Read aloud is one of my favorite times in my classroom. My students really enjoy this time as well. I actually use this special read aloud time as part of my classroom management at the end of the day. While I am reading aloud, I will call students to pack up. This saves a lot of time and keeps everyone quiet so they can hear the story. If you want to read more about my end of the day routine, click here!

Reading aloud is such an important part of teaching reading. Students need to listen to fluent readers. This is also a time where you can introduce harder texts. You are decoding the words, so the students don’t have to. All the students are doing is listening for meaning and understanding the story. This way, I can pick more challenging books that they would not be able to read by themselves.

Reading aloud also opens the door for a love of reading. When students aren’t struggling with decoding the words, they can focus on the story and in turn fall in love with reading. My students get hooked on different genres and realize that reading can be fun when I read aloud to them.

Here is a list of some of my favorite read aloud books for upper elementary students.

The City of Ember

This is one of my favorite series for this age group. It follows two friends as they are trying to save their dying city. As the story unfolds, the students start to make observations that this doesn’t sound like a place on “Earth.” These people are actually living underground, but they don’t know any different. It is always fun to see students start to make connections and then predictions on why they are living underground.

This story is a great starting book for the science fiction genre. Most students do not read from this genre, so this is a great introduction. This is personally one of my favorite genres, so I love sharing this with my students.

This book is also part of a series. I usually can read the first two during the school year, but the whole series is fantastic! The first two books are the most closely related and Book 2 is a complete follow up book to Book 1. Book 1 is The City of Ember, Book 2 is The People of Sparks, Book 3 is The Diamond of Darkhold, and Book 4 is The Prophet of Yonwood.

This book is also a movie! I show this movie to my students to compare the book to the movie. The movie has a lot of differences from the book, so students love to talk about the differences and which one they preferred more, the book or movie.

The One and Only Ivan

This book is such a sweet read. Students fall in love with the animal characters. The book is centered around a gorilla who lives in a mall and the whole story is told from his point of view. This story is actually inspired by a true story, which the students always love to learn about.

The text is simple and funny. The book is also not very long. I usually read this at the beginning of the year. It is definitely a favorite!

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup

This is such a sweet book on friendship and family. The main character, Rosie, is very funny and the students always laugh at the way she talks. It is also has a strong tie with Rosie’s grandma and cooking, which the students also enjoy. It is a simple and relatable book that students love. The writing is wonderful. This is another book that I like to read at the beginning of the year. It is a great book to talk about friendship and how we treat our friends, which is a great book for the beginning of the year!

Wonder

This is a great book to read to students. The book covers a lot of themes important to students, like friendship, acceptance, kindness, and being your own person. The story is mainly about August, a boy who was born with a facial difference, that kept him from living his life until now. The story switches to the point of view of many of the characters, which is great to talk about the importance of point of view and who is telling the story. This is such a relatable story to children of all ages. It really makes my students consider other people’s feelings and being kind to everyone. This is definitely a favorite among my students!

This book is also a movie that can be showed to compare and contrast the book to the movie.

Because of Winn-Dixie

This is another favorite of all students. Students love reading about Opal and her new dog, Winn-Dixie. This story is focused on family and friendship, as Opal tries to find herself and fit in in a new town. This book is also relatable to the students and my students always love the dog, Winn-Dixie. I feel like this is such a classic book all students should read at least once.

I normally save this book for the end of the year. I like to end the year with a story about making friends, since a lot of students are looking forward to middle school and making new friends in a few years. This book was also made into a movie and I always let my students watch the movie at the end of the year. This is also a great activity to compare the book to the movie.

The Giver

This is one of my favorite books, so I love to share it with my students! Some of the topics are a little advanced for elementary, but I feel like fifth graders are starting to get to the age where they can understand. This book is about Jonas who lives in a community where everyone is the same. He becomes the Receiver of Memory and starts to learn about the diverse world that is hidden from his community. I really enjoy this book and my students enjoy learning about this different world and relating it to the world we live in. This book leads to some great conversations!

The Giver is part of a series of books. Once I read this book, students always want to know what happened after the ending, and the series eventually tells you what happens to Jonas. I normally don’t read the rest of the series to my students, but a lot of students start to read the series themselves to find out! Book 1 is The Giver, Book 2 is Gathering Blue, Book 3 is Messenger, and Book 4 is Son.

I hope this list gives you some ideas of what to read to your students this year! I highly recommend all these books, but I would advise the teacher to read the book before reading to the class, just so you know what to expect and even plan for discussion questions!

Also, don’t forget to check out my end of the day procedures here that includes how I run my read aloud time!

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah