Hello, I taught 3rd and 4th for 7 years, and always used read alouds during the first week to get the kids talking about themselves and to make them feel comfortable. Some examples of books that I used were: "Today I Feel Silly" by Jaime Lee Curtis "The First Day Jitters" "The Brand New Kid" by Katie Couric Are these too young? I would loooove any suggestions for read alouds for these 6th graders, preferably to open discussion about being afraid, or being lonely, or having good character, or following the rules. Thank you in advance! This 6th grade thing is super scary. I don't even know if these kids will be too big for read alouds. Help!
This is my 3rd year teaching 6th grade and they LOVE read alouds! Some of the books I plan to use during the first week are: Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree Good luck! I love 6th grade- they are so much fun!
I start the year with a chapter book - either Kid in the Red Jacket, or CRASH. They are great start-of-the-year read alouds.
I used picture books at the end of last year - a different book every day for a week - and my kids have a reading log and they write a response to a question about their reading. I just went to the public library and picked some books that I liked. This year I picked "A Bad Case of Stripes" because it's about being yourself, two books by Patricia Pollacco, "Jackalope" - just a mix of books. I live near a wonderfully rich public library and there is no shortage of resources
thank you! Thank you! Do sixth graders enjoy picture books still? Before I read it do I have to preface it with, "Now, I know this is a picture book and it seems like it is for young kids but it really is for everyone?" Sadly, I don't think that I can do read aloud chapter books because we split up reading and math between the teachers, and I am doing math. Thank you for the suggestions. I would love to hear any more!
In my experience, ALL kids, even in high school, still enjoy picture books. They'll try to act cool, like it's too childish. But the next day, they'll ask for another one.
Even I still love picture books! My 6th graders love when I read picture books. I do a picture book inspired writer's workshop, and they eat it up.
Thank you for those enthusiastic words! I will be teaching 6th this year after one year of K,1,2 and one year in 2nd. I'm excited and terrified! I think the exictement just went up a notch.:thanks:
"Excited and terrified" Yup, that about sums up my feelings. We relocated, so I am thrilled to have gotten a contract in this district. I am just trying not to think about the fact that my students will be sixth graders!
I used picture books in writing lessons in 2nd grade and would love to in 6th grade. Can you give me an outline of your picture book lesson for writer's workshop? I brought all my picture books with me to my 6th grade classroom (mostly mine from when my children were small) and can't wait to use them!
We do daily SSR (hence the use of reading logs) and I used picture books to model the reading response logs at the beginning of the year - then again at the end. They LOVED it - wanted to know why I couldn't read to them all the time. I also use them for my traditional lit and poetry units. They know I love to read aloud and all kids love a good story - short or long. The messages and content in picture books can be very sophisticated when looked at on a deeper level than just a fun story. I find they exemplify lots of great lessons on friendship, acceptance - those character traits you want to instill in the kids. Riding the Tiger by Eve Bunting is magical for allegory - which is a difficult concept for students. The key is to have fun with it. An offshoot of ending the year with picture books is that my kids asked if they could bring in their favorite childhood books and read them aloud to the class. Great fun!
Some other good read aloud books are: The Three Questions (Life Questions) The Giving Tree (Friendship) Oh! The Places You'll Go! (Goal Setting) These are all picture books. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would loooove to hear them. Best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like The Book of Story Beginnings....really cool adventure book that my fourth graders loved. It's a chapter book and is quite big, but I want them to see that bigger books are just as fun! I think my 6th graders will understand more of the language and verbage that the 4th graders may not have caught!
Well this is my first year in sixth...In fourth grade I always started my year with The Hundred Dresses. I plan on reading "The Important Thing" by Margaret Wise Brown, and doing an activity for our bulletin board, about what is important about them. I also plan on reading No Talking by Andrew Clements. It's about a contest between the boys and girls in fifth grade...
I read aloud The Phantom Tollbooth to my 6/7/8 class last year & they loved it. The Westing Game is good too - one year I read it aloud and had a system for students to put in their guesses for the solution.
I'm also reading this to my 6th graders and they really love it as well. I LOVED that book when I was young and was surprised that no one in my class read it before!
My principal read "The Important Thing" to the new teachers at orientation. She then showed us a book that the faculty had made last year with everyone filling out a sheet saying "The important thing about Mrs.Gould is....." like how the book goes. It's such a great idea. I would love to do it with my class sometime.
