Can anyone suggest a book that I can read to fifth graders and pull lessons out of it for a Unit as well????

Question

I need a few different ones to pick from and I cannot find anything that I can read to them in only a few minutes. Most of the students are below their reading level, so....

Answer 1

I'm not sure how long of a book you are looking for, or what you are planning to teach them. Here are some picture books. "Where Once There Was a Wood" by Denise Fleming is very short, but has a lot going on. There are specific verbs, strong imagery, and an important theme. You could just read the words aloud without showing students the pictures, and then have them draw what they visualize. Then, they can compare their visualizations to the author's illustrations.

"Trouble on the Tracks" by Kathy Mallat plays a neat trick on the reader...the reader pictures one reality, but something else is going on. It's a quick read and kids really like the trick ending.

"Surprising Sharks" by Nicola Davies is a quick nonfiction book. The author has a great beginning, develops the details by talking about what sharks are like and how they behave, and concludes by linking back to her beginning in a clever way. This would be a great book for examining how prior knowledge influences your thinking. Have students write down facts that they know about sharks, and then check them off as they are confirmed/disputed by the text.

"The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash" by Stephen Kellogg (?) is a funny exercise in cause and effect. The book starts at the end and goes back to the beginning, so it would be a good way to trace how one action can have many different consequences. Plus, it gets more and more absurd, which catches kids' interest.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Embraced By The Light
http://www.embracedbythelight.com/leftside/embraced/ebtlindex.htm

Answer 3

my daughter loves the Junie B. Jones books they are really easy to read but i too enjoyed reading them the are short stries with quite a bit of funny things going on in them there in a set too but i can't remember the author

hope this helps