The Best Way to Teach Reading

I recently had a conversation with a veteran teacher and her comment to me was, "I would rather teach everything with picture books. I think kids learn the most out of them." And I believe she couldn't be more right! Picture books bring so much to the classroom and your instruction. I mean...who doesn't love to read a good book?

There is one skill that we can teach with almost any book...finding main idea or theme. I certainly have some of my favorites for these skills, but you can feel comfortable picking up any picture book, reading it to your class, and having the students determine either the main idea or theme of the story. Some of my favorite books I read each year to help students understand and identify theme are pictured below. Click on any book cover image to purchase a copy of the title.

Some of my strongest reading lessons this year were on point of view. POV really allows you to get student discussion going and engage students in learning a new reading skill. I start the year by reading the original version of The Three Little Pigs. Then, I read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I ask students to debate which side to be on...the pigs' or the wolf's. My class LOVES discussing these books and decided who to support. Another favorite for small group mini lessons on POV is Seven Blind Mice. My students really get into discussing the different perspectives between the mice.

When it comes to comparing and contrasting texts, I love to do some mini lessons around the holidays. I read two different versions of The Gingerbread Man to my students and have them compare the stories. I also add in The Stinky Cheese Man to compare with the original stories. My students LOVE to have me continue reading the entire book of "fairly stupid tales." Check out this favorite picture book by clicking the book cover below.

While I could go on and on about the books I love to read with my class, I have listed just a few more below. The list is organized by teaching skill/topic. If you are interested in purchasing any of these titles, click the images below.