Reading to my students is absolutely my favorite! I have too many read alouds to tell you about, so I had to make a List 2 sharing more of my favorite second grade read alouds. If you missed it, check out my first list of 7 Fantastic Read Alouds for 2nd Grade.
I wanted to give you more options for your read aloud times. Well, let’s be honest. Buying picture books is my guilty pleasure!
I love pairing my read alouds with a class discussion or class activity. With each book I share with you what extension activities I do with each of the books.
Officer Buckle and Gloria
by Peggy Rathmann
Safety is important, right? Well, Officer Buckle works hard to tell students at different schools about safety tips. But when his new sidekick dog Gloria steals the show, Officer Buckle must work on how he feels about it and make some changes to his safety presentation. Be ready to laugh with this story!
Activity: A wonderful extension for this read aloud is to have students make their own safety tip poster. You can have them draw what happens when people don’t follow their safety and what happens when people do follow their safety rule.
Rainbow Fish
by Marcus Pfister
Sharing is tough. Especially if you’re a beautiful fish with rainbow scales. But Rainbow fish is confused why he doesn’t have friends. Rainbow Fish ends up giving away his scales to share with the other fish.
Discussion: This read aloud presents the perfect opportunity to discuss how if you want a friend, be a friend. Have students Turn and Talk about ways they can be a good friend to others and what they could share.
Speak Up Molly Lou Melon
by Patty Lovell
We don’t always want to stand up for ourselves or others because it’s scary. Molly Lou teaches students how to stand up for others with self-assurance and being assertive.
Discussion: You can lead your class into a great discussion about being assertive and using their voice to express themselves.
The Day the Crayons Quit
By Drew Daywalt
What if you went to color a project and all your crayons were gone, except for a little note? This is what happens to Duncan when he realizes he needs to appreciate each color crayon.
Discussion: This read aloud gives a great opportunity to talk about how to listen to others and work to solve problems.
The Good Egg
by Jory John and Pete Oswald
An egg? Yes, an egg. And a good egg. The moral of this read aloud is that you don’t have to be perfect, and that it’s alright to love others even if they’re rotten sometimes.
Discussion: Talk with your students that making mistakes is ok, and also that other people will make mistakes too.
The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors
by Drew Daywalt
Have you ever wondered how this fun game got started? Wonder no more. This read aloud gives the full legend of how Rock, Paper, Scissors began. And what’s even better? You can have a class competition right after reading!
Activity: Have students compete against each other. I’ve had students make a T-Chart that shows their Wins and Loses. They absolutely loved it and begged for more time!
The Mysterious Tadpole
by Steven Kellogg
Not every animal can be a pet… but can’t it? Louis tries everything to keep his mysterious tadpole pet Alphonse even when he becomes too big for anything but a swimming pool.
Discussion: This is another perfect read aloud to talk about solving problems based on the current situations, and how one solution might not be the best in the long run.
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!
by Jon Scieszka
This is quite a different take on the classic fable. This “true story” is from the wolf’s perspective and how he was actually the true victim.
Activity: There’re so many teaching points you can use with this read aloud. You can teach narration, point of view, and compare and contrast with the original story of the pigs’ perspectives.
I hope this list gets you excited to get reading to your students! I love so many read aloud books so here is another list of 7 Fantastic Read Aloud Books for 2nd Grade.
Happy Teaching!
