I love old(ish) picture books. I am a vintage girl at heart and when choosing read alouds I often find myself gravitating towards older books. Now, The Vanishing Pumpkin is not terribly old (published in 1983) but it reminds me of the Halloweens of my childhood with its illustrations and vocabulary. The Vanishing Pumpkin is written by Tony Johnston, but it is illustrated by Tomie dePaola who has a very distinct artistic style. If you have any Tomie dePaola books in your classroom library you might want to pull them out to compare the styles before or after your read aloud. This book is chock full of rich vocabulary: snitched (stolen), perched, rapscallion, fresh (sassy), varmint, wickedly, and some fun examples of alliteration: "lucky lizards", "in fact, they fairly flew", "great grizzlies", I have created a FREE, quick, cute jack-o-lantern craft and quick writing activity that you could use with this book if you would like. J...
If you are looking for a Thanksgiving read aloud to spark your students' creativity and imagination- you have got to read Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet . I instantly fell in love with this book. It is based on Tony Sarg- an artist who created puppets and the first balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. While I love all the turkey books, the book Balloons Over Broadway is a breath of fresh air in the collection of Thanksgiving read alouds! The illustrations are perfect (the book is a Caldecott Honor Winner). After the read aloud I would suggest giving students the opportunity to read the book independently so that they can pour over the detailed illustrations. The author/illustrator Melissa Sweet uses a variety of mediums to create the pictures. I think this story lends itself really well to focusing on cause and effect. Tony is a problem solver and he demonstrates that time and again in the book. I have included a printable page that you can ...
This book was brought to my attention several years ago- it was a KC3 Award Nominee (an award sponsored by The Greater Kansas City Association of School Librarians). There is a list of about 10 books each year and students in third grade read or listen to the books and then are able to vote for their favorite. As a teacher- I love discovering new authors and titles. The King's Taster by Kenneth Oppel illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher I loved this book right from the get go- it has a DOG on the cover- need I say more? (CRAZY dog lady here!) This is a great book to teach point of view, as well as many other comprehension skills. Max, the dog, is telling the story. He has a very special job- he tastes all of the the food that the king eats to make sure it is not poisoned. Even though he is the king's taster, he is actually the cook's dog. They have a sweet relationship- pet owners will be sure to relate! One day the kingdom gets a ...
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