I love getting a new holiday-themed book to read for pleasure in December and why would our students be any different? It’s especially exciting when kids get the chance to read a holiday-themed tale about characters from a series they already love. We’ve talked before about how we love reading early chapter books aloud to…
christmas
Top 5 Twelve Days of Christmas Reads
Around here at Second Story Window, there’s not much we love more than Christmas picture books! Today we’re sharing some of our favorite versions of the 12 days of Christmas. Our other Christmas books posts have narrowed our recommendations down to our top 5, but there are just too many good ones for the…
Christmas Consonant Blends
We’re back again with some adorable Christmas literacy centers. This time we’re tackling consonant blends : s blends, l blends, and r blends. These centers are a fun and seasonal compliment to our phonics program. Word Play Phonics for 1st and 2nd grade is a differentiated word study program that incorporates weekly word sorting, chunk spelling, phonics…
Top 5 Nutcracker Themed Reads
I have loved the story of the Nutcracker ever since I was a little girl and Grammy gave me a copy of the book when she came to visit. So let’s start our list there with the story of the Nutcracker. #1 The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet by Deborah Hautzig WW I love this version…
Top 5 Christmas Folktale Reads
#1 The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie DePaola WWW I cry every time I read this. Seriously. This book has a special spirit and the kids feel it too. When I read the last few pages, all the wiggles are stilled and everyone is paying attention. This is a retelling of the Italian legend…