David Adler (1)

This book is such a fun ode to the confusion and enjoyment of elementary school. Based on the true stories of the authors in second and third grade, this book is sure to make the children in my classroom laugh and even relate to/make them feel better about themselves. When Ben takes home the class hamster, he is incredibly worried when he just can't seem to find it. For a few days, he doesn't tell his parents, and wakes up in the night to hear the hamster, but cannot find it. When he enlists the help of his parents, they find the hamster behind a board in the wall that revealed a fireplace that the family never knew was there. The hamster was safe, sound, and a little dirty, and Ben's third grade class will have a laugh knowing the adventure of the hamster in his house. This adventure even gave the hamster a name: Sooty--for all the soot that was found when the hamster was pulled out! Another story features the author Megan, who had borrowed her sister's favorite stuffed animal--Larry Lion--that Megan was so envious of. When the lion is accidentally thrown into a pile of mud and gum, his mane is ruined right before her sister came home. Megan's solution was to put a wig on Larry, and he had a brand new mane that was envious all in itself. There are a few more short stories in this book, but I thought I would touch on two, especially ones that could really happen to my students! By showing them "embarrassing" stories of others before them and the solutions they came up with, students will feel more secure in the fact that everyone makes mistakes and that these mistakes can be fixed. It would be fun for students to write their own personal narratives that may have worried them, embarrassed them, etc. in their personal journals where no one else could read it except for me and their families, because not only could it help them get their feelings out, but it could be a funny memory to look back on when they are older. However, if it embarrasses them too much, we can think of other ways to use this story to show them that they are only human and that everything will be ok. This story is a definite 5/5 as I could read my students a funny story a day at a time, or all at once, and give them some excitement about reading, "The Day I Lost My Class Hamster."… (mehr)

Fractions, Decimals, and Percents is helpful reading material that can discuss this topics in a engaging way. They used a county fair for the illustrations and use different examples to go with that theme. For example, when someone buys cotton candy for .89 cents they say 89 is a part of one dollar. There are 100 cents in one dollar. 89/100 would be the fraction. They would use that same example for decimals and percents. Like, the cotton is 89% of a dollar. The illustrations was really cool. I would show this book to a kid who is not really fond of these topics or needs more visual interaction.… (mehr)