“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” ― Mortimer Adler
I can still remember every book that my 4th grade teacher read aloud to us. I want my students to experience the joy that great books bring, too!
I teach fourth graders at a suburban public school.
My class is truly a melting pot, with students from all races, economics, and abilities. I have 4 ELL students and several inclusion students with special needs. I also have several identified academically gifted students, and everything in between. Many of my students are intimidated by chapter books - and choose books based on length instead of quality literature. I want to open up the world of good literature for them, and encourage them to be lifelong readers.
My Project
I want to use The One and Only Ivan as a read-a-loud book with my class, which will really get them excited about the book. By reading it aloud, my students of all abilities can enjoy the same story and discuss it. Lower elementary teachers read out loud to their students daily, but somewhere in the older primary grades, we abandon this practice.
Because this is a story that all of my students will share, it also makes sense to use it as an anchor book for my Common Core ELA standards. We can easily discuss character traits, story elements, theme, and point of view with this novel. By having a class set, my students can go back and find evidence from the text to support their answers, which is a required skill in 4th grade.
This book has such a positive message and well-developed characters that my students will fall in Love with Ivan, Stella and Ruby!
This book is guaranteed to open discussions about ethical treatment of animals!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Vedros and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.