Miss. Harrison's Virtual Library

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is another one of those classics! This book is so cute, filled with awesome illustrations. The caterpillar in the story keeps eating and eating until eventually, he goes into a cocoon and becomes a beautiful butterfly. This story could be used in two different ways. First, you could use this story to help teach the life cycle of a butterfly. Another thing you could teach with this book is that sometimes life changes might be difficult, but you will eventually become who you are meant to be. The intended audience for this book is Pre-K to 2nd grade. I would use this book with my 2nd grade babies. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go is a classic children's book by Dr. Seuss. This book encourages students to set their expectations in life, HIGH. Through all life's struggles, trials, and tribulations, it encourages students to keep their head up and keep moving forward. The intended audience for this book is Kindergarten-2nd grade. I would use this with my Kindergarten class, maybe as a Kindergarten graduation gift to remind them that no matter what, to keep moving forward in life and set their expectations high. I have also seen people gift this book to high school graduates. 

Corduroy is another children's book that I loved in elementary school. The story is about a teddy bear (and who doesn't love teddy bears, right?) in a department store. A little girl's mom won't let her have Corduroy because he's missing a button, but the little girl returns to the store later on and purchases Corduroy with her own money and sews him on a new button. The lesson behind this story is to accept people for who they are. This is an adorable book and would be a great one to read to kindergarten or 1st graders. I would use this book to help encourage students to accept people and their differences. This is a children's classic and I absolutely love it. The intended audience for this book is children aged 3-7. 

The Rainbow Fish is another classic children's book that I loved when I was in elementary school. All the pages, have foil-like paper so it is appealing to a young reader's eye. The fish in this book has a hard time making friends because when one of the other fish asked him for one of his shiny scales, he refused to give them up. After the rainbow fish realized no one wanted to be his friend, he learned to share his possessions. I would use this in my classroom to help students learn the importance of sharing. I would use this in a kindergarten classroom because some students never have to learn to share their possessions, but its important to teach that lesson when the students start school and have to learn to share. The intended audience for this book is children aged 3-5.

Bridge to Terabithia is another book that teaches friendship. In a nut shell, this book is about two children who are both outcasts at school and they later become friends. They think of this imaginary land where they are both the rulers and nobody else is allowed to come there. This book would be used in my classroom to help teach the students the importance of friendship. I would use this book with my 4th grade class. The intended audience for this book is 4th-8th grade. 

The Great Kapok Tree is a sweet book to read with children. The illustrations are great and the story is even better. The author of this book actually wrote this book sitting in the rain forest so you can grasp a feel for what an actual rain forest looks like.  You could do many, many things with this book, but I might would use it in my classroom when talking about the rain forest in Science. You could also use this book when discussing photosynthesis or the life cycle in your classroom, because the child tells the man he can't chop down the tree because everything that is living, depends on that tree. I would use this book in my 3rd grade class. The intended audience for this book is K-3. 

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is a classic. This book tells the "real" story of the three little pigs. This would be a cute book to read to second or third graders to help teach a lesson on adjectives. This book is filled with tons of descriptive words that would make it easy to teach that lesson. There are many versions of this book, as well. You could have all of the versions available and have the students compare/contrast the different versions. The intended audience for this book is grades K-3.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is probably one of my favorite children's books of all time. This was always a favorite as a child. This book helps teach children the alphabet. This would be an awesome book to use in a kindergarten class when the children are starting to learn the alphabet. It includes awesome illustrations. Its a classic and I love it! The intended audience for this book is Pre-K. 

Charlotte's Web is a classic chapter book for children. This book would be good to use in a 4th or 5th grade classroom, when students reading levels are advancing to chapter books. The sweet lesson behind this book is friendship. I think it is important for students to learn how to maintain their friendships with other students. I would use this book in my classroom to help teach that important lesson to my sweet students. When finished with the book, you could allow the students to watch the movie and compare/contrast between the book and the movie. The intended audience for this book is grades 3-7. 

In this book, Max acts like a wild animal and destroys his house so his mother sends him to bed without any supper. Max imagined a world around him where the wild things were, but he got lonely and decided to go home where he found hot supper waiting on him. This book teaches many lessons to children. One of the most important is that your parents are there for you, no matter what. Max actually thought his mother was going to send him to bed hungry, but after she calmed down, she brought him some supper, because no matter what you do to your parents, they will always love you. This is a very important lesson for young children to understand. I would use this book in my 1st grade classroom to explain to children that their parents will always be there for them and love them, no matter what they do. The intended audience for this book is grades Pre-K to 3rd. 

This is a sweet book that teaches children that they are all unique and they shouldn't make fun of someone for being different. When the duckling was born, he got made fun of for a whole year for being "ugly". After that year, the duckling grew into a beautiful swan! I would use this book to teach my students that everyone is different in some way and you should never make fun of someone for being different than you. The intended audience for this book is grades K-2. 

This is a very cute children's book that will teach children they are all unique in some way and that their name is handpicked by their parents and very special, no matter what is it or how long it is. I would read this book to my students and then do an activity where the students could tell me how many letters are in their name and I would chart it. When finished, the students would see that some students have very short names and some students have very long names and that's okay. You can also do a flower craft with this book and have the students write the letters of their name in each flower petal. This is a very cute, CUTE book! The intended audience of this book is grades K-2. 

This is a very cute book that will keep the students imagination flowing. We are reading this at Centreville Middle right now with my 5th graders. The young boy in the book lost both of his parents in a car crash. He goes to live with his grandmother and she tells him stories about the witches that roam the streets of England. She tells the young boy how he can spot a witch if he sees one and warns him to run away if he does. Later in the book, the boy and his grandmother come up with a plan to attempt to get rid of all the witches. I would start reading this book with my students around Halloween. It offers suspense and allows the students to use their imagination to predict what might happen next. When reading the book to my students, I would wear some gloves because in the book, it says teachers could be witches too. It would be fun to see the reaction of my students to me wearing the gloves. When finished reading the book, I would come up with some kind of activity or craft to perform with my students to help reinforce the book. The intended audience for this book is grades 3-7. 

This is a great book that talks about aspects of the Great Depression. Bud Caldwell is an orphan who gets placed with a foster family and runs away. He meets up with a jazz band and later realizes his grandfather is in the band. I would use this book with my 5th grade class. I would use this book when talking about the Great Depression. This book is filled with tons of figurative language, so you could do a small group lesson on figurative language and use this book. The intended audience for this book is grades 3-7. 

This book is adorable! Pete the Cat rocks out to his own version of the ever so popular Halloween song, "Five Little Pumpkins". I would totally use this in my classroom during or on Halloween. I would have the students help me sing the song. I would do some kind of Halloween craft to go along with the book, also. The intended audience for this book is Pre-K to Kindergarten. I would use this with Kindergarten! 

This is a very cute book. Pete is wearing his favorite shirt, that has four "groovy" buttons. Pete doesn't cry when he looses a button, he just keeps on singing his song. This book has some repetition in it so the children can predict what the next page is going to say. Have the students sing along with the book to keep them engaged. This book could also be used to help with subtraction. "Pete has 4 buttons, but he looses one, how many does he have left?" The intended audience for this book is grades K-2.