Today's FRIDAY 5 is Five Children's Books that I use in my Counseling Program and how I use them! Check em' out and share your favorites below!
**These are in NO particular order**
I LOVE COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK!
#5: It's Okay To Be Different, Written and Illustrated by: Todd Parr
To be honest, I love ALL of Todd Parr's books. They are all wonderful, colorful, and are great for kids. I use his books a lot and read this book with a Kindergarten class during their story time and as well used it for my "Redesign A Favorite Book Cover" Door Contest as my school during our 2014 Book Week in March. The book has fun pictures and pages about how we are all unique and that it is great to be different. This Teach Idea Factory Blog has other FUN ideas to use with the book including making a class book.
#4: Miss Rumphius, Written and Illustrated By: Barbara Cooney
I love this book and used it with my 4th grade students during a Classroom lesson during Random Acts of Kindness Week. The book is about a woman who follows her dreams and also makes the world a more beautiful place. When I first read the book, it tugged at my heart strings quite a bit. After we read the story, we discussed the plot and tied the conversation into how Random Acts of Kindness can make the world more beautiful. We also watched this video tied into RAK. Then, I had each student write their own list of ways they can make the world a more beautiful place.
#3: The Hundred Dresses, By Eleanor Estes
This is one of my most favorite children's books. I remember my fifth grade teacher reading this book to me when I was in elementary school and it truly stuck with me. I typically read this book with grades 4-5 during my Bullying Awareness Unit for Classroom Guidance. The message of the story is still very applicable to students, even though it was published in 1944. I find the students get "sucked in" to the story and many of them have checked out the book independently after hearing in guidance.
#2. The Sneetches and Other Stories, By: Dr. Seuss
As a huge fan of Dr. Seuss (who isn't?!?) I have to add The Sneetches in here. I have used this with grade 2-5 and they seem to love it. I have used this to teach about Diversity, Exclusion, Discrimination, Cliques, etc. This is a classic that I find I use again and again! Definitely worth a purchase!
#1: The Monster Who Lost His Mean, By: Tiffany Strelitz Haber and Illustrated By: Kirstie Edmunds
I used this awesome book with my first grade students and I loved it. The book is about a Monster who loses his mean and then more or less realizes he is happier being a nice "Onster" instead of a "Monster". I tied this into a 3-lesson unit I found from The School Counselor's Chronicle Blog. The unit was focused on being assertive and not acting like a "Monster" or a "Mouse". I read the book to the students and then we did a role-play activity and the students pretended to first be "Monsters" and then to "Lose their Mean" and handle it like the "Best Me, I can be!" Needless to say, it was entertaining and a LOT of fun.
For more information about Books for School Counselors check out this link for the Books That Heal Blog!
