Book Blog Hop!

Diane from Fifth in the Middle (one of the blogs & TpT stores I follow) posted earlier about books that are being used in the beginning of the school year.  Obviously I love books and totally hopped on board with this book blog-a-thon!

I'll be using a few different picture books during the first week of school before starting our first novel, The Lightning Thief. 

Picture Books:

I use Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? to start our math conversations.  

Before we go over Number Talks and math norms, we read this and start talking about the size of things in relation to another.  I think it's a great way to subtly introduce place value without mentioning those vocabulary words. 

I read Boris Ate a Thesaurus to start our conversations about word choice.

It's a silly book and they love it.

I also use My Mouth is a Volcano to talk about classroom norms.

It ties in well with listening and speaking norms, which we establish within the first few days of school.

I also leave out copies of Ms. Nelson is Missing, First Day Jitters, Unique Monique, and Thank You, Mr. Falker  for students to read during independent reading time.  


I also start the year with Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief as our first novel.  It's great for seeing how the chapters build on one another because the author does an amazing job of foreshadowing.  Students (hopefully) were exposed to Greek Mythology in fourth grade, so it's nice to tie in with their background knowledge.

As an added bonus, the main character Percy, isn't a typical hero.  He struggles with dyslexia and ADHD (a side effect of being a demigod) and has trouble in school.  My students really get into the book and as an added bonus, there are many, many sequels!

Directly following The Lightning Thief is The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labryinth, and The Last Olympian. 

There is a Greek & Roman spin off series with The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, the Mark of Athena, the House of Hades, and the Blood of Olympus (which I'm finishing tonight!).  What is great about these books is the narrator flips every few chapters, so you get multiple perspectives.  This literary technique lends itself to some interesting discussions.

There is an Egyptian trio of books: The Red Pyramid, the Throne of Fire, and The Serpent's Shadow.  These also alternate narrators between Sadie and Carter Kane, two very different siblings.  Their sibling love-hate relationship is beautifully and subtly captured in the different ways the chapters are narrated.

Since Rick Riordan is determined to drain my bank account with his amazing books, I'm super excited about this new series:

It stars Annabeth's possible brother?! The last name can't be a coincidence.

What do you read with your munchkins?