Mrs. Spencer's World of Words

When we sneeze on others, it's gross!!  And, it can start a chain reaction of germs spreading from one person to another.  yucky!  This is a funny, silly story, with made up words, that all begins with a 'chimpansneeze'.  I would read this selection to preschoolers up to first graders to remind them that 1. sneezing on others is a bad thing and 2. that words we make up can be fun!  It is a great book to read just for fun as well.  Kindergartners up to second graders would likely enjoy the humor of this book.

Pete the Cate Saves Christmas is just as fun as all the other tales about Pete.  This would be a fun selection to read, during the holidays, to an elementary class.  Although Pete is small, he can do it!!  As teachers, we want to encourage our students to take on tasks that may seem too big or too scary.  If we do not push ourselves sometimes, who will?  This is a delightful spin to the Santa stories we typically read. 

It is important to begin using dictionaries as soon as possible with young learners.  I would be certain to have a dictionary like this one available to any kindergarten through fifth grade class.  It would be optimal to have one per student or at least one per every two to three students. 

With the youngest of learners, they can simply be introduced to what a dictionary is!  A great activity is for them to copy words for the letter of the week or the letter the class is most focused on.  For example, if a class is working on writing certain letters, have the students look for five words that begin with those letters and copy them into their journals.  Then, ask the students to draw a picture for each of those words they chose.  This is a great reading and writing activity although it seems so simple. 

A Mrs. Gilmore favorite!  This is just one of a set of cool books that are educational and fun!!  In a classroom, this is a great resource to focus on nouns.  Other books in this set focus on adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and other parts of speech. 

For younger children, these books are fun to hear due to the rhyming words but they can also serve as a tool in a writing center to copy words.  For advanced learners, they can even choose words from the text and then make their own sentences!

A fun book to hear aloud that is also a good teacher resource is a win :)