February is typically associated with Valentine’s Day. However, it is a month full of fun holidays.
Celebrating different holidays is always a fun part of teaching, and what better way to celebrate with your students than by reading a fun holiday-themed book! To help you get started with your February celebrations we compiled a list of our favorite February books for first and second graders.
In addition, we have provided an overview of how to use each of these books as a read aloud. Because while we think it’s important to read fun books to engage students in the joy of reading we also know it’s important to help students develop literacy skills along the way.
You should also enjoy the holidays and the joy of reading. Therefore, we created complete ready-to-teach read alouds for all of the books below!
Favorite February Read Alouds for Kids
Before we share with you our favorite read alouds for this month we want to give you a quick overview of how to incorporate these read alouds into your classroom.
Every read aloud is designed to support 3-5 days of learning. This means that you can use one book for an entire week’s worth of reading lessons.
The idea behind spreading out a read aloud for several days is that it provides students with several opportunities to revisit the text. This structure allows students time to dive deeper into the story and connect with the literary elements. Moreover, it gives them more time to fall in love with reading!
Text Dependent Questions for Kids
At the core of each read aloud are text dependent questions. These questions are carefully designed to align with both the story and the core.
The questions for each story dive deep into the key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas within each story. Truly providing a complete exploration of each text.
Moreover, to support engagement we have created hands on activities to help students demonstrate their understanding. Each read aloud includes things such as matching activities, graphic organizers, and a fun craftivity.
Now, let us introduce you to our favorite books and read alouds for this month!
Groundhog’s Day Off Read Aloud
Since Groundhog’s Day is at the beginning of the month we like to encourage teachers to kick the month off with Groundhogs Day Off by Robb Pearlman.
In this fun story, Groundhog is bored of doing the same thing every year and feels unappreciated, so he decides to take a day off. He sets out for a vacation right before Groundhog’s day and the town has to frantically try to find someone else to fill his position.
However, none of the other animals is a good fit. When Groundhog returns and realizes everyone missed him, things turn out to be a lot better for him and he enjoys his important job again.
After introducing students to this story through your first read, you will provide them with a who, what, where, and when story map to complete. To help connect it with the story, we have designed this activity as a cute newspaper clipping.
In the following lessons, students will transfer this skill of story mapping by writing a map using a different holiday character, such as the Easter bunny. This is a great way to connect with previous holiday lessons or upcoming holidays!
To complete the discovery of this book, students will write an exclusive news report about the holiday character. If you have time in your week, you can also have students complete the cute groundhog craftivity that’s included.
Dragon Loves Tacos Read Aloud
The next February Read Aloud book we love for this month is Dragon Loves Tacos by Adam Rubin.
If you haven’t read this book before, this story is about a boy who wants to throw a party for dragons. He plans to serve tacos at the party and makes chicken tacos, beef tacos, and big and small tacos for the dragons.
However, he is very careful not to put salsa in any of the tacos because he knows that dragons cannot eat anything spicy or things get really hot!
What happens when a dragon decides to try a tiny bit of salsa though? You will have to read the book to find out and we can promise your students will sit in anticipation to find out what happens!
In addition to the text dependent questions that you will ask students during the first read, students will complete a key ideas and details graphic organizer which was in the shape of tacos.
For the second close look, we have provided an activity for students to discuss the cause and effect in the story. On the third day, students have a writing prompt that asks them to come up with a spin-off of the story. If you have time, you can add in the super cute dragon craftivity on day four.
Love Monster and the Last Chocolate Read Aloud
Our next fave February Read Aloud Love Monster and the Last Chocolate by Rachel Bright.
In this book, Love Monster finds a box of chocolates on his doorstep and he can’t decide if he should eat them all by himself or share them with his friends. However, in the end, he learns that sharing makes him feel good about himself, which is worth more than a box of chocolates.
This story is perfect for February because it is about friendship and the value that sharing with others brings to your life.
Just like all of our read alouds for this month, we have provided a series of learning activities to support student learning.
- Key ideas and details text dependent questions
- Somebody, wanted, but, so, then graphic organizer
- Craft and structure text dependent questions
- Graphic organizer to record Love Monster’s feelings throughout the story.
- Integration of knowledge and ideas text dependent questions
- Love coupons acts of service activity
- Love Monster craftivity
A Crankestein Valentine Read Aloud
Just because Valentine’s Day is only one day out of the month, doesn’t mean you can’t continue to read Valentine’s books all month long. Especially so you can include A Crankenstein Valentine by Samantha Berger!
In this book, Crankenstein grunts and groans towards anything related to the holiday. However, then he meets a girl who feels the same way about Valentine’s Day.
Your students will love reading about Crankenstein and how he realizes that Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad when you meet someone who feels the same way as you.
Here are a few of the activities included in this read aloud to help students further engage with the story:
- Text dependent questions for several days
- Write down things from the text that make Crankenstein say, “Yechhhh” on a heart note-catcher.
- Write down the Valentine’s day activities from the story and how the activities made Crankenstien feel.
- Make a Crankenstein craftivity and write a poem for him to hold.
The Giving Tree Read Aloud
We wanted an old favorite to read to our students this month and we couldn’t resist adding the classic The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
If you are not familiar with this story, it follows a boy who eats the tree’s apples, swings on the tree’s branches, and sits in the tree’s shade. As the boy grows older he wants more and more from the tree and the selfless tree continues to give until it has nothing left.
This book teaches the importance of giving, which is a great theme to include anytime of the year. However, we love that it encourages students to be mindful of giving and acts of kindness this month.
Just like all of our read alouds, we have created several text focused activities to support several readings of this story over the course of the week.
Best Read Alouds for February
With so many books to choose from you may wonder which book is the best for February. Well, that depends on you and your students!
Any of the books above are wonderful choices to read with your students in the month of February. If you think your students would enjoy all of them, you can grab them in a bundle. However, if there are one or two you are drawn to then you can pick up each read aloud separately.
Whether you choose to read one of these wonderful books for February or all of them, we know that your students will love them! Moreover, we know that you will love how every read aloud is already planned and ready-to-teach which leaves you more time to enjoy the holidays yourself.
