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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Summer Blog Party: Enemy Pie for 3rd Graders

I am so excited for my first link up with the Reading Crew to share some of our favorite books.  This post was really hard to write because I simply love children's books.  I have so many favorites for so many different reasons!  Since the school year will be approaching in about a month and a half, I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my favorite books for the very first day of school.  

How do you usually start the school year off with your students?  Do you spend the first whole day of school introducing rules and procedures?  Well, try something different this year.  Start your first day of school by building your classroom community with a book called Enemy Pie by Derek Munson.

Most students start their school year already knowing who their friends are and who aren't their friends.  Some students even judge those that are brand new to the district before even meeting them. This is where Enemy Pie can be very helpful.

Over the past two years, I have chosen to read this book the very first day of school because it helps me emphasize the importance of friendship within our classroom community.   I feel it's important to build that community where we all respect each other, regardless of what happened previously in second grade.  Enemy pie is about a little boy looking forward to his perfect summer until Jeremy Ross, his number one enemy, moves into the neighborhood. Lucky for him though, his dad has a secret recipe for enemy pie.  Part of dad's recipe, however, is for the little boy to spend an entire day with Jeremy.  As the day progresses, the main character learns that both he and Jeremy share the same traits and interests.  Can you guess how the story ends?

This book teaches a great lesson about relationships and how to overcome a conflict  I love reading this book at the beginning of the school and highly recommend it!  There are also some fun extension activities to go along with it that I have found online.  Plus, you can even find this book read aloud on several different websites!

I have one more thing to share......

This past year was particularly difficult with "friend drama" in my classroom.  So, my counselor and I collaborated and taught a 3 week lesson on bullying using the Weird series by Erin Frankel and Paula Heaphy.  I was able to create some great writing lessons to go along with these books as well!

If you haven't read these books before, you MUST check them out!


These three books are written from three third graders' perspectives.  Weird! is about a girl named Luisa who is being targeted by bullying.  Dare! is about Jayla who shares experiences as a bystander to bullying.  Tough! is about Sam who speaks from the point of view of someone that is initiating the bullying.   By the end of the books, the character eventually learns how to face the challenges with the help of friends, peers, and adults.  The best part about these books is that the students in your classroom can relate to at least one of the characters from the three books. Below is a video of the two authors speaking about the Weird series.



What book do you read on the first day of school?






2 comments:

  1. Too funny...I got all excited to see a new blog link up this week, and I dashed over here. I got excited all over again when I saw it was a literacy blog...even better, and then it all clicked! So, so glad Em added you to our group. I can only image your family get-togethers...two like minded people in the corner talking school the whole time! :-) Welcome to our group, Sarah!

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  2. Great Post!! I have not read any of the books that you mentioned. I will have to try out Enemy Pie to determine if we could use it in first grade.
    Thanks!
    em

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