Once you find your classroom favorites, you never want to let them go. Here are seven must-have and Perfect Books for Elementary Teachers.
Classroom Favorites for the Elementary Classroom:
Fiction
How Big is a Million
is the perfect book for an elementary math teacher. This book helps children comprehend a large number such as a million. Throughout the story, the penguins encounter numbers, starting off small with ten, and ending up with a million. How Big is a Million includes a poster in the back. The poster with a million stars helps students visualize a million. Follow along with Pipkin on his search for a million.
A Tale of Two Beasts
is a beautiful picture book with a cute story. Any elementary teacher will love the differing sides of the same story. A Tale of Two Beasts demonstrates how different a story can be depending on who is telling the story. The story starts from a girl’s point of view about meeting a beast, a squirrel, and ends with the squirrel’s story about meeting a beast, a girl. The book could easily be used to teach point of view. Students could pick out how many times each character uses the first person “I” when telling their side of the story. Add this to your list of classroom favorites.
Scribble and Author
is an adorable story of an active conversation between the author and the object the author draws. “Scribble” worries about the problems it might face and questions the author’s every move as she the author, builds a story structure using the beginning, middle, and end. The author explains to Scribble as she adds conflict and resolution. This book shows students the structure of any story and encourages them to write their own story using the same structure. Must like the other titles, teachers will LOVE Scribble and Author.
Muddle and Match books
will be your new classroom favorites. These books have split pages. One side of the pages has words and the other has pictures. Although Muddle and Match books are meant for preschoolers, these books would be a great addition to any writing station. Each page includes onomatopoeia and unique vocabulary words. Students could use 5 words from the Muddle and Matchbook to add to their vocabulary notebook.
The newest Muddle and Matchbook is a Fairy Tale version This could be used as an introduction or review of a Fairy Tale lesson or project.
Animally
is one of my favorite picture books. This rhyming story describes the love of a mother to their child with adverbs on every page. The poetic language includes “I love you tenderly like a fawn. I love you speedily like a hare.” Although meant for young children, Animally would be a great introduction to adverbs.
Non-Fiction
Beginners
- If you’re looking to teach non-fiction in a hands-on way, Beginners are perfect! These $4.99 books range from Animals to Planet Earth to Castles and How Flowers Grow. Each book starts with a Table of Contents and ends with a glossary full of valuable vocabulary. Pictures, captions, vocabulary, and so many more opportunities for learning fill the pages. Therefore, elementary school teachers must have these books! Similarly, there is a series, Usborne Young Beginners, meant for preschoolers. Even children as young as toddlers will devour The Usborne Young Beginners with simple text paired with beautiful pictures.
- Discovery Adventure Series is very similar to the Beginners, but these are on a higher reading level. These books with flexi-binding are perfect for fourth-grade and older. Any non-fiction enthusiast will eat up these vibrant pictures and detailed text features to continue learning. Also, reluctant readers will gravitate towards the Discovery Adventure Series and may actually learn to love reading. This series includes nine different titles including Spying, Survival, Extreme Sports, and Drones.
