What’s New in Children's Literature?
PLCT Menu 2009-2010
Literature Ideas Created by PLCT Participants
Table of Contents
Math
Reading
Grammar
Writing
Social Studies/Science
Counseling
Math
• The Napping House, Audrey Wood
– Problem Solving, How many people/animals
are in bed? How many legs are in the bed?
• How Many Snails?, Paul Giganti
– Graphing to compare how many more.
Math
• Counting on Frank, Rod Clemet
– This could be used to incorporate writing into
math by using the idea of this book to write
their own.
– Cloze passage for practicing adjectives.
• 20 Hungry Piggies, Trudy Harris
– Ordinal numbers
– Subtraction
Math
• Pigs in the Pantry, Amy Axelrod
– Measurements
• Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar,
Mitsumasa Anno
– Multiplication and factorials
• Spaghetti and Meatballs for All,
Marilyn Burns
– Area and perimeter
Math
• Milo the Really Big Bunny, Stephen Krensky
– Kindergarten lesson to teach small, medium,
and large.
• Eating Fractions, Bruce McMillan
– Introduce fractions
– Great mental images in math
– Student create own meal-draw/cut into
fractions, glue to “placemat”, label with fraction
Math
• Spaghetti and Meatballs for All,
Marilyn Burns
– Area and perimeter
• The Quilt,Ann Jonas
– Make a quilt for a child/grandchild out of special
things, like a favorite T-shirt, and give as a gift
with the book.
• Leo the Late Bloomer, Robert Kraus
– Use to explain that you’ll eventually understand
the math.
Math
• Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday,
Judith Viorst
– Students have whiteboards out while listening and
subtracting the money as the story is read
• My Little Sister Ate One Hare, Bill Grossman
– Counting 1-10
• One is a Snail 10 is a Crab, Amy Pulley Sayre
– Adding numbers to find a sum
Math
• Hottest Coldest Highest Deepest,
Steve Jenkins
– Estimation
– Measurement
– Comparisons
• Riddle-iculous Math, Joan Holub
– Critical thinking “play” with words and the mind
– Enhance drawing conclusions
– Mental math
– Problems solving strategies
Math
• Pieces: A Year in Poems & Quilts,
Anna Grossnickle Hines
– Geometry
Table of Contents
Grammar
• First Show, Bernette Ford
– Use with adjectives and imagery lessons.
• The Napping House, Audrey Wood
– Cloze passage for practicing adjectives.
• Punctuation Takes a Vacation, Robin Pulver
– Read through the book. Then reread and make
specific posters using examples from the story
of how to use punctuation.
Grammar
• A Visitor for Bear, Bunny Becker
– Synonyms, antonyms, and prefixes
• Go Away Big Green Monster, Ed Emberley
– Great book to teach/introduce adjectives.
• Giraffes Can’t Dance, Giles Andreae
– Verb search
Grammar
• Counting on Frank, Rod Clemet
– Cloze passage for practicing adjectives.
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Writing
• Dear Mr. Blueberry, Simon James
– Writing letters.
– Learning facts about whales
• Pieces: A Year in Poems & Quilts,
Anna Grossnickle Hines
– Poetry, rhyming, geometry, creative writing,
inference
• Wolf’s Coming, Joe Kulka
– Example to show rewriting well known stories
Writing
• Detective LaRue Letters from the
Investigation, Mark Teague
– Introduce letter writing
– Write letters to…
– Teach persuasive writing
– Voice
• Dear Mr. Henshaw, Beverly Cleary
– Teach letter writing
– Use to edit his mistakes in his letters.
Writing
• Being This Way With You, W. Nikola Lisa
– Have student write about each other.
• Snowmen at Night, Caralyn Buehner
– Writing prompt: My snowman__at night when I
was asleep.
• Today I Feel Silly, Jamie Lee Curtis
– Make up a story to fit a feeling.
Writing
• Half Magic, Edward Eager
– In fourth-grade, use with Red Writing Hood
– Rewriting history
• A Star in My Orange, Edward Eager
– Use it for a comparison lesson between apples
and oranges, alike, and different.
– Venn diagram
Writing
• Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest,
Steve Jenkins
– Comparative adjectives
• A Dog Who Cried Wolf, Use it for a
– Compare and contrast wolves with dogs.
– In fourth-grade, use with Wolf Pup’s Diary
– How genes work
– All are dogs, but look different.
Writing
• Mars Needs Moms, Berly Breathed
– Use for Mother’s Day
– Children write My Mom book
• Snoring Beauty, Bruce Hale
– Great to discuss voice or word choice.
• Sector 7, David Wiesner
– Write a story to go with pictures.
Writing
• Counting on Frank, Rod Clemet
– This could be used to incorporate writing into
math by using the idea of this book to write
their own.
Writing Resource
• The Book Reader’s Notebook,
Inc. Product Concept Mfg.
– Students keep a notebook of all the books
they’ve read with the genre and comments.
Table of Contents
Counseling
• Leo the Late Bloomer, Robert Kraus
– Self-esteem lesson
– Getting to know each other
– Building relationships
– We all learn at different rates and that is ok.
• Today I Feel Silly, Jamie Lee Curtis
– Have the kids choose their “emotion” for that
day and journal why they are feeling that way.
Counseling
• A Good Day, Kevin Henkes
– Being positive
– Moving forward
– Good feelings
• Puff the Magic Dragon, Peter Yarrow
– Sing
Table of Contents
Social Studies/Science
• The Brooklyn Bridge, Elizabeth Moon
– 5th grade science: Levers & Pulleys
– 5th grade social studies: American History
• Mapping Penny’s World, Lorene Leedy
– Teaching maps/uses
Social Studies/Science
• Diary of a Worm, Doreen Cronin
– Practice journal/diary
– Writing social studies journals of Columbus, etc.
• Out of the Deep - National Parks Mysteries
– 4th grade regions
– To guide students away from Goosebumps
Social Studies/Science
• Indian Shoes, Cynthia Letich Smith
– Native American week
• Listen to the Wind, Greg Mortenson
– Use as a preview to Three Cups of Tea
• Less than Half, More than Whole,
Kathleen Lacapa
– Introduce cultural diversity – intermediate
Social Studies
Social Studies/Science
• Flute’s Journey, Lynne Cherry
– Use maps, globes and Google earth to track
bird from North to Central America
• How I Learned Geography, Uri Shulevitz
– Read before geography at beginning of year
• Duck at the Door, Jackie Urbanovic
– Seasons, animals, months of the year
Social Studies/Science
• Solid, Liquid, or Gas?, Sally Hewitt
– Science kits to do at home. 2 page spread
with materials.
• Little Bighorn, Brendan January
– 4th grade Montana History unit
– Not much in our text. Great pictures and
maps.
Social Studies/Science
• Chick’s Life Cycle, Elizabeth Bennett
– Include in discussion on chick life cycle
development
• A Pill Bug’s Life, John Himmelman
– Great with Kindergarten FOSS science
investigation in spring
Table of Contents
Reading
• My Little Sister Ate One Hare, Bill
Grossman
– Rhyming, vocabulary, repeating words
• The Alphabet Tree, Leo Lionni
– Use when starting Kindergarten Read Well;
letter recognition
Reading
• Watchdog and the Coyotes, Bill Wallace
– Good to introduce perspective and how others
think.
• Wolf’s Coming, Joe Kulha
– Predict what’s going to happen – draw.
– Use when 6th grade reads The Number of the
Stars when Annemarie tells herself the story
of Little Red Riding Hood.
Reading
• Go Away, Big Green Monster, Ed
Emberley
– Cover up the book and have students be the
“illustrator” as you read. Have students share
pics to see how illustrators could have
different visions of a story.
• Dirt on my Shirt, Jeff Foxworthy
– Poems, Poetry Month, rhyming words
Reading
• Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen
– Good quality literature
• Quiet as a Cricket, Audrey Wood
– Teach figurative language, similes
• Dog Song, Gary Paulsen
– Autobiography, Iditarod, Read aloud choice
Reading
• Touching Spirit Bear, Ben Mikaelsen
– Good quality literature
• Quiet as a Cricket, Audrey Wood
– Teach figurative language, similes
• Dog Song, Gary Paulsen
– Autobiography, Iditarod, Read aloud choice
Reading
• Good Boy, Fergus, David Shannon
– Illustrates point of view, voice in writing.
Journal writing.
• A Visitor for Bear, Bonny Becker
– Good vocabulary expansions
Reading
• A Pill Bug’s Life, John Himmelman
– Use to introduce non-fiction to younger
readers, emphasizing vocabulary they may
not know.
• Jim & the Beanstalk, Raymond Briggs
– Compare and contrast with original story
Reading
• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You, Mary
Ann Hoberman
– Great interactive reading – getting the kids
involved without having to choral read with
me.
• Pieces, A Year in Poems and Quilts, Anna
Hines
– Introducing poetry
Reading
• Class Three at Sea, Julia Jarman
– Great fun to read aloud!
• The Napping House, Audrey Wood
– Teach sequence
• Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly, Jane
O’Conner
– Vocabulary
Reading
• The Report Card, Andrew Clements
– Use for leveled novel groups
• Running Out of Time, Margaret Haddix
– Teach point of view
• Sector 7, David Wiesner
– Summarize the story-an interesting take on a
wordless picture book
Reading
• Wangari’s Trees of Peace, Jeannette
Curtis
– Read during November Week of Peace.
Discuss standing up for what is right.
• Detective LaRue-Letters from an
Investigation, Mark Teague
– Making inferences, revising conclusions as
more information is added
Reading
• Books that Don’t Bore ‘Em, James
Blasingame
– Teacher resource book with good suggestions
for students who don’t enjoy reading.
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