Hoot is a story that focuses on how you treat someone and how others around you are treated. It would be a great book to talk to the class about making a change in society. The activity that I would include would be having the students write a persuasive letter on an important issue. I would use this in 4th or 5th grade.
This book could be used in 1st grade. To work on the difference between nonsense and real words.
Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes is a wonderful children's book. Pete the Cat doesn't worry and shows that you can let things that happen slide right off your shoulder. In this book he steps in different color "puddles" from blueberries to actual mud. The words make a song or chant that children love and will sing along with the reread. We used it in the kindergarten class and had the students paint "shoes" to show that everyone does it differently.
Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington is a sweet and short book. The book is about a boy names Jamie who plants pumpkin seeds and then watches the plant go through the different stages of the lifecycle all the way up to carving and saving seeds for the next year. This book also has a coloring booklet that allows the students to review the pumpkin lifecycle by coloring the different stages. I would use this book in the fall around Halloween in either Kindergarten or First grade.
