1. I'll Love You Till the Cows Come Home by Kathryn Christaldi
A book about love having no bounds, I'll Love You Till The Cows Come Home explores the depth of family love with a humorous twist. A book full of rhythmic rhyme and the joy of extending the saying I'll love you till the cows come home, even to mars through humorous means like yaks in Cadillacs, sheep setting sail, and frogs on big wheeled bikes. This book is a great read aloud and funny book full of laughter and joy. This book is for children ages preschool and up.
Activities: Talk with children about who they love and who loves them. In my teachers pay teachers store I have a freebie for a writing and craft activity that is a great follow up to the story. Children use graphic organizers to brainstorm people or things they wish to write about and than write a short paragraph about the person or thing they love with three reasons why. A great practice in writing and social emotional reflection of gratefulness and recognition of love.
2. Grumpy Monkey Valentine Gross Out by Suzanne Lang
A fun Valentines twist on the Grumpy Monkey series, Jim Panzee thinks it's gross when he overhears someone doting about a boyfriend. But Jim learns that Valentine's is more than hearts and kisses. Jim learns about all different kinds of love and valentines, like the love for friends or parents or siblings. Enjoy this fun humorous stories about all kinds of valentines and love. This is a great read for friends in preschool through 3rd grade.
Activities: Grumpy Monkey is a fun series that can cover a large range of social emotional topics. One of the social emotional topics is different ways of loving and that you can love people differently depending on how close they are to you. One of the things I enjoy exploring is the difference between love for parents/close family, friends, and people who may just be aquantinces. This is a great way to discuss with primary students appropriate social skills for different relationships and ways they can show care and love for people in a variety of ways that is appropriate for the level of relationship they have. On my TpT store you can grab my activities that explores these social emotional topics as well as writing and reading comprehension. The bundle of activities includes recalling ways Grumpy Monkey sees others show love in a graphic organizer, brainstorming ways we show love to one another, a writing creativity that students explore ways they can show love differently and a graphic organizer of ways we show love based on different relationships.
3. Love Monster by Rachel Bright
Love Monster is a a great story to discuss loving one another for who you are and finding friends and people around you that love being your friend and aren't trying to change you. Love Monster is a hairy monster trying to fit in with the other residence in his town. But when you are a monster, its hard to fit in with cute and fluffy friends. Love Monster tries to find a friend who will love him just the way he is. Love monster looks so hard but can't find it until he looks in the least expected places. A great story for preschool and kindergarten friend.
Activities: Love monster is a great story about making friends and being yourself. I love to use this story as a segue into conversations about friendship and being confident in who you are. I also like to do fun activities such as paint splat Love Monster. Check out gluedtomycraftsblog.com to check out the directions for how to create your splat monster!
4. What's Sweeter by June Tate
Everyday moments are celebrated in What's Sweeter. Pointing out moments throughout the book that are experiences regularly by children and adults as moments of simple joy and sweetness. This book focuses on finding the sweetness in the simple and beautiful moments of each day. Not only does What's Sweeter focus on loving those closes to you and the smallest moments you create with them but also builds gratitude for what we would label as simple, everyday moments. This book is great for friends Preschool through 3rd grade.
Activities: A great way to celebrate small moments with children is to discuss ways they find small moments in their day and ways that they celebrate them. Talk about the small and sweet moments you find in the day. Talk about mindfulness and being present with children. Presence helps all of us to see these moments more often and with more clarity. Another way to do this is have children record three sweeter moments on a graphic organizer through writing or drawing. In a classroom setting you can complete this throughout your classroom day and also further the sweeter moments into written expression and social emotional learning for students. I always enjoyed teaching my students about being grateful, present, and mindful throughout their day to find joy in the simplest moments. You can find the recording sheet that I used as well as a fun extension writing project that is none other than a delicious ice cream sundae to express students sweeter moments. Click the link below to get yours today!
5. Groundhog Gets it Wrong by Jessica Townes
Groundhog believes he has weather predicting powers but when he makes the wrong prediction and ruins the spring carnival Groundhog realizes that he needs to learn his meteorology lesson just like everyone else. Groundhog gets it wrong is a great book around groundhog day for children toddler through kindergarten.
Activities:
Groundhog gets it wrong is a fun story to discuss groundhog day and weather! I love watching this Groundhog Day Fact Video on youtube for kids to learn more about groundhog day. I also enjoy watching this seasons video to discuss why there are seasons and how they work which I have found kids find extremely interesting. These are great ways to discuss groundhog day and weather with kids while teaching them all about it!
6. Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner
Long before he became president Abe was a lawyer in the middle united states which was considered the frontier land at that time. Abe stuck letters and notes inside his hat to keep them close to him and in a safe place. Read this story to gain historical information and learn about Abe Lincolns life before and during his presidency. This book is great for children ages preschool through second grade.
Activities:
Abe Lincoln had an interesting life and I love following up this book with some more information with students. I particularly enjoy exploring timelines with students to look at his life. You can find a timeline activities product in my TpT store to further explore Abe's life and learn about the important milestones in history.
7. The Story of George Washington: A Biography Book by Lisa Trueiani
A story about fighting for independence and building a new country, learn about George Washington's life. Learn about the father of our country and the hardworking kid who turned into the first president. George Washington enjoyed sports and school as a child. He loved challenging himself and was an ambitious Virginian farm boy. Learn about the timeline of his life, important vocabulary explained, and the story of his life from childhood to president. This is a great resource and non-fiction story for children in 1st through 3rd grade.
Activities:
George Washington is a pivotal figure for children to learn about in American history. Like with Abe Lincoln I extend our timeline learning into our George Washington reading and unit as well. We use the timelines to compare and contrast their lives and accomplishments, learn about the history of their time as leaders of our country and grow in understanding of early American history. You can find my George Washington Timeline Activity on my TpT store.
8. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Read the story of woman who used their genius minds to change the world through providing calculations for American's first journeys into space and helping with some of NASA's greatest success at a time when being black and being a woman limited job opportunities and peoples view points of what you were capable of. These woman worked hard, persisted, and persevered to overcome gender and racial barriers! This is a great read for children Preschool through 3rd grade.
Activities: A great story has been turned into a great movie. One of my favorite things to do after reading this story is to watch the movie and make connections with children about the book and movie. It is a great way to discuss through the story and the movie about racism and sexism at children's levels. Particularly with the visuals of the movie. Often times I find conversations about racism and sexism with kids are filled with great conversation and a deeper understanding on the child's level that bring insight even to adults. You can currently find the movie streaming on for free on Prime Video, with a subscription on Disney +, Hulu, or Sling. Hidden Figures is rated PG.
9. Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights by Jo S. Kittinger
In the 1950's buses in Montgomery, Alabama were segregated. The white passengers sat in the from and black passengers in the back. But one day Rosa Parks stood up for her rights as a person and refused to give her seat to a white passenger. She was arrested. Her arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the major events in the Civil Rights Movement. For 382 days back passengers walked rather than riding the buses in Montgomery in protest of their right to sit anywhere on the bus.
Activities: After reading books that have historical significance I like to ask kids first what questions they may have and start a discussion about the topic. I often ask my students to imagine if they weren't allowed to ride the bus because they looked different than other children on the bus and I am often met with the response of, but that wouldn't be fair which opens a great segue for conversation. I talk with students about the courage Rosa had and ask children to think of ways they can be courageous. We discuss ways we can be courageous for one another at school, at home and in our communities.
I also like to further inform students on the civil rights movement and Rosa Parks as students often have many more questions and are interested in learning more. These are two of the multimedia resources that I have used to introduce further. One of my favorite resources for videos when teaching was Brain Pop. Here is a great video about the civil rights movement to go deeper into learning about the civil rights movement and continued racism. Click here for Video. Another great resource to learn more about Rosa Parks is to watch this video showing real video and photos of Rosa and the civil rights movements. Watch the video here.
Later this month I will be taking a deeper dive into diverse books for Read Across America so that we can truly read across America. I am excited to share with you all the fun Read Across America things I have to share but for now... Happy Reading!
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