Trade Book Tuesday: Shelia Rae, the Brave {and FREEBIE}

Happy Tuesday, friends! :) I am quickly becoming obsessed with falling in love with my weekly feature! I went through my books at school the other day to scan through all that I had for this week's post. However, I became very over whelmed with all of the books and post ideas that popped in my head. Needless to say, I don't think I will ever run out of ideas for this feature...WOOHOO!!

With that being said, I'm really excited to introduce you to my second favorite children's author, Kevin Henkes. His precious little books are great reads for all ages and the under lying themes of each book are perfect conversation starters about real kid issues.

I use Kevin's books all throughout the school year for many different skills. My top three favorites are:
1) Chrysanthemum
2) Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
3) Shelia Rae, the Brave

Click on the picture above to purchase this book from Amazon! 

This week, I'm gonna tell you all about sweet little Shelia Rae.


TITLE: Shelia Rae, the Brave
AUTHOR: Kevin Henkes
GENRE: Fiction
SKILLS THAT COULD BE TAUGHT USING THIS BOOK: Theme, Asking Questions, Making Connections, Point of View (Perspective)


In lots of ways, we have a little Shelia Rae in all us. Many times, we like to act brave, like we got it all together, until we are caught off guard. (Anyone ever experienced anything like this....say, the first day of school?!?! haha) Shelia Rae is that child that is never scared of anything and wants everyone  to know how brave and risky she really is. However, one day Shelia Rae gets caught off caught and has a moment where her bravery is almost nonexistent for a while.

This book is a precious book to talk about how it's okay not to always be brave, and learning to depend on others when you feel scared and don't know what to do.

Yesterday was my first day back with my little darlins' for the school year, and right after our Morning Meeting, I read them this book. We created an anchor chart and talked about Shelia Rae and her feelings and what it really meant to be brave. We talked about how they (as in the students) felt like they had to be brave coming into third grade (which for our kiddos is a HUGE step because they come from a K-2 school that feeds into our school, a total different building with 3-5 kids). We talked about what it means to be a good friend when a friend of ours isn't always so brave, how to help each other, and what it means to be brave for the other person.

I told the kids how I was nervous about the first day of school and how my teaching partners helped me to be brave because we leaned on each other for support.

After our looooooooooong conversation and completing our anchor chart, the kids went back to their desks and worked on the graphic organizer below while the rest of the class took turns turning in their school supplies. You can click on the picture to download a FREE copy of this graphic organizer from Google Documents.

Click on the picture to download your free copy of the activity to go along with the story!

I hope you enjoy this sweet little book with your kiddos as much as I do. And don't forget, if you ever start to feel nervous and not so brave anymore, lean on a friend (or go eat a piece of chocolate...that works too!).

Until then,