General Materials/Equipment

• Yarn balls
• Music CDs
• Bean bags
• Hula hoops
• Beach balls
• Scarves
• Rhythm sticks
• Foam balls
• Balloons
• Yarn

Special Materials/Equipment for specific lesson ideas:

• Barrel of monkeys
• Dice
• Deck of cards
• Plastic coins, money
• Bingo cards
• Food guide pyramids

Thematic Book List

Any of these books can be read in your class. Students can act out excerpts of the book as a way to incorporate physical activity.

Younger Children

Theme: Myself

• Every Kid’s Guide to Being Special, Joy Berry
• You’re Not My Cat, Theresa Burns
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
• Jack Tales, Richard Chase
• Big Al, Andrew Clements
• Eating the Alphabet, L. Ehlret
• Whoever You Are, Mem Fox
• Bread and Jam for Frances, Russell Hoban
• I Wish I Were a Butterfly, James Howe
• The Tale of Thomas Mead, Pat Hutchins
• School Mouse, Dick King-Smith
• Matthew’s Big Dream, Leo Lionni
• The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars, Jean Merrill
• Ruby the Copycat, Peggy Rathmann
• Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss

Theme: Family

• Song and Dance Man, Karen Ackerman
• The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle’s Wedding, Alma Flor Ada
• Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown
• Big Mama, Donald Crew
• Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs, Tomie daPaola
• The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flourney
• Grandaddy’s Place, Helen Griffith
• The Midnight Eaters, Amy Hest
• A Baby Sister for Frances, Russell Hoban
• I Dance in My Red Pajamas, Edith Thacher Hurd
• Much Bigger than Martin, Steven Kellogg
• Whose Mouse are You?, Robert Kraus
• Gone Fishing, Earlene Long
• Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold
• Tomato Rose, Phyllis Armelie Sibbing
• Once There Were Giants, Martin Waddell
• Something Special for Me, Vera Williams

Theme: Friends

• Friends, Helme Heine
• Shoes Like Miss Alice’s, Angela Johnson
• Earl’s Too Cool for Me, Leah Komaiko
• Together, George Ella Lyon
• Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister
• Mr. Putter and Tabby books, Cynthia Rylant
• The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
• Ira Sleeps Over, Bernard Waber

Older Children

Theme: Myself

• Emily, Michael Bedard
• Freckle Juice, Judy Blume
• Henry Huggins, Beverly Cleary
• Cinder Edna, Ellen Jackson
• Ella Enchanted, Gail Levine
• I Want to Be, Thylias Moss
• All I See, Cynthia Rylant
• Maniac McGee, Jerry Spinelli
• Staurt Little, E.B. White
• Wizard’s Hall, Jane Yolen

Theme: Family

• The Adventures of King Midas, Lynne Reid Banks
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume
• Ramona books, Beverly Cleary
• Half Magic, Edward Eager
• Fig Pudding, Ralph Fletcher
• Sun and Spoon, Kevin Henkes
• Nothing to Fear, Jackie French Koller
• All about Sam, Lois Lowry
• The Borrowers, Mary Norton
• The Talking Eggs, Robert San Souci
• Cracked Corn and Snow Ice Cream: A Family Almanac, Nancy Williard

Theme: Friends

• Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbit
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Beverly Cleary
• The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes
• The View from Saturday, I.L. Konigsburg
• Rascal, Sterling North
• Missing May, Cynthia Rylant
• The Bracelet, Yoshiko Uchida
• Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

Theme: Nutrition

• Pumpkin Time, Jan Andrews
• Dinner at the Panda Place, Stephanie Calmenson
• Olsen’s Meat Pies, Peter Cohn and Olaf Lundstrom
• Pancakes for Breakfast, Tomie daPaola
• Eating the Alphabet, I. Ehlert
• How My Parents Learned to Eat, I.R. Friedman
• Sitting on the Farm, Bob King
• The Foods We Eat, Many Hands Media
• Chicken Sunday, Patricia Polacco
• Bitter Bananas, Issac Olaeye
• Gregory the Terrible Eater, Mitchell Sharmat
• Stone Soup, John Warren Stewig
• Cherries and Cherry Pits, Vera Williams