Check out this list of picture books for upper elementary! Use them for interactive read alouds and as mentor texts! Such great picture books for older kids in third, fourth, and fifth grade. #readalouds

Interactive Read Alouds IRAs have many benefits for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to help build reading comprehension and vocabulary.

​You can download the Interactive Read Aloud Start-Up Kit for FREE!

Teachers make your read alouds more interactive & engaging for upper elementary students with these ideas, tips, strategies & book suggestions

Interactive Read Aloud tips and tricks for upper elementary. Ideas to engage young learners with Interactive Read Aloud activities.

******This Product is Part of Bundle TWO****** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Please note that this product does not contain student printables. Interactive Read Alouds are meant to promote student thinking/discussion. Day Five of all read alouds will be an independent writing activity. Please Consider Viewing My Other Interactive Read Alouds: The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Interactive Read Aloud Bundles: Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Grades 3, 4, 5 Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - BUNDLE TWO

I am rounding up all my interactive read aloud tips into one blog post for you! This is a catch-all of the many posts that I have done to share ideas and strategies for making them work in your classroom. What is an Interactive Read Aloud? An Interactive Read Aloud (IRA) is a planned and

In the heart of winter, when the snow blankets the ground and the air chills to the bone, there’s nothing quite like a story to bring warmth to our hearts. For upper elementary educators, this picture book transcends a simple...

This interactive read aloud will be a fantastic addition to your Reader’s Workshop. The book “Miss Turie’s Magic Creatures” is the perfect way to bring some excitement and imagination into your reading class. The fun activities will help students to learn more about mythological creatures, all while developing critical reading skills such as making predictions and learning new vocabulary. What is Included? · Interactive Read Aloud Prompts in two formats- sticky notes and full pages (Prompts include structures such as: Turn and Talk, Stop and Jot, Thumbs Up, Setting a Purpose for Reading, etc.) · Ideas for activities for Before, During and After reading. · Interactive Word Wall Cards · Stop and Jot Activity - Mythological Creatures Log Book · Design your own mythological creature activity Don’t forget to check out my other Read Aloud Products! How to Survive as a Shark Interactive Read Aloud The Wild Robot Interactive Read Aloud Shin-chis-Canoe Interactive Read Aloud Shi-shi-etko Interactive Read Aloud ***************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about Chocolate Covered Classroom Creations!

​You can download the Interactive Read Aloud Start-Up Kit for FREE!

Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. In this product, you are receiving five different five day Interactive Read Alouds. This is 5 weeks worth of Interactive Read Alouds!!!!!! The books for these read alouds are: The Man That Walked Between the Towers Those Shoes The Wretched Stone Thunder Cake Voices in the Park At a Glance Skills: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read excerpt – Plot Development Day Three: Possible Re-read entire text - Theme Day Four: Read Excerpt - Inferencing Day Five: Culminating Activity – Writing Opinion Paragraphs The Wretched Stone Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Look at excerpt – Story structure and Plot Day Three: Read Excerpt – Narrator’s Point of View Day Four: Possible Re-read entire text– Character Changes Day Five: Culminating Activity – Writing Opinion Paragraphs Those Shoes Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read Excerpt: - Point of View/Inferences Day Three: Read Excerpt - Text Evidence/Discussion Day Four: No Text Reading - Theme Day Five: No Text Reading – Writing – Personal Narrative Voices in the Park Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read excerpt – Illustrations and Point of View Day Three: Read excerpt – Illustrations and Point of View Day Four: Read excerpts – Illustrations and Point of View Day Five: Culminating Writing Activity: Narrative or Expository Thunder Cake Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read Excerpt – Elements of Sound Day Three:: Read Entire Text – Repeated Phrase/Inferencing Day Four: No Text Reading – Story Elements Day Five: Culminating Activity – Expository Writing All Interactive Read Alouds include Vocabulary and Mentor Sentences. With the exception of Voices in the Park, there are no student printables with this product. Interactive Read Alouds are meant to be used for modeling and discussion. All My Interactive Read Alouds can be purchased separately by clicking on the links below: Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Those Shoes - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud Other Interactive Read Aloud Bundles: Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - BUNDLE ONE

*****This Product is Part of Bundle TWO**** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Daily Activities at a glance for this Interactive Read Aloud Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read excerpt – Illustrations and Point of View Day Three: Read excerpt – Illustrations and Point of View Day Four: Read excerpts – Illustrations and Point of View Day Five: Culminating Writing Activity: Narrative or Expository This particular Interactive Read Aloud is Point of View based rather than multiple skills. This product also includes an optional student printable for recording the points of view of each narrator in the story. Consider My Other Interactive Read Alouds: Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Interactive Read Aloud Bundles Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Grades 3, 4, 5 Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - BUNDLE TWO Other Products You Might Enjoy: ELA Academic Vocabulary Quiz Quiz Trade - USE ALL YEAR - Assessment Included 5 Minute Grammar Editing for TEST PREP - BUNDLE - Weeks 1 - 8 Text Structures RI 5.5 - Cooperative Groups - Station Cards - Worksheets - Quiz

Are you looking for great literature to introduce to your students in the month of October? You will find some of my favorite October books for upper elementary students. Read on for a summary and why they are my favorites! Happy Haunted Reading! CLICK ON EACH BOOK PICTURE TO

Teachers make your read alouds more interactive & engaging for upper elementary students with these ideas, tips, strategies & book suggestions

Learn how to use interactive read alouds, how to choose a book, & why they are powerful to help students master reading strategies.

The Think Aloud technique is a great way to increase reading comprehension in upper elementary students! Think alouds are particularly powerful because they help teach students how to actively monitor comprehension as part of the reading process. We know that good readers monitor comprehension automatically. But for average readers, struggling readers, and English language learners, […]

Upper Elementary Novel Study Ideas - favorite book suggestions and novel study ideas for upper elementary ELA classrooms.

Teachers make your read alouds more interactive & engaging for upper elementary students with these ideas, tips, strategies & book suggestions

If you're looking for hep practicing punctuation, I share a simple strategy to quickly practice without taking away time from other subjects.

What are interactive read alouds? Tips and tricks for interactive read aloud planning with resources and teaching ideas for elementary.

Looking for fall picture books to read with upper elementary students? Those Darn Squirrels is a must to add to your fall read aloud stack!

***** This Item is Part of a Bundle ****** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Specifics for this Read Aloud: Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Character Traits with Text evidence and Elaboration Day Three: Read entire text - Conflict and Resolution/Series of Events Day Four: -Theme Day Five: Culminating Writing Task – Compare OR Contrast paragraph Consider purchasing an Interactive Read Aloud Bundle: Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Bundle ONE - Five Read Alouds Check out my other Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Other Resources You Might Enjoy: Poetry Elements BUNDLE -- Figurative Language and Sound Elements Shiloh - Complete Novel Vocabulary BUNDLE Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary

******This Product is Part of Bundle TWO***** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Please note that this product does not contain student printables. Interactive Read Alouds are meant to promote student thinking/discussion. Day Five of all read alouds will be an independent writing activity. The Wretched Stone - At a Glance: Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Look at excerpt – Story structure and Plot Day Three: Read Excerpt – Narrator’s Point of View Day Four: Possible Re-read entire text– Character Changes Day Five: Culminating Activity – Writing Opinion Paragraphs Other Interactive Read Alouds in my Store: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Best Value -- A BUNDLE!!!! Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Grades 3, 4, 5 Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - BUNDLE TWO

What are interactive read alouds? Tips and tricks for interactive read aloud planning with resources and teaching ideas for elementary.

Spring picture books for upper elementary students with activities to engage all readers! Includes free spring activities for 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders

*******This Product is Part of Bundle TWO******* Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. It is meant to engage your students in thoughtful discussions about text. There are no student printables with this resource. Those Shoes Interactive Read Aloud At a Glance: Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read Excerpt: - Point of View/Inferences Day Three: Read Excerpt - Text Evidence/Discussion Day Four: No Text Reading - Theme Day Five: No Text Reading – Writing – Personal Narrative If you need more Interactive Read Alouds, consider the ones in my store below: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary BEST VALUE - A BUNDLE Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Grades 3, 4, 5 Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - BUNDLE TWO

Teaching a narrative nonfiction unit in the upper elementary grades is so engaging with mentor texts and paired passages!

While it would be ideal for everyone to get along and be friends, this is just not the case. However, students must realize that everyone deserves respect. In other words, students must recognize that they always need to treat others the way they want people to treat them. This Golden Rule is the perfect way

Unleashing the power of context clues empowers students to unlock the meaning of words as they read!

Want to make a read aloud lesson interactive but aren't sure how? Use these easy to implement steps to get going and watch your students' comprehension levels sky rocket! What Is An Interactive Read Aloud? The interactive read aloud strategy is a whole group lesson where the teacher will read a preselected text that is at least 2-3 grade levels above the students' current grade level. The teacher will pause throughout the book for conversation and discussion. The students will talk to each other, think to themselves, respond orally and in a journal. Students will actively process the meaning of the text through this type of engaging reading lesson. Check out this short interactive read aloud video from Fountas & Pinnell showing a few lessons in progress. If you want to read my post with a little more information on how exactly I teach a read aloud throughout the week or why read alouds are so important then check out my post "Interactive Read Alouds....What are they, how to use them, and why they are so important" I go more in detail in that blog post about the read aloud culminating activities I do at the end of the week. Interactive Read Aloud Book Selection As mentioned above when you choose an interactive read aloud book, it needs to be about 2-3 grade levels above the students' current grade. You will want to pick a book that is a good fit for the standard you are covering that week. You will be integrating several other standards as review, but you will want one main standard to focus on. It's very easy to search for books that are good for particular standards. Make sure you choose one that you enjoy yourself. That will definitely make a difference in how your students respond to it. Plus, you will be using the book all week so it needs to be something engaging. Interactive Read Aloud Vocabulary The next step in planning an interactive read aloud lesson is to choose about 3-5 rich vocabulary words. These need to be words that students must know to understand the book. I usually make up hand gestures that go along with the word to help my students remember them. For example for feast we pretend like we are eating or for curious we tap our head with our finger like we are thinking. Anytime the students hear the word in the book we do the gesture to reinforce its meaning. I also make sure the vocabulary words are up on an anchor chart. This step will be discussed more below. Setting a Purpose for the Read Aloud This part is actually two steps. Once you have a great text selected, decide on an essential question. This gives the students something to focus on to understand the meaning of the book. I tell my students they should all be able to answer the essential question by the end of the week. I usually tend to think of the moral or lesson of the story and base my question around that. The essential question will also go on your anchor chart. During this part you will also want to come up with several rich questions to ask throughout the book. Students will either answer you by turning and talking with a partner, using private think time to answer individually or writing their answer in their notebook or journal. The read aloud questions you use need to align to the standards. The majority of the questions should align to the main standard for the week, but you should also sprinkle other standard questions throughout. I like to use standards we have already covered as well as new ones just as a mini introduction. *Tip* Mark the pages you will be stopping to ask questions. A great way to do this is by writing the question on a sticky note and placing it on that page. Save the sticky notes and you'll have them next year! Read Aloud Anchor Chart I use an anchor chart for each read aloud we do. At the top I list the essential question. I also have the vocabulary words on the chart as well as the main standard for the week and some questions we can ask in order to understand the standard better. The majority of the chart will hold our learning for the week. I create some type of graphic organizer that goes along with the main standard we are focusing on and we fill in the information that we learn throughout the week. So to sum everything up, here are the steps to plan an engaging interactive read aloud: 1. Select a book 2. Choose vocabulary words 3. Write an essential question 4. Come up with standard aligned questions 5. Create your anchor chart If this all sounds fantastic to you but you are wondering when in the world you will have the time to create all of this, I have already done all of the work for you for the entire year. Check out the yearly bundle, individual month option, or try the free lesson first to see if you like it! Want to remember this information for later? Just pin the image below! Related Interactive Read Aloud Posts Interactive Read Alouds.....What They Are, How To Use Them & Why They Are So Important! Do You Want Students That Get Excited About Reading Comprehension?

I love reading to my students, but I didn’t always see the benefits. Before I started reading daily to my kiddos, I would read to them maybe once or twice a month. Of course, I was reading stories from the textbook or passages, but no one taught me the benefits of read alouds with a...

What are interactive read alouds? Tips and tricks for interactive read aloud planning with resources and teaching ideas for elementary.

What are interactive read alouds? Tips and tricks for interactive read aloud planning with resources and teaching ideas for elementary.

Are you looking for some new strategies to implement during interactive read-alouds that will create lots of high-level thinking in your classroom? WATCH MY LIVE VIDEO AND LEARN 3 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING WITH INTERACTIVE READ ALOUDS. 3 Interactive Read-Aloud Teaching Strategies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BWTTt09CXw Posted by Out of This World Literacy on Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The power of the read aloud can't be denied. Here are some of my favorite chapter books to read aloud, plus a killer list of teacher recommendations.

Fall Read Aloud Books for Upper Elementary Read More...

Spring Read Alouds for Upper Elementary: Poetry, Earth Day, and End of the Year suggestions students will love!

The Importance of Read Alouds: Reading aloud has many benefits. Here are 15!

Does getting students to read nonfiction feel like pulling teeth sometimes? Not with these books!

Reader's theater is the perfect tool to add to your middle school ELA toolbox for so many reasons: it is interactive, highly engaging, enhances student

Here are ten fall books that match themes of gratitude, seasonal changes, and even a few Holiday themed stories.

******* This product is part of a bundle *********** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Thank you, Mr. Falker Interactive Read Aloud At a Glance: Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read Excerpts – Character Traits Day Three: View Illustrations– Setting/Time Period Day Four: Possible Entire Text Reading –Character Changes Day Five: Culminating Writing Task – Summary ***Note**** This product does not contain printables to hand out to students. It's designed to engage students in deep discussions about text. You are receiving a five day plan plus vocabulary words/sentences. Five Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Grades 3, 4, 5 If you like this Interactive Read Aloud, check out my others: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary

What are interactive read alouds? Tips and tricks for interactive read aloud planning with resources and teaching ideas for elementary.

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate is a novel that your upper elementary students will love! Throughout this Wishtree novel study unit, students will practice a variety of reading comprehension skills and complete a deep inquiry into discrimination. Wishtree is a beautiful novel that is filled with figurative language, important social issues and characters that your students will easily relate to. This is one literature unit that your students will love! What is Included? Graphic Organizers that can be made into a booklet for student reading responses At least one interactive read-aloud prompt for each chapter (Prompts include structures such as: Turn and Talk, Stop and Jot, Think Aloud, Setting a Purpose for Reading, etc.) Ideas for activities before, during and after reading Interactive Word Wall Stop & Jot and Stop & Sketch notebooks Science Extension: Students create a Digital Google Book about the facts they have learned about trees and animals in the book. Social Studies Extension: Students complete an inquiry into the social issue of discrimination Which Reading Skills and Strategies Will Students Practice? Making Predictions Describing Characters and How They Change Visualizing Making Inferences Making Connections Determining Theme Analyzing Point of View Understanding Figurative Language These lessons work fabulously with a Reading Workshop framework or simply as a way to help students delve into a beautiful book that teaches an important lesson about discrimination and tolerance. Note: The novel is NOT included in your purchase. However, it is available on Amazon and at most local libraries. Don’t forget to check out my other Read Aloud Products! Front Desk Interactive Read Aloud The Wild Robot Interactive Read Aloud Fatty Legs Interactive Read Aloud ***************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about Chocolate Covered Classroom Creations! ☺

Election Day is coming up! What a perfect time to start discussing this important event with your students. This can be a tricky topic to address, though, especially in the younger grades. Picture books are the answer! Using books about elections and voting can make the concept much easier for your kids to grasp. I've

Jen Follow me on Facebook Join me on Instagram {@jenbengel5} See what’s new on Pinterest To see more literacy support visit jenbengel.com

Read about six holiday books for your upper elementary students. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas themed books are included!

***** This item is part of a Bundle***** Engage your students with Interactive Read Alouds. Use the same text all week to guide your instruction. You will always have a text to refer back to during the rest of your block. This product is meant to be used for 5 days in a row at the beginning of your Reading block. Day One: Read entire text and make connections. Day Two: Read excerpts – character based questions Day Three: Read entire text (optional) – Plot based questions Day Four: Read excerpt - Theme based questions Day Five: Culminating Writing Task Consider Purchasing a bundle of Interactive Read Alouds: Interactive Read Alouds for Upper Elementary - Bundle ONE - Five Read Alouds If you like this product, you will like: Train to Somewhere - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Wretched Stone - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thank You, Mr. Falker - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary The Man Who Walked Between the Towers - Interactive Read Aloud The Yellow Star - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Fly Away Home ~ Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Voices in the Park - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary Thunder Cake - Interactive Read Aloud for Upper Elementary