Beginning of the Year Book Study for Upper Elementary: Cinderella Fairy Tales

One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of the year with my fourth graders is a book study on Cinderella. I have collected numerous read aloud books that follow the plot line of and were inspired by Cinderella. The students love this unit in my classroom and I use it to work on a vast array of skills. The best effect from doing this unit is to get students talking to set the tone for student-led discussion at the beginning of the year.

The skills that I like to highlight in this unit are:
-compare and contrast- this skill is obviously the primary skill in exposing students to such similar stories. I have done this two ways with venn diagrams: comparing the first two books read or having students compare and contrast their two favorite books. I think you'll find, though, that comparing and contrasting is a skill you can sprinkle throughout your interactive read aloud and it will drive student-led discussions.

-predictions- once students understand the Cinderella plot line, they can start making some great predictions and justifying their predictions with evidence from another text!

-plot- Repeating the same plot over and over again helps students internalize the standard plot structure.

-context clues- I love that a lot of the books I have found take place in different settings all around the world. A lot of the books I chose give the students a little taste of a different culture with some language or dialect from that region or country. Students can use their context clues to figure out what some of these new words mean!

-character traits- Since the characters are similar, give or take, in each story, I make a point to also put an emphasis on character traits. It's a great opportunity, again, to make sure that students are justifying their claims with evidence during discussions. I love using this Character Trait chart from Workshop Classroom's tpt shop. I actually have the blank one printed out as a poster that I constantly reference throughout the year. For start of the year purposes, I show the students the filled in chart.

When students are more comfortable with a story, I've found that the discussions are quite impressive. So that is why I always start my year with this unit.

I read one book a day. I am lucky to have a generous 30 minute block that can be used to incorporate an interactive read aloud at the start of each day. If you don't have that luxury, you could use these folk tales in an extended unit.

Use this list as a guideline! There are so many other Cinderella-inspired stories out there that I'm sure are wonderful. If you have any that I haven't mentioned, please let me know about them!

The book I always start with is a classic Cinderella story. The book I use for this is,,,

 "Cinderella" by Sarah L. Thomson.

This is the story heavily inspired by Charles Perrault, who many of us think of as the classic Cinderella story with the glass slippers. I am always surprised at how few of my students have seen the Disney movie so this is an essential starting point. 

After I read the classic story, there is no necessary order that I read the following books in.

Yeh-Shen by Ai-Ling Louie

The Chinese version of Cinderella is actually the original story. This tale is a reproduction of the Chinese manuscript that dates back to the 5th century, one thousand years before the story first surfaced in Europe. Starting with this story instead of the Charles Perrault version is a great option!

Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo

I am especially drawn to this book because it breaks down typical gender roles of a Cinderella story. The main character is a young male!

Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin

This tale is based on Algonquin folklore, so it lends itself well to tying in or briefly introducing any Native American content you teach. As a Virginia teacher, this book is especially remarkable since we specifically teach about the Algonquin tribe.

Smoky Mountain Rose by Alan Schroeder

I think this is the most fun book to read and at the end of the year my students often ask for me to read it a few more times! I like to read this story with a bit of a twang as that is how the book is written- in the regional dialect. As a Virginia teacher, the fact that this story takes place in the Appalachian Mountains is a bonus that leads to a geography tie-in! So any Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky or West Virginia teachers... take note!

Cinder-Elly by Frances Minters

Cinder-Elly is a student favorite because it's written in a rap! This hip-hop Cinderella story that takes place in a modern urban setting. My students are able to identify with the main character in this story best because her story takes place in the current times. I find that character traits integrate well with this book.

The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

My family is Persian so I love incorporating this story into my Cinderella unit. I also have trouble finding stories that depict middle eastern characters (or just non-Caucasian characters in general) so this book is relevant and influential. Shirley Climo is also a favorite author of mine in the folklore genre as you can tell since her books are on this list multiple times.

Adelita by Tomie dePoala

As teachers, we all know that Tomie dePaola's books make great read alouds and Adelita is no exception. This is a Mexican Cinderella story. My students are heavily hispanic so it's fun to have them explain what some of the words in this book mean as dePaola incorporates a ton of spanish words (don't worry, there is a glossary in the back and all meanings are easily decipherable). If your students don't speak spanish, this book is great to incorporate those context clues!

Here are some other titles that would work for this unit, but I have yet to have any experience with! If anyone has recommendations for these, please let me know! I love adding to my collection for this unit and keeping a few Cinderella-insired stories in my classroom library for interested students to read throughout the year. As you can see, there are so many different options from a variety of cultures for you to choose from.

  

    

Favorite Fourth Grade Read Aloud Book!

I ordered "The Day the Crayons Quit" from Scholastic Book Order after hearing so many teachers and parents rave about it. I was unsure about how it would go over with the upper elementary crowd but decided it would be a fun read aloud on our first day back to school after winter break.

Oh man, I have never had so many laughs at a read loud. My fourth graders LOVED it. They wanted to see it afterwards to read it over and over again!

It's a story about a little boy's box of crayons who write letters to him one day expressing their outrage toward him in some way or  another. Some crayons are upset that he uses them too much, some crayons are upset that he uses them too little. The author, Drew Daywalt, is incredibly humorous.

This book is a perfect model for letter-writing or personification! After we finished the read aloud, I asked my students to pick a school supply in their desks and write a letter to themselves from the perspective of that school supply. They had a blast with this activity because it really let their imaginations soar!

If you'd like to purchase the book for your classroom or your own children, I can't recommend that you do so enough! I even read it aloud to my coworkers because it was so funny! Find it on amazon here: 

My purchases in the BTS sale!

 I am so excited about my haul in this year's BTS sale! The sale isn't over yet, so I wanted to share my finds so that you still have enough time to snag these resources on sale if you'd like!

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Powerpoint Template- This is completely editable and I can use it to review all sorts of content in my classroom on my SMART Board. I use review games a LOT in my class so I'm super excited about this find from Best Teacher Resources. She has a ton of other Powerpoint review TV games that I wishlisted for the future (modeled after Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Jeopardy or Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader) as well as other review games like Connect 4.

I need help! Number Cards- I can already tell that these are going to be a life saver in my class! Usually when I'm doing guided reading or writing conferences, I have students that need help but I can't get to them because I'm busy. With this new product, I can have the students grab a numbered card and call them over in order when I have a free moment. This way the students can get back to work quickly and I can minimize interruption time. So glad I found this!

Kid Team Signs- These signs are from the wonderful Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics and I've been eyeing them up ever since she posted her Monday Made It last week. She added them to her store this week! They are just SO cute. I plan on printing two of each sign, gluing them together back to back, laminating and then hanging them from the ceiling on a string over each table in my classroom. 

Mystery Walker Tool Kit- This tool kit from Leslie's Locker has been on my wish list all summer. I was intrigued when I saw the title of this product, but I was sold when I read the first sentence of the product description: "Looking for a way to help keep your students quiet and well behaved in the hallways?" Um yes!!! So every day the students will know the teacher has their eye on a "mystery walker" of the day, but the students don't know who it is so they all have to be on their best behavior in the hallway because if it was them all day AND they were a model citizen in the hallways, they get a happy note home! I think this is a super cute idea and I know that my kids always like when random names are pulled... plus the mystery all day just makes this a winning system that I can't wait to implement!

Line Up Buddies- This product is a great classroom management tool from Michelle at Apples and ABCs! I always stagger my students lining up (usually by colors they're wearing or by birthday months) but sometimes it's hard to me to keep track of what I've already called and I struggle coming up with new ideas so this tool is great! You pull a stick out of the jar (remember how I love pulling random names?!) and it will say something like "If your name starts with ____" and the teacher fills in the blank. Easy, fun, printable, done. You can read more about this product at Michelle's blog post about the resource {here}.

Bulletin Board Banners- These little pendants from popular TPT store SunnyDays have been sitting on my wishlist for a while and I am so happy to have finally purchased them! These are themed pendants that can be displayed in your classroom. The product comes with a set of 25 (back to school, summer, field trip, book report). I will print these out and have my students write and color on their pendants and then they will be hung on a hallway wall on a string. Cute, quick and easy! I think parents will love finding their child's little banner at Back to School Night!!!

Nautical Name Plates- I love anchors. Ok, I'm borderline obsessed with them. But how cute are these name tags from Style and Paste?! I love buying digital name tags because you pay a small fee ONCE and then reprint them every year, rather than paying like $5 for a pack of 20. Brilliant. Adorable. Sold. Happy teacher.

Measurement Facts and Conversions SMART Board Pack- These are cute and colorful, but they're also jam-packed with content, which is to be expected since they are from the incredibly amazing FlapJack Educational Resources. I teach in a non-common core state but these SMART Board lessons align perfectly to our measurement standards in Virginia as well. Included in this pack are lessons on capacity, metric length, time, customary length and weight. Seriously these SMART Boards are so good I almost feel like I'm cheating as a teacher by buying them. But I'm ok with that!

Owl Poke Multiplication Cards- I also purchased this from FlapJack Educational Resources mainly because owls. But really because they're self-checking! You can see a video about how to set these cards up and use them {here}. I can set up a center or have this as a fast finisher activity and the students can be whizzing through these cards getting immediate feedback while I can be helping another group of students. Score!

Sooooo clearly I went a little overboard and unfortunately for my bank account, I can keep shopping today! Hope everyone is having a great time taking advantage of the sales!

Monday Made It - Teacher Toolbox

My first day with the kiddos is tomorrow! I've had the last two weeks to prepare: get my classroom ready, plan and attend quite a few professional development trainings. It's my third year teaching fourth grade this year and I'm so happy to have the experience that I have. I remember being so nervous before my first day of school my first year. I'm not nervous this year. I'm a little anxious with all the wonderings about my new class, but I'm mostly excited to start a new year.

One of my main goals this year is organization. I'm the team leader, which means I need to be organized to help the rest of the teachers on my team succeed. So one of the pinterest projects I decided to make this summer was a teacher toolbox.

I've always seen the teacher toolboxes on pinterest but the thought of going to Home Depot was intimidating. Whenever I go to Home Depot, Lowes or any of those giant home improvement stores, I always get lost and feel like I'm finding a needle in a haystack.

HOWEVER, did you know that you can order/reserve a product online through Home Depot or Lowes' websites and then pick it up in about 20 minutes to an hour later at the customer service desk AT NO EXTRA COST! This means no more wandering and it saves a ton of time!! This way you can also be sure that they have exactly what you're looking for in stock at your local store.

Step One: You can order the Stack-On 22-Compartment Storage Cabinet from Home Depot here. It is currently $12.97.

You can order the Stack-On 22-Drawer Storage Cabinet from Lowes here. It is currently $16.47.

I wanted mine to be gray, so I ordered mine from Home Depot. Make sure you check the option for in-store pick up :)

Step Two: Paper. I went to my local craft store to get some cute paper to print out on. I had a chevron vision for my teacher toolbox, so I actually had to buy one of those $20 books of scrapbook paper.

Step Three: Download the teacher toolbox label template from Jessica Warcup's Teachers Pay Teachers store here. This will make your life so much easier!!!

Step Four: Type up the labels you want for your toolbox. Every teacher is different so you can fully customize these labels. I typed mine in the font Howser, from Kevin and Amanda fonts. You can download that font here. It's one of my go-to fonts!

A few recommendations for labels that I have-
- I made a small drawer for a hole punch.  My standard one-hole hole punch did not fit in the small drawer.
-I forgot to make a drawer for pencils. Definitely make a drawer for pencils.
-I made a small drawer for binder clips, but only about 10 fit. It doesn't seem like the most efficient use of a drawer to me, so I might not do that the next time around.
-Leave a few drawers blank, you might think of a better use for the drawer later!

Step Five: Print the labels on your scrapbook paper.

Step Six: Cut out the labels and tape them onto the drawers.

Step Seven: Fill with supplies, show off and enjoy!!!

Choose Your Own Adventure!

I was going through my old chapter books that I had when I was in about fourth grade and I had all these memories coming back to me. It was then that I realized that is what I hope to help my students experience- the love of reading and being immersed into a plot of a great book.

How many of you recognize these from your childhood?!

Oh my gosh I used to love the "Choose Your Own Adventure" Series. I have a few books at home and my local library has a ton.

Now, they don't look all that appealing anymore. I don't know about your kiddos, but mine are obsessed with anything that looks like Diary of a Wimpy Kid lately (Dork Diaries, My Life as a Book, etc.) and these covers look like they're straight out of the 80s (which they are!) But lucky for you, this means that your local library probably has some books that aren't typically being checked out lately.

For those of you who may have forgotten, the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series is a book that allows the reader to determine the plot by making choices and flipping to designated pages to read on in that chosen plot line. For example, in the "Space and Beyond" book, the first decision you get to make is on page two where you have these two options- "If you choose Kenda as your birth planet, turn to page 3." or "If, on the other hand, Croyd attracts you, throw your luck to page 4." Ridiculous, but super entertaining and (I hope) engaging for my class.

So I was determined to use this in my classroom but I couldn't think of any ideas how.

My best idea I've had so far is to use the book to in my persuasive writing unit. This is what I'm thinking-

1. I'll introduce the book and explain how the book is interactive. 

2. Then I'll let the students vote with a hand raise for the option we should take. 

3. We'll read the book for a good chunk of time (whatever is appropriate that day- I'm thinking 10 or 15 minutes with the way my ELA block is set up). 

4. At about that time, I'll wait for a choice where the class is torn almost 50/50 and I'll tell them that it's just too close to call and that they'll have to write me a persuasive paragraph convincing me that their choice is the best decision.

5. Then I'll give them the rubric of requirements for a persuasive paragraph. And then they're off!

I used Heather Matthews' free rubric to create a rubric that best met my needs for this assignment. It was super easy to create and you can create yours too by going to her TPT store HERE.

"Our School is Awesome"

A friend of mine just posted a link to a video on facebook featuring kiddos from a DC school. Take three minutes of your day to watch this rap that the students created and your day will be made!



"Proficiency doesn't happen mysteriously; we take math and reading very seriously; like a dinosaur we study hard core; when we step through the door we get challenged some more!"

I can't get the song out of my head now.. it makes me smile!

I want to show my fourth graders this video tomorrow. I think it's a great way to start the year. I love when teachers include songs and raps in their teaching. It's a little unconventional, but so incredibly powerful.