Great read alouds!

I'm always looking for a good read aloud, though I do have a small stack of my favorites that I read (almost) year after year.

Here are a few I share with my third graders:

A favorite in October is: Pleasing the Ghost by Sharon Creech
As a model for character study: Poppy by Avi
Just quirky and different: Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas by Fran Lebowitz
And for spring: The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

What are you reading in your classroom?!

Third graders still like the shorter books too. Here are a few I like:
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard
Any of the Berenstain books by Stan Berenstain
Also short chapter books like:
Horrible Harry by Suzy Kline
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

These are a few read alouds my second graders enjoy:

Lady Lollipop - Dick King-Smith
Clementine - Sara Pennypacker
Roxie and the Hooligans - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Ghosthunters - Cornelia Funke
26 Fairmount Avenue - Tomie dePaola
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

I really love The Ink Drinker - Eric Sanvoisin

I always read Roald Dahl to my 2nd and 3rd grade classes...Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda were faves. I also loved to read My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.

I could probably read Skippyjon Jones to my first graders every day without a complaint.

My 4-year-old nephew absolutely loves Skippyjon Jones! It's a challenging read aloud with all the accents though.

My students really enjoy reading Bunnicula in small groups - it's got a good sense of humor.

Thanks for the list. I am a middle school teacher and I am always looking for good read aloud for my students. Here are a couple that I use.

145 Street Short Stories by Walter Dean Myers
Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen Edited by James Howe
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Cass Wms

I read to MrsHouseLibrary's pre-K through 5th grade classes often.
Goodnight Moon is often requested, and appreciated even by the older kids. They get nostalgic about it.

Their overall favorite is There's a Monster at the End of the Book because I have an excellent Grover voice.

To last year's pre-K kids, I read a book called Bang, Bang, Quack, Quack and explained how these words had a special name, and taught it to them. Due to budget cuts by our idiot of a Governor, the Pre-K teacher has way more kids than she can handle, so I'm volunteering with her a couple of days each week. So, we're taking them out to the playground, and the now-Kindergartners are heading in the opposite direction, and a few of them recognized me and started chanting 'onomatopoeia'. I consider it time well spent.

A few more titles for middle school:

Swear to Howdy by VanDraanen
Stop Pretending by Sones
The Last Book in the Universe by Philbrick
Invisible by Hautman
Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by Lubar (get the audiobook - awesome!)

I really enjoy:
The Widow's Broom
Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna - A good moral
Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen - You must read with a lot of attitude

I just finished a wonderful unit using Chrysanthemum and Hooway for Wodney Wat. It started with Chrysanthemum--a little mouse who is "absolutely perfect" (according to her parents), and who give her an "absolutely perfect" name, Chrysanthemum--until she starts school and the other children make fun of her name. The language is DELICIOUSLY rich and it provides wonderful opportunities to bring in science (different flowers--the parts of a flower--the life cycle of plants), as well as vocabulary, and character analysis. THe children interviewed their parents to find out how they were named and then presented the results to the rest of the class. I chose Wodney Wat because there is a bully in that book as well and it's full of rodents (capybara, guinea pig, mouse).

I also love reading Roald Dahl like Sandykins68. My favorite to read first graders is The Twits and The Enormous Crocodile. Vera B. Williams books are classics. My favorite is Cherries and Cherry Pits.

THe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is probably the best read-aloud I have ever read. My second-graders absolutely adore it, but could definitely be used for older students, as well.

Also, the Toys series (Toys Go Out, Toys Dance Party, and Toys Come Home) is sensational. Funny, charming, fantastic characterization. Great for point of view.

I also recommend Roald Dahl, my 3rd graders LOVE his books and beg me to read more. I was amazed that they also enjoyed the classic Wayside School is Falling . With the new CCGPS, Because of Winn-Dixie is a suggested book for 3rd grade and students at my school enjoyed this one. I started reading the Percy Jackson series with my 3rd grade class. I got a great response and found that some of my students who never wanted to read started picking up more books. There are just too many great books!

>1 LindaJ57: There is a new series out by someone named Marie Malekowsky. The two books are super cute and my kids like them. They are based on learning the rules and responsibility and the next book is supposed to focus on perseverance. The series is super PBIS and has features cute illustrations.