CCBC-Net Archives
Third-Grade Read Alouds
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Julie Corsaro <jcorsaro>
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 08:16:48 -0400
In recent years, I've worked with third grade students and these are some single- session read-alouds that have been successful:
"Numbers, Numbers, Numbers," in Anna All year Round by Mary Downing Hahn. This is based on the elementary-school experiences of Hahn's mother in Baltimore in the years just before WWI. As a top student in her third-grade class, Anna gets to sit at the front of the classroom. Her status is threatened, however, when Anna has a hard time understanding multiplication. She begins copying from the work of her arch-rival-and is eventually caught. This story may be set almost 90 years ago, but today's students' relate to it's issues and are usually riveted by it.
The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick. A young turn of the century boy is fascinated by magic and his hero Harry Houdini. The child is thrilled when he meets Houdini in a train station and the magician gives him his card. When the boy visits Houdini's home on Halloween, he is devastated to learn that the magician has died. Disappointed when Houdini's widow gives him a box with the initial's
"E.W". on it, the child hides the box away until, as an adult, he realizes that Eric Weiss was Houdini's real name-and the box contains the secrets to Houdini's magic. Full-page black and white pictures alternate with a well-honed text in a story that is both exciting and moving.
A Big Cheese for the White House by Cynthia DeFelice. The townspeople of Cheshire, MA are appalled when they learn that cheese from a neighboring town is being served in the White House. They set out to make a gigantic cheese which the town leader and town curmudgeon ("I say it can't be done") deliver to Thomas Jefferson on New Year's Day.
Wonderful storytelling.
The Raft by Jim LaMarche. This quiet but enticing story is about a boy who reluctantly goes to spend the summer with his unconventional grandmother who lives on a river. However, the child is intrigued when he discovers a raft with carvings of animals on it. The boy spends the summer on the raft exploring the flora and fauna of the river. When he rescues a doe at summer's end, he carves his own picture on the raft-and an artist is born.
A few others that have worked well: Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson; Capyboppy by Bill Peet (more like two-sessions); The Wild Boy by Mordecai Gerstein; and Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst.
Finally, the third grade teachers I worked with liked to read-aloud chapter books by Bill Brittain (esp. The Wish Giver) and Andrew Clements
(esp. Frindle)
Julie Corsaro
Received on Fri 06 Aug 2004 07:16:48 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 2004 08:16:48 -0400
In recent years, I've worked with third grade students and these are some single- session read-alouds that have been successful:
"Numbers, Numbers, Numbers," in Anna All year Round by Mary Downing Hahn. This is based on the elementary-school experiences of Hahn's mother in Baltimore in the years just before WWI. As a top student in her third-grade class, Anna gets to sit at the front of the classroom. Her status is threatened, however, when Anna has a hard time understanding multiplication. She begins copying from the work of her arch-rival-and is eventually caught. This story may be set almost 90 years ago, but today's students' relate to it's issues and are usually riveted by it.
The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick. A young turn of the century boy is fascinated by magic and his hero Harry Houdini. The child is thrilled when he meets Houdini in a train station and the magician gives him his card. When the boy visits Houdini's home on Halloween, he is devastated to learn that the magician has died. Disappointed when Houdini's widow gives him a box with the initial's
"E.W". on it, the child hides the box away until, as an adult, he realizes that Eric Weiss was Houdini's real name-and the box contains the secrets to Houdini's magic. Full-page black and white pictures alternate with a well-honed text in a story that is both exciting and moving.
A Big Cheese for the White House by Cynthia DeFelice. The townspeople of Cheshire, MA are appalled when they learn that cheese from a neighboring town is being served in the White House. They set out to make a gigantic cheese which the town leader and town curmudgeon ("I say it can't be done") deliver to Thomas Jefferson on New Year's Day.
Wonderful storytelling.
The Raft by Jim LaMarche. This quiet but enticing story is about a boy who reluctantly goes to spend the summer with his unconventional grandmother who lives on a river. However, the child is intrigued when he discovers a raft with carvings of animals on it. The boy spends the summer on the raft exploring the flora and fauna of the river. When he rescues a doe at summer's end, he carves his own picture on the raft-and an artist is born.
A few others that have worked well: Fannie in the Kitchen by Deborah Hopkinson; Capyboppy by Bill Peet (more like two-sessions); The Wild Boy by Mordecai Gerstein; and Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst.
Finally, the third grade teachers I worked with liked to read-aloud chapter books by Bill Brittain (esp. The Wish Giver) and Andrew Clements
(esp. Frindle)
Julie Corsaro
Received on Fri 06 Aug 2004 07:16:48 AM CDT
