Today I am linking up with Teach Mentor Texts for What Are You Reading?.
What are your favorite books for the beginning of the school year? I love showing my 3rd graders that reading is fun and exciting.
Picture books can still be a great gateway into the world of reading for our young students. Many teachers give up on picture books too early. I believe picture books still have much to offer our aging students.
- They give us an opportunity to share a complete story in a short amount of time.
- They are numerous and offer a huge variety of books for every genre.
- Most 3rd- 5th graders are already reading chapters books so they breeze on by the picture section of the library. Since they are reading chapter books on their own, why not read picture books to them in class?
- I love the way picture books give us an opportunity to show off how to use expression correctly. Make the books come alive for your kiddos!
- They also allow us teachers to involve students with shared reading when we read books that have patterns or are well known. I always tell students which part is theirs when we start a book like this. They love joining in on the reading.
- I also enjoy the intimate way I can share picture books with my students. I have a carpet area and rocking chair for just this reason.
- Picture books have a rich language too! Thinking that all picture books are stripped down literary pieces is just plain wrong.
- Since I still enjoy reading some of these books over and over, why wouldn't my students enjoy hearing them again? There is something wonderful about coming home to a dearly loved book.
- Many picture books are multi-layered just like novels. Students can gleam different things each time they read the book. Have you ever looked at the size of the illustrations in Where the Wild Things Are? Why do they get bigger and then decrease in size?
- Picture books give us a great opportunity to compare examples of an author's work! It is so fun to read all of my favorite Audrey Woods books and compare and contrast them with the students.
Here are a few of my favorite back to school picture books! What are your favorites?
Absolutely agree and love your reasons! I share picture books almost daily with my third graders - love how much the "picture book" genre has expanded with so many different titles and topics. Always something to share.
ReplyDeleteLove your top 10 list. I may have to just do a top 10 of my own because picture books are so valuable, especially for modeling writing traits. Thanks so much for sharing this info and your book list. My Mouth is a Volcano is a great one. Julia Cook came to my school actually, and I did a full blog post about it on my blog. Her books are wonderful and teach so many social skills.
ReplyDeleteHello there, I agree with everyone. This is a great list. I still read picturebooks aloud to my higher-degree students who are taking their masters and phd. Never fails. Works every time. :)
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