Must-Read Monday Linky: The Stranger

I’m all about a good read aloud. I’ll admit that I don’t get to read aloud to my third graders as much as I’d like to. However, when I get the time, nothing beats all my students being invested and engaged in the same book at the same time. Sometimes I will choose a read aloud book that I think is great and it will fall flat, or only some students will find it interesting. But sometimes, I’ll come across a gem, a book that my entire class LOVES.

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg was this book for us recently. I used this book to help teach questioning. As a class we brainstormed questions before, during, and after reading. We also stopped throughout the book to answer the questions that the students created. They were really into listening to find the answers to the questions they created. They also liked the mystery in the book. Who was this stranger? Where did he come from? I had to explain the ending to most of them, about how the stranger was a Jack Frost/Father Nature type character. Once they figured this out, they loved the book even more. All I heard was “Oooohhhh, that’s why….”. You can’t beat a book that students are still talking about at the end of the day and asking to reread weeks later.

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Hop on over to Teaching Maddeness to read about more great books or link up with your own.