Best Read Alouds to Start Third Grade
Looking for books for your third grader? Have a await at these top 3rd grade read aloud books, including affiliate books, picture books and mysteries!
I had the dandy fortune to run across The Nerdy Book Society founders at a dinner for Anne Ursu hosted by Walden Pond Press to celebrate her latest chapter volume, The Existent Male child . (It's wonderful. I put it on my Newbery 2014 Contenders list! And it simply won a Centre Grade Fiction Nerdie).
Colby Abrupt, one of The Nerdy Book Club founders, mentioned that he was teaching tertiary grade this twelvemonth, a move from years spent education 4th grade and I got very excited considering I have a son in third form!
Quickly and not surprisingly, we started talking well-nigh perfect 3rd course read aloud books. And the weird matter is that my son's teacher had read all three perfect 3rd grade books that Colby mentioned! And in that exact order! Cracking minds think alike?!
- Charlotte'south Web by E. B. White
- Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- The One and Merely Ivan by Katherine Applegate
3rd grade read aloud books
And then I asked my son's 3rd grade teacher how she picked her 3rd read aloud books. She said that the other 2 tertiary course teachers team teach with her — our teacher taught 5th class in years past and only this year made the move to tertiary grade — and tell her what books they are reading.
My two daughters each have had these other ii 3rd grade teachers and they are wonderful teachers! (You can't go incorrect in third grade at my elementary school!)
To complete this list of 10 perfect 3rd grade read aloud books either for parents to read at home or for a classroom, I asked my girls what books their teachers read to them in third grade.
My oldest had no recollection but PickyKidPix remembered a few. Their teachers besides mentioned books to me in by years which I am including, trying as best as I can to channel them. (I'll go along to add the 3rd grade read aloud books they cull as the school yr progresses.)
The dazzler of 3rd grade read aloud books is that most kids are just starting to venture into "real" chapter volume and hearing the books allows them to experience books at a college level than what they tin read independently.
It's also a big year for writing. At our elementary school, third graders are subjected to the Long Composition Standardized Exam which takes the better role of the day for them to complete.
Giving them wonderful works of writing to emulate helps them call back about things like setting, voice, character, plot and experiencing sensations through words. Good stuff! Nothing like giving them examples of well-written chapter books for them to model after!
The best part of a perfect read aloud is how mesmerized the children go. And how much they larn to love reading; not as a chore to fill out a reading log merely as a story that they tin can not await to hear the next installment.
Other perfect read aloud books gently teach empathy by letting the reader run across the world from a point of view they would not ordinarily feel.
What books did you love reading with your kids when they were in 3rd grade? I'd dear your ideas and I'll add them to this list. Cheers so much!!
1. Charlotte's Web by Due east. B. White
My son'due south schoolhouse year started off with the wonderful classic Charlotte'south Web.
In an era where schoolhouse's budgets are being slashed and creative arts are first to land on the chopping cake, it'south nice to see that many of the books on this list have themes of a creative talent saving the mean solar day. In this case, it's Charlotte's artistry with web making as well as her knowledge of words!
My son said, " Charlotte'southward Web is about how Fern's hog Wilbur was going to be killed just and so Charlotte (the spider) met Wilbur the day before he was going to be killed and made a program to relieve Wilbur. I liked the book and my favorite character was the Gander goose."
(My son seems to beloved the minor characters as you'll notice in his reviews!)
2. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
If you ask me what my favorite children'due south book in the unabridged earth is, I'll always say this one.
It's a perfect affiliate book in my heed where the whole adds upward to much more than than the sum of the parts. Every character is memorable with a story to tell and somehow all these stories meld together into a satisfying ending with an uplifting message.
My son says, " Because of Winn Dixie was an extremely good book and when nosotros read it, had everybody in the course wrapped inside the book. (non literally). When we watched the motion-picture show, I liked the book a lot better because I got to see my own vision of the story and my favorite graphic symbol was Otis from Gertrude's Pets."
3. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
My oldest's third grade teacher flagged me down two years ago to tell me how much she loved this affiliate book. Information technology and so went on to win the Newbery. She said that what stood out for her was vocalisation. She's right. Ivan the Gorilla's vox draws y'all right in. He'south similar an old soul that you lot can't assist simply befriend.
In some ways, this book reminds me of Charlotte's Web and so I similar the pairing so kids can compare and contrast. Both books circumduct around saving a friend using their artistic abilities!
My son says, "My form is still reading it only information technology is a very good book so far and everybody loves information technology. (I call up). My favorite graphic symbol is Bob, the dog, because he was so energetic and funny."
4. Wonder by R. J. Palacio
What's not to dear about Wonder ? The theme of Choose Kindness resonates throughout the volume. I really think it makes the reader into a kinder person just through the human action of experiencing the story. It also is a great example of telling a story from dissimilar points of view.
And every kid tin chronicle to being a new kid and trying to fit in. Merely afterwards reading Wonder , kids will realize that they tin choose to be Summertime, who doesn't need to be coerced to be kind, or Jack, who will stand upward for his friend even if information technology costs him his friends, or Julian, a bang-up.
My son says, "We are not reading it at school. We are reading it at dwelling house but information technology is one of the best books I've read. I am surprised it hasn't won a Newbery honour considering information technology's and so skillful. At some parts, it is sad but overall it is a REALLY GOOD BOOK." (Yeah, he typed those caps himself.)
We met author R. J. Palacio at a book club effect for Understanding Our Differences.
v. The BFG past Roald Dahl
PickyKidPix'south tertiary grade class had a love affair with Roald Dahl all year long. Information technology's funny but they didn't choose Charlie and the Chocolate Mill or James and the Giant Peach . PickyKidPix said that it was because they knew the story from movies so the volume was ruined for them.
Instead, nearly every child in her class read The BFG or Matilda . I judge the picture Matilda was less popular!
We amassed a large Roald Dahl collection that year and PickyKidPix said that her favorites are George's Marvelous Medicine , The Twits , and Esio Tro t .
Information technology was my plough to parent volunteer to read to her course so I read them a chapter of my favorite Roald Dahl volume, Danny The Champion of the World. It has a wonderful tie-in to The BFG which really delighted them.
The BFG is the perfect Dahl book to start with. Information technology'due south classic Dahl but non as scary every bit some (like The Witches which we weren't able to get by the first chapter.)
PickyKidPix even brought Dahl's Revolting Recipes home from the school library and she and her friend Helena spent an afternoon delightedly making really icky concoctions.
six. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Grasshopper and Sensei's third grade teacher recommended this piece of cake chapter book to me for her and I concluded up using information technology for her book club. Her teacher said that daughter bullying tends to rear its ugly head in third class and this book centers around the office of bystanders in bullying.
It's a truthful story of what happened to Eleanor Estes when she was a child. In some ways, it'southward Estes way of a "do over." She didn't act at the time the style she wanted to and it haunted her so she wrote this volume when she was older.
Wonder is another "exercise over" story in which writer R J Palacio was so upset by her reaction to a little girl with Treacher-Collins Syndrome at an water ice cream store that she started writing her volume that night on a post-it note.
The beauty of "practice over" stories is that they are so visceral that they practice, in fact, permit the reader feel a situation with fourth dimension to process how they would react if it ever happened to them in real life. Nosotros get the consequence of a "do over" the commencement fourth dimension.
As I read this book with my daughter, I got that deja vu feeling and realized that I had read a long time agone too! It'due south a classic that continues to guide and teach!
7. Thank You lot, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
Grasshopper and Sensei's fifth grade instructor used this advanced movie volume as a read aloud and all my daughter'southward friends raved about it. It works equally well for third grade. Polacco's shares her own dyslexia story in this picture book.
Polacco says:
THIS STORY IS TRULY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. IT IS ABOUT MY Ain STRUGGLE WITH Not Existence ABLE TO READ.
THIS STORY HONORS THE TEACHER THAT TOOK Time TO SEE A CHILD THAT WAS DROWNING AND NEEDED Aid. I AM A DYSLEXIC, DISNUMERIC AND DISGRAPHIC. Can You IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS Similar TO TRY AND LEARN Along WITH OTHER STUDENTS WHEN I NEEDED SPECIALIZED Assist…HELP THAT WASN'T Bachelor IN THOSE DAYS. I REMEMBER FEELING Impaired, THAT TERRIBLE FEELING Virtually MYSELF WAS COMPOUNDED By BEING TEASED By A Slap-up. THAT BOY Changed MY LIFE AND Made ME FEEL SO UNSAFE AND So Distressing THAT I DIDN'T Desire TO Become TO School ANYMORE. MR. FALKER, MY HERO, MY Instructor, NOT ONLY STOPPED THIS Boy FROM TEASING ME, BUT HE Also NOTICED THAT I WASN'T READING WELL AND GOT A READING SPECIALIST TO HELP
TO THIS DAY, I REMEMBER THE FIRST DAY THAT WORDS ON A Folio HAD Meaning TO ME…MR. FALKER HAD REACHED INTO THE MOST Lone DARKNESS AND PULLED ME INTO BRIGHT SUNLIGHT AND Sabbatum ME ON A Shooting star. I SHALL NEVER FORGET HIM…Then THIS Volume WAS WRITTEN BOTH TO HONOR MR. FALKER, BUT As well TO WARN Immature PEOPLE THAT MEAN WORDS HAVE A TERRIBLE Power…AND THAT THEY SHOULD DO ALL THAT THEY Tin can TO Come across THAT TEASING STOPS AT THEIR Schoolhouse.
Cheers, MR. FALKER,"
8a. Mystery at the Club Sandwich by Doug Cushman
My son is going to meet Doug Cushman via a Skype author visit this year. His third form teachers accept used Cushman's mystery moving picture books to lead off the mystery writing unit and have requested him! He'll be Skyping in from Paris, France!! (Because at that place is a Paris, Texas!)
PickyKidPix said that these were her two favorite Doug Cushman mysteries that she read in third grade.
8b. The Mystery of the Monkey's Maze (From the Casebook of Seymour Sleuth) past Doug Cushman
ix. The Vii Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Simple Mom had suggested this in a Google + thread led by Doc Scholl. I had always loved this book only wondered and worried if information technology was also quondam-fashioned and slow paced to hold kids' attention. I was thrilled that my kids' friends talked about it and, when questioned, said that they liked it a lot.
It'southward most finding the wonder in everyday life and discovering that the people in your community accept amazing stories and experiences!
Eben'due south farming community that seems so sleepy and boring is a wonder of risk and intrigue when he gets challenged by his father in a bet to notice 7 wonders in his hometown of Sassafras Springs.
My son ended up doing a book project on The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs for rising 4th grade summertime homework.
10. A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
This is i of my favorite chapter books just remains is lesser known than it deserves to be. Though information technology'due south the first book in a series, the rest of the books are not about as practiced as this ane.
Chester is a cricket from Connecticut that winds up in a picnic basket and ends up in New York Urban center's Times Square.
He gets rescued past Mario, whose family runs a failing newsstand inside the Times Square subway station, and makes new friends including a street-smart mouse and a kindly cat (who inexplicably are friends).
Chester and his friends plot to get him home but first they desire to help their friend Mario. Information technology only and so happens that Chester'south extraordinary musical souvenir is the key to both.
My daughter, PickyKidPix, did a really fun book guild on A Cricket in Times Square when she was in third grade.
Perfect 3rd Grade Read Aloud Chapter Book Honorable Mentions
The Mysterious Miss Slade by Dick Rex-Smith
My son said that they read this mystery chapter book for read aloud and he highly recommends information technology. It'due south past the author of Babe: The Gallent Squealer .
Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures past Kate DiCamillo
My son's form too had this 2014 Newbery winner read to them in course. It'due south a wonderful example of strong phonation in writing as well as but a really smashing read. At that place aren't many Newbery winners that piece of work for third form and this would work fine for 2nd grade too.
The final Read Aloud book of the year was in preparation for a field trip to Plimoth Plantation.
Debbie Reese of American Indians in Children's Literature has issues with how the Wampanoags are portrayed and her mail service is here. She would recommend instead Margaret Bruchac's photo essay 1621: A New Wait at Thanksgiving .
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O'Neill Grace and Margaret Bruchac with Plimoth Plantation, photographs by Sisse Brimberg and Cotton wool Coulson
Drawing on the research of scholars and the Wampanoag people themselves, this volume is an endeavour by the Plimoth Plantation museum to reinterpret the people and events of the 1621 harvest feast from the mythology of peaceful settlers inviting Indians over for dinner to a more balanced account of what actually took identify.
Background data includes the Wampanoag's history living for thousands of years in present-mean solar day Massachusetts prior to European settlement.
Historically accurate recipes for Nasaump, a traditional Wampanoag dish, and Stewed Pompion, from the 1672 volume New England Rarities Discovered, are included. [nonfiction pic volume, ages 8 and up]
This would be swell considering their cousin was working at Plimoth Plantation when we visited and that would make for a rich discussion!
Debbie also recommends Guests by Michael Dorris.
Guests by Michael Dorris
Told from the perspective of a young boy, Moss, doesn't understand why his father would invite outsiders to their harvest repast. He is grappling with growing upwardly, impatient to become a man because he is tired of being treated like a boy.
Still, after the cough sickness, he is the merely child who survived in his family. Trouble, a daughter that understands him, has bug at dwelling house equally well.
When they return from an adventure in the woods, they join the strangers at their harvest meal who don't speak their language but still manage to convey bad manners by not bringing gifts and asking for a second commemoration at their location to exist provided by Moss's people.
The stories told that night are incomprehensible to their guests simply the theme is nigh ingratitude. After the repast, Moss wonders about who is he and what the hereafter holds. [middle grade, ages 9 and upwardly]
Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper
My son tells me that they started this chapter book about the Wampanoag Native Americans but will not have fourth dimension to end it before school ends.
Information technology corresponds nicely with their field trip to Plimoth Plantation*, and I LOVE Susan Cooper'due south Dark is Rising series so I'm excited to finish this volume at dwelling this summer with my son.
*Plimoth Plantation: Learning About Native Americans
*Plimoth Plantation: Learning Virtually the Pilgrims
*Plimoth Plantation: Learning near The Mayflower
p.s. A few more lists:
26 Perfect Read Alouds for Kindergarten
19 Perfect Read Alouds for 1st Class
10 Perfect Read Aloud Books for 2nd Grade
10 Perfect Read Alouds for 4th Grade
10 Perfect Read Alouds for 5th Course
23 Great Motion picture Books for 5th Grade
ninety 6th Graders Proper noun Their Favorite Book
My books:
BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN'S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages one-12 is a volume that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the aforementioned marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
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Source: https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2014/01/10-perfect-read-aloud-books-3rd-grade/