Sara's Library

Tuck Everlasting is a chapter book that explores the concepts of immortality, life, and death. These are pretty advanced concepts, so I would save this book for an upper grade. I may even let my advanced readers read this independently, or as a literature circle book. According to Fountas and Pinnell, this book would be leveled as a V Level book. This is because it require critical thinking and harsh themes.

This is a super silly book meant for the younger ones! In my opinion it would be best for 2nd grade. According to Fountas & Pinnell I think it would probably fall in that grade level as well. It's a tall-tale told from the perspective of the grandpa. It's about food falling from the sky. I think this would be a good introduction to learning about weather patterns. We could even branch off of that and go into the water cycle from there. 

This is a fictional story about a teenage boy who is in an airplane crash and gets stranded. All he has to protect him is his hatchet. He must learn to survive on his own. I think this book would be good for children between 4th and 5th grade. According to Fountas and Pinell, it would belong in the R level, which is where most 4th graders should be. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher read it aloud to the class and we understood the plot and vocabulary used.

An activity I would do with my students while reading Hatchet would be to create our own survival packs! What would we need if we were stranded in the woods? What would we eat? Where would we sleep?

Frog and Toad are the best of friends! They are clever, silly, and funny. This is an easy read for younger students. This book is at a first grade reading level in my opinion, but Fountas & Pinnell classify it as a K which is a level second-grade level. 

After reading this book, I think it would be a fun idea to teach students facts about frogs and toads! There are all kinds of crazy facts about amphibians. For instance, did you know, touching frogs or toads won't actually give you warts?! That's just a myth!