As you know, I LOVE using picture books to teach and review upper elementary reading comprehension skills. In today’s blog post, I share a few books that are perfect for May as well as a few books that could be used at any point during the year!
If you don’t have any of the books listed below, you can click each picture to find them on Amazon!
Where Oliver Fits
Where Oliver Fits is my absolute favorite book in this set! Maybe I should have saved the best for last, but I just couldn’t! This is an amazing story about a round puzzle piece named Oliver. No matter what puzzle he tries to fit into, he can’t find where he belongs. The theme of this story is absolutely perfect for showing students that although it may take a while, you’ll find your place if you give it time and stay true to yourself.
Blacksmith’s Song
Ahhh! I wish I had discovered this book when we were studying the Underground Railroad! Although this story is not based on factual events, it is still a great read aloud to get students thinking about the inter-workings of the Underground Railroad. In this story, the narrator’s father is a blacksmith on a southern plantation. He helps guide travelers of the Underground Railroad by playing a specific rhythm as he hammers the anvil doing his daily blacksmith work. The narrator longs to take his turn helping others through their journey, and in the end, he gets his chance!
Lazybones
This is so childish, but I love it anyway! This simple book is told from the perspective of a dog, Robert Exelby Perdendo, or as everyone calls him, Lazybones. He tells how he has his owner trained, why he hates to go on walks, and how he falls in love! It’s the cutest book and perfect for teaching and reinforcing various points of view and how they impact the story.
On a Mission: Undercover Police Officer
In honor of Police Appreciation Week during the month of May, I thought I would share something nonfiction to help students learn about an interesting topic and the job of a police officer. I like using a main idea graphic organizer with multiple copies on a page to allow students to find the main idea and details of each section of the book.
El Chupacabras
Maybe it’s just because I’m teaching at a school with a high number of English Language Learners this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It uses a combination of Enligsh and Spanish to tell the story of the legend of the goat sucker. It is such a great way to help your students retell or practice sequencing events.
If you are interested in the graphic organizers that I used in the pictures for this post, you can find them in my TpT store. Included in the file, you find both digital and printable versions of each graphic organizer.