I'm just getting around to compiling my hits for some posts that I did
about a month ago. Here's the hit for my the 2nd grade
fantasy/magic/mysticism/wizardry, etc. theme. Thanks for all of the
help!
http://www.flr.follett.com/
You can register for free to use "Titlewave". You can set certain
parameters such as topic, reading level, fiction/non fiction etc and it
will search for books for you. It's so convenient! You can even place
an order there too! Good luck!
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Secrets of Droon series
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The Magic Tree House series would work with second graders and you get
the added bonus of having "real" events and times for them to research
as they want to know more about the setting of the story.
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I use Whimsical Wishes and other Storybook themes by Maxine Riggers
1-878-279-64-5
Available at amazon.com
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There is a great non-fiction book called "castles" and several other
similar books in which kids can research and draw or design their own
castles for a research activity. They make great Realia for the media
center. Of course there is always the Mickey Mouse stories "Fantasia"
and
"The Sorcer's Apprentice". Please skip any reference Harry Potter.
There
are several great books on this subject maybe this will help you get
going.
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My I suggest my own books?
The Unicorns Secret, published by Aladdin, Simon and Schuster, is a
2-3rd grade series of 8 books, the first seven of which are available
now, the 8th coming in November. They have gotten great reviews, SLJ
and Booklist. The website: http://www.theunicornssecret.com
has the interior art and first chapter excerpts of the first five or
six (I need to update!!) so you can get an idea of the writing style.
There is a literacy subplot as well. I am getting 2-5 fan emails a
day...kids are really responding to the story.
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The Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott is a great beginning chapter book
series (20 so far) that the kids(usually grade 3 and up) seem to love.
Maybe some of the Magic Treehouse Books would be good.
The Boggart would be a fun read aloud.
Good luck!
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The Secret of Droon series by Tony Abbott (published by scholastic)
Written at 2nd grade level. Children find door in basement that leads
to mystical world.
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The Magic Tree House series would be a great one to use by Mary Pope
Osborne. A 2nd grade teacher in our schools always read Enid Blyton's
series to her kids and when they got up to our school (3-5) they
always
asked for them. The Magic Faraway Tree, Folk of the Faraway Tree,
Adventures of the Wishing Chair, etc.
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For second graders, Melisande, by E. Nesbit, is truly wonderful. It's
the
story of a princess whose hair keeps growing and growing and
growing...
It's very funny, and the reissue has beautiful illustrations.
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Books by Edward Eager--Half-Magic, Knight's castle, Seven Day Magic,
etc.
Elizabeth Winthrop--The castle in the attic, The battle for the castle,
etc.
Mary Pope Osborne--The knight at dawn
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Here's what I came up with. Read aloud Castle in the Attic by
Winthrop.
Compare castles to forts, White House, their houses. Learn about and
then
simulate life in a castle.Take off on dragons - eastern, western, good,
bad,
illustrative style, etc. Use Rowlings small books for something, maybe
they
make their own magical dictionaries. Make up their own magic spells.
Read
and compare variants of a particular fairy tale. Fun pic. bks-Good
Night,
Good Knight and Get Well, Good Knight by Shelley Thomas. A wordless
book by
De Paola: The Knight and the Dragon that promotes cooperation.
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I use MARCY HOOPER AND THE GREATEST TREASURE IN THE WORLD (c91) by
Stephanie Tolan with second grade (end of year) as a read aloud. It
deals with a girl's imagination and love of fairy tales including
castles and dragons, but the underlying message is self respect.
Marcy
thinks she can't do anything right and runs away to the hills where
she
finds a cave. As she explores the cave, she is captured by a dragon
but
eventually succeeds in finding her way out of the cave. She has to
throw away her treasure found in the cave but realizes that the
greatest
treasure in the world is believing in yourself. I hope you will find
that this meets your theme.
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There is a new easy chapter book series called Dragon-Slayers' Academy
that
might be fun. Don't forget the 398.2 section for lots of fairy-tales.
And
Tomie DePaolo's got a wordless book about a knight (knight in the
title?) in
which he solves his difference with a dragon by going to the library --
and
learning how to barbecue with dragon fire!
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Do you have access to BookLink's? It is a great magazine with themes
and book
suggestions to supplement them. I have no idea if they have done a
magic/castle/wizard theme but it might be worth checking. If I
remember and if I have
time today I will look in the back copies I have at school. Good luck,
Ruie
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Our summer reading theme this year was "Be a reading wizard" and I
separated
the whole school by sorting them and the challenge was to see which
house will
read the most over the summer. The kids were very excited. Maybe she
could
sort her class and do something similar. A quidditch cup is going to
the house
that wins.
Darcy Maxwell, LMC Director
Emerson Elementary School
2101 Campbell Rd.
La Crosse, WI 54601
(608)789-7990 x1130
dmaxwell@mail.sdlax.k12.wi.us
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