katiemellott

Grade: 1st

The pictures in this book are phenomenal! They really bring the book to life and make the book what it is. It tells of a stubborn king that refuses to get out of the bathtub to tend to his duties. Children love seeing what silly things King Bidgood is doing in the bathtub. After reading the story aloud, the class will compose a list of ways that they would entice the king out of the tub by thinking about what would make them get out of the bathtub. For example, mine would be, "Katie said, 'I made a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies!" Students will then write it down on construction paper. They will draw themselves in the bathtub with cotton balls as bubbles. They will also draw whatever will entice them out in the background. This will help children be creative and enhance their writing skills.

Grade: 3rd

This is a great book to read to ensure positive self-esteem in students. The pictures are vibrant and very kid friendly. The message of the book is on that all children should hear, so they know it is important to love yourself. The teacher will read the book I Like Myself! By Karen Beaumont. Each student will have a piece of construction paper, and they will write their name on it and one thing they like about themselves. The paper will be passed around the entire class and each student will write one nice word one each piece of paper. When the students get back their original paper, they will have something to look at to know people care about them.

Grade: 1st

This is a great book to educate children on the effects of natural disasters. The animals in the book give children a visual of what happens to them when natural disasters such as oil spills occur. While this book may be difficult to understand, it is a great introduction to a science lesson. The teacher will read the book Oil Spill! By Melvin Berger and explain to students that oil spills are an environmental hazard, and that oil spills hurt animals, because they destroy their homes. The teacher will then have a container of clean water and explain that it is like the ocean. Olive oil will be squirted in the water, and the teacher will ask how to get the olive oil out. Students will discover it cannot be scooped out of the container, just like it cannot be taken out of the ocean. Next, feathers will be dipped into the olive oil water to illustrate the effect it has on animals. Student will see that oil spills hurt animals. Lastly, students will discuss how to prevent oil spills.

Grade: 4th

This book is full of homophones, figurative language, and idioms. The pictures will be sure to make kids giggle. I love everything about this book. It plays on the misconceptions that children have that do not understand figurative language.  After reading this story aloud to the class, we will discuss these parts of speech. The students and teacher will provide multiple examples of homophones, such as ate/eight, bear/bare, cent/scent/sent/, deer/dear, pair/pear, etc. The class will then be prompted to provide examples of idioms such as waking up on the wrong side of the bed, time flying, raining cats and dogs, having a green thumb, etc. These examples will be written on the board. The class will talk about how words can be confusing because they sound the same but mean different things. After the discussion, the students will come up with their own idiom or homophone. Then, they will draw what they think it looks like just as Fred Gwynne did in A Chocolate Moose For Dinner.