Last spring, one of my fifth-graders, Heavenly, spent all of recess sitting under a tree finishing the final chapters of Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s One for the Murphys. Strolling around the playground, I gave Heavenly a wide berth when I walked near her reading spot. I knew where Heavenly was in the story and I didn’t […]
Category Archives: Top Ten Lists
February
21
Top Ten Book Boyfriends by Karin Perry
posted by CBethM
I was lucky enough to be a part of the Nerdy Book Club presentation at NCTE last November. What a fun group of people to work with. You can go back in the archives and find the post recapping the presentation on the blog. My part of the presentation was to talk about the Saturday […]
February
14
Top 10 Reasons to Participate in March Book Madness by Tony Keefer
posted by CBethM
Happy Valentine’s Day Nerdy Nation! When I was awarded the Valentine’s Day post here at Nerdy, I instantly began building a list of my all time favorite kissy books. When I was awarded the Valentine’s Day post here at Nerdy I started thinking about love and books, books and love. And since nothing says love […]
February
07
Ten Books for Fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Gigi McAllister
posted by CBethM
Recently our district held parent-teacher conferences. Happily, several parents shared their excitement with how much their child was enjoying reading this year. One parent expressed some concern because her son only seemed to want to read and reread the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Middle graders love the Wimpy Kid series […]
Top Ten Things I’ve Learned From Kids About Writing a Book by Augusta Scattergood
posted by CBethM
One of the best things about discovering a second career as an author after many years as a librarian? Having the great good fortune to be in classrooms again. How many times during the years I spent writing and trying to get my first book published did I wish for wisdom from the mouths of […]
January
31
TOP TEN READ-ALOUD BOOKS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS by Aimee Owens
posted by CBethM
Special needs students can be a tough crowd during read-aloud time. If the book doesn’t hold their interest, you can find yourself reading to…yourself. Sometimes you look up from the book you’re reading and see eyes on anything BUT what you are reading. I think a lot of special education teachers abandon read-alouds because they […]
January
24
Ten Mystery Series That My Students Love by Amy Brown
posted by CBethM
Many of my students love reading mysteries. As we all know, some students love to read series and if they can find a series with a large number of books it keeps them reading. The following list includes some of my students’ favorite mysteries. This list does not include every mystery series that my students […]
January
17
Ten Texts to Get Kids Talking by Emily Rietz
posted by CBethM
Middle school students are in what some consider to be the armpit of human development – necessary, yes, but you don’t necessarily want to spend time there; it’s sticky, awkward, and sometimes smelly. Their hormones are going crazy, they are hyper-concerned about how others perceive them, and they are often reluctant to risk in classes. […]
January
11
A First-Grade Class’s Top Ten Books – Mirrors and Windows of Life, Learning, and Action by Andrea Greene
posted by CBethM
Teaching children how to read well is one of the absolute highlights of being a first-grade teacher. Encouraging an insatiable desire to devour books is another of my primary aims. Reading aloud books that are mirrors into children’s lives or windows into the lives of others helps me accomplish both goals. This is a compilation […]
January
10
Ten Books to Use to Talk About World Peace (and not just with children) by Susan Hansen
posted by CBethM
Peace is not just the absence of war. For real peace to happen everywhere in this world, we need to work on the way we see each other and the way we think about each other and get rid of what is causing us to start fighting in the first place. Here are ten books […]
