Doing my teaching degree, wondering if primary teachers could help me choose children's books

[Nobodyseesme]

I'm wondering if any primary teachers can help me.

I'm studying for my primary teaching degree through the ou, currently working my way through one of my level 2 modules.

Part of my assessment is choosing books, novels and poems for early and older readers to discuss text types, linguistic terminology etc. I need 7 in total.

My problem is I dont have a school placement this year as I just had a baby and my volunteering the previous year took place during writing, art and re lessons, so I am unsure which books and poems are best to discuss for their educational benefits.

It is suggested we ask teachers/ librarians etc for suggestions.

I appreciate any help, advice and suggestions, thankyou so much.

Kit Wright ‘The Magic Box’ is an excellent poem for primary age
Year 3 often do a Roald Dahl- George’s Marvellous Medicine, for example.

Year 6 in my school did War Horse and Goodnight Mr Tom.
Year 5 did Iron Man and Alice in Wonderland.
Any Roald Dahl is always great!

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes has a lot of poetic devices and language. The book version with Charles Keeping illustrations is stunning. I've used this with year 5. Michael Morpurgo was used in every KS2 year group in my last school. Voices in the park by Anthony Browne and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Lane Smith and Jon Scieska are both oldish picture books now but excellent for considering narrative voice and points of view. I loathed The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton but my year 4 class loved it as a text about imaginary worlds.

Stig of the Dump, Charlotte's Web, The Iron Man; all enjoyed by my Y6 classes of mainly EAL children.

For upper KS2, Michael Morpurgo is often good. In Y6 we did War Horse, Alice in Wonderland and Boy in Striped Pjs.

Roald Dahl for lower KS2 is also good.

I’m a bit rusty on poetry, can’t really remember what we did. Maybe do a search online for recommended poetry by year group.

Skellig is a wonderful text for years 5/6.

The Tunnel by Anthony Browne works well for Year 3.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is one of my favourites.

That’s a year 4/5 text.

There are so many wonderful books out there that it's hard to narrow it down to seven! I'd recommend that you don't fall into the trap of discounting picture books for upper KS2 e.g. The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan (there's a short film narrated by Tim Minchin which is superb) or even wordless picture books such as The Arrival (Shaun Tan) or Flotsam (David Wiesner). The Unforgotten Coat is an accessible but hard-hitting book about refugee children and works well alongside Kiss the Dust and Refugee Boy.

Favourite poems I've done with classes include the Jabberwocky and The Night Mail (Auden) as well as using some from Please Mrs Butler for children to use as an initial stimulus to write their own poetry i.e. writing from the perspective of another character or object mentioned in the original poem. I've used Michael Rosen's Feeling Ill for this.

Jim and the beanstalk, Wolves, The bear and the piano, Rosie Revere, engineer, Shackleton's Journey, Beegu and The chicken gave it to me are others I'd recommend. Do remember to include non fiction too!

Wow thankyou all so much for replying, your suggestions are brilliant and so helpful!

@Corneysjazzband and @SE13Mummy thanks so much for the pointers. This is exactly the advice I miss from not having a placement this year.

My texts are:

One picture book for early readers
One picture book for older readers
2 children's poems
One children's novel
2 information books, one for older readers and one for early readers

Can I ask, would information books be non fiction such as the human body for example? Are there any particular ones anyone can recommend?

Thanks for taking the time to post, it's very much appreciated

Shaun Tan is a brilliant picture book for older readers. The Lost Thing is my favourite (year 5).

Have you looked at the CLPE?

Shaun tan isn’t a picture book. God, I need coffee.

I’ll get my coat.

The Supertato series is great for Reception age children. Great links with problem solving, Design technology, Understanding the World, Literacy & PSED.

One picture book for early readers: Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
One picture book for older readers: The Lost Thing, Shaun Tan
2 children's poems: Chocolate cake, Michael Rosen and Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
One children's novel: Wonder

Non-fiction is often referred to as information books. The Usborne See Inside ones are some of my favourites, especially the space and London ones. The Animalia and Maps books are beautiful too but have a look at Shackleton's Journey and see what you think.

Thankyou all so much!

@PurpleDaisies 😂 Dont worry I need coffee at some point every day too!! Can I ask what the CLPE is, I havent come accross it.

@Littlefish thankyou, that is really useful, I'll have a look.

@SE13Mummy that's amazing, thankyou for explaining. All the book and poem suggestions are brilliant! I'm going to look them all up then choose and order them tonight. I've also ordered several of Carol Vorermans help with english and help with grammar books too as another part of the assessment is explaining technical terms with examples in texts. It's hard work but I'm really enjoying it.

clpe.org.uk/

Centre for literacy in primary education.

Loads and loads of books reviewed with teaching sequences etc. Some bits you have to pay for but lots is free.

The Day the Crayons Quit, Tadpole's Promise and Meerkat Mail. Leon and the place between is a fantastic picture book for older children.

Dot or Ish by Peter H Reynolds are both great picture books for KS1 and my year 4's loved The Arrival.

Not a primary teacher, but my kids love 'The Day the Crayons Quit' and my DD read it at school in Reception. She also loved 'The Land of the Neverendings' in Year 3, but I cried about 3 times whilst reading the first 20 pages.