Miss. Contorno's Library

This book written by Dolly Parton is about a young girl who is in need of a winter coat. Her mother sews her a coat made of rags and the girls wears it to school. Her fellow classmates mock her for having a coat made of rags but she takes pride in her coat since every stitch is made with love. 

With this book students could make a crafted coat out of different colors of paper and write positive words about themselves on each piece. The whole class could make a huge quilt using paper and each student could color one piece each and write one word to describe them on it. 

Lexile: AD1040L

Matilda is such a bright little girl. She started reading very difficult books at a very young age. Her family does not seem to care about how smart she is, but Matilda stands her ground. When Matilda goes to school she is faced with the mean Ms. Trunchbull and in that moment she finds out she has unique powers which she uses to not only fight back, but to play pranks on people! This is an amazing story and is one of my all time favorites. 

Students can come up with their own power and act it out in front of the class, write about it, or draw a picture about it. They can also get into groups and analyze characters from the book. 

Lexile: 840L

This is just one of the many books in this series. Each book is in the point of view of a boy who survives each historical event that has ever taken place. It detailed what happened in an age appropriate way which captures all students attention and keeps them wanting to read more. 

My CT from last semester read these books to her class every day. I would love to have the collection and read them to my class and discuss each historical event before or after we read. I love how it is told by a little boy to help get younger children to understand what happened. 

Lexile: 590L

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that has kept him from going to a regular school, util now. He is starting fifth grade and is very nervous about people accepting him and making friends. Auggie wants to be treated as an ordinary kid but some classmates cannot look past his facial deformity. This book discusses Auggie's life, how he meets friends, the challenges he faces, and how he overcomes each one with confidence. 

This book can be used for many activities. Students can learn about cause and effect, character education, inside and outside traits, and bullying. 

Lexile: 790L

Chrysanthemum is proud of her name. She loves how unique it is, until kindergarten started. All the other children have regular names and make fun of her name and that she was named after a flower. Then she meets her new teacher, which has a very unique name as well. Chrysanthemum is beaming with happiness and cannot contain her excitement when she finds out that Mrs. Twinkle wants to name her daughter Chrysanthemum. All the other children wish they were named after a flower and Chrysanthemum is beaming with excitement yet again. 

With this book, students can research their name and find everything that is unique about their name. 

Lexile: 570L

One day at school Jess is about to race some guy friends to see who wins and then the new girl Leslie outruns everyone. Normally this would be embarrassing to get outran by a girl, but it starts the greatest friendship of all time. Jess and Leslie are always together. One day while exploring the woods, they decide to create a magical world called Terabithia that only they know about. Everyday after school they would run into the woods and go to their magical land. One day something tragic happens and Jess realizes how important Leslie was to him and how she changed him. 

Students could write stories about a magical world they would want to create and draw a picture that went along with it. As a teacher, you could transform the class into a magical land and the students could pretend to be Jess and Leslie for the entire day. 

Lexile: 810L

This is a memoir by Robert Hoge. Robert was born with a tumor the size of a tennis ball in the middle of his face and with short, twisted legs.  Robert had many difficult surgeries to and the doctors gave him a new nose. Growing up, other kids and adults would act differently towards him and say mean words about his appearance; but Robert would not let it bring him down. 

This is an amazing book for teaching children the importance of being kind to others despite having differences. This would be great as a read aloud and could be useful for any activity to do with character education, character traits, predictions, or inferences. 

Lexile: 890L

Molly Lou Melon is a quirky little girl. When Molly Lou Melon felt sad about her unique characteristics, her Grandmother always gave her words of advice to be herself and to stand tall. When she moved away and started a new school, a boy kept bullying her about her appearance but Molly Lou Melon held onto the words of her Grandmother and did not let his mean words get in her way. She kept being herself. 

With this book, students could complete a graphic organizer that shows the difference of outside and inside traits. They could also write about how they "stand tall" and draw a picture to go along with it. 

Lexile: 560L

This book is about how people migrated all over the world to search for a place to call home. It discusses what an immigrant is and why they were seeking a new home and how they traveled. It introduces a little girl, Annie Moore and talks about her life and why she was coming to Ellis Island. 

With this book, students can dress up like the people in the stories and act out them coming to America. Students can also write as if they are Annie and talk about the journey to America. 

Lexile: 890L

This book would be great to use in a kindergarten classroom to introduce the alphabet and words that start with each letter. I love this book because it is not just a regular alphabet book. It actually tells a story by using words in the order of the alphabet. This book also has pictures that correspond with each letter. 

With this book, students can create a story using words in the alphabet and drawing pictures to go along with it. They could also match pictures to the correct letter in the alphabet.

Lexile: 290L 

This book starts out by a duck not enjoying working on a farm. He decides he wants to be in charge so he will not have to work as hard, but it turns out it is very hard work to run a farm. The duck then decides to run for governor, but being a governor is also very hard work. Then the duck runs for president, but being a president is very hard work. Finally the duck returned to the farm and started writing an autobiography.

With this book, the class can learn all about how an election takes place and can hold a mock election. The teacher can also use it to introduce the difference of being in charge of a business, being a governor, and then finally being a president.

Lexile: 680L

Stellaluna is about a bat that was accidentally dropped by her mother and then raised by a family of birds. While growing up, Stellaluna cannot help herself from wanting to fly and hang upside down while sleeping. One day, a bat sees Stellaluna sitting straight up and calls other bats to come see the unusual creature. She is then reunited with her family.

This book can be connected to a Science lesson about bats and students can learn bat facts. They also can make a bat from many different supplies. Students can also study the similarities and differences between bats and birds.

Lexile: 550L

This book discusses the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and how he fought for the freedom of African Americans. It starts off with his day of birth and then goes through his life detailing, in kid friendly text, how "Martin Luther King Day" came about and why we have a day to celebrate him.

With this book, students could write "I have a dream" speeches and read them aloud to the class and display them in the hall. Teachers could also read this book close to Martin Luther King Jr. Day to inform students about why we celebrate him.

Lexile: 800L

Bud is a ten year old boy who lives in a foster home but has a mission to find his dad. His mother passed away when he was younger and never told him who is father is. He finds a flyer with an add for the Dusty Devastators and knows that Herman E. Calloway has to be his father. So, Bud decides to make the journey to find Herman and reunite with his father.

With this book, students can summarize the book by recording  the main events that happen in the book in order, they can write about Bud's character and how they are similar and different from him.

Lexile: 950L

Sarah Jane is not excited for the first day of school! She struggles getting out of the bed and getting ready for school. Her dad tries so hard to get her out the door for school. Once she gets to school, the principal greets her and walks her to her classroom. She is then introduced as the new teacher of the class. By doing this, her worries about school disappeared.

The teacher could read this book on the first day of school and bring in some jitter juice to let the students drink to get rid of their first day jitters. The students could also write how they are feeling about the first day of school.

Lexile: AD520L

Jessica has some difficulties when she reads aloud in class. When everyone in the class makes fun of her for messing up. Jessica loses her confidence in reading. He teacher announces that the class will be doing a Readers theater at the end of the week and assigns everyone a part to read. Jessica is terrified! She goes home and practices her part with her dog and builds up enough confidence and overcomes her fear of reading.

This book would definitely help students understand that everyone struggles with reading. A fun activity for this book would be analyzing a character and their feelings and how they change throughout the book.

Lexile: AD380L