Miss McKinley's Favorites

Where The Wild Things Are is a fun read for kindergarten-third grade. This book is about a young boy with a wild imagination that takes him to far away places. After Max is sent to his room, it quickly changes into a forest. The Wild Things make Max the king and he dreams big. Will he come back and finally eat his dinner? Kids enjoy this book because of the wild imaginations that take place. A fun activity after reading this book is for students to have creative writing time and talk about a wild place they would enjoy going. Have them illustrate and write a short story. After, they could read them aloud and share with the class.

Lexile Level: AD740L

A Bad Case of Stripes is perfect for 1st-5th grade. A girl named Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she will never eat them. She is very worried about what the other kids will say because she is the only one who likes lima beans. When she tries to fit in, she becomes covered with stripes! She changes colors to match what is going on around her. People try to teach her to just be herself, but will she ever learn to be comfortable with who she is? Students could complete a character trait graphic organizer, or for younger grades, they could complete a coloring sheet and make their own case of stripes!

Lexile Level: AD610L

The Giving Tree is about a boy who becomes best friends with a tree, but the tree will always be happy as long as the boy is happy. The boy asks the tree for certain things, and as long as the tree has what he needs, he will lend it to the boy. As the boy gets older, he spends less and less time with the tree. But, as he gets older, the tree does also. The tree gave and gave until he had nothing left to give. Children of all ages and grades would enjoy this story, and could very easily make a self to text connection. An activity for this book is for the class to make a tree out of their handprints and ask the question, "What can you give that doesn't cost money?" Have your students write their ideas on their paper hands and attach them to the tree. This can be a reminder throughout the whole year.

Lexile Level: 530LL

Bully is a great book to use during the first few days of school for grades first-fifth. This book is about young students who want to be accepted in school and online bullying takes place during this adjustment of a girl moving to a new school. Online bullying occurs more than people think, so I think it is a very important topic to cover in your classrooms. An idea to go along with this book is for students to identify the theme and the message of the story. Students would enjoy acting out the book to be able to fully grasp the effect it can have on students.

Lexile Level: 630L

A fun read for Kindergarten-2nd grade: readers find out that David is not your average student! He breaks almost every rule at school-he chews gum, runs in the halls, yells, and tests his teachers patience. This would be a funny, yet valuable book to read during the first week of school to introduce class rules. Your class could come up with 4-5 class rules all together. Students love knowing that their input is valued!

Lexile Level: BR210L

On the first day of school, new students are asked to tell what they want to happen during this school year! Some answers are reasonable, while others are crazy! Kindergarten-2nd grade would enjoy reading this book during the first few days of school. As a teacher, it is a good idea to ask the students to set goals for the year, so this would be a great way to introduce goal setting.

Lexile Level: 440L

Tina loves her new socks so much that she never wants to take them off! But, when her new socks get smelly, her friends must do something about it! This book is great for Kindergarten-2nd grade! Students could have an activity on problem and solution, characters, and setting. After, they could create their own new, smelly socks!

Lexile Level: 450L

Mmm, Cookies! is a fun book to read in Kindergarten-2nd grade. Christopher plays a trick on his parents and gives them fake cookies, but he eventually gets a taste of his own medicine..his teacher plays a trick on him!! Students would love to decorate their own cookies and they could incorporate writing by giving step by step directions about how they made their cookies. Fun & yummy activity!

Lexile Level: 560L

Gerald and Piggie are best friends, but Gerald has a decision to make about sharing his ice cream. Will he make the decision in time? This is a good book for Kindergarten because it talks about sharing. Students could design their own ice cream cones and make a promise to share during class.

Lexile Level: 260LL

If You Take a Mouse to School is about a mouse who asks for a lunch box, pencil box, and backpack. But then with that, he will want a sandwich, pencils, notebooks, and maybe even a backpack, too. This is a fun book for Kindergarten-2nd grade, but would be fun to read during the first week of school. A writing activity to go along with this book, is to have the students imagine that they were a mouse. Ask them to write about what they would take to school and have time for shared reading.

Lexile Level: AD490L

Duck! Rabbit! is an easy read for Kindergarten-1st grade. This picture book is about point of views and how 2 people see the same picture, 2 different ways. Although a short book, it is an easy book for young children to understand and relate to. Children would enjoy going outside after reading this, to draw their own interpretations of clouds and write about what they see. Not everyone sees the same thing from their own point of view.

Lexile Level: AD300L

Hooray for Reading Day is a fabulous book for Kindergarten-2nd grade.

When Jessica reads aloud in class, she gets nervous and messes up the words. But when she goes home and reads to her dog Wiggles for practice, she is very fluent! With a big reading day coming up in her class, she practices reading every day to make sure it goes just right. Can she do it?!

After reading this book to your class, it would be fun to introduce the idea of reading buddies and have them read to stuffed animals during reading time. After all, who doesn't enjoy reading to a puppy?

Lexile Level: AD380L

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon is a great read for Kindergarten-2nd grade. Molly Lou Melon is a short girl with very special characteristics. She has big teeth, a squeaky voice, and is very short. As she confronts the bully at school, she remembers all of the encouraging words her grandmother told her. This book would be a great way to introduce characteristics of the inner and outer self.

Lexile Level: AD560L

We Share EVERYTHING! is the perfect book to use during the first week of Kindergarten. Amanda and Jeremiah are two students in kindergarten who get in trouble for not sharing. Soon they both learn how to share and after this, they take the whole class by surprise and learn how to share everything! A great idea for kindergarten is for them to help the teacher come up with class rules. They could also write about a time when they had to share with someone.

Lexile: 480L

Have You Filled A Bucket Today? is a great book to read the first week of school, but it's also a good read to re-introduce throughout the year. This is a great book for 1st-4th grade. This book encourages positive, kind behavior and it reminds students how easy it is to be kind to one another. A sweet idea for this book is to have kids create their own personal bucket and have every one write positive and kind things in everyone's bucket. You could hang these up in the classroom for an entire year for a nice reminder!

Lexile:AD710L

Pete the Cat would be a fun read for K-1st grade! Pete the Cat rocks his new school shoes in different areas of the school. It has a fun tune that you could sing to, or you could have the students sing along. A fun idea for Kindergarten would be to take them on a school tour showing them the places that Pete rocked in his school shoes. Another activity is to have a cutout of shoes and let the students design their own shoes, and then have them write about what they would do and where they would go in their shoes!

Lexile: AD430L