Summer Reading: Fun For Teachers Too!

Hello Friends! I hope you all are are having a refreshing & fantastic summer break!

This is the time of year I spend major time with family and read A LOT!

There just never seems to be enough time during the school year to read those books you actually want to read. 

Now that I'm teaching 3rd grade I have to read a bunch of books within their range & interest levels. I find that the more I talk about books I've read the more the kids pick them up. Do you notice that in your classroom too? One part of 3rd grade I absolutely LOVE is how much more the kids talk about what they're reading. 

At the end of the school year we took the time to talk about the books we had read and thought other people might like. Each student had a list where they could jot down some books he/she might want to read over the summer. I even had a list!

We met with different people in our classroom and by the end everyone had a least a few titles on their lists. I really enjoyed hearing what the kids had to say as I moved from group to group.  

My list became really long actually...

So this summer my goal was to read more. Then in the fall I'll have more books to talk about with the kids. Here's what I've been reading...

At first I was very unsure about the I Survived series. I'm very primary-minded and I thought these would be too scary for kids. The boys in my class were raving about the series. "You have to read these books!" So I've kept an open mind and I've been working my way through them. These books are great for kids who love history, suspense, and a strong main character. The author, Laura Tarshis, does a nice job of placing the character in the historical event. You feel like you're there with all the detailed descriptions. However, the story is true to history so it does have scary and violent events. I've had students tell me that the book about sharks has a scene that is really scary, so I'm saving that title until after I return from my beach vacation. Ha!

Tarshis stays true to the events of the day and the main character always survives. Hence, the title of the series. The part of the books I like the most is at the end where she gives all these great facts about the historical event. I've learned new facts in each of the books.

You could use this series to teach character traits, problem & solution, details about setting, and obviously history. You could also read two books that you're comfortable with and teach compare & contrast of books in a series. Hurricane Katrina & The San Francisco Earthquake would be a good pairing in my opinion. 

***Note: You need to read these before you jump right in. You know your students and if they'll be comfortable reading books with this type of content.***

Frindle is just fantastic! I know many of you have probably read it, but I never had and I'm so glad I did. If you haven't read it here's a little background. No spoilers! 

The main character Nick decides to make up a new word after learning a thing or two from a challenging teacher. It's all about being an original thinker and how success is created through perseverance. The ending is so good!

You could use this book to teach character traits, new vocabulary, and making inferences.

The One & Only Ivan is by far my favorite book. I actually read this one in the spring, but it was amazing. Everyone always suggested it and after reading it I became one of those people. 

A very basic description is it's about a gorilla and elephant in captivity.

Katherine Applegate does a fantastic job of helping you identify with her characters. It's definitely an emotional book. I cried and laughed and then cried again. When I finished it I was happy, sad, and inspired. The biggest lesson I took from the book was that people can make big things happen. 

You could use this book to teach point of view, character traits, problem & solution, new vocabulary, and moral of a story. You could also link it to research of gorillas & elephants. You could get library books and allow the kids to research either animal and then write a paragraph or create a poster about that animal. 

Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz was for my own professional development. I'm still reading it, but so far it has been an eye-opener. It's all about empowering your students and how that empowerment can create independent, motivate learners. There are so many great ideas in this books to create a student-led classroom. From what I've read the results of this type of environment are many. If you'd like to read more please stop over at my blog and click on the Learn Like a Pirate tab.

This is my unfinished stack.... 

It seems to be growing, but we're never really "done" as teachers so I'm alright with it. :)

What have you been reading!? What should I add to my list!?