First Post: Never Too Old for These Classic Children’s Books!

February 2017: This post was originally written and published in August 2015, a week after I was the victim of a very traumatic dog attack.  I have grown a lot during my journey in terms of blogging, photography, and graphic design. Yet, I am not going to update this post other than adding a main image. Changed up the formatting a little but left the images and content as is. It took everything I had to be able to type with a very serious injury to my arm that became infected and I’m proud to have written it. Maybe it’s not the prettiest post but I hope you understand why I’m leaving it how it is. I still love Patricia Polacco and am excited to share this post. Celebrate your big and mall wins and never be ashamed of your battle scars. 

August 2015: Hi!! I’m Andrea Runnels, a 5th grade teacher in Lawrenceville, Georgia! What better way for you to get to know me than to tell you about my favorite children’s books and my favorite author? Even though I teach upper elementary, I will forever love these classics.  I was so excited when I saw the topic Lindsay at http://primarypolkadots.blogspot.com/ chose for a linky I knew I had to be a part of it. I started drafting before my blog design was finished!

 

My favorite book has to be a toss up between Where the Wild Things Are and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I’m going to focus on poor, pitiful Alexander today because I love the message in the story. I find that 5th graders still love having classic children’s books read aloud to them. Using books as inspiration and discussion starters for class meetings is a no-brainer! Who better to learn about perseverance from than the cantankerous Alexander?

This well-loved book traces the misadventures of this young man and his brothers. Nothing is going right for him the entire day! Things go from bad to worse and he becomes more and more irritable! Has that ever happened to you? That snowball effect? Or maybe it seems more like Murphy’s Law. I think I’ve threatened to run away a few times as an adult after days like that! Poor Al has us convinced he is going to take off to Australia.

My favorite part is when Mom steps in after his horrendous day and says, “That’s ok. Some days are like that. Even in Australia.”

And here is where the makings of a character-building chat begins. Start by asking your students what they can learn from Alexander. For upper elementary, have kids brainstorm the theme. One reason I love this book is because I’m a mom. Who is there for A at the end? His mom. And she has some sage advice. It’s ok to have bad days. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Sometimes you just have to own your bad day and just know it’s only one day. Tomorrow is a fresh start. I am sure your students will be able to easily make connections to bad days they have had.

My advice is to turn those text-to-self connections into a writing prompt!! That way you won’t get stuck with hands up repeatedly wanting to tell you all about their woes while you are reading! Just say, “Oh, we are going to share later!” Surprise! It will be in writing! Have them tell what they learned through a trying experience to add in some character building! There are so many ways to spring board off this.
1) How about rewriting sour-faced Alexander’s tale from mom’s point-of-view?

2) Write a sequel for what happens the next day.

3) Write about what would happen if Alexander did go to Australia and had a terrible day there!

4) Do an informational research piece about Australia.

5) Have them compare and contrast the book to the recent flick!

P.S. I can’t skip mentioning my other favorite!! My heart would hurt if I didn’t. If I had to tell you in one quick sentence why I love Where the Wild Things Are it would be because of the word rumpus alone. Love it!! Now let the rumpus about my favorite author begin!! Woot, woot!!

 

 

I am a huge fan of Patricia Polacco. I love her descriptive writing style and unique illustrating techniques. She places such emphasis on the details in facial expressions. She has a great website, too with lots of resources to go with her books. You will be amazed at the sheer volume of books she has written. She started before this girl was in diapers and still continues publishing hit after hit http://www.patriciapolacco.com/

I always do an author study about her along with narrative writing. Her ever-expanding diverse collection includes many auto-biographical anecdotes that make for great mentor texts for memoirs. I love The Keeping Quilt, the story of a special family heirloom. It is so neat to trace this precious family treasure as it gets passed down through the generations. I love how the illustrations are in black and white except for the quilt.

 

This book is perfect to help teach your students about some of the traditions in the Jewish culture, too and how they have evolved. After reading this book, I have the students bring in a memory object as inspiration for a writing piece about one of their favorite memories. This could be a souvenir from a trip, photograph, or cherished gift. I advise them not to bring in an irreplaceable treasure!

Patricia also has contemporary books that deal with bullying and childhood cancer. Several of her books make wonderful read-alouds to go along with Social Studies content. Stay tuned for a future post about how I use her books in conjunction with my Civil War study.

I did it! I am now officially a blogger!!! I don’t think the “under construction” post this summer counted. Thank you for reading and I would love to hear about your favorite books!