The Snow Bear. By Miriam Moss. Illustrated by: Maggie Kneen.

The Snow Bear is a special book in my house. We always read it during the Christmas holidays. Jonathan loves it, and it's something I love to read. This year, at Jonathan's first grade classroom Christmas Party, I read The Snow Bear to his class. All the kids loved it, and many of them told me they also had this book at home, and liked to read it in the winter time.

The Snow Bear by Miriam Moss is a beautiful story about a little polar bear cub who is looking for his mother. He gets help from other animals as he looks. The animals help him build a snow bear. In the evening, all the other animals' mothers call them to come home, but not the little white bear cubs. He goes to sleep with the snow bear, and when he wakes up, his mother has found him. Its a beautiful story, and the picture by Maggie Kneen really help bring this story to life.

Genre: Fiction, character education

Theme/Skill: Be a good friend. Help others

Grade Level: PreK-2

Pre-reading activity: Small group discussion: Have you ever lost something very important to you? How did this make you feel? Did you ever find it? How did you find it?

Post-reading activity: The little bear lost his mother,and his friends helped him build a snow mother. He must have some great friends. What are some things you think would make a great friend? Students should have a copy of a word web. They should work with a partner to fill in what are characteristics of good friends.

Living Wild- Bats. By: Melissa Gish

Living Wild: Bats by Melissa Gish is a great information book on bats. It is full of engaging photographs and passages teaching readers so much about bats. I did a Unit Plan on bats during my student teaching experience. Our goal was to teach students about Bats, and show them that they are not scary vampires, but rather that they are very important part of our world. I would have loved to use this book during the unit. I was always looking for good books on bats so that children could do some of their own research on bats. 

Genre: Non Fiction, informational, Animals

Theme/Skill: Students will learn how to get information about animals from a nonfiction book.

Grade Level: 2-6

Pre-reading Activity: Teacher will take a poll of who in the class likes bats. Then there will be a class discussion about what students think they know about bats.

Post-reading Activity: Students should record three things that they learned from the book. They should share these three things with a partner.

Living Wild- Gorillas. By Melissa Gish

Living Wild: Gorillas by Melissa Gish is a wonderful information book filled with facts and photographs of gorillas. I enjoyed going through this book, because I do not know a lot about gorillas. For example, I did not know that gorillas may live for 30 to 50 years, and that they reach maturity between the ages of 10 to 13 years. Female will begin mating around the age of 10, and will generally give birth once every 3 to 4 years. The Females are allowed to breed with only the silverback gorillas of their troop. When the blackbacks reach full maturity, and grow silver hair, they leave their family troops and gather their own troops of unrelated females. The gorillas will not mate with siblings or with unrelated gorillas they have grown up with. This is fascinating to me, because I had not known any of that. The gorillas seem like a very sophisticated animal. I really enjoyed going through this book.

Genre: Nonfiction, Informational, Animals

Theme/Skill: Students will learn to research gorillas using informational text and photographs.

Grade Level: 2-6

Pre-reading Activity: Students should pick an animal they want to research. Students will get into groups of 4. This group will have picked gorillas. Students will write a list of things they think they know about gorillas and things that they want to find out. Then students will read together.

Post-reading Activity: In the same groups, students will record things they learned about gorillas. They will decide what they think was important and interesting and will share with the other groups in the class who researched other animals.

I Was So Mad. By Mercer Mayer (1983)

I Was So Mad, by Mercer Mayer is one of my all time favorite children's books. I love the Little Critter series, and can remember being a young child reading these books with my mom before bed. Whenever we were at a book store or another place where I saw a Little Critter book, I just had to have it when I was a child. My mother saved these books (along with a number of others from my childhood library), and she has given them to my children. My son Jonathan always gets a kick seeing Bridgid written in a child's hand writing in the inside cover. The Little Critter is so easily relatable to most little kids. In this book he was getting so mad by normal everyday kid stuff, but it really is the pictures that bring this story to life. While I was student teaching I used this book as part of a character education lesson on dealing with frustration. This was a perfect book because the words were simple, the kids could relate to the story, and they could see through the illustrations how the Little Critter was feeling.

About the Author:  Mercer Mayer was born in Arkansas in 1943, and he moved to and went to college in Hawaii. He began illustrating books in 1966 (and along the way wrote many of them too) and has published over 300 books! Very impressive!! Most of his books are about things that happened to him as a young child, and he also uses things that have happened to his children and grandchildren. He now lives in New England, and there together, he and his wife Gina write the Little Critter books. In 2007, he was chosen as the "Artist of the Year" at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C..
http://www.littlecritter.com/about_mercer_mayer2.html
Genre: Character Education, Fiction, Humor
Grade Level: Preschool and up
Theme: Dealing with frustration
Pre-reading activity: (2nd grade):  We will have a class discussion on frustration. Then we will make a word web. Students will add about times that they felt frustrated and why these things made them feel frustrated.
Post-reading activity: After reading, we will have a class discussion about appropriate responses to being frustrated or dealing with disappointment. Students will then take the Frustration word web and write about one example of feeling frustrated and an appropriate response and then they will share with a partner.

Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. By: Judith Viorst (1987)

I loved reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst. I read it for the first time a few years ago, and as a teacher, I saw so much potential in it. Not only is it a funny book, Alexander's character is very relatable, and there is so much children can learn from Alexander.

Alexander is having just one of those days; one of those days where nothing goes right. He didn't get the window seat on the way to school, he got in trouble in school, he had to go to the dentist, and they found a cavity, etc. Alexander starts to get really down and decides he's going to move to Australia.  Luckily his mom gives him some good words of wisdom, and he starts to see everything in a different way. This is a great book to teach students how to deal with disappointment and that things are not always going to go our way.

About the Author: Judith Viorst was born in 1931 and brought up in New Jersey. She has lived in Washington D.C. since 1960 since she married her husband, Milton Viorst. She has three sons, and I was surprised and excited to learn that their names are Anthony, Nick and Alexander, because those are the names of the brothers in the Alexander series. She writes science books, children's picture books, adult fiction and non fiction, poetry for children and adults and she has also written three musicals.

http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Judith-Viorst/707395/biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Viorst

Genre: Character education, fiction, dealing with disappointment.

Theme: Things are not always going to go our way, no matter where we are (even in Australia). We need to learn positive ways to deal with disappointment.

Grade level: Grades 1-5

Pre-reading activity: Students will have already read I was So Mad, by Mercer Mayer and they will have completed the word web on frustration during the previous class. Before reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, students will discuss what makes them frustrated and the ways that they can make themselves and others around them feel better when this happens. It is important that during the story students help fill out a story man concept map. This will help them with the post reading activity.

Post-reading activity: After reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, students will use their story man to complete a new day for Alexander. They will take events from Alexander's day, and make them more positive. They will call their new versions: Alexander and the Terrific, Amazing, Super Duper, Very Good Day.



Junie B. Jones: Is a Graduation Girl. By Barbara Park (2001)

I was introduced to Junie B. Jones while I was student teaching in second grade. We read a couple of chapters of Junie B. everyday after recess to get the students calmed down and back into school mode. I fell in love with the adorable five year old! One thing I learned about Junie B. is that you never know what she's going to do or say. I chose to put Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation Girl in my blog, because its the end of an era. This is the last of Junie B.'s adventures as a kindergarten student. The next book starts first grade.

In this book, Junie B. is so excited about her graduation from kindergarten. Mrs., her teacher gives each student a white cap and gown that they will need to bring home, and wear to school on the graduation day. She tells the students not to play with them, and to keep them safe. Well, of course, Junie B. cannot handle knowing that beautiful cap and gown are sitting there in a box in her house and she cannot touch them. If you know Junie B., you can just imagine what happens next! Everything works out in the long run, but there are a lot of laughs along the way.

Junie B. is such a great character for young children developing a love for reading. My son will read these books on his own, but we really enjoy reading Junie B. together before bed. Story time before bed is one of my favorite moments with my kids, and Junie B. always makes it even more enjoyable

Genre: Fiction, humor, character education

Theme/Skill: Getting ready for graduation/ moving from one grade to the next.

Grade Level:1-3

Pre-reading activity: Students will discuss what they felt like when they graduated from preschool/kindergarten/first grade, etc with a partner. Were they happy? sad? scared? excited? confused? And why did  they feel this way. They will share with the class how they felt.

Post-reading activity: Junie B. was ready to go to first grade, but things were going to be different for her next year. What can you tell Junie about the first day of first grade was like for you? What did you like best? Seeing old friends? Meeting new friends? School lunch? Write Junie B. a letter about what you think she is going to like best about first grade.

Hedgie Blasts Off! By: Jan Brett (2006)

Jan Brett is one of my favorite children's authors. Her stories are always so beautiful and they really come to life. Hedgie Blasts Off , is no different. Hedgie wants to be an astronaut. He has never flown in a spaceship but he takes care of  the Zeppadoppler rocket for the professor who is the smartest scientist on earth and who is also in charge of Outer Space. Finally, as chance would have it, there is a problem, and Hedgie is the only one who can fit into the rocket, and he gets his chance to go into Outer Space. Zoom! Hedgie blasts off! Hedgie has an exciting adventure in space, and when he returns home, he is surprised with the Official Astronaut Star for his courage and cool thinking from the Professor. He was now a real astronaut. "Three cheers for Hedgie! Hurray!"

This is another book I love to read with my son. We have a collection of Jan Brett books. I think Gingerbread Baby is my favorite, but I know that Hedgie Blasts is definitely Jonathan's favorite! Its such a fun story, and its perfect for children who like to read stories about Outer Space!

Genre: Fiction, Space

Theme/Skill: Never Giving up on our dreams.

Grade Level: K-3

Pre-reading Activity: Students should discuss what they want to be when they grow up with partners, and then share it with the class. Why do the students want these jobs? What makes these jobs interesting?

Post-reading Activity:  Hedgie finally got to go to space and become a real Astronaut. Students should write in their jouirnals about a time when something felt impossible, but they kept trying and did it anyway.