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Author Studies A great way to get your students excited about reading is to study various authors throughout the school year! Here are some fun ways to incorporate author studies in your classroom!
Some of my favorite authors to study include:
I love to study Kevin Henkes at the beginning of the year because of his books Chrysanthemum and Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse. Chrysanthemum is a wonderful story that helps students focus on names. Have each child research his or her name and find out why it is just perfect for him or her! Have each student graph his or her name on an 11 X 17 size alphabet graph. Don't forget to check out this author's website for ideas to include in your centers! There are dot to dot activities, coloring pages, and wonderful recipes that come from the stories. Enlist some parents to help with cooking and host a classroom celebration for this fun author. At the end of our unit, students help create a graph showing our favorite Kevin Henkes' books. Visit my Kevin Henkes page to see my curriculum unit!
This a great author to study in November and carry into December. Some of my favorite titles include: The Legend of the Bluebonnet The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush The Popcorn Book Jingle the Clown The Legend of the Poinsettia Tomie has also written and illustrated a wide variety of books based on Christian themes. Need some more ideas? Visit the Tomie de Paola: Teacher Resource File.
Robert Munsch is a hilarious author. He has a wonderful website and writes back to students who write to him. He sent us an unpublished story this year and changed some of the characters' names to names of some of the children in our class!!! This was so exciting for the children. Some of our favorite titles are: Alligator Baby Pigs Stephanie's Ponytail Get some lesson plan ideas from Ponton's Pond.
Jan Brett is a beautiful illustrator and author. She has a wonderful website filled with all kinds of beautiful downloads and printables. Kick off your study of Jan Brett by reading The Gingerbread Baby in December. Her stories, The Hat and The Mitten, are wonderful for comparing and contrasting during the cold winter month of January! Create a class book with the hat and invite the students to think of a different animal that found the stocking and what he or she used it for. Use a large duvet cover as a "pretend" mitten and allow students to act out the story by crawling inside your giant mitten.
No author study would be complete without the infamous Dr. Seuss! He is a great author to study either in February or March because his birthday is March 2. So, you can choose to begin or end your study with a Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast! Create a graph about whether or not students liked green eggs and ham. Throughout the month, I invite parents to come and share their favorite Seuss story with the class. Incorporate science into your study by making your own oobleck.
Robert McCloskey Children love the two color illustrations of this Caldecott winning author and illustrator. We spend one week reading Make Way For Ducklings. During our study, students learn about ducks and their habitats. Other great titles include: One Morning in Maine Blueberries for Sal
Every first grader should be exposed to the wonderful world of Amelia Bedelia. This famous series is perfect for teaching reading and learning about character analysis. We enjoyed writing stories about what might happen if Amelia Bedelia came to clean our houses!
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Examine
a different author each month! Display biographical information about
him or her on a special bulletin board in your library center.
Check out books from the library written by the author for your center.
