Guest Blogger: Christina Bainbridge

Looking for Tracy? Well, she's not here... she's enjoying spring break in Jamaica... mon! I'm sure she's sipping Kool-aid on the beach... or something like that! She can't be here, so I'm here instead... I'm Christina Bainbridge, 3rd grade ELA teacher from the blog *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*...

So... as a former 2nd grade teacher, my class read aloud staples were Charlotte's Web, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and Stone Fox... just to name a few.  Those were books I read every year.  So, naturally, when I moved to 3rd grade this year, I returned to my favorites, knowing that our discussion and understanding would be even BETTER than it was when I read it to 2nd graders! But... each time I went to pull one of those books out of my collection, I had sweeties yammering on about how their 2nd grade teacher read them that book already. Shock and concerned crossed my face each time, my brow furrowing in disbelief!  Someone else... reading MY favorite books... to MY students?!  I don't know why I was so shocked!  Those were my 2nd grade favorites too! So, I had to find some new favorite this year... and boy did I ever!  I still subjected them to Stone Fox and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane... even though some had already heard them.  They loved seeing their teacher cry.  I blubbered through the end of Stone Fox in a way I hadn't since the first time I read it, for some odd reason! I'd love to share my new favorites with you as you start getting ready to stock up this summer! Five of the books I read this year that my students and I absolutely L-O-V-E-D are (you can click on each picture to check out the book on Amazon)...

Horten's Miraculous Mechinasims... a story steeped with vocabulary, mystery, and magic.  We loved it!  Most days ended with my kiddos absolutely begging to hear the next chapter and lots of "Nooo!" whines when they realized one was coming to an end.  It was super fun... and much longer than my usual read alouds.  I loved coming across little jokes in the text and knowing that I would have had to explain them all to 2nd graders, but these kids absolutely got them!

We also read Hachiko Waits.  A tear jerker for sure!  We read it shortly after Stone Fox and made lots of connections.  I have a hard time with just letting a read aloud be a read aloud... so this one turned into a discussion about theme and character traits.  Actually, we finished read it, I was crying, a handful of kids were teary eyed as well, and one of them piped up and said, "how many AR points is that?" and my first response was, "That did NOT just happen.  We just read this amazing book and THAT is the first response?!", which immediately turned into that very same sweetie addressing the class and saying, "Hey guys, let's see if we can figure out the theme of the book".  Way to take my attention off the AR question and make me proud that they realized there was a HUGE theme throughout the book!  It's a GREAT book!!!

Another book we read, which is an oldie but none of them had heard of before, was Pippi Longstocking!  I'll admit it, that was an old 2nd grade staple of mine, but I knew these kids would love it... and boy did they!  If you haven't read Pippi... it's so funny and everyone gets really into it!  Each chapter is a little tale of Pippi and her oddities.  We especially loved the chapter where the robbers came to the house... we were all laughing to hard!

One more I took out of the 2nd grade valut was The Chocolate Touch.  I look forward to reading this one every year.  It's so great for predictions, character change, and visualizations!  We did lots of the activities out of my Chocolate Touch pack on TpT (we LOVED the predicting cards for each chapter)and just generally enjoyed reading it.  It has a lot of suspense and, let's face it, who among us has never wished to eat chocolate non-stop from morning until night?!

Last we JUST finished one more "oldie, but goodie" and that was How to Eat Fried Worms.  I remember checking that out of the library and reading it when I was about in 3rd grade and lovin' it!  It did not disappoint! What are your favorite class read alouds?  I'd love to hear about them! Thanks again, Tracy, for letting me guest blog for you while you're on your vacay!  So glad I could help a gal out! And I hope you will all come visit me at my blog, *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*, too!