• Shop
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Checkout

Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten

Bright Ideas for Little Learners

  • Home
    • Meet Mrs. Plemons
    • Contact
    • Disclosures
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Baby Bins
    • Colors
    • Shapes
    • Animals
    • Seasonal
  • Tot School
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Year Round
  • Preschool
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Year Round
  • Elementary
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Year Round
  • 0 items0,00 €
Back to School, Books, Elementary

{Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon} and other Books Teachers Love

August 15, 2016


Books Teachers Love is back! We took a break for the summer but, my awesome teacher blogger friends and I have all teamed up to bring you 12 perfect read alouds each month. We will be sharing books for the upcoming month on the 15th so that you have at least 2 weeks after reading to get all your books and ideas together to try out in your room. So here we go with our top picks for September!

Everyone has their favorite back to school read alouds, and so many people use the same books. I didn’t want to pick a book that you likely already have a thousand ideas and activities planned for, so picking a book this month was really tough! I finally decided on Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.
If you haven’t heard of this book, it is absolutely adorable and has a GREAT message so I guarantee you will not be disappointed.  Molly is a quirky little first grader who is full of spunk. Thanks to her grandmother, she is proud to be unique and confident enough to handle any challenges thrown at her.  It’s a perfect intro to talking about a wide range of topics such as getting to know your classmates, bullying, and building confidence.

One way I like to use this book as a get to know you activity is to have students work on a Venn Diagram comparing themselves to Molly Lou and then sharing the ways they are the same and different from her. This is my sneaky way to get students to work on compare/contrast while at the same time fitting in a getting to know you activity. There’s never enough time in the day, so anytime I can combine activities is a bonus.

Another great concept to work on with this book is character traits. Molly Lou is such an interesting little girl so there are definitely LOTS of unique character traits to discuss. Young students don’t often have great vocabulary for the traits they notice in characters yet, so I have them draw and/or write what they are thinking about the character first. For example a student might notice that Molly Lou is not afraid of bullies. We talk about words that we could use to describe that quality such as “confident,” “courageous,” or “brave.” Then we make a character trait anchor chart that we can add to throughout the year. This is great for building vocabulary and comprehension skills at the same time.

Finally, I always like to find a way to incorporate a written response. After reading this book and discussing Molly Lou’s character traits, students write about ways that they can “stand tall” like her, which is a great lead in to bucket fillers and anti-bullying programs as well.

Want to try out these activities? You can grab the printables for FREE here!
And to receive even more reading response FREEBIES sign up here!

FREE Reading Response Pages!


Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

But wait, that’s not all! Each month, the Books Teachers Love Crew is giving away 4 of the books that we blogged about, and YOU get to choose the books you want! So scope out all 12 blog posts below, pick your favorites, and enter to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

by Jessica 
1 Comment

About Jessica

Bright ideas for the little learners ~ Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten is an education blog dedicated to fresh, engaging, and fun teaching ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, and the primary classroom.

View all posts by Jessica

Related Posts

  • Meet the Teacher!
  • Using Skype in the Classroom
  • 12 Amazing Apple Books for Kids {with teaching ideas!}
  • The First Week of School
previous article: 3 Creative Ways to Use Chalk Blocks in Small Groups
next article: Tot School is Back!

Comments

  1. Kelli says: August 15, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    I've read this book every year- sometimes twice a year for the last 4 years because I just love it so much! There's so many great life lessons and character education moments in it (plus, the students and I love the illustrations). Thanks for your awesome graphic organizers as well!!

    Reply

Leave Your Comments Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join the newsletter

Subscribe to get our latest content by email.

We won't send you spam.
Unsubscribe at any time.

Join the FB Group

Archives

Hot Topics

Animals Baby Bins Back to School Books Colors Elementary fall fall fall Literacy Math Preschool Reading Recipes Seasonal Sensory Summer Shapes spring spring spring summer summer summer Technology Tot School Uncategorized winter winter winter Writing year round year round year round

Popular Posts

  • Tricks and Treats for Teachers Blog Hop

    October 3, 2014
  • Preschool: Weather

    October 24, 2017
  • Preschool: All About Me

    September 18, 2017

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 // Design by Laugh Eat Learn // Theme by Georgia Lou Studios

Copyright © 2025 · Prima Donna on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We noticed you're visiting from Latvia. We've updated our prices to Euro for your shopping convenience. Use United States (US) dollar instead. Dismiss