In the Classroom: Reading Aloud as Community Building

My students won't be in school for a couple more weeks yet, but I'm slowly starting to turn my mind back to the classroom.  I'm thinking about how I want to set up the room when I can first get into it on Monday.  I'm thinking about changes in curriculum.  I'm thinking about the new fourth graders I'll be meeting in a few weeks.  And I'm thinking about what I'm going to read aloud on our first day, that magical story that will help connect us all and turn us from a bunch of strangers into a t...