Class+Reading+Lists

=Class Reading LIsts=

//Novels//

 * ~ Book Title - //Author// ||~ What Makes It Great ||
 * < [|The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane] -Kate DiCamilo ||< Great vocabulary and imagery. It is a truly heart-wrenching story that will lead to many discussion of love and how to treat others. ||
 * < The Best Christmas Pageant Ever -Barbara Robinson ||< Very funny! Good character traits and development. It has a wonderful moral and is nice to read right before winter break. ||
 * < Number the Stars -Lois Lowry ||< Newberry winner. WW II historical fiction. Excellent character development, story pacing, suspense, and some figurative language. It's engrossing and students will have lots of questions. ||
 * < How to steal a Dog-Barbara O'Connor ||< So many fantastic opportunities for discussions. Excellent character development! **//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < Where the Red Fern Grows-Wilson Rawls ||< Great story! Guaranteed tear-jerker!**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins ||< I waited until the end of the year to read this! I was on the fence about it, but had SO many try and read it on their own, I decided to read it to discuss so themes. I also loved the heroic femal character. Hard to find! **//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < Being Teddy Roosevelt-Claudia Mills ||< Short but funny. We read before we hosted our own wax museum.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < Skeleton Cree-Partick Carman ||< How can you not show this around Halloween? A great way to show the future of literature. Great hook for non-readers.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < The Last Holiday Concert-Andrew Clements ||< Excellent story regarding student leadership and initiative. **//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < The Lost Hero-Rick Riordan ||< Most of my students had devoured the Percy Jackson series, so I read this the day it came out! Kids loved it! Great character development. Also, the 2nd book comes out October 4th.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < A Dog's Life-Ann M. Martin ||< Love this book because it is written from the Dog's point of view. Kids loved it and there is a follow up written from Bone's (main character) family member's perspective.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < Fablehaven-Brandon Mull ||< This book is the first of a fantastic series! We used this novel almost in the same way we use an anchor text. We kept coming back to it all year for visualization and character development.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * < __My Side of The Mountain__ ||< Ultimate survival story, exposes kids to wilderness-many have never been. Big vocab words to learn about together. Many read the sequels on their own when we are done! ||
 * < Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ||< Classic story by Judy Blume about a 4th grader's trials and tribulations with his family and friends - great for beginning of the year ||
 * < Rosie Swanson: Fourth Grade Geek for President ||< Hilarious book by Barbara Park (of Junie B Jones fame) about the challenges a fourth grader in school, themes of individuality, bullying, and setting goals - read after Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing then compare and contrast the characters, themes, etc. ||
 * < Ida B ||< great tie for grade 4 science themes, a heart warming story to read aloud and use for comprehension strategies during reading responses - k.crosby ||

//Picture Books//

 * ~ Book Title - //Author// ||~ What Makes It Great ||
 * [|I Wanna Iguana] -Karen Kaufman Orloff || It's pretty funny. The students enjoyed it. I used it as a spring board to teach persuasive letter writing. ||
 * Anything by Patrcia Polacco || Always wonderfully written personal narratives. **//added by sfillner//** ||
 * Fireflies-Julie Binckloe || Excellent personal narrative that many children can relate to.**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * Dogbreath-Dav Pilkey || Hilarious!**//added by sfillner//** ||
 * Owl Moon-Jane Yolen || Excellent personal narrative filled with picture painting detail. Used for anchor lessons regarding similies.**//added by sfillner//** ||

__ //Literature Circles or Book Clubs// __

 * ~ Book Title - //Author// ||~ What Makes It Great ||
 * [|Frindle] -Andrew Clements || Funny story with very relatable characters. It's fairly short and easy to read. Great for lower readers, but my GT loved it too! ||
 * Swindle-Gordon Korman || Funny story! There are two follow up books as well that are very engaging to my readers. Appealed to both girls and boys.**//added by sfillner//** ||