2nd Grade Teaching Student in Need of Help....

[Kathryn]

I am a teaching student and I have very little experience choosing children's books. I have an assignment where I am going to be doing read aloud sessions with 2nd grade students. I need to be able to create a relatively meaningful and educational lesson plan with the book, and be able to illicite a lot of discussion between the students and I (and the students in general). I was even thinking something that had a message of some sort. Does anyone have any suggestions of books that would be good to use?

[Eastofoz]

You could do a lesson plan based on acceptance regardless of how a person looks. Sort of like the importance of understanding others or getting to know them first instead of accepting preconceived notions about certain people. You could also talk about taking the initiative to approach someone who's alone and find out why and if you like them they could become your friend all because you tried to help someone. There's a very good book that teaches about the blind called The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and there's one about a deaf boy called Moses Goes to a Concert by Isaac Millman. My kids loved both of them. With the book for the blind there's the braille alphabet at the back they can touch as well feel the pictures because everything is black but the pictures are raised on the pages. Both books encourage a lot of questions and wonder about a world many kids don't know about. Hope that helps :)

[Kathryn]

That does help a lot thank you. The one thing that is really odd about your post is that I happen to have a very visible disability. Its strange how the first comment I get is something like this, maybe its some sort of sign, lol. Thanks a lot for your post and I will certainly look into it.

[Eastofoz]

It's a sign ;) Glad to help :)

[Jess Golden]

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes is a classic than never seems to lose its appeal. You could surround the book with discussions on acceptance of others. It is more lengthy than a standard picture book, but if you're reading it aloud, that should work out well. I used it when I taught grade 3.

[Michele]

Our literacy team has also used The Black Book of Colors for a lesson...I wasn't a part of the lesson but I think it may have had some to do with description. I remember the kids made their own book pages with black paper and elmer's glue. Another book they have used is Zoom--once again primarily for noticing and detailing in writing, but it could also be used for the concept of observation in 'real' life.

A few years ago our school used Boxes for Katje as one of our books for our monthly character theme of "Caring."

Last year one of the most popular "Monarch" books at our school (Monarch is the IL kids' choice award for K-3) was Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, about animal friendship.