Books that Build Character

I'm participating again in Deann's picture book linky party at First Grade and Fabulous, although I don't think my Amazon cart can fit anymore books in it!

This past year my class and I would have what they named, "Friendship Circle Time" on Friday afternoons.  During this time I would read a character building picture book and then raise questions for discussion.  My students favorite time was at the end of our discussion, they would move into a circle.  Each student plucked a name stick from my cup and thought of a positive compliment for that class member.  We would go around sharing our compliments and leaving school for the weekend with 'full buckets'! 

I LOVED reading The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss to my class! I used this around Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a great way to talk about equality and fairness.

 

Munro Leaf's Ferdinand is an old classic!  I love to use this story to illustrate how we are each unique individuals and need to be true to ourselves like Ferdiand.

 

 

In Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy's book The Juice Box Bully was a great read aloud for my class at the beginning of the year.  It depicts a school who has taken a stance against bullying by making a promise.  The characters in the story face challenges of standing up to bully. 

 

 

The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens and Susan Crummel was probably my FAVORITE picture book purchase of last year (to be truthful I have A LOT of favorites)! Originally I purchased the book to use for a personification lesson, however the story has a great teamwork aspect! AND there were a lot of fun characters in the story, which means their teacher had a lot of fun voices while reading ;)  

 

Be sure to check out First Grade and Fabulous for other awesome picture book finds!