Read Alouds for Your Upper Elementary Classroom

If you’re like me, choosing a read aloud can be a real struggle. You want your students to be engaged, but you also want to expose them to different genres of books. Some books are so meaningful to some classes, but are flops in others. If you’re looking to spice up your read aloud with some new tried and true recommendations, NTR has your back! All of the following books are fourth grader and fourth grade teacher approved!

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A Long Walk to Water
by Linda Sue Park

This book is my go to year after year. I always read this during my nonfiction unit that coincides with my social studies unit on immigration. This book follows the stories of two young people, Salva and Nya, as they navigate the difficulties of living in Sudan during two very different, yet trying, times in the country’s history. ​

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The Wild Robot
by Peter Brown

    This book is newer to my repertoire. I’ll admit that this came highly recommended to me for years, and I just wasn’t excited about the summary. How interesting could a book about a robot named Roz be, as she lands on a remote island and has to try and survive with the not so friendly local animals? Turns out: very! Not only is this one of my favorites, the students in my class were all vying to take the sequel out of the school and public library!

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The Honest Truth
by Dan Gemeinhart

Tear jerker alert! No matter how many times I read this book, I cry. Every. Single. Time. This book chronicles a tween named Mark and his loyal and beloved dog, Beau. Mark leaves home on an epic journey as he tries to come to terms with a difficult diagnosis and feeling out of control in his own life. While it deals with several heavy topics such as: death, friendship, loyalty, despair, and bravery, it has lead to some of the best discussions about ethics and morals.

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Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry

This book simply never goes out of style. I love reading this book each year with my students when I expose them to historical fiction. This book follows two best friends, Annemarie and Ellen, in occupied Denmark during World War II. The girls find that life is forever changed when Nazis begin to “relocate” Jews, and both families are forced to make decisions that will change the course of their lives forever. Although students require a lot of background information to access the historical significance of this book, they are always eager to learn more about this time in history. ​

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The Tiger Rising
by Kate DiCamillo

Anything by Kate DiCamilo is amazing, but this one holds a special place in my heart. This book follows a boy named Rob and his unexpected friendship with a girl named Sistine. They have both been through traumatic experiences that students always relate to. When they find a caged tiger in the woods behind the motel that Rob and his father live at, they face a tough choice: should they let the tiger go or keep it caged?

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The Lemonade War
by Jacqueline Davies

This book is the perfect read aloud right before summer vacation! Evan and Jessie Treski are siblings that usually get along. However, at the end of summer, Evan discovers that Jessie will skip a grade causing the two of them to be in the same classroom, and that causes the two to go to war...a lemonade war!

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Caitlin Lomando

Cait is a is a fourth grade teacher in Nashua, NH where she has spent much of her decade-long career.  She graduated from Keene State College with degrees in Elementary Education and American Studies and holds a Masters of Administration from Rivier University.