehensive Literacy.  Every teacher in my district had somehow been voluntold to report for the training in July.  Even more surprising than teachers giving up 3 days of summer? All of us had to sit on hard cafeteria benches the entire time.  Of the endless amounts of new things we were told to implement, the one that seemed the most tangible was the thoughtful log.  We didn't get a lot of direction or any tips for using them, though.  4 years later, I've figured out a lot of tricks for using the thoughtful logs to make them manageable, and none of them did I learn with my butt sat on a cafeteria bench. There are affiliate links in many of the posts on this site. This means your purchase supports myself, my business, and my family when you click through to buy - at no additional cost to ... read more

5 Things to Do Instead Of Stressing About Your Classroom Decor

Do you spend the end of your summer stressing about your classroom decor?  Do you spend hours laminating and cutting owl, superhero, or llama theme decor packs each year?  I used to be you.  No longer.  I'm here today to tell you that that does not have to be you!  Your classroom doesn't have to be that elaborately decorated room you see on Pinterest!  There are so many more useful things you could be spending your time and money on for back to school instead of worrying about your classroom decor, and that's what I'm going to talk about in this post. There are affiliate links in many of the posts on this site. This means your purchase supports myself, my business, and my family when you click through to buy - at no additional cost to you. Why I Don't Buy Into Classroom Decor When I first started teaching, many of my colleagues were quick to ask me what my THEME was going to ... read more