The Literacy Garden

Do you do book studies with your students? The Candy Corn Contest by Patricia Reilly Giff is an enjoyable early chapter book to use for a children’s book club. This book is part of The Kids of the Polk Street School series. Elementary students can easily relate to these 2nd graders and the challenges school life can bring. In order to extend this story and meet curriculum objectives, I created Candy Corn Contest comprehension questions and…

I’m thrilled to share with you one of my favorite children’s author / illustrator: Gail Gibbons. Today we are going to examine nonfiction text features through her book titled The Pumpkin Book.   Identifying Nonfiction Text Features   Gail Gibbons is a prolific author of informational texts for elementary readers. She is a master at weaving text and nonfiction elements with detailed illustrations and diagrams. That is why Gail Gibbons’ books are perfect to use as…

Today I wanted to spotlight some of my class favorite read alouds. I like my students to hear stories that engage their minds and emotions, make them laugh, or touch their heart. They will often refer to these stories and characters throughout the year as we make connections to other stories they read in class. One of our beloved characters is Strega Nona created by Tomie dePaola. Each year, I launch our first author study about…