Summer Book Stash Blog Hop - Character Traits

I am joining up with Minute Mom on Wednesdays for a blog hop about the books I stash away for read alouds! This week we are talking about books that we usually read in the beginning weeks of school – character education/I am special books. These books are a great place to start right out of the gate, because you want to set the right tone for your classroom. Now obviously these books aren't only for the first weeks of school, but throughout the year when things need to be revisited. Now these books are just a handful of 100’s of great books out there, they just happen to be some of my faves!

Have you read Odd Velvet, by Mary E. Whitecomb? It’s a book about this quirky girl, who doesn’t mind being the odd-man out. She brings “different” things to school for show and tell, lunch, and presents for her teacher. The other kids are nice to her, but at the same time very skeptical of her. Velvet has a birthday party, and invites the class to come. They are all hesitant at first, but at the same time curious about what her house is like. So they go to the party and have a great time. Over the course of the school year Velvet grows on them, and they realize she isn’t odd at all, but just a little different. I love the illustrations in this book because they are so colorful! 

This book leads into a great opportunity to talk about how each child is an individual, and how we can celebrate each other’s differences. I am attaching a FREEBIE to go along with it! Click the picture below to pick it up!

Have you had liars in your classroom? Or at home for that matter! I have an almost 6 year old who lies about the most ridiculous stuff! You can bet we will be reading this next book before it goes back to school! Lying Up a Storm, by: Julia Cook is a story about a little boy and his "itty-bitty lies". He talks about how he doesn't tell big lies, but just small insignificant ones. The kids at school pick up on how he tells small lies about everything, and nickname his "Le-Lie". His mom sits down with him and talks to him about how clouds gather to storm when he lies, and with each lie the storm gets bigger. He goes back to school the next day and instead of lying tells the truth and feels great about it! The rhyming makes for an easy read, and the pictures are nicely done as well.

Oh tattling...how I loathe thee! At school or at home, it follows me everywhere! It

is hard sometimes for kids to understand the difference between tattling and reporting/ warning someone. I think that sometimes a lot of it boils down to simply attention, and they don't know how to get it appropriately. In comes one of my next faves - A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue, by: Julia Cook. Do you see an author theme brewing?! She writes great books for hard life problems.
The boy in the story tattles on everyone for EVERYTHING! No one wants to be around him. Then in rides the Tattle Prince, who gives him the rules to tattling vs. reporting/warning someone. When he tattles, his tongue turns yellow with purple spots and grows longer. He learns and uses the tattle rules and all is right in the world (obviously with some happenings in between!) The tattle line is catchy and my kids always love saying it with me. Afterwards we make an anchor chart with the rules and I use the freebie from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera!  (click her blog title to go to the post!)

I'm sure we all have someone whom we didn't like till we actually got to know them! Enemy Pie, by: Derek Munson, is a great example of that. The story is about a young boy who doesn't like Jeremy Ross, another boy in the neighborhood. He seeks his dads help, so dad makes him a pie, and calls it "enemy pie". He won't tell him what is in it, and then gives him stipulations on it. The main character has to play with Jeremy all day before they can have pie. After spending the day with Jeremy he realizes that he isn't so bad after all. He goes to feed the pie to him, but doesn't want to because he likes him now, but there is nothing wrong with the pie! Dad knew that if he got to know him, he would like him. A great activity you could do with this is to have kids write the ingredients to the recipe for a good friend. Another one is there are a few ideas on Pinterest about friendship salad.

I have enjoyed sharing a few of my favorite character education books with you! Please share your faves in the comments below.

Now hop on over to Kelsey at Whole Hearted Teaching for another great list of books! Click that logo below!

Hop hosted by Minute Mommy

Happy reading!
~Kari

An InLinkz Link-up