Big Ideas for Little Books Using Childrens Books as a Fun Way to Introduce Literary Concepts in the Secondary Classroom

The secondary ELA classroom is an amazingly important place. It's where students transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn," and they need a tremendous amount of guidance to make that leap. In Big Ideas for Little Books, authors Shevonne Elliott and Dawn LaFleur present opportunities to help teachers tap into secondary students' childhoods and carry the excitement of story time into more complex concepts.

Detailed and engaging, these forty-five lessons use the simple text of children's books to introduce and reinforce the skills required in the secondary ELA classroom. The easy-to-follow lesson plans require little prep work and employ creative methods for helping students learn about concepts such as argumentation, characterization, dialect, imagery, irony, parody, parallelism, and more. Ideas for extension accompany every lesson and provide opportunities for teachers to differentiate instruction and meet the needs of all learners.

Big Ideas for Little Books is an ideal resource for teachers who want to engage their students' imaginations while teaching literary analysis and cohesive writing skills. It offers a fresh approach to energizing students and generating excitement about learning.