HIT: ELEM: 5th grade readalouds

[Nancy Westendorf <NSpringWes@AOL.COM>]

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed. Here's the original Target:

I have a teacher who would like a one-sitting read aloud for the first day
 of  school for him to read to his class in the classroom.  I suggested
Wayside
 School stories and he is considering that.  Any other suggestions?

 The Mummified Pig....The Case of the Mummified Pigs: And Other
Mysteries in Nature. 01/1999 Boyds Mills Press. Susan E. Quinlan.
Illustrated by Jennifer O. Dewey. illus. Juv. Gr: 05-09 Trade Paper ISBN
1-56397-783-4 Wholesalers: Ingram, Koen. 128p. Size: 9.25 x 7.375 in. $ 9.95
(Publisher) $ 9.95 (Ingram)

If this excerpt form Books in PInt got to you it should say the Case of the
Mummified Pigs: and other Mysteries in Nature by Susan E. Quinlan.  This is
a group of several short stories that are real science mysteries and
solutins - the pig one was always a great  hit with my classes.  Book is
great fun.  Barbara Wall

The Houdini Box by Selznick. My kids loved it.

Hi,  Homer Price books are wonderful. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and the funny
"cures" are also good.  They have stand alone chapters.  I remember those
books from when I was a kid!!!!  They are still loved today!

  I've always enjoyed reading "Like Jake and I", by Mavis Jukes. You can get
real theatrical, show them a picture of a wolf spider a head of time and
show them how the spider brings the father and stepson closer. The kids
laugh hysterically because the dad ends up taking all his clothes off
looking for the spider. It's a Newbery Honor and it's short enough for 1
lesson.

Try Thank_you,_Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco....not just a first day title
but a nice one for 5th grade that includes issues about kindness and
reading disabilities.

 How about Hoorary for Diffendoofer (sp?) Day by Seuss?  Have your students
discovered the Marvin Redpost stories (Alone in His Teacher's House is the
first.) by Sachar?

Hi.  Another inspiration--Thank you, Mr. Falker by Polacco.

Anyway, re your 5th grade teacher looking for a one-shot read, the Wayside
School suggestion (especially Wayside School Is Falling Down, ch. 1, where
Miss Jewls pushes the computer out the window) is great. A few other ideas:

Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement (picture book, with wonderful
illustrations, and will put everyone in a giddy mood and get kids writing and
illustrating thair own hyperboles and understated statements about school)

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka (kids can write their own math problems)

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse (Keven Henkes)

First chapter from A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck.

I'm sure you'll get many more ideas. I'm starting to get my brain sharpened
for the deluge of such requests I'll get next Tuesday when I start school.
It's good to stay in shape.

It'll take a couple of hours to do but either of Andrew Clements books
are good:

Frindle
Landry News (one of our teachers thinks that this is better as a read
alone)

We are using some of Natalie Babbitt's stories from The Devil's Storybook in
particular The Rose and the minor Demon and The Power of Speech.

    I read from Wayside School to my 4th graders.  For my 5th grade I read
from The Children's Book of Heroes, the story about Helen Keller's Teacher,
Annie Sullivan.  The 5th graders were so attentive.  Some had not heard of
HK and all were curious with questions about her and how could she learn
anything being blind and deaf and dumb (we didn't use that term!).  I think
it's good for the 1st day because it emphasizes the impact of a teacher.  It
took about 10-15 minutes to read it and that was just about right because in
a 45 minute session I still had to go over rules, book care, and save 10
minutes for checkouts.    Further reading can be done by the students if
HK's biography is in your library.  I did this same story last year and it
was just as enthusiastically received.

How about The Ink Drinker by Eric Sanvoisin(sp?).  My third-fifth graders
loved this very weird French translation story about a boy who hates to read
but discovers a vampire that drinks ink off the pages of books and
experiences the stories.  The funny part is the boy's dad is a bookstore
owner.  Very weird and enthralling (short) one sitting read aloud.  It looks
like a mini chapter book.  Hope this helps.

You might look at A Gathering of Days by Blos.  It is written in diary
form by a young girl (about 11 I think) and includes the other members of
her family , antics at school, and a mysterious stranger in the woods, who
turns out to be an escaped slave whom the children help.

How long is a sitting?  Wayside School seems pretty long for that.

We have a Shared Reading Day once a month where parents and other adults come
and read with the kids.  When asked for ideas for the upper grades I often
suggest something with lots of adventure and with a story line likely to be
familiar to the reader.  like
Aladdin
Ali Baba and the 40 Thieve
Rikki Tikki Tavi
Rimonah and the Flashing Sword by Eric Kimmel combines a whole bunch of
folklore elements which is a fun review.

There are also some great shorter picture book biographies being published
now.
Sky Pilot (Amelia Earhart)
Teammates by Golenbock (about Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese)

These are fictionalized bios
More than Anything Else  Marie Brady
Richard Wright and the Library Card

"Frindle" by Andrew Clements is the winner of many state awards about a 5th
grade boy who starts calling a ball point pen a "frindle" and soon, not only
has the whole school, but the whole town doing so.  Also by Clements--"The
Landry News" about a new girl in school who gets the class to publish their
own newspaper which gets them involved in freedom of the press issues.  Both
done with much wit and humor.

Avi also has a book of short stories, although not too short. Cannot
recall the exact title-Simon, and two other names,Tales of
Transformation...

Happy school year!
Nancy Westendorf, Librarian
Community School 14
Rochester, NY
NSpringWes@aol.com

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