HIT: Fiction Read-alouds for Grades 5-6

[Eileen Capelle <ecapelle@MWT.NET>]

Thanks so very much to all of you who replied to my question of whether
fiction read-alouds were feasible for upper elementary grades in the
library.  This was my first time posting to the listserv and I received many
valuable suggestions.  You are all terrific and so helpful!

Several of you asked that I share the responses, so I'll summarize the info
received.  Basically, many of you do read chapter books to upper elementary
grades, even though it may take a while when meeting only once a week.  The
kids seem to love it, but the selection should be fairly short--long works
with many characters get cumbersome to read and take too long.  Many of you
choose to do read-alouds at certain times of the year (e.g. to coincide with
a holiday).  It is important each week to take a few minutes to review plot,
characters, etc. before starting the next section.  Overall, the kids didn't
seem to have too much trouble remembering the story from week to week.

Here are some of the suggestions for good read-alouds:

Blackwater Swamp (Wallace)
Danger in Quicksand Swamp (Wallace)
any Hank the Cowdog (Erickson)
My Life in Dog Years (Paulsen)
Deathwatch (White)
Frindle (Clements)
View from the Cherry Tree (Roberts)
Stone Fox (Gardiner)
Sable (Hesse)
A Long Way from Chicago (short stories in novel form)
Hatchet (Paulsen)
Freak the Mighty (Philbrick)
Whipping Boy (Fleischmann)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Heads or Tails: Stories from the 6th Grade (Gantos)
Inside My Feet (Kennedy)
Dinotopia Books (Guerney-the ones with the beautiful artwork)
Mick Harte was Here (Dittmer)
The Lottery Rose (Hunt)
Pink and Say (Polacco)
Tangerine
Operation Dump the Chump
Summer of the Monkeys (Rawls)
Crash (Spinelli)
Sticks (Bauer)
Wringer (Spinelli)
Holes (Sachar)

Thanks again everyone for your help!!

Eileen Capelle
Library Media Specialist
Wonewoc Center Schools
Wonewoc, WI  53968
ecapelle@mwt.net

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