40 Elementary Picture Book Lessons and Activities

40 Elementary library picture book lessons with activities, extensions, and library centers are included with this helpful product! The newest picture books, nonfiction picture books, and picture book biographies are featured, with low-prep plans to help you share these great new books with your elementary school students!

Included in this Printable PDF Product:

• List of 40 new picture books worth reading with your students
• Questions to ask before reading each book
• Questions to ask as you read each book
• Lesson Activities that can be completed together by a whole class
• Library Centers that small groups can participate in after they check out books
• Emphasis on collaboration, kindness and the fun of reading

I created this product to make it easier for elementary school librarians to share amazing new picture books with students, with engaging, low-prep activities, makerspaces, and learning centers.

*Please check out the preview above to see exactly what is included in the picture book lessons for each of the 40 book titles.* You will need to own these books or borrow them from your school or local library. The books are not included with this product.

20 Picture Book Titles:

• Snail Crossing
• Fussy Flamingo
• Roy Digs Dirt
• Unicorns Are the Worst
• Someone Builds the Dream
• A New Day
• A Small Kindness
• Too Crowded
• Line and Scribble
• Invent-a-Pet
• Paletero Man
• Rectangle Time
• Nobody Hugs a Cactus
• Rocket Says Look Up
• How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion
• The Ocean Calls
• The Old Truck
• Ducks on the Road
• Wolfboy
• Brick by Brick
• Green on Green
• Mr. Complain Takes the Train

10 Nonfiction Picture Book Titles:

• So You Want to Be an Owl
• Mars! Earthlings Welcome
• The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field
• Sakamoto’s Swim Club: How a Teacher Led an Unlikely Team to Victory
• Being Frog
• Clever Hans: The True Story of the Counting, Adding, and Time-Telling Horse
• Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals
• A Garden in Your Belly: Meet the Microbes in Your Gut
• The Nest that Wren Built
• On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring
• The Reason for the Seasons

10 Picture Book Biography Titles:

• Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Thurston
• Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
• Digging for Words: Jose Alberto Gutierrez and The Library He Built
• Nacho’s Nachos
• Try It!: How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat
• Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars
• Selena: Queen of Tejano Music
• Mornings with Monet
• June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus
• Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julian and Joaquin Castro
• Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball
• The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest

*This product is a PDF for quick and easy printing. You will not be able to edit this product.*

Standards Addressed:

AASL National School Library Standards – See the AASL Standards Framework for Learners to view full text. 

• Inquire –  B.3.
• Include –  B.3.
• Collaborate – D.1.
• Curate – A.1.
• Explore – A.1. –  B.2.
• Engage – A.1. –  D.1.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards –
© Copyright 2010 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.1 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.2 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.10
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.1 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.3 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.7
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.3
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.7 – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.10

Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) –
© Copyright 2019 Texas Education Agency. 

• TEKS LA.K.2.D – TEKS LA.K.6 – TEKS LA.K.7
• TEKS LA.1.2.D – TEKS LA.1.6 – TEKS LA.1.7
• TEKS LA.2.6 – TEKS LA.2.7
• TEKS LA.3.6 – TEKS LA.3.7
• TEKS LA.4.6 – TEKS LA.4.7
• TEKS LA 5.6 – TEKS LA.5.7

Terms of Use
© Library Learners – By purchasing this product, you receive a one-user license. Copying or distributing to others is prohibited.  ​See our Site Terms of Use for more information. For teacher-librarians: You may use this product with all of your classes and students.

​Questions before buying?
​If the free preview file does not answer your question, you can contact us through ​​this link with questions.