Hey all! I'm in the middle of teaching my 3rd novel unit. I like to switch my reading program up, which has a large emphasis on the basal, which is great but the kids like a change, and I enjoy teaching them! Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a good novel in 5th grade to teach whole class. So far, I have done Bridge to Terabithia, The Whipping Boy (which I didn't really like), and now I doing Shiloh (which is fun, but it is not MUCH of a challenge, since it is right on reading level.) Thanks!
When I taught 5th, we did Holes and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. (We did the Whipping Boy in third grade earlier this year--my students loved it!)
When I was in 5th grade we did Huckleberry Finn and Where the Red Fern Grows. My teacher at the time said he picked it because he knew it would be a challenge for us.
My Brother Sam is Dead (great tie-in if you do American History but it has strong language), The Lightning Thief (movie comes out Friday!)... I've done Coraline at the beginning of the year and have also read The Phantom Tollbooth, the 39 Clues and the Mysterious Matter of I.M. Fine.
We are on our 3rd book too!! We have read: Bridge to Terabithia, The Tale of Despereaux, (currently) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Up next: Tuck Everlasting, The Lightning Thief I have also previously taught: The Secret Garden, Where the Red Fern Grows Next year, I'm going to change it up. (I change it every year, to keep it fresh except for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe...it's on my list every year) Next year I'm thinking about doing Hatchet; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Lightning Thief and The Secret Garden.
I did Secret Garden with 3rd graders and they enjoyed it, but I don't know if 5th would've. And I wanted to read Tale of Desperaux, but thought that might've been too young, too. Is it going well, Ima? I wish I had done Lightning Thief.
some good lesson plans for novels Some of the already mentioned and some other novels have unit plans at teachershare.scholastic.com They might be of help to you. teachershare.scholastic.com/resourcesquery=novels&search_type=lesson&from_grade_code=6&to_grade_code=6
The Tale of Despereaux was alright. I didn't enjoy teaching it at all. The kids only wanted to remember the movie and the movie is not like the book. For me, it was disasterous...more of a end of 4th grade book. My 5th graders last year just loved Tuck Everlasting. (you know, the idea of living forever....) It was several students favorite book until we read the Lightning Thief that is! sorry it's taken so long to reply, I forgot my password!
I've found that using books where the movie is significantly different gives us tons to include in a Venn diagram... for both Coraline and The Lightning Thief, my students were adamant that the books were WAY better than the movies!
James & the Giant Peach, Walk Two Moons, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Holes, Poppy, A Long Way from Chicago...I could go on and on! I love novel units!!!
I do Hatchet every year, I have a huge a binder/pdf files of things I do with it. The students love the book and this year they are all reading the sequels and really enjoy Gary Paulsen.
I do Tuck Everlasting, Hatchet, some years Sign of the Beaver, Frindle, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although it seems young, the kids are not familiar with the book, just the movie, and who doesn't like Roald Dahl? We always start the year off with Holes. The kids love it. They also like Tuck and Hatchet. I play Hatchet on cd as the kids follow along in the book. They love doing this, and it really helps the low readers.
I have units (notes, questions, chapter summaries, a variety of stuff for each) for Maniac Magee, Frindle, Shiloh, and Because of Winn Dixie if anybody wants them. Send me a PM with your email.
The Great Gilly Hopkins! I loved it when I was in 5th grade too! Lots of great attitude (which my students can relate to). Great for characterization and language.
OH MY! I remember the Great Gilly Hopkins!!! I don't remember what it is about, but it must be good b/c I remember it being a favorite when I was young. I wish we had that in a class set.
I've done Holes, Maniac Magee, There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, Mixed Up Files, Wringer, Matilda, and Frindle (always 1st to teach the process).
The previous 5th grade teacher has done: Number the Stars, Bud, not Buddy, and Esperanza Rising. I've done Stars and Esperanza which I loved! I am taking over 5th this year and the incoming class has several who struggle so we may not get to novels until late in the year.
There is an excerpt (chapter) from Frindle as the first story in our basal. Guess others had the idea to start with that. I may do that as a read aloud after we finish the unit.
I haven't done it as a whole group reading, but I have read it to my class. I am amazed by the number of students who have not read Harry Potter because they have seen the movie. Once I have read the first book to them, they usually want to read the next on their own or have me read the next one. I think it would probably go over very well students.
There is a great, but very old, picture book that I love to read aloud after we've read Frindle. Master of all Masters is about a servant girl who must learn all the crazy words her master has for the things in his house.
No. It's from the 70's! You can buy a used copy online and I just found out it's online in text form. http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-45.html I was just thinking that I would have the kids write a similar story with their own made up words. (With lots of guidelines for new words.)
My partner and I did Island of the Blue Dolphins. We tried to do literature circles with about three books with the same theme (for ex. survival) Sometimes we'd place them by level and other times we'd let them pick the book they wanted to read according to their interest. They'd rotate between reading together, working with one of the teachers, and doing some work with the novel that we would assign. Once they got the hang of it, it worked out great!
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery is a very good novel for the 5th grade, and it really gets them thinking. There are quite a few activities online to go along with it, too.
My students LOVE Jerry Spinelli books. I'm trying to convince my school to purchase a class set for us.
My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE Hatchet! We read it every year! Then when the kids get in 5th, we read the sequel (Brian's Return) or alternate ending (Brians' Winter). We also do Tuck Everlasting! LOVE this one,too!
The Wednesday Wars is an incredible book (runner up Newberry Award a couple of years ago)--very funny, sometimes sad, and a bit of history as it takes place in 1968. Small Steps by Louis Sachar I liked better than Holes. A few objectionable words, so read it first for sure. Measel and the Wrath Monk is very exciting-- the students have a hard time putting this book down--it is that good! The Girl Who Owned a City was the 5th grade students favorite book with a friend of mine who taught it last year. I just read it and plan on using it--it is very good with some good life lessons. The Hatchet, The Lightning Thief, and Because of Winn Dixie are also great books.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane! AMAZING book with so many descriptive passages. I read it every year and the kids beg for me to read more...
I am not sure if it is a Newberry book? It's about a china rabbit who thinks he's "all that" but ends up leaving his life of luxury by accident and learns that life doesn't revolve around him. It's poignant, funny, sad and teaches lessons all the way through. Lots of descriptive language. Written by Kate DiCamillo. Do yourself a favor and read it - you won't be sorry!
My fifth graders will be reading "Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp." My fifth graders read this last year and loved the book. They learned a lot about the Dust Bowl. It's a great book for teaching problem and solution and also cause and effect skills.
