5 Awesome Read Alouds for Winter

1.  When It Starts to Snow

by Phillis Gershater

This book is charming and you will love reading it aloud... all the animals ask 

"What if it starts to snow? What will I do?  Where will I go?"

Rhyme, verse and the repetitive questions make this book a perfect one for beginning literacy students.  Your children will listen in as you read this inquisitive text.

Put this one on your list. One to purchase for your library.  It's my new favorite.  The amazing illustrations by Martin Matje complement the text beautifully!

2.  Katy and the Big Snow

     by Virginia Lee Burton

Katy and the Big Snow teaches such a valuable lesson about working hard to achieve a goal.  Katy is a very brave and untiring tractor.  Her work ethic is amazing.  She pushes a bulldozer in the summer and a snowplow in the winter.  Katy's hard work makes it possible for all the townspeople to do their jobs.  Katy shows her true self when a blizzard blankets the city and everyone is relying on Katy to help dig them out.  This book can lead to many valuable discussions about commitment, work, and helping.

3.   Thomas' Snowsuit

      by Robert Munsch

Munsch's books are SO fun to read.  If you need some laughter and a bit of surprise.  Read this book!  That's all I will say about this one!  Read it!

4.  Red Sled

            by Lita Judge

This book has very few words but that makes the looking and listening that much closer. As you read this one... pause and think...ask what might happen next?  what do you think? 

small children and early readers are quite capable to make inferences and evaluations when you read aloud a good book as this one.  All the woodland creature take a child's sled for a joy ride at night.  The ride is beautifully illustrated in watercolors.  See the humorous expressions on the characters.  When finished, slowly and gently close the book on your lap and listen to the children's conversations.  They will be very informative of their understanding of this wonderful book. 

5.  Stella: Queen of the Snow 

by Marie Louise Gay

Stella has a younger brother, Sam.  Sam has never seen snow before. Sam is mesmerized by his first snowstorm and he has lots of great questions about the snow.  Read this book to find out Stella's amazing and very entertaining answers about the snow.  Find out who eats snowflakes for breakfast.   This read aloud could easily be a springboard about asking questions to find answers to ask more questions.  I love this book!

Sight Word Practice - Christmas Coloring Pages for December

Are your students excited about Christmas?  Are you excited, too?  Here are 3 easy pages for you to use in your classroom or home for those moments when you just need to catch up... Children color the Christmas pages by color code.  They will read the sight words over and over and then color a red and green picture for Christmas.  Each page has a sentence at the bottom to use these sight words in context.  Children can trace over the letters and then circle the sight words.  Coloring pages are Christmas Elf, Christmas Stocking and Christmas Tree.

All you do is download and print.  Materials needed red and green crayons and a beginning reader. 
                     You can get your pages HERE

Teacher Resources - Substitute Notebook Binder - [Editable]

Find your teacher resources HERE and save!

Find teacher resources and reader response pages to use with Children's Literature...discover a substitute binder all ready for you to fill in the necessary details to make your class run smoothly when you are away, look for word sorts for your morning word study, see writing checklists for beginning writers, view classroom management products to help organize your classroom, peek at my clip art to make your own digital pages (if you are so inclined) seek out math resources that motivate students to practice math skills and move around a bit...scoot games, multiplication -USA, practice your facts, grab your anchor charts for close reading, watch for hall signs to help your students to be respectful in the highway, glimpse at my Geography powerpoint on landforms and more!  

Substitute Notebook Binder - Editable- HERE

Teacher Resources for Reading, Writing, Math, Science and Social Studies - Cyber Sale for 2 Days!

Grab some great teaching resources for some unbelievable prices! Start shopping!

Teacher Resources for Reading, Writing Using Children's Literature, Math, Science and Social Studies

Writing Checklist for Beginning Writers HERE

Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
Reader Response Pages HERE

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet for Elementary Students

Grab Your Thanksgiving Story Bracelet Directions HERE

You will receive the story to handout to your students AND teacher directions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whimsical Greeting Cards for the Holidays

Enjoy the holidays !  Get your whimsical greeting cards HERE!

In November

In November

by Cynthia Rylant

About This Book "from the back cover"

In November, the air turns crisp and cold and the earth and all of its creatures prepare for winter.  Animals search for food and huddle together for warmth.  And people gather around the table to give thanks and celebrate the season with family and friends.

Curl up with your loved ones and enjoy the sights, the sounds, the scents ---and the traditions-- of this very special time of year. 

 

 

You can find these 3 writing prompt pages to use with this wonderful book HERE 

Complete set of In November writing prompts      
Find them HERE

    Enjoy the autumn season and see the natural beauty around you.

Wonderfall by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books) from My New Favorite Book by Michael Hall on Vimeo.

Wonderfall 

by Michael Hall

Simple lines and beautiful art.     Wonderfall is a beautiful book about the various events that happen in the fall, including the beginning of the school year, Halloween, Thanksgiving and more. 

Each page is related to the autumn season.  Hall uses -ful words and substitutes it to read fall to make words like beautifall, thankfall, delightfall and more.  
The story follows woodland animals, children and grown-ups as they experience the autumn season through parades, trick-or-treating and jumping in the leaves, among other fun seasonal experiences.

Hall’s bold digital illustrations combine acrylic paint with soft pastels, which may remind readers of the works of Eric Carle.  His artwork splashes the pages with autumn colors...bright green, yellow, burnt orange and striking blue.  Text format helps beginning readers who are learning to sound out words.  Preschoolers would love to hunt and find the autumn elements ...beautiful leaves, squirrels, acorns, little birds.  Turn the pages and discover the 'wonderfall' book talk that will happen.  This book includes a learning guide at the end and gives facts about the various animals in the story.  You may wish to talk about the word ending -ful and how the author changed it to fall to add to his story about fall. 

This book can be a springboard to all those wonderfall activities you do with your homeschoolers, preschoolers and young readers. 

Take a look inside:

Make some leaf pictures or a Thanksgiving turkey

Leaf Turkey

Get Your PRINTABLES Here


    Thanks for stopping by...see you next time

Red, A Crayon's Story

Red,  A Crayon's Story

by Michael Hall

Red has a bright red label, but he is, in fact, blue. His teacher tries to help him be red (let's draw strawberries!), his mother tries to help him be red by sending him out on a playdate with a yellow classmate (go draw a nice orange!), and the scissors try to help him be red by snipping his label so that he has room to breathe. But Red is miserable. He just can't be red, no matter how hard he tries! Finally, a brand-new friend offers a brand-new perspective, and Red discovers what readers have known all along. He's blue! This funny, heartwarming, colorful picture book about finding the courage to be true to your inner self can be read on multiple levels, and it offers something for everyone!

This story is appropriate for pre-school aged groups.  Certainly, Kindergarteners and First Graders could discuss the theme with more sophistication.  There are many different themes that Hall introduces in his story, Red, a crayon's story.

Here are a few: 

* Believe in Yourself

*Overcoming doubt

*Treat Others the Way You Want to be Treated

*Acceptance

* Perseverance

* Kindness

* Differences

*Never Giving Up

Preschoolers and Kindergarteners especially will delight with Hall's books.  Read them aloud and start a book talk with your early readers.

Michael Hall is my newest favorite author.  His books are intelligent, warm and surely capture imagination.  creative and fun to read... more fun to discuss...

here are some reader response pages for beginning readers to use with this book

click HERE  to find reader response pages for this book

Thank you for visiting and check back later for another wonderful book by Michael Hall.  I think it may be my favorite.   

Teaching Literacy and Math with Children's Literature

You might also like the literacy-math study packs listed below, click on the link to preview: 
All About Birds Primary Learners Literacy Pack
Charlotte's Web Literature Study Pack
Writing Checklist for Beginning Writers
Reader Response Journals Task Cards
Little Red Hen Literacy-Math Pack
Charlotte's Web Literacy Pack for Primary Readers K-1
James and the Giant Peach Literature Study Pack
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein Writing Response Pages

Happy October! All About Pumpkins!

All About Pumpkins Literacy & Math Pack 
Get Yours HERE

October is a cool month for reading aloud books to small people who are learning 
how to read.  

Turn the pages! Watch the fun!  

October is filled with pumpkin spice, autumn  leaves, cool nights ...simply delightful!  

Here are some of my favorite books to share with children in October !  

How many seeds in a pumpkin?

Counting Pumpkin SeedsCombinations to 10

"How many seeds are in a pumpkin?" Mr. Tiffin asks his class as they gather around the big, medium, and small pumpkins on his desk.  Robert, the biggest kid, guesses that the largest one has a million seeds; Elinor, sounding like she knows what she's talking about, guesses the medium one has 500 seeds; and Anna, who likes even numbers better than odd ones, guesses that the little one has 22.  Charlie, the smallest boy in the class, doesn't have a guess.  Read to find out why? after reading this book to your child; you may want to do some pumpkin investigation...here are some pages that might help record the data...

Pumpkin Day Recording SheetEstimate and Find Out

Find out about your pumpkin

Lots of engaging math and science activities. So many lessons to teach... float or sink?, height, weight, how many?, counting by 10's, estimation, size, science techniques, writing skills, reading to find out, information texts and comprehension checks...oh! my! 
and my favorite read aloud, ever!!! 
is...



The Big Pumpkin
by Erica Silverman

This one is a great book to teach sequence and if you are so lucky to have the recording, which is very, very hard to find...your kids will engage immediately...
great sing, song of words and kids can't help but join in when you read this one.  
Below is the youtube recording of this book...however, video stays on the cover of the book, so get the book, show the pages and listen along!!  If you have any children ages 3-93....they will LOVE this book

Enjoy your autumn days!  See you next time...

MrsQuimbyReads

The Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen

great read aloud

We talked about the importance of play... and of course, work is equally important.  Lessons early in childhood about work at home and work at school would be beneficial to that child when he/she is a grown up. All people and animals work each day; it's what makes us sleep well at night.  What kind of work do you like to do? 

 The Little Red Hen is a perfect read aloud for PreK -Grade 1 and older.  It's a classic ... and one of those books we go back to ...to read again. It's fun and children love the story.   There are many versions but the story remains in tact.  

The author's message? 

work hard...help out...share...plan ahead... 

rewards and fairness

I made  literacy-math centers to use with The Little Red Hen... 

I made it 

"all by myself" 

bright, bold and colorful clip art made by me also

you can find literacy and math pack for 

Grades PreK- Grade 1   HERE

this pack includes 58 pages to use with this book- the pages and activities help with reading comprehension and retelling the story

pages for math center...pages for literacy center

Little Red Hen

here are some example pages included in this 

literacy-math center pack:

phonics page - rhyming words for cat

Complete the sentence

What comes next?  Math Center Activity

The Little Red Hen works hard and she is rewarded.

vocabulary words for your pocket chart without pictures

Vocabulary words for your pocket chart and writing center with pictures

thanks for visiting... come back as I will be adding more ideas and strategies to teach reading and writing with children's literature...delights the child and motivates reading